{"id":12732,"date":"2018-05-11T15:23:48","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T14:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/?p=12732"},"modified":"2020-10-20T12:00:06","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:00:06","slug":"ternate-a-proper-harbour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/ternate-a-proper-harbour\/","title":{"rendered":"Ternate: A Proper Harbour"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1526050841305{padding-top: 60% !important;background-image: url(https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/MG_1081-e1526049605860.jpg?id=12750) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/3″ offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-9 vc_col-lg-3 vc_hidden-md vc_col-sm-offset-4 vc_hidden-sm vc_col-xs-offset-3 vc_col-xs-6 vc_hidden-xs”][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1526048197069{padding-top: 24px !important;padding-right: 24px !important;padding-bottom: 24px !important;padding-left: 24px !important;background-color: rgba(0,48,83,0.7) !important;*background-color: rgb(0,48,83) !important;}”]<\/p>\n

So close, yet so far<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ternate\u00a0Harbour, Indonesia<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” parallax=”content-moving” css=”.vc_custom_1515677389520{background-color: #003053 !important;background-position: center;background-repeat: no-repeat;background-size: contain !important;}”][vc_column width=”5\/6″ offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-md-offset-1 vc_col-md-10 vc_col-sm-offset-1 vc_col-xs-12″ css=”.vc_custom_1515677437883{padding-top: 10% !important;padding-bottom: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

TRAVEL CURIOUS<\/span><\/h2>\n

The way in which we all experience\u00a0travel is evolving. ETG travellers are increasingly seeking out the authentic stories that lie behind the glossy brochure images, and which, we like to say, reveal the fabric of a destination. <\/span><\/p>\n

This story tells CEO Sam Clark’s experience of Ternate Harbour, Indonesia. Usually, we like to tell stories of individuals in Asia, of connections we’ve made along the way. But as a traveller, those moments of ‘otherness’ can sometimes feel just as powerful….<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” parallax=”content-moving”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-8 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_single_image image=”12735″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1515682996367{padding-top: 5% !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-4 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]Ternate harbour might be remote, but it\u2019s an exciting, busy, historic and connected place. East of Sulawesi, west of Papua and north of Ambon, it forms a sea junction of Indonesia and is, as such, an important centre of commerce. It was once a source of fabulous wealth in the Spice Islands\u2019 heyday and the port which much of the world\u2019s cloves, nutmeg and mace passed through when they were among the world\u2019s most valuable commodities (in a world without refrigeration, spice masked rotten tastes and made salted or dried food palatable).[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1515593851408{background-color: #faeee7 !important;}”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-3 vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-xs-12″ css=”.vc_custom_1515683270935{margin-top: 10% !important;margin-bottom: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

In the way of harbours the world over, it feels like there is something going on everywhere you look. People are coming and going, saying goodbye, doing deals, legitimate and shady. There are dodgy characters, hawkers and business people. Sailors taking suitably raucous shore leave. There is an air of fun, excitement and, if not quite illicitness, certainly something akin. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our taxi driving guide was a little concerned when I tried to disappear into the crowds alone and was visibly relieved he gathered us back together. Despite his concern I was largely left alone, save for some good-natured banter about my height and a few obligatory selfies. I was content in my reverie, thinking back to a short story by Somerset Maugham I read in my teenage years, dreaming of travel to places just like this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” parallax=”content-moving”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-lg-8 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_single_image image=”12749″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1515683085349{padding-top: 5% !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0 vc_col-lg-4 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]Before I was able to strike off on my own, I travelled in my imagination with writers like Somerset Maugham, Graham Green and Norman Lewis. There was something about the atmosphere they created: they evoked an Asia that has lingered on in imagination even as it fades from the page as modern life seeps through the cracks. It still exists though; that sense of encountering worlds unknown, as does the feeling in the reader that the best travel writers evoke.<\/p>\n

\"Visit<\/a><\/span>