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     Manado, Island of Sulawesi, Republic of Indonesia

     Friday, 11^th June 1993

     Blasting out of Ujung Pandang, once again we intercepted Airway W-32, which sliced through the heart of Sulawesi Island in beeline fashion, allowing us to marvel at the rugged, jungle-covered mountains and volcanoes en route, until we reached its extreme northern tip.  After traveling 512 NM (588.8 SM) and a flight time of 1:42, we reached the city of Manado.

     Throughout the 16^th Century the Portuguese and Spanish wrestled for control of Manado, introducing the Catholic religion; until the Dutch East India Company arrived and squeezed them both out in 1658.  However, Christianity has stubbornly maintained a toehold in this end of Indonesia, making it the main religion at Manado, while Islam comes in second.

     Concerning the airport, at 8.1 miles northeast of the city, it was originally surveyed and built by the Japanese during their invasion of 1942, having a single runway length of 2,296 feet.  When I operated there, in 1993, the single runway had been expanded to 8,202 feet in length.  Although, it didn’t have a taxiway; requiring us to backtrack on the runway in order to reach the parking area.  

Note Black Dots with MSL Altitudes next to them on either side of the ILS Approach.
These are the Volcanoes we passed between on either side of our approach.

     The preferred runway was Runway Three-Six (360°/180° magnetic, N/S) which possessed an ILS and VOR DME instrument approach.  These approaches led us down a narrow valley with mountains and volcanoes on either side; requiring me to use my Magellan GPS as a back-up, when flying blind in the clouds, as the Localizer or VOR radio signals would tend to occasionally die on me.

     Good ole Indonesian lack of maintenance, dear reader.

The view I had on Final Approach to Runway One-Eight at Manado.

Me at Manado.

A Russian Antonov An-12 picking up a load of fish. It has a tail-turret which can hold twin 23-mm Cannons and a glass nose for a Bombardier.

     To commemorate the National Hero from Minahasa, North Sulawesi, the airport was named after Dr. Saul Grunt Jacob Samuel Ratulangi.  Thank Allah they had the sense to shorten it to simply Sam Ratulangi Airport. 

                        
     We were also required to spend an overnight at the Manado Beach Hotel, roughly nine miles northwest of the airport on a small coastal bay north of the city.  

     It was a 3-star hotel, with clean rooms, an excellent pool, plus access to a black-volcanic sand beach ringing the bay with extraordinary sunsets.

     As for the hotel’s restaurant, the western dishes were abysmal.  Even the local bill of fare was also dreary.  For example: there was a dish called RW, short for “Rinte Wuuk,” a plate piled with junks of roasted dog meat, topped with a raw, chopped vegetable garnish.

     Often I wondered, dear reader, as I saw this dish float by, if perhaps it was some family’s noisy pet?

   And this brings us to my discoveries in the local Manado markets: roasted mice and rats on a stick, roasted bats, freshly killed huge lizards and pythons; all to be sold as meat.  But the one thing that stopped me cold each time was the sight of freshly killed dogs, being butchered or roasted whole on a spit.

BBQ Bats.

BBQ Rats on a stick.

Skinned Dogs being butchered!

BBQ Dogs!

     On these occasions, dear reader, how I longed for a crappy McDonald’s or Burger King!

     The following day, we would escape Manado and retrace our flight back to Ujung Pandang, Surabaya and finally Jakarta.

     Basically this was the route I flew during my first three-month contract with BOURAQ.  On the 3^rd of September 1993, I elected to return to Phuket for a badly needed rest.  The problem with BOURAQ was that I never received enough days off in a row to visit Phuket, and get over the Indonesian experience, making me severely “homesick.”  Therefore I terminated my first contract.

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