Indonesia: Sulawesi - July 2007
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text:
Français
Now that I am the queen of the mikrolet, I am embarking without hesitation in the first blue minibus that displays "Karombasan" direction "Wanea". Karombasan is the bus terminal south of Manado.
Take the good bus ...
The place is packed with people and I am encumbered by my big bags. But a kind gentleman and his wife take the one containing my diving stuff and lead me nicely to the bus to Tomohon.
They leave to spend the weekend in Tondanolike many city dwellers. People are really nice here, with the tourists straying ...
Arrived safely at Tomohon, in a dilapidated bus, which by some miracle is still rolling.
As the road twists and turns, I discover the beauty of the region: cultivated fields, small provincial towns, bits of forest, and the panorama on Manado and its bay. It's relatively fast, three quarters of an hour.
A bungalow in the mountains
In Tomohon, I opt for the Happy Flower Homestaywhich also belongs to Tommy, the Indonesian who holds Froggies with Christiane.
The garden is nice, but the four bungalows are starting to show their age. The hot water works only in two rooms out of four... And the cleaning is obviously not done very often.
Too bad. Bungalow at 120 000 Rp. I am lazy to visit the two neighboring guesthouses. I settle down.
That said, I was right to opt for the Happy FlowerHe is the only one who speaks English, apart from a guide who is staying here. And he's the only one who speaks English, apart from a guide I'll meet later, who has his quarters here. Tommy, very nice, makes a phone call, and arranges me a motorcycle trip for the next day.
My pilot will be Anto. A nice guy, but with whom the conversation is extremely limited, as his English level is even worse than my Indonesian one...
I learn, in the evening, at the return of Yoce (pronounced Yotché), the guide who works for the Happy Flower Homestay and who makes visit the corner to the rare tourists of passage, that I missed the "french family". That's right. Olivier and Ariane slept here, and they've just gone back to Manadowith their three daughters. We just missed each other, simply because in the afternoon, I went to the local Internet café, not far from the homestay.
It is pleasant and refreshing, Tomohon. Big and peaceful provincial town, very spread out, with a lot of churches there too. I saw several weddings from my mikrolet, with bridesmaids in pink dresses and fanfare...
