The Superjumbo's Story

It was winter in 2009 when I had the chance to be on the upper deck of Superjumbo flight for the first time en route from Singapore to Paris. First impression: Very spacious! Moreover, the colourful Christmas decorations all over made it more like a house instead of just an aeroplane. Firstly launched into commercial flights in 2007, the Airbus A380 carrier has been claimed to have better performance and use less fuel, therefore supporting the 'eco-efficient' campaign.

Having been curious about the history of its birth, we visited Airbus hometown in Toulouse to discover the Airbus world. Reservation had to be made prior to the visit, either by phone or online. Initially, we planned to make a booking for combined tour of Jean-Luc Lagardère A380 and Concorde No. 1 but it was already full, so we took the single tour to Jean-Luc Lagardère A380 site for € 14 each as the second option. At the admission desk, we were required to leave our cameras behind as taking films and photographs are strictly prohibited within the site.

The 1,5-hour tour begins with the visit to telemetry room,  guided by a very chic lady, showing the programming of A380, and how it is like reading all the information shown in the cockpit. During the flight, about 280,000 parameters and flight data are recorded, which is transmitted to the telemetry room. Prior to its official launch, the aircraft had been tested in extreme weather conditions from the freezing environment to hot desserts. If I am not mistaken, it took more than thousands of tests before the first aircrafts are ready to be sent to the market. And where did these testers go? As expected, they were bought by Middle Eastern billionnaires, and even though Singapore Airlines became the first company to whom Airbus sold A380, it is Emirates that has become the number one customer in terms of purchasing volume, ensuring Airbus to manufacture more airliners.

We were informed about the corporate information as well as Airbus site of Toulouse. The Airbus A380 is a result of worksharing between four countries, i.e. France (cockpit, fuselage centre section, engine pylons, mobile parts of the wings), Germany (fuselage forward, aft sections, fin, flaps and the doors), Spain (tail cone, horizontal stabilizer, belly fairing, rudder and elevators), and UK (wings). It was amazing to see how the spare parts were transported from its manufacturing companies spreading all over Europe to the final destination using aeroplane, trucks, and ships. Airbus company even created a cargo aircraft Super Transporter A300-600 ST named Beluga specially to transport the spare parts of Airbus A380! The main A380 sections arrived from the manufacturing sites by:
- air transportation (for the cone and tail only),
- sea transportation to Pauillac,
- river transportation to Langon,
- road transportation to the JLL site by an oversized convoy itinerary.

Later, we were taken to the viewing platform to see the aircraft and its overall industrial process, i.e. general assembly, general tests. At the end of the process, there are three stages, namely:
- engine tests, where the aircraft is towed to the other part of the site for engine testing at the run-up facility and then to perform its first test flight
- cabin furnishing and painting, which is done in Hamburg, Germany
- delivery, the A380s are delivered from Hamburg or from Toulouse according to the customer.

At that time, three aircrafts were in the assembling process, one of which will be delivered to Korean Air as the logo had been completely painted. Approaching the end of the tour, we were guided to visit the A380 mock up. During this visit, a visitor posed a question concerning the standard design for A380 of different airlines. According to our guide, the design is made based on the requirement of each customer, therefore passengers will find quite a variety of cabin designs when using different airlines. She even added that Airbus once received fancy requests from their extremely rich individual customers, requiring entertainment facilities such as mini golf course on their private jet, and even a swimming pool!

The entrance of Airbus visit

Jean-Luc Lagardère site from afar

Interested in visiting Airbus sites? Here's the contact details.

Village Aèroconstellation - rue Franz Joseph Strauss

31700 Blagnac - France

Tèl. 00 33 (0)5 34 39 42 00

e-mail: reservation@taxiway.fr

Technical information in this post is derived from the Jean-Luc Lagardère site visit brochure. 

Suatu Pagi di Ereveld Menteng Pulo

Foto diambil dari sini

Sewaktu masih menetap di Jakarta, tidak jauh dari tempat kami tinggal terdapat kompleks pemakaman Belanda Ereveld Menteng Pulo. Karena unit yang kami tempati tidak menghadap langsung ke kompleks makam, maka saya tidak pernah tahu persis bagaimana rupa kompleks pemakaman tersebut, kecuali puncak bangunan utamanya yang tampak dari common area dan sepintas terlihat seperti kubah mesjid.

Akhirnya, pada satu kesempatan liburan ke Indonesia, kami menyempatkan diri untuk berkunjung. Didampingi oleh bapak penjaga makam, kamipun diajak berkeliling area pemakaman yang hijau dan asri. Bayangkan saja, dikelilingi oleh gedung-gedung tinggi, area pemakaman ini tampak bagaikan oase di tengah gurun, dengan rumput hijau yang terpotong rapi dihiasi nisan-nisan yang terbuat dari kayu dengan lambang beragam agama, dan sebuah bangunan gereja bergaya arsitektur Timur Tengah. Ternyata bangunan yang dulu saya sangka mesjid itu adalah sebuah gereja yang disebut Simultaan.

Menurut bapak penjaga makam, tempat ini diperuntukkan bagi korban perang pada masa Perang Dunia II sewaktu Jepang menduduki Hindia Belanda dan masa revolusi 1945-1949. Kompleks pemakaman dibangun oleh Lieutenant General Spoor, Komandan Tentara Belanda, pada tahun 1947, dan disini pulalah jasad beliau dimakamkan ketika meninggal pada tahun 1949. Di tempat ini, jenazah yang dimakamkan terdiri dari beragam agama, suku bangsa, dan warna kulit. Oleh karena itu, nisan-nisan putih yang tertanam ada yang melambangkan agama Islam, Kristen, Taoism, dan Yahudi. Bahkan, di bangunan utama juga terdapat empat menara yang puncaknya melambangkan keempat agama tersebut. Alangkah indahnya!

Selanjutnya, kami memasuki kompleks bangunan yang sangat asri. Ada dua bangunan, yang pertama adalah gereja, dan yang kedua disebut Columbarium, dimana sebuah kolam dihiasi bunga teratai terletak di tengah bangunan, sementara di ketiga sisi bangunan dengan pilar-pilar indah yang melambangkan siklus kehidupan serta keempat agama, terdapat botol-botol berisi abu lebih dari 700 orang jenazah tentara Belanda yang ditawan oleh Jepang.

Kamipun diajak naik ke puncak menara dan menyaksikan kompleks makam dari atas. Sungguh damai rasanya berada di tempat hijau nan asri ditengah-tengah belantara gedung tinggi Jakarta, dan terutama apabila mengingat begitu beragamnya suku bangsa, agama, dan ras jenazah yang dimakamkan disini. Tempat ini sepertinya dapat menjadi contoh yang sangat baik untuk pihak yang sering sekali memicu kericuhan dengan dalih agama ataupun kesukuan dimanapun, agar mereka dapat menumbuhkan toleransi beragama serta sadar akan buruknya pengaruh fanatisme yang picik. Kapan ya pihak-pihak yang dimaksud akan tersadarkan????

Di seluruh Indonesia, terdapat tujuh buah pemakaman Belanda, tersebar di Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang dan Surabaya yang kesemuanya dikelola langsung oleh Ooorlogsgraven Stichting atau Netherlands War Graves Foundation di The Hague, Belanda. Jadi, tidaklah heran apabila kondisi kompleks makam sangat terjaga dan terpelihara rapi. Makam ini tertutup untuk umum, kecuali orang-orang yang berkepentingan dan kerabat dari pihak yang dimakamkan disana. Izin mengunjungi Ereveld Menteng Pulo ini dapat diminta ke kantor perwakilan OGS di Indonesia yaitu:

Netherlands War Graves Foundation in Indonesia
Jl. Panglima Polim Raya 23
Kebayoran Baru - Jakarta 12160
Tel: +62 21 720 7983
Fax: +62 21 725 2986
Email: ogsindo@cbn.net.id

Terima kasih untuk bapak penjaga makam yang telah berbaik hati mengizinkan masuk sehingga kami dapat menikmati keindahan tempat ini dan sekaligus juga menambah pengetahuan. Informasi lanjut dapat dibaca disini.

Honiara: the betel-nut city

Solomon Islands impressed me from the moment I arrived at the immigration. The immigration officer took only less than 10 seconds to read my visa letter, put the expiry date and stamp my passport, unbelievable!!! The second thing was the heat...o la la...it was just too much!

Notice at the hospital and most public places in Honiara

Along the way from the airport to the city,  street vendors selling betel-nut almost in every corner were conspicuous. Yes, betel-nut are very common in Solomon Islands, consumed by men and women, anytime, anywhere. I was surprised to see how this habit persists and has marked most of the streets and public places with red spots spitted by everyone chewing betel-nut.

We spent two weeks in Honiara as my husband came for work purpose. Normally, I would have explored the city by myself using public transport but this time I couldn't because I hardly found any bus passing nearby the house and the weather as well as the terrain were just too challenging for me to walk.

After what seemed a long week for me, we managed to visit the Bonegi beach, where the Hirokawa Maru shipwrecks were located. The shipwrecks were not that far from the shore, so for non-divers like me, it was perfect. The ship is approximately 172 metres in length, starts about 3 metres of water and continues until 50-m depth. Together with a friend, I snorkeled around the wrecks and so much enjoyed the spectacular underwater beauty that I did not realize we had gone quite far. The moment I realized that we were at the area where it was so deep made me a little panic, though. It was my first time snorkeling around the shipwrecks and the life down there was amazing, like swimming in a huge aquarium. I felt a bit scary when seeing the wrecks' shadow, imagining what could be inside now and what happened years ago.

Hirokawa Maru wrecks at Bonegi 1 beach

Another sites we visited were the U.S. War Memorial and the Japanese Memorial, erected to pay tribute to the the victims of Guadalcanal Campaign during 1943 - 1944. The condition of both sites was extremely different since the Allied forces (mostly Americans) won the battle against the Japanese. The U.S. War Memorial was well taken care while the Japanese one seemed to be abandoned for long time. In relation to WWII remains, Honiara has become the graveyard for sunken ships, therefore some shores are called Iron Bottom Sound due to the sound of the wrecks spreading at the ocean floor.

U.S. War Memorial

Japanese War Memorial

Iron Bottom Sound with Savo island in the background

The most crowded market I have ever seen

Betel-nut street vendors

Bag shop, quite creative, isn't it?

In short, Honiara may not be the first option in your must-visit list, however it still has its charm, in a different way.

Two experiences which have most influenced my life

Inspired by my friend's posting here, I am tempted to write my own experience, too. Unlike him and some other friends, my scholarship hunts were started quite late, about two years after completing my degree at the university. Inadequate preparation took me nowhere, neither Chevening nor BGF, so I started the process all over again in 2006 for both, this time with sufficient preparation. I might write about this in other post.

Back to this post's title, I had two things in mind when reading that particular question. So here were my answers.

1. When I entered University.

Having been accepted at one of the leading-state institutes, majoring urban and regional planning, I felt very fortunate as I had the chance to learn with other best students from all over Indonesia and lectured by prominent scholars who are internationally recognised by their intellectual capacity as well as their practical expertise. I am certain that being a student in the concerned institution could be the gateway to my career achievement in the future.

Being a student at Ganesha Campus has been my dream since I was at junior high. My eternal dream was to secure a seat with Pharmacy department. It turned out that I chose different major. Nevertheless, I never regret my decision and eventhough I am not working in the field relevant to my degree at the moment, I am always grateful for my 4,5 years there.

2. When I started my employment with United Nations agency

My initial assignment with UN body that focuses its work on science, culture, and education in July 2003 was as an intern. Taking some time to adapt with the city where I currently live in, the working environment as well as the people of more than 10 nationalities, I soon learnt how to position myself in such situation and eventually have the benefit of working in the organisation. Furthermore, I was employed under minimum supervision thus, I have applied "learning by doing" and "learning by mistakes" approach which sometimes put me in difficult position yet challenging. Despite the hardships I have had during my tenure there, I believe that they have contributed to the development of practical skills, knowledge-gained, and psychological aspects of myself.

Living a working life with the people and atmosphere completely different from those I used to have in Bandung (at that time) was not easy for me. But since being part of the UN has been my other eternal dream since I was young, then the show must go on. Well, many things were not like my expectation, but there are always pros and cons, right? Today, when I look back, I am happy to say that I was once a part of it for four years where I got to know work in its real meaning, learnt lots of brand new things, found wonderful people whom I call friends, had fun and exciting trips with them, got to know the city life with the Jakartans, immersed with other cultures, and last but not least, where I found my other half.

When I compared these answers to the previous ones for the same application that I made two years before, it made me laugh. They were incomparable! Anyway, those answers, together with others, have conspired to help me win the scholarship after one year of preparation, Alhamdulillah.

But if I had to answer the same question again today, I surely would need more than just "two". If you were asked the same, then what would be yours?

A leisurely stroll at Château de Villandry

Vegetable garden with Château de Villandry in the background

 It was his idea to visit at least one of the infamous Châteaux des la Loire whenever we are in France. I definitely said yes, who wouldn’t? On one sunny day, off we went to Villandry, known by its stunning gardens. Villandry is the last château built on the Loire banks during the Renaissance period by Jean le Breton, completed in 1536. Throughout history, the gardens of Villandry have been evolving under the influence of love-hate relationship between the French and English. I say that due to the fact that its traditional gardens were destroyed on the 19^th century to be replaced by English-style park. However, Joachim Carvallo, who bought the castle in 1906 decided to restore the castle and bring back the old French traditional gardens that we marvel at today.

There are seven gardens in total, and each of them has a different theme. We paid €6 each for the garden tour only. The first garden we visited was the Ornamental garden, symbolizing different meaning of love, i.e. tender love, passionate love, fickle love and tragic love. We did not really pay attention on the shapes in the beginning, but when we read the brochure and saw the garden pattern again, the pattern did speak out the meaning. You will have a perfect view from the belvedere, the remains of ancient fortress, overlooking the gardens. We decided to skip the woods, and proceeded to the water garden, a pond in the form of Louis XV mirror surrounded by lime trees. Next stop was the sun garden, which are divided into three different areas, the cloud room, the sun room, and the children’s room, represented by different varieties of plants.

Later, we joined a group of children in the maze, immersing ourselves for a while with the hornbeam, and found our way out towards the herb garden. You may even smell the fresh basil and mints from few metres away. There is not much to see in the herb garden as it is quite small compared to other gardens, so we continued to walk to the vegetable garden. The garden is made up of nine squares which are filled with vegetables of different colours to create the illusion of a multi-coloured chessboard.

Gardens of Villandry

The Carvallo family, the owner, must have made such a great effort to maintain their beautiful palace. Every year, about 250,000 individual flowers and vegetables are planted, 50% of which are prepared in their own glasshouses. When we were there last summer, most of the vegetables and fruits were not ready to harvest yet their beautiful huge roses were blooming everywhere, superb!

See you again at our next château tour!

Château de Villandry – 37510 Villandry, France

www.chateauvillandry.com

E-mail: info@chateauvillandry.com   

Land diving experience in Pentecost Island

At the end of June, we had visitors coming to Vila and so we planned to have a weekend getaway out of Efate. First option, the popular Tanna volcano, was declined due to its current increasing volcanic activities. As we were working on the plan B, the idea to see the infamous land diving ritual in Pentecost island came up. At the beginning, I was not quite enthusiastic with it, knowing that we would have to pay a lot for day return chartered flight to Pentecost. Nevertheless, we went to the airline office to check the price and seat availability for the flight.

Luckily, we were informed that Air Vanuatu offer a land diving package for VUV 44,000 or equal to AUD 400 per person, including return tickets (approximately cost VUV 22,000), 2 nights accomodation plus meals, refreshments, return transfer to the airport in Pentecost, fee to enter the jump site (VUV 8,000) and camera fee. This option is taken as the four of us are not willing to spend a lot of money only for a day trip to Pentecost, hence we have to make the most of our time while we are there. Again, we are lucky as the land diving ritual takes place once a week every Saturday from early April to end of June and the ritual we are going to see will be the last one for this year!

Upon arrival at the Lonorore airport on Saturday morning, we waited for the other tourists who came with the chartered flight and some others who came with their yacht. We walked for few minutes to the jump site, where some men were preparing the ritual. Land diving is a custom in the southern Pentecost, an original version of bungee jumping, where men jump from a 20-40 metre manmade tower with the vines tied to their ankles and land at soft soil ground. The tower takes about five to six weeks to build using the tree trunks and can be used several times. There were ten divers, all men, ready to jump from different heights. The first jump was done by a boy from the lowest point, and followed by the others with increasing heights. A group of men and women sang and danced with excitement, encouraging the diver who was ready to jump. It was spectacular!

The custom dance

Land diving or commonly known as naghol celebrates the yam harvest and is a fertility rite for men. It is originated from the legend about a woman who fled from her husband and hid in a tree. Tamale, her husband, chased her and begged her to go down. As she refused, Tamale climbed the tree and when he reached the top, she jumped. Tamale was shocked and therefore he followed, only to realise that his wife had tied the vines to her ankles. Nowadays, only men do this rite to show the women that they cannot be tricked again. When the divers jump, they curl up their head and touch the earth, understood as the symbol in making the land fertile for the following year's yam crop.

When the rite finished about one hour later, we were supposed to be picked up by the truck from Noda Guesthouse. As we were waiting for the truck, a couple approached us. Surprisingly, they brought the message from the guesthouse owner to collect us since the river was flooded and therefore the truck could not go through, so they planned to take us along with their....YACHT!!!! The couple, who are very friendly and kindhearted, are on their way cruising the South Pacific ocean with their yacht since last year. Few minutes later, we boarded a very nice yacht cruising for about one hour to our destination. We were so excited as none of us has ever been on a yacht before :D

The transport, the guest house, and local veggies

The first night we had Melanesian feast where the couple and their two friends came along to join. It was a traditional meal with local vegetables, taro, chicken and a whole small pig! We managed to be the first in the queue and took the chicken, which was, fortunately, cooked separately from the pig. Lessons learnt, we should seek the information about the type of food to be served prior to attending any kind of feast next time. Nevertheless, we are satisfied with the guesthouse and would recommend anyone interested in visiting Waterfall village to stay at Noda Guesthouse.

We spent the rest of the days wandering around the village and visiting the beautiful Waterfall Falls. We left the village on Monday afternoon by boat that took us to the airport. What a wonderful weekend getaway, discovering another beauty of Vanuatu islands!

A glimpse of Waterfall Village, South Pentecost

Note: land diving (Naghol) package tour between April and June every year can be booked through Air Vanuatu.

The sea turtle's story

We just arrived at the house after having nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Honiara, when our friend spotted something similar to a sea turtle laid in the neighbour's yard. It was dark so we were not so sure what it really was. The next morning, we realized that IT IS a sea turtle -no idea from which species- now covered with a mat. When a lady passed by, she hit it with a thin stick so I could see its flippers moving...poor animal! Not long after that, they took the turtle somewhere out of sight.

Despite the intensive campaign in preserving sea turtles as endangered species, hunting and human fishing practices have contributed to the decline of their population. Particularly in the Solomon Islands, turtles have been hunted for centuries by the islanders as their food. The demands also come for the turtles' skin, eggs, and beautiful shells. Since sea turtle population plummeted, the Solomon Islands government totally banned the export of turtle shells. However, the hunting is still going on, an obvious evidence that was seen right before our eyes on that day.

It was ashamed that we could not do anything to save the turtle, unlike our dear friend who did the real action to save them. We hail you as the real conservationist, mbak...

If you want to know more about sea turtles, just click here!

Picture is taken from here.

When you get to know more about this wonderful creature, then you will realize how difficult their life have been due to improper actions done by us, humans. Therefore, it is also our responsibility to save them from extinction.

Around Gaua in 5 days

Finally, I had the chance to visit the island other than Efate, i.e. Gaua Island in Torba Province, thanks to my current job. It is one of the remote provinces in the northern islands and is prone to volcanic hazards of Mt. Garet.

In front of our chartered flight to Gaua

After being stranded for one night in Luganville, Espiritu Santo due to sudden flight cancellation which is very common here, we flew the next morning to Gaua using 6-seater chartered flight called Air Taxi. The flight was smooth, although the bad weather and heavy rain scared me a bit, as it was my first experience seating on such a small Cessna plane flying low over the Vanuatu islands. After 35 minutes flying, we arrived in Gaua airfield before 10 o'clock. As the plane was landing, out of nowhere, people came and gathered around the airfield watching the plane to land on the grass. This may be commonly seen in small islands everywhere, but since I have never been to small islands using plane before, I found it very interesting.

We stayed in one of the bungalow near the airfield, called Wongras bungalow. The owner, Charles, lives with his wife and six children. Following a nice lunch, we decided to commence the work by visiting nearby villages and taking necessary data. Roughly four hours of the first day were spent wandering in the biggest village, Namasari. The second day, we started the island tour by boat since the island’s rugged topography does not allow us to travel by land, so off we went heading north to start the journey on one clear morning. I was amazed when we visited one village called Bushman Bay, inhabited by a family of six only. For me, it is really hard to imagine living in such a remote place without seeing anyone other than your parents and siblings.

There are seven villages we visited, some of which are located high up on the hills. Often, we had to climb, even crawl, due to slippery steep terrain in order to get to the village. Don’t ask me how the locals deal with that. While we managed to climb the steps slowly with the fear of sliding down the hill, the locals who followed us were moving in a fast speed while chatting with their friends or chanting as if they were walking on the flat shiny tiles.

The steep path on the way back from Koro village

In one beautiful village named Koro, we had a spectacular view overlooking the South Pacific Ocean. However, it is extremely difficult to access the village from the sea, let alone from other villages.  Most of the western part of the island is bordered with the Coral Sea and that literally means the sea is full of corals. Our boat had difficulties to anchor as it hit the corals few times but finally the boat driver managed to find a way where the boat could pass among the beautiful yet dangerous corals.

One of our concern was the presence of schools, and in Koro, the nearest school is located in Dorig. Let me tell you what the word ‘nearest’ means. First, the school children have to travel by sea, otherwise they will spend many hours walking from their village to Dorig. Secondly, when they arrive in Dorig, they have to climb as the school is located uphill. Last but not least, a boat is a luxury in the island. Therefore, I am not surprised if most of the people do not go to school. It is not because they do not want to. Alas, it is merely too complicated for the parents to send their children to school.

Our next stop is Biam village, the most remote village in the island as well as the place for us to stay overnight since it is not possible to travel by sea at night time. There were three women in our group, so we were given the privilege to stay at the church guesthouse, a simple hut with three rooms. The communities in Biam treated us very well. They even gave us new mattresses which were just delivered by ship the day before. Prior to our departure for the island, I was told by my colleague to be prepared in case we need to sleep on the ground. In fact, while we slept on the new mattress that night, most of the communities slept on the ground of their home. How about the toilet? It is just next to the hut. You may think that it is a separate hut, right? Apparently, the toilet is everywhere around the hut. When nature calls, find a bush toilet.

The church guesthouse

In fact, it is better to use the outside toilet as there is less risk of being bitten by fire ants which are often found inside the houses. The fire ants are almost invisible but once they bite, you will feel the burn sensation, awful, isn’t it?  One of our colleagues used the toilet inside one of the houses and later she realized that she was bitten by fire ants. So, she ran down the hill and plunged herself into the sea to stop the pain. When we asked the houseowner why she did not tell us that there are fire ants inside the house, she calmly replied that it is normal for them and do not think that fire ants’ bites are serious. Until we left the village, we couldn’t stop discussing how they manage to live with those little monsters wandering in their premises. 

Another funny thing is when we asked for a bucket of water to shower. The villagers do not have the concept of taking a shower since they consider swimming in the sea with their clothes on as a kind of shower activity. Therefore, when we tried to take shower in a very smelly place where they put the copra -it was the only feasible place for us to take a shower- a group of children followed us and got closer since they were curious of what we were doing. They remained there observing us until we called their mothers so that we could take a quick shower without being watched. What an experience!

For dinner, I had rice and nalot, a traditional dish made from cassava boiled in coconut milk with grilled coconut crumbs on top. Here in Vanuatu, the staple food varies between yam, cassava, taro, since rice is rare to get. Once they have rice, then they will eat them altogether on one plate, just like what we had, a pile of rice, nalot, instant noodle, all were served at one meal!

The night in Biam was serene since we only heard nothing but the waves and sea breeze drifting us to sleep. Wonderful, isn't it? In the morning, we left early around 6.30 am to continue our journey to Dorig village, where we met a group of intelligent women who were very critical, even the men were nothing compared to them. We received a lot of feedback about the work thanks to their brilliant comments and questions.

With the women in Dorig village

On the third day, on the way back to the east, we saw the spectacular Devil’s Point, a giant pile of lava created by the eruptions in the past. It is a taboo area, so we were not allowed to talk or point our fingers while passing. Combined with the rough Pacific Ocean, the view was just amazing and at the same time scary! Unexpectedly, the sky turned grey and few minutes later, it rained heavily. Initially there were seven of us on the boat, but since some ill villagers asked for a ride to the health centre in Namasari, so we went along with seven additional passengers, including a baby.  The weather became worse and there was no sign that the rain was going to cease. I was scared since the wave was getting wild, reaching approximately 2-metre high and the heavy rain made it worse. The visibility was very low as we could not even see the coast. We were all wet due to both the rain and the rough wave splashing all over the boat. I was so afraid that the wave could turn the boat upside down or even break the boat into two and suddenly, when the boat driver tried to slow the speed, a big wave hit the boat and our friend who sit at the boat’s nose fell down. We were so panicked and worried about him. Luckily, as he held tight the anchor rope, he was not swept away by the wild wave. After some time, I did not know exactly how long we were in that scary situation, our prayers were heard. The rain stopped and we continued the journey directly to the village, cancelling the initial plan. All we wanted to do was to go straight to the bungalow and called it a day.

The day before we left Gaua, we decided to go to Lake Letas, the largest freshwater lake in Vanuatu. We left at 8 am with our local guide, passing the coconut plantation, entering the jungle, crossing the giant banyan tree tunnel, and after four hours of walking we arrived at the lake, welcomed by this view.

Lake Letas with Mt. Garet in the background

Unfortunately, we could not cross the lake to go to the mountain as the boat was broken. So, we stayed by the lake and had our lunch there.

I was so excited about leaving Gaua on the last day. However, when we boarded the plane and saw the villagers at the airfield waiting for the plane to take off, I could not resist my tears from falling, thinking of how the villagers live their life in the village, especially those who live in the remote villages that we visited few days before. If only they knew that there is better life out there, beyond their imagination. Hey, but who am I, dare to say that our life in the city is much better than theirs in the village? After what I have seen, I personally think that life in big city maybe hard, but living in such a remote village is even unthinkable for me. At the end, it is just the matter of practice and adaptation that help us to survive. Well, another eye-opening journey about the life in a remote village.

See you again in the next adventure!

Next destination...

We were so thrilled when receiving the good news, Alhamdulillah. Our next stop is now confirmed and it is exactly the one we have been dreaming of *absolutely happy*. We like living in the country where we are now, but after what had happened in the past few months, we decided to think again about prolonging our stay here.

May Allah bless us in every way, wherever we are, and may He grants us health and protection as always..aamiinn.

Soon, we'll bid farewell to South Pacific and say hello again to South East Asia, insya Allah.