We sailed from Sape with a medium-size-motorized-wooden-boat. It was crowded with people, mostly foreigners. You couldn’t ask about safety. As soon as the boat leave the dock, our life solely depended on the Grace of God. It was the longest 7 hours in my life until now.

But it was worth it. Komodo Island wasn’t all about the living ancient creatures. It had the most beautiful underwater sceneries. I’ve dived in Raja Ampat and Gili, but personally, my best experience was in Komodo.

I saw before me the mountainous landscape which looked like it was untouched for thousand of years. The dust. The wind. The trees. They all looked prehistoric.

As our wooden boat crossed the sea, 3-meters-tall-waves crashed the side of the boat. I never felt more alive.

Regards,
Bintang Pramodana

I took my friends all the from Jakarta in our Java Trip. We stayed the night at Malang before riding some travel car to catch the dawn at Mt. Pananjakan. It was cold and humid, the oxygen was thin. Your bones were aching, your lungs tried so hard to catch extract the oxygen from every breath. When the first light finally out, your eyes blinked, like it was the view your eyes waited the whole time.

We crossed the dessert and climbed all the way to the top of Mt. Bromo afterwards. You could rent the horses too. The wind took the sand to the sky. Partly obstructed our view. There were stairs from the bottom of the mountain. You tasted the sand on your tongue.

Once again you found yourself speechless as you reached the top, breathing dust, and captivated by the breathtaking scenery before you. You felt free again.

Bintang Pramodana

the tourists crossed the dessert after hiking Bromo

You can hike the mountain by foot or by riding a horse

A lot of people has been taking this angle for years but somehow it still looks beautiful

Landscape around Bromo is mountaineus as seen from Mt. Pananjakan

We tried to climb our way up against the wind and dust

Morning at Ciater

Masuk bersama, lulus bersama, naik bersama, turun pun harus bream

That day, we should’ve had been in the faculty, doing a routine test to judge whether we’ve had the competence to practice as a doctor, but instead, we hiked to the top of Mt. Gde, to test ourselves for something more important than the s0-called-competentcy-scores: understanding ourselves.

The experience reminded us that we were just mere human, not some kind of people with a superhuman power to heal. No.

And as the sun rose from the east, a bond was created between us.

Regards,

Bintang Pramodana, MD

sunrise at the top of the mountain

There will be no hotel, not even a hostel. We can sleep at a local house. The host will also provide us 3 home-made meals a day, usually fish and seafood. By visiting we also help them economically.

Not only we can enjoy the beauty of sunset and sunrise, the white sand and blue water, we can also go caving if you look for a little bit of adventure.

In other words, a great escape!

Regards,

Bintang Pramodana

The sun began to set

Enjoy the sunset for yourself, heaven

Enjoy,

Bintang Pramodana

Red

purple haze

Isolation

yellow

Friends forever

Tapi lupakan itu semua. Coba nikmati upacara adat ini dari potongan gambar-gambar saat itu.

Salam,

Bintang Pramodana

Menunggu dimulai

Pagi di sebuah dermaga di Wasior

Did we look alike?

Semakin saya melihat-lihat lagi stock foto saya selama di Papua, semakin terasa tidak ada habisnya foto-foto yang ingin saya publish. Ditambah lagi dengan makin santernya berita rakyat Papua ingin merdeka. Indonesia memang sering menjadi konsep yang asing buat mereka. Jangan sepenuhnya menyalahkan mereka. Pendidikan tidak berjalan seperti di kota. Transportasi dan birokrasi adalah kisah yang menambah ruwet keadaan.

Sebagian besar foto-foto ini adalah pasien-pasien atau keluarga-keluarga mereka. Wajah mereka memang keras, tapi senyum mereka tetap tulus. Di sebuah puskemas pembantu (pustu) di Timika juga saya bertemu dengan seorang wanita yang dugaan saya adalah istri dari pimpinan OPM yang beberapa sebelumnya tertembak TNI, Kelly Kwalik. Seorang wanita paruh baya yang pada akhirnya harus berjuang hidup sendiri tanpa suami.

Apakah rakyat Papua akan benar-benar bisa bangkit seperti saudara-saudara mereka di Barat Indonesia? Saya tidak berani menjawabnya. Satu yang saya berani bilang: I have Javanese blood, Sumateran mind, and Papuan heart.

Salam,

Bintang Pramodana

Saya mencoba menangkap beberapa kenangan saya selama di sana, dan bercerita dengan foto-foto ini.

Salam,

Bintang Pramodana

bertelanjang dada

Dengan ingus yang "menggantung" di hidung, pada anak-anak inilah masa depan Papua