Kotamobagu was my hometown, so our plan for today is visiting families. We start to visit my (†) mother, and another deceased relatives. We have this “Chinese Graveyard”, turns out it was a gift from old king to Chinese descendant who lives in Kotamobagu. Beware of midday sun when visit here, also insects because there was so many wild bushes.
Because this graveyard located at the hill, we can see the Kotamobagu city view. It’s beautiful actually, sadly because there is no security here so many youngster littering. And of course the wild bushes, we need to pay some service to trim them. Usually around Qingming Festival, I still remember love to play and eating together with family.
I used to run on the edge of the grave, play with any insects that we found in the sand. Sit and eat, burn some ‘money’. Never occurred to me that someday I’ll visit my mother here, well of course we knew this day would come but still feels surprised. Will I be buried as well or cremated? If we can choose, how will we met our end?
Back to Sutanraja Hotel, it’s actually more modern than what we expected. It’s like the one and only 3-star hotel in Kotamobagu, unfortunately when we check-in our bathroom has a ‘sewer’ odor. The cleaning service just gave us an air freshener and some fragrant soap, it’s work actually. The breakfast is so-so, we could find a more decent breakfast around here but since it’s include in the room plan so…yeah, it’s okay.
For lunch we invited to Goba Molunow, my auntie’s (mothers little sister) treat. Goba Molunow is her husband relative’s. When we arrived, our lunch is ready: fried fish, fried chicken, boiled corn, steam rice, etc. Looks like this place is actually famous, many customers eat here, celebrate their birthday, some government staff, while others just chill to enjoy their coffee.
Fun fact: we thought the lake in front of us is Danau Moat, the famous lake in Modayang, East Bolaang Mongondow. Turns out it was Danau Tondok Permai, looks like I really am a tourist in my hometown. Anyway the food was delicious, except for the corn maybe it was too old so a bit hard to bite. For us, the best corn is still from Rosy’s Veggies.
This place actually has a playground for kids and photo spot, but because of heavy rain we still can’t explore. We got sleepy, eat fried banana, sip our hot coffee and tea, sleep again, repeat, the rain still won’t stopped yet. Another downside for outdoor area in Indonesia, people are freely to smoking. It’s not healthy for kids, we should have a smoking area like in developed country.
Because we stuck here, it’s time for quality family bonding. We talk to relatives, until finally the rain stopped for a while. We took this chance to take a train ride, trying to give children a bit happiness. Still, after 1-2 rides rain starts to pour again. Only this time not so heavy rain, so we decide to use umbrella and run a little bit to the car and went home.
For tonight, we will have dinner in my cousin’s house. The main dish, of course grilled pork. Or “Babi Guling” as we called it, literally Rolled Pork. In contrast to Manado which is famous for its seafood, Kotamobagu was surround with mountain. So our mostly food are: pork, dog (yes, it’s include in ‘extreme’ food category), bat (also ‘extreme’), etc.
Unfortunately, to ease the ‘smell’ we use many herbs and spices so maybe most people not comfortable with that. Like our little Emma (and her grandparents), she can’t eat most of the food. So she just ate fried meatball (from minced pork and shrimp), fried noodle (also a little bit spicy), some pork satay with sweet (and spicy) sauce, with steamed rice. She ate very little that night 😦
The Next Day
First time to try ‘Bentor’, a motor-powered rickshaw. But instead the driver, the passengers are in front. They have a ‘windshield’ to protect from wind/rain, usually it can carry up to 2 adults. I remembered when still in high school, we can ride it with 3 friends. Also 1 people can sit in the back with driver, so all together it can carry 3 adults.
We only tried bentor to pickup our laundry (while our HiAce rent follow us behind), should be ‘express’ because we already dropped it yesterday. Turns out the staff yesterday was sick, so today staff don’t know anything. Talks about transfer knowledge, really slow work here. Because the weather was hot sunny day, the children wait in the car with AC.
We even help the staff to pack our laundry, it’s funny to think now but then it was upsetting. Anyway, after done with our laundry it’s already time for lunch. We bid farewell to my big brother, and continue our to have lunch at Aroma Bobara since it was on our way to Manado. When my cousin birthday, they having dinner here. They said it was tasty, but not kid’s friendly.
In this restaurant, we chose what kind of fresh fish (catch of the day) and how to cook them: mostly grilled or woku. Price is depend on weight of the fish, but they also have a regular portion of Bobara. Usually the sell in set menu include steam rice, water spinach (Kangkung), and dabu-dabu. We just need to add beverages like orange juice, sweet tea, etc.
Total price are IDR 385K for three portion of fresh fish and one set menu for driver, the portion is bigger than our expectation. After full our stomach, we continue the long journey to Manado. On our way to Manado, we’ll pass by Lobong which famous for it’s pineapple. When we see a pineapple stall beside the road, we decide to stopped by at try to purchase some of the delicious pineapple.
The pineapple was really tasty, sour yet very sweet. Perfect for quench our thirst, on this long journey. Makes us awake…for a while, and then we slept in the car for around 2.5 hours. From Kotamobagu to Manado, we’ll pass by Kios Topas. It’s a legendary bun kiosk since 1986, strategic located at main road (Trans Sulawesi) made it’s became a rest spot for travelers.
Now, we need to pay retribution parking fee IDR 3K. It’s recently new, 4 years ago still free. The coffee is decent and relatively cheap, but the main star here is homemade bun. Fluffy, manual kneading, without machine, without baking powder and preservative, family recipe. The place is not as comfy as cafe nowadays, but for traditional coffee shop this was a meeting point to have rest and chat with each other.
We ordered: hot milk coffee, ice black coffee, hot black coffee, ice milk coffee, pork bun, tausa bun, some pia and hard biscuit. All in all we need to pay IDR 118K, already include parking twice: one for retribution, one for ‘service’ for locals. Full tummy, we feel happy. Enough for another 2 hours drive to Manado, when we arrived it’s already around 7 PM time to have dinner and rest after this long day/journey.
Endo & Nes 