A Modern Traveler's Tale

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Friday, September 24, 2010 | flickr photos

The very essence for traveling for me is to reignite the senses that I had lost during my everyday life; to feel fear and insecurity, to be curious and learning about all the things that happens around me and to be liberated after I had concluded the journey, however there are more to traveling aside becoming a stranger in a strange land. It is to see and document the impact of the traveling.

In May 2010 I had the chance to travel to the Lesser Sunda, the region which includes the small islands and sea around the West and East Timor of Indonesia. I must say while the view is breathtaking, the transformation of the was the one which captivated me . Consider Bali as one end and Lampung as the other end, Lesser Sunda would be in the middle of this transformation. While progress had bring hopes, jobs and sometimes better income source to the people in the area, it is not being followed by comparable sustainable living. This unsustainable living, creeping of capitalism will have gradual effect on the cultures and the people’s way of life. Imagine an island, where all the energy is harvested from generator to pump up amplifier every night and taking all the ground water supply for the beach front resort. All of this unfortunately are things which happens not only in the Lesser Sunda and but also all over Indonesia and South-East Asia in particular.

One of the factors that contribute to this is of course us, the travelers. We set the standard of conformity on the places we go, often forget that there the lands and people that changed because of us. Something had to be done about this and by writing this and entering the scholarship is one of the step necessary to convey the message I believe.