Touring Tranquil Tondano In North Sulawesi

With stragglers from Sail Bunaken 2009 still in town, the city of Manado in North Sulawesi was bustling with activity last week.

On my fifth day covering some of the programs at the nine-day international maritime festival, I decided that it was time to escape to what I later found to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited: Lake Tondano, the biggest lake in the province.

After stashing my wallet, notebook, pen and pocket camera into a small slingbag, I took an oto (public transportation van) from my hotel in the city center and traveled west to the Karombasa Bus Terminal.

It was a hot morning. One bus already seemed crammed full, but it was going my way, and the driver’s assistants — who could not have been older than 8 — kept shouting that more people could still fit. So I clambered aboard and squeezed into the backseat with four other passengers.

Full article by Dalih Sembiring