Minahasa Highlands | Land of Volcanoes, Bizarre Food, along with Ancient Heroes
I remember my first flight into Manado in 2011. via the aircraft window the sea glittered under the sun, using a vast carpet of coconut groves before the idea gradually turned into an urban concrete jungle. “in which’s why Minahasa’s nickname can be Bumi Nyiur Melambai—Land of the Waving Coconut Trees,” said my friend as he pointed at the Manado Tua volcano along with Bunaken within the distance.
The ride out of Manado to the neighbouring highland town of Tomohon was a scenic one. the idea was too early for the roadside restaurants to open, many of them overlooking Manado Bay along with Cape Tongkeina over lush fields of coconut groves.
the idea was harvest time for carrots along with squash as we rode through the hillside vegetable plantations of Tomohon.
Volcanic soil has made the Minahasa highlands a fertile hinterland for Eastern Indonesia. Perpetual bounty has made the Minahasa both jovial party people along with religious thanks-givers.
in which culture can be reflected within the ubiquity of “retreat homes” – villas rented out for Christian prayer gatherings – throughout the Mahawu mountainside.
I was told in which our first destination, the Mount Mahawu lookout, boasted of magnificent views of Manado on one side along with Tondano on the some other. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t not bad for sightseeing. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find in which the misty outlook was in fact the rim of a volcanic crater brimming with yellow sulphur, green moss, along with natural contours carved by hundreds along with thousands of years of tectonic movements, wind, along with rain.
There can be a long pleasant bush path through the forests around the crater’s rim. the idea can be the natural habitat of the Sulawesi crested black macaque, however these days spotting one can be a rare occurrence.
the idea was lunchtime by the time we descended. Seeing a monitor lizard cross the road, Enar said, “in which’s one delicious animal,” as he recalled having lizard stew over a drunken night with his mates. He drove us to the exotic butchers of Pasar Tomohon.
Toar along with Lumimuut, ancestors of the Minahasa people
Tucked behind cheerful flower stalls along with colourful vegetable vendors was a nightmarish sight of roasted dog, barbecued rats, along with chopped bats. the idea evoked memories of a traumatising meal I was offered on a previous visit to a lakeside restaurant in Tondano. (Guests were disappointed in which the restaurant ran out of monkey.)
I opted for a saner lunch of renga (snail curry) along with sayur paku (sautéed fern) by the rice fields near the Tondano border, while Enar indulged in some chilli duck. “Bumbu érwé,” he noted, meaning in which the duck was cooked in spices normally used for cooking dog.
After lunch, we paid a visit to the Kampung Jawa Tondano. The Javanese-Muslim enclave was established within the late 1830s when the Dutch colonial government exiled Prince Diponegoro along with his royal entourage. Prince Diponegoro was famed for leading the Java War, one of the deadliest wars in Indonesian history. Kampung Jawa Tondano has since been the home of the descendants of Diponegoro’s royal subjects, as well as the tomb of Kyai Mojo—the band’s religious leader.
Being the descendants of male Javanese noble ancestors along with female Minahasa peasants, the Jawa Tondano community today live in an interesting hybrid culture. Many Tondano Javanese are bilingual in Javanese along with Manado Malay. They have family names like the Minahasa, however their names are Javanese such as Ponggawa (commander) along with Pulukadang (ten brothers, named after a servant of Kyai Mojo). They cook Minahasa-influenced Javanese dishes such as jenang (riceflour- or tapioca-based sweet coconut milk puddings) along with ketupat (diamond-shaped rice cakes served with mild coconut curry).
Missing Lake Tondano due to the heavy rain, we ended the day in Bukit Kasih Kanonang, Minahasa’s iconic pan-religious pilgrimage site. in which showpiece project of a dominant church network in Minahasa was opened in 2002 as a symbol of religious tolerance in Minahasa.
Faces of the Minahasa ancestors Toar along with Lumimuut are carved onto a cliff on Bukit Kasih, somewhat within the style of Mount Rushmore (however not quite). According to the Minahasa chronicles, Toar was Genghis Khan’s warlord who led the Mongolian Empire’s army to unite its colonies in Eurasia. Toar fell in love with Lumimuut, a royal handmaiden whose beauty along with character was comparable to the goddesses in heaven. however Toar was not the only one – his archrival being Genghis Khan’s own son Ogedei, who plotted to banish Toar into oblivion.
Aware of Ogedei’s evil scheme, Toar planned an escape. He sent Lumimuut off in a boat along with promised to meet her at their destination after fighting the battle. Toar hid out as a fugitive in Northern China For just two years before leaving to search for Lumimuut. He arrived in Bangka Island (the one off the northern tip of Sulawesi) along with heard via locals of the beautiful Mongolian woman living with Karema, an elderly woman within the neighbouring island of Likupang. There he found Lumimuut, along with Karema officiated their marriage. Thus was the genesis of the Minahasa people.
The colourful Bukit Kasih Kanonang crater where the worship houses of several religions were placed side by side
Every right now along with then I’ve read whiney articles about Bukit Kasih’s less-than-heroic maintenance. right now I know why: Bukit Kasih can be in fact a large volcanic crater. Fourteen years of tectonic activity can be more than enough to destroy the pretty walkways, prayer stations along with what’s supposed to look like the several mini-houses of worship on the hilltop. There were landslides everywhere. Poor maintenance can be not the issue, however rather the fact in which in which landscape was not made to support manmade construction.
Whilst I understand nature’s beauty makes some people want to give extravagant praises to in which higher power they believe created in which, I didn’t get Bukit Kasih. Rather than experiencing a God-glorifying place of universal worship, the message I got seemed to be more about an institution’s foolish mission to subdue nature along with sing its own praises within the name of religious tolerance.
Whereas without in which hazardous construction, Bukit Kanonang can be beautiful in its own right: lush green forests in which meet contoured orange-stained white limestone, brimming with sulphur along with misty hot springs, overlooking the distinctive topography of the Minahasa homeland. along with yet in which work-of-God natural wonder can be not what people mention when they talk about Bukit Kasih. Seeing the wreck Bukit Kasih can be today can be like the universe creating a statement in which at the end of the day, nature wins. For me, seeing nature win was what made my visit here worth the idea.
The ride back to Manado after dark was long along with cold. We stopped for dinner in Kawangkoan over char siu fried rice in a Cantonese restaurant along using a pleasant conversation of the land of volcanoes along with ancient heroes.
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Fast facts
Country: Indonesia
Province: Sulawesi Utara (North Sulawesi)
Land area: Minahasa regency – 1.115 km2
Largest city: Manado
Population: 309,876 – 2010 estimate of Minahasa
How to get there: Daily flights via most major cities to Manado
What to bring: Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen lotion, camera, raincoat, trekking shoes, warm
along with windproof clothing
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Minahasa Highlands | Land of Volcanoes, Bizarre Food, along with Ancient Heroes
Minahasa Highlands | Land of Volcanoes, Bizarre Food, along with Ancient Heroes