The View From My Office Window

A few days ago I got a call from Data Dian (at left.) There was a very sick nine month old baby that needed to get to a hospital. I was a long way from Data Dian, in an entirely different area where we fly. But there were only two of us flying at the time (the other planes were down for maintenance,) and the other pilot wasn't checked out at the strips in that region yet. So within a few hours I was en-route to Tarakan, with the baby and his parents.

On the way there, I got a fantastic view of "Batu Mayoh," one of my favorite landmarks in that region. Often it's hidden by clouds. But when the sky is clear, it's a real sight! Since I haven't gotten close enough to measure it, it's hard to say how many vertical feet the cliff is, but it's HUGE! I'd guess it's at least four or five hundred feet straight up, maybe a lot more! Keep in mind, these pictures were taken from a very safe distance. If you were closer, it would look far more imposing! The landscape all over that area sort of looks "Jurassic Parkish." There's tons of massive cliffs, huge waterfalls, and rugged terrain jutting out of the dense, jungle canopy all over the place. I never tire of seeing the beauty of God's creation here.

As I began to descend towards Tarakan, still 50 miles out, we got a great view of what we like to call, "volcanoe Moutain." Although Indonesia is home to hundreds of active volcanoes, this is not one of them. In fact, we have it straight from the mouth of a Canadian geologist, that it's not even a volcanoe at all. But from certain angles it just has a volcanoe sort of look to it, so that's what we call it.

Anyway, these are just a few of the sights from my office window last week. And the good news is, the baby made it safely to the hospital, and hopefully within the next week or so I'll get the chance to fly he and his folks back home again.