After graduating from medical school I decided to join the Indonesian health department's program to serve people in remote areas where more medical professionals, like doctors, nurses, dentists or midwifes, are desperately needed. These areas are spread over 31 provinces of Indonesia and the most isolated province is Papua, located at the most eastern part of Indonesia.

As an Indonesian, I have heard stories about Papua and the indigenous people known as the Dani tribe. Since I was a child these stories never failed to amaze me and I told my self that I must visit this place.

My Journey begun in April 2009, after I was chosen to serve in Jayawijaya, with three other doctors. Jayawijaya is an administrative city in the heart of the Papuan Highlands. This place is also known as The Baliem Valley, which is famous internationally for its annual cultural festival. However, the locals have named this city Wamena. There is no road access to Wamena, the only way to reach this place is by air. 

After an eight-hour flight from Jakarta to Jayapura, the capital city of Papua, we continued with another flight in a small airplane for an hour and finally landed in Wamena, tired but excited.

The fresh cold air welcomed me as soon as I stepped out from the plane, reminding me of my hometown Bogor. Soon, I realised this land deserves its title as a piece of paradise. Wamena city is located at approximately 1,600 metres above sea level, but there are some distance villages that can be found at 2,500 metres above sea level or higher.

I spent a year working in Papua, but every day felt like I was on holiday. An amazing view of the mountains greeted me every morning. Driving through a river, due to a broken bridge, and crossing a land slid were daily activities needed to get to work. Climbing hills and trekking for hours to visit remote villages were part of my job. This place feed my hunger for adventure that I could not fulfil when I was still in medical school.

I admit that working as a medical professional in such a remote place was really challenging, physically and mentally but the experience I gained was precious. Limited medical supplies and facilities were problems I faced every day and required me to be more creative to be able to deliver effective medical services to the Papuan people. The lack of administrative personnel meant that I, not only worked as a doctor, but also as a secretary and an accountant for the medical clinic I was assigned. Long hours spent working couldn't be  avoided however, as a bonus I got to visit some beautiful places. This included some tourist attractions, like  the mummy and White Sand Hill in the Kurulu district.

My journey as a doctor in Papua gave me more than I expected. Not only did I gain experience as a doctor but I also had a wonderful journey. The three other doctors have become my friends for life and I made good relationships with the locals, some of them became my other family.

I can not express enough my gratitude to the Manuputty family, who gave me a place to stay in Papua, They welcomed me and made me part of their family. Because of their hospitality, my one year stay in the middle of Papua was much more enjoyable.

There are some hotels and restaurants in Wamena city for tourists, but if you want to immerse yourself deeper into the indigenous people's lifestyle, you are also welcome to stay in one of the villages. Then you can experience sleeping in honai (Papuan traditional hut) and eating bakar batu (a traditional meal cooked on hot rocks). Ask the travel agency in Wamena to arrange this for you.

Unlike most parts of Indonesia, Wamena has a much colder climate because it is located at a high altitude. Therefore, prepare warm clothing and a warm sleeping bag if you plan to stay in the villages. Malaria is common in all regions of Papua, please consult your doctor for suitable preventative medicine one month before leaving your home country. You should also prepare some insect repellant for both mosquitos and pig flees.

What a privilege that I was able to work in this amazing place. Hopefully, one day I will have the chance to come back and serve people in this area again.

In 2010, I traveled from Jakarta to Pulau Pramuka (Scout Island), which one of the many islands collectively called the Thousand Island archipelago, in Indonesia. For the first time in my life, I was not involved in planning this three day-trip, thanks to my friend Christine who planned everything.

I did not expect much from this trip because I had heard some bad reviews about the Island. Many people said that this Island has lost its beauty because it's dirty and has too many tourists. Well now I can say that this Island is still worth visiting, and compared to its more famous neighbouring Islands, Pramuka Island has less visitors so you will still be able to get away from the crowd.

I had just lost my beloved father a few months before this trip, so I decided to take my mum and brothers, to  make this our first family trip without my father. 

We started our journey early in the morning since we had to catch the boat from Muara Angke at 7am. Unfortunately someone in our group, did not get off the bus at the correct stop, so we were running late. As a result we arrived at Muara Angke a few minuets after 7am, and the boat to Pramuka Island had already left.  So we had to wait for the next boat which was scheduled for 2pm. 

My mum had a brilliant idea to cheer me up, since waiting is my biggest weakness. She bought a bucket of fresh prawns from a fisherman who just came back from his late night fishing trip and asked the local Indomie-warung (Indonesian noodles stall) to steam them. Those who know how much I love eating seafood, will understand how my mum's treat worked like magic to change my mood. Thanks to her, waiting at crowded, messy, and hot Muara Angke port did not feel so bad.

There are two ways to go to Pramuka Island on public transport from Jakarta. The first option is through Muara Angke port via a traditional ferry boat. The second option is through Ancol Marina speed boat, which is faster but more expensive.

Muara Angke is a local fishing port that is really busy and polluted. If you come on time for your boat you will not have to spend a lot of time at the port. However, I found that our experience waiting at Muara angke was precious. We got to see the local daily activities and we learned that traditional fishing boats are unique, for example boats for fishing squid have a lot of lanterns all over them, because squid are attracted to light.

After waiting almost six hours, we finally boarded the ferry, and opened our packed lunch. As we were eating the crew announced that the boat will soon leave to Tidung Island. That was not our destination so we got up  and jumped off the boat.

Luckily, another ferry turned up and after making sure this was the right one, we boarded.

The journey to Pramuka Island took about two hours. We arrived at the Island around 4 pm, tired but excited. The first thing that I noticed was the clear blue water, I could even see fish swimming around our boat. Our local tour guide welcomed us at the harbour, and he said that he had already prepared our afternoon tea.

We went for a walk around the Island and enjoyed the sunset, while we were waiting for our dinner to be prepared. My brother went fishing from the wharf and caught a fish. We watched a local kid catch some squid with just a line and small hook. Some local people went spear-fishing around the wharf at high tide.

The next day we went snorkelling, and visited some other islands around Pramuka Island. We went on a small traditional boat that took us around Thousand Island archipelago.

It was a great trip. 

I was born in Bogor and lived in this city for six years during my secondary school. I love this city so much, for its cold temperature and its yummy food.

Bogor used to be known as Buitenzorg (Dutch) is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located 60 kilometres south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Bogor is also known as the city of rain (Indonesian: kota hujan) as its frequent shower even during the dry season. Compare to the other cities in Indonesia, Bogor has quite cold climate and more humid as it's surrounded by Mountains. Bogor, famous  for its botanical garden (Indonesian: Kebun Raya Bogor). It is one of the oldest and the biggest botanical gardens in the world. It is located next to the presidential palace where you can find thousand of dear live freely in the garden.

Bogor also famous because of the richness of its culinary. Many domestic tourists visited Bogor only to taste the food. Sundanese and Chinese are the majority population in Bogor so anywhere you go in Bogor you can find mix of Sundanese and Chinese restaurants or food stalls. 

Jalan Surya Kencana
One of the best place to go to taste some of Bogor unique delicacy like: Ngoh yang, Soto-mie Agih  and Soto mie Ciseeng (pork soup noodle); Soto kuning; Lo-mie (thick noodle soup with pork); Gado-gado (Indonesian mixed vegetable with peanut sauce); Ba-cang; toge goreng (traditionally stir fried bean sprout); sate babi (pork satai); is Jalan Surya Kencana (Surya Kencana Street). This street is unique - one-way street who dedicate it self to culinary lover. You can park anywhere along the left side of the road and walk along the street and choose what ever you want to eat from any food stall and then chose one of the restaurants to sit and order drinks (you can also order food from the restaurants). Don't forget to tell the food seller in which restaurant you will be waiting for your food.

Rumah Makan Dunia Baru (Dunia Baru Restaurant)
Sells varieties of chinese food. If you haven't tasted frogs (Indonesian: kodok), and brave enough to try, this restaurant makes really yummy frogs dish, like: Kodok goreng kecap (fried frogs with soya sauce); kodok goreng mentega (fried frog with butter sauce); kodok sayur asin (frog with vegetable). If you like deep fried food, try usus babi goreng kecap (deep fried pork intestine with soya sauce). This restaurant also sells many other Indo-chinese food like: cap cay (stir fry mixed vegetable).

I will add the address later.

Rumah Makan Sahabat (Yun Sin)
JL. Jendral Sudirman No. 12 Bogor (0251) 8325 195, (0251) 8347 488
Located near the presidential palace, this place really easy to find. This restaurant sells variety of home made noodle that has it unique taste. If you noodle lover like me, this one is a must try. However, some people found the taste not as they expected. Well like I said, their noodle is unique.

Istana Bogor (The Presidential Palace)
Located at Jalan Juanda no 1, Bogor, Indonesia, just across the road from my high school ( SMA Regina Pacis) :)
The gardens of the palace covers an area of 284,000 square metres. The palace is decorated with an extensive art collection (448 paintings, 216 sculptures and 196 ceramics), 90% of which were accumulated by Sukarno. The original historic collection of the palace was looted by Japanese and Allied force during WW2, leaving nothing but 5 mirrors in the palace. What interesting from this palace is you can find spotted dear roaming freely on the palace garden.

Kebun Raya Bogor (Botanical Garden)
Located at the same block as the presidential palace. It covers an area of 87 hectares (210 acres) and contain 13,983 different kinds of trees and plants of various origin.