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Showing posts from December, 2023

Delvin Homestay Review, Raja Ampat, Indonesia

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Delvin Homestay is on Kri island, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. We stayed in this homestay twice in 2023 for more than 7 days each time. It is a simple accommodation, but we think it is the most affordable on Kri Island and Dani the owner is an honest person charging fair prices for everything. Location of Delvin Homestay Delvin Homestay is located on the north-west coast of Kri Island, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. There are two types of bungalows, ones built on the beach and the others over the water. There is a house reef where you can swim offshore and snorkel with entry from the beach. Snorkelling and diving at Delvin Homestay Delvin Homestay itself does not have a jetty, but there's the Soul Divers Jetty at Yenbuba Guesthouse after a 600m swim west along the house reef, and if you go east, there is the Yenkonaru Guesthouse Jetty. The owner of Delvin Homestay, Dani, is a dive master and you can go diving by boat from here. Prices may vary depe

Panorama Backpackers review, snorkeling everyday at Bunaken Island, Indonesia.

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This is the guesthouse where we always stay on Bunaken Island. There are no restaurants in the area, so basically, people stay here with three meals included. Prices are per person and may be a little higher if you are a solo traveller. There are rooms adjacent to the main house (probably from Rp 250,000), garden view bungalows, sea view bungalows and family rooms (one double bed and bunk beds), with bungalow accommodation costing around Rp 300,000-400,000 per person including three meals. We stayed over three weeks in February, May and December 2023. Rooms are simple but clean. No air conditioning, but with fan and mosquito net. Mosquito repellent is useful as there are often lots of mosquitoes. Our favourite rooms are the family room and bungalow 12. There is a shower but no hot water. The water tank seems to be shared by several rooms and when the tank is empty, the water stops running. There is a large bucket for Mandi, so it is recommended to ke

Istanaku Guesthouse 2 review: Good value for money in Manado, Indonesia

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Besides this hotel, we have previously stayed at the Top Hotel and Aryaduta Hotel in Manado, but we found Istanaku Guesthouse 2 to be the most reasonable. Stayed one night on 9 and 18 December 2023 respectively. From Rp 290 000 twin room with breakfast. We stayed in room 305. Reception staff are all friendly and speak good English. Istanaku Hotel (main building) is opposite, and buffet breakfast is served in the main building restaurant, if breakfast is included in the price. Breakfast starts at 7am. On the day of our early morning flight to Sorong, we checked out at 5am and were able to have a breakfast to takeaway, which was ordered in advance. It was nasi goreng in boxes and we had it on the plane. The building seemed to have an old lift but it was broken and unusable. Only stairs were available. Rooms are clean and stylishly decorated.  The mattresses were comfortable, the sheets were cotton and pleasant to the touch, and the blankets