Diamonds In The Southern Sky

Albizia Akbar
Aug 31, 2018 · 4 min read

Sometimes, we forget that the universe hides a lot of treasures behind its mysterious beauty. Though the treasures are everywhere, we often failed to see them. Maybe we are too busy with life or simply don’t care at all. Nevertheless, to find those splendors could be a fantastic experience.

One day, I met one of that treasures, it was amazing and here’s the story.

It was all began when I was bored to death in the middle of semester break. Then came one idea: let’s have a trip to Dieng, Wonosobo! I’ve been craving for a holiday since a long time ago, and Dieng offers a lot of features that I enjoy the most: cool weather, green scenery, and Mie Ongklong, the best local food you could find there. Also in Dieng, I heard about one special thing that I could witness.

One special thing. The treasure. More on that, later.

I asked two of my friends to come with me as well. They said yes and agreed to join, fortunately. Then the itinerary was finally set, jackets were packed, shoes were tied, and we were ready to hit the road. I was drowning in excitement.

So, the journey started. From Jakarta, we took a train at night from Pasar Senen Station, straight to Purwokerto Station. It was an eight hours of trip. When we arrived in Purwokerto in the morning, one of the local driver then called us, offered a ride to the bus station so that we could continue to go to Dieng from there. He said it would cost 2 dollars. We nodded and jumped into the car.

It was one and a half hour before we arrived in Wonosobo Bus Station. A lot of minibus had been ready to take us to Dieng. Another two dollars was spent for the trip that took estimately two hours long.

Along the road, I realized why Dieng is often called as a place above the cloud. It is because the mist that cover all over the place. With the combination of green scenery of rice field and tea plantation, the cool breeze, and the fog that looked like a cloud, it made Dieng as if it is placed high up to the sky. In fact, Dieng is one of the villages with the highest altitude. It is located at 2,000 metres above the sea level. Finally, we arrived in Dieng.

After a little break, we continued our journey. This time, we were going to see Dieng temples and Telaga Warna lake. Only five minutes from where we were staying, the temples were simply amazing. The signage board explained that the temples were built in the 7th century, back in Hindunese kingdom era, made it as one of the oldest temples in Indonesia.

The more I know!” I wondered.

It was mid-day already but the weather was not hot at all; such a rare in this tropical country. From the temple complex, we had Mie Ongklong for lunch before heading to Telaga Warna Lake, which only two kilometres away. There, we saw a lake that mysteriously has a blue water. Legend said that the blueness caused by the angels that take a bath there. Well, in fact, it is because the water contains high concentration of sulfur, so when the sunlight hit the surface, the color of the lake’s water changed into blue.

Then came the night. I finally said to my friends about my real intention of this trip. I told them that one special thing I’d been craving for. Unfortunately, Mie Ongklok made us sleepy and a day long of walking made us exhausted. My friends said they were just gonna sleep instead. Too bad.

They left me with no choice, I had to go alone. Then I walked by myself in the dark night. I was taking this road heading to Bukit Sikunir. After minutes of walking, I finally reached the place. I was so lucky because the sky is clear and there was no light pollution that might blocking me to see what I am looking for.

Then, I looked up to the sky, a bit to the southern side from where I stood. It was there, the treasure. I was so lucky.

It was so mesmerizing that I was hoping everyone could drop anything they were doing right then, so they could see the scene I was watching and get excited together. I found the treasure, they were diamonds in the sky: the stars, the moons, the planets, that lied beautifully in the Milky Way.

My imagination then flying away, reaching those stars. I started to ask myself some existential questions like: how big is the universe? What are the purpose of my life? Are we alone in this humongous universe? What if we are NOT alone? Both of them are simply equally terrifying.

I then remember Carl Sagan’s quote. I imagined how the late astrophysicist narrating the legendary episode of Cosmos, a favorite TV show of mine. “Look at that blue pale dot,” said Sagan — I imagined looking myself from the outer space.

“That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.”

I suddenly realized that — like Sagan ever said — everyone I love, everyone I know, everyone I ever heard of, and every human being who ever was, lived out their lives in here. In a pale blue dot swimming in the ocean of stars.

To live and to breathe the oxygen right at that moment, I realized that nothing I could do better than — quoting Sagan — ‘to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home I’ve ever known.’

The night was late. I was not satisfied yet, but I needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow, we were planning to visit some other places, so I needed to spare some stamina. I was walking back to my room with smile on my lips, couldn’t stop to look back at the sky.

That travel made me contemplate about life, remind me about valuable things that I have to be grateful for. “I’ve found the treasure,” I smiled.

Albizia Akbar

Written by

West Java delegate for Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program 2018. Follow my AIYEP related story here