The first thing we did in Ambon was to stop on the street and eat durian. The guide and I shared a couple of durians while DH and Miss Kiki waited in the car. The king of fruits were in season in Ambon at that time, so there were plenty and cheap. How did they fare compared to other types of durians, you ask? I love them! They were sweet and flavourful. The locals also eat them before they ripen (hanging in plastic bags in the picture below), but I didn't try those.
After durian, we were brought to Natsepa Beach to try some Rujak Natsepa. If you are not familiar with Rujak/Rojak, it is a common fruit dish in South East Asia served with sweet peanut sauce. I am not usually a big fan of this dish but I really liked this one! You can buy the sauce as souvenir too!
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| Rujak Natsepa |
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| Miss Kiki approved |
Our next stop was a statue of Martha Christina Tijahahu, one of our very few female national hero. Her statue was placed up high on a hill looking out at Ambon City. It was starting to get cloudy when we got there so it wasn't too hot.
From there we were dropped off at the hotel to check in and rest a bit. I had booked Amaris Hotel Ambon for that stay. A little later, we were picked up to go out for dinner in a nice restaurant by the water. We ordered a bunch of food, most were good. The Kangkung dish was especially good. There was a birthday party accompanied with live band inside the restaurant. We chose to sit on the outside area.
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| Fern leaves |
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| Calamari |
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| Grilled Parrotfish |
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| Kangkung |
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| Sambal Colo-colo |
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| Grilled Tuna |
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. They had an egg station and a few other food. Nothing elaborate, but good enough! The view out the window was also nice.
We checked out of our hotel and continued our tour. It was Sunday morning, and the streets were quiet. A lot of stores and stalls were closed. Apparently, everyone was at church. This is a very rare thing in an Indonesian city, but I would think this is the case In Ambon and Manado. We drove for a little while to get to our first destination, Pintu Kota (City Gate). The drive was mostly along the coast line so we were able to see the shiny blue-green waters against the blue sky.
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| Nutmeg tree |
We arrived at Bethesda Beach, parked, and went down the stairs towards the water.
It was a beautiful sight of crystal clear waters with rocks and blue sky. The sun wasn't in our favour though, it was super bright that it was difficult to take pictures.
We were told that there were two gates at this spot. One above ground and the other one under water. We were also told that an old RCTI (a private TV station) video clip under water was filmed here... Here's the clip from youtube.
After we've had enough time of being a model at the beach, we went back to the car and went to a souvenir shop to buy some stuff and also to Natsepa Beach to buy Rujak sauce for friends and family at home.
Drooool.... Drooool.....
We headed to the airport from there and the same airport staff that came to meet us when we arrived already waited for us outside. They took care of all the check-in process while we waited in the airport lounge. When it was time to board, they came to the lounge to fetch us and walked us to the plane. What a service! :D
So that was our trip to Ora Beach and Ambon in the Moluccas. Thanks for reading!
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