Indonesia Travel Words

Tomohon Market

Tomohon Market

Before we left town, we did manage to squeeze in a visit or two to the Tomohon market.

I’ve put up pictures of markets from a number of places in Southeast and Central Asia, and by comparison the atmosphere of this one was pretty boring.  So instead, I’ll just skip to the  stuff you came here for: crazy animals being eaten.

This one gets a little gory, so if you’re particularly fond of animals or particularly unhappy with unfamiliar foodways I wouldn’t suggest scrolling down past the first picture.

tomohon market entrance

Tomohon Market dogs
Charred dog, looking cuddly.
tomohon market bats
Fruit bats, with vicious looking screams on their faces.
Tomohon market rats
And of course, a plate full of rats.

Unfortunately, we never did find a restaurant serving any of the above.  Looks tasty though, doesn’t it? All in a day’s shopping at the Tomohon market!

Tomohon Village

Like Bunaken, Tomohon was  very much just a good way to get out of Manado while we waited.  Also like Bunaken, it ended up being a nice stop in its own right.

The main reason tourists go to Tomohon is to climb a volcano.  Greg and I went with all the best intentions of climbing Mt. Lokon.

tomohon mt lokon

Really, we did.

See, the problem was that the first day we got in too late.  After dealing with the Immigration Office in Manado and then bussing all the way to Tomohon, we only had an hour or two of daylight left.  So, we walked.  Explored a bit.  Were confronted by a random party blocking one of the main roads out of town, and forced to take pictures of the local kids.  At one point, as we were leaving, the kids chased us down the road demanding more pictures.

tomohon village children

Then, the second day, the weather just looked off.  We went on a hike to a volcanic lake nearby, which is kind of like hiking to a volcano.  But just kind of.

tomohon village flood

Then finally, on our last day, it was already raining as we woke up.  What good climbing all the way to the top of a volcano, if you don’t even get a view once you’re up there??  So, with a visa extension having been promised the next day, we returned to Manado.

tomohon village sunset

Thanks to a delicious Satay place on Tomohon’s main street though, we spoke of prices for the next few days not in Rupiah or Dollars but in terms of pork kebabs.

 

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6 Comments

  1. The answer would be NO NO NO

  2. YUCK!!! I will remember to Board the cats before you come home.

    Mom

  3. it looks as though they’ve been roasted alive…i hope that’s not the case. i feel sorry for the animals

    • It is possible but I dont know how likely. I know further south, in Tana Toraja, we saw pigs being roasted just after they had been slaughtered. Not that the slaughter itself wasnt pretty harsh… but not quite so bad as being cooked alive.

  4. the fruitbat (paniki) and dog (RW) you can eat in small food-stalls near the lakeside in Tentena (Sulawesi), they are also available in Manado (as well as rat). Dog is eaten all over south east Asia. People in Tentena told me that cats are eaten in Tana Toraja (but why would they, plenty of buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered at funeral ceremonies).

  5. Jenny Rolness

    They do roast them alive. It is horror beyond imagination. They are not food, they are our fellow creatures who are tortured to death for some sick and evil culinary reason. I can’t watch the images, the expression on their faces is an evidence of excrusiating pain and agony. How can people be so unbelievable cruel? I have lost faith in humans long long time ago… http://saynotodogmeat.net/2014/07/25/indonesian-video-dog-meat-dogs-roasted/

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