Dreams To Be Realized

When I was 5, my father took me to a place 300 km away from home. We spent 5 hours on the bus, and then walked 3 hours through hills and valleys to a small village where he was born. I still remember the moment clearly. It was my first time travel to the awesome countryside in 1994.

The city I’ve been living in has many unique spots to find out and interesting place to explore. When I was in elementary school, I preferred to play kite in the afternoon and caught the betta fish in swamp than went to a shopping center or playground zone. Every Sunday morning, I rode my bicycle to the beach near the harbor and then swam into the sea. I and my father spent some weekends fishing in an island 30 minutes away from the city. Sometimes, I hunted fishes alone in the river using my traditional bow.

Lincoln Hall wrote his stories surviving Everest into a book “Dead Lucky”, I read that. I Watched the Guardian, a film about the beach guards in USA who risked their life to safe others, and I fall in love to the true story from Nando Parrado, a hero who walked two weeks to find rescue after spending almost 3 months surviving from the airplane crash in the Andes mountain. Their stories open my mind to see the world and drive me in into my life time passion, traveling.

I study in university and live 1.800 miles from home now. Since then, I trekked 4 days to attend an invitation letter of my friend’s wedding on Mount Semeru’s summit (3.676 meters). I spent a week in Mount Welirang to meet sulfur miners who climb to the top of the mountain looking for sulfur to earn money. I was on a bike, riding 17 hours and stopped in 6 villages to capture photos of the traditional dancers performed for the old dancer maestros, entertaining and sharing happiness to the villagers in Valentine’s Day.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page – Saint Augustine”. The previous stories are my first page, and I will write my 2, 3, 4, and the next pages with my stories.