We live in a fairly modern town on the edge of an island in South-East Asia. Our town, although not very big by western standards, has paved roads, cars, motorcycles, stores, restaurants and even a small "mall". Most of our island, however, consists of extremely dense jungle and mountains. Much of this territory is not accessible by road and because of the extreme terrain, it likely will never be. This is the reason we live here. My husband is a pilot. We are a part of an organization which flies small aircraft in and out of jungle airstrips. Most of the villages in the interior part of our island rely EXCLUSIVELY on airplanes. The airplanes create the only link these people have to the outside world. Food, mail, household items, medicine and people are brought in and out via small airplane. Access to the Gospel and Scripture is only made possible because of airplanes. Government officials, teachers, Bible translators, health-care workers, and everyone else can only access these places via airplane. It's hard to understand exactly what this means until you experience it for yourself. Last week we had the amazing opportunity of flying into a small village in the mountains. Only an hour and half by airplane, it's very difficult to comprehend how two worlds (our town and the village) could be SO different. The village we visited for 5 days is the same place where my husband's family moved when he was almost 3-years-old. Much of his childhood was spent in Langda, so it was a joy to take our own young sons there for a visit. We joined my in-laws (who were spending a few weeks in Langda to complete some consultant checking on some Old Testament books, which are being translated into the local language). I knew it was a special and rare opportunity for us to experience life "interior" and so I took as many pictures as I could. I will share a selection to give you a taste of our experience.
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| The three excited boys |
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Our organization mainly flies Pilatus Porters. On this flight we had 9 people on-board,
including the pilot and one baby. Max capacity is 10 (including the pilot). |
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J was excited, albeit a bit nervous.
It was his first flight in a small airplane! |
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| B was created to fly. He loved every minute in the plane and showed little fear. |
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| Looking down on our town as we took-off. |
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K was excited to be up front and watch all the other pilot did.
He is not yet "checked-out" in Langda, which typically takes several years of experience flying on our island.
It is a challenging airstrip to land on, as pictures will testify. |
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J believes that flying in airplanes = getting candy.
Guess I gave him lots on our LONG international flights. :) |
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Although I had flown into Langda 9 years ago,
I had forgotten how incredible the mountain views are. |
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| Pictures do not do justice to the majestic beauty! |
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Flying over the pass, the highest point we needed to cross
in order to enter the Langda valley. |
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| Incredible to see small lakes, waterfalls and patches of ice/snow on our tropical island! |
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Clouds are almost always present in these mountains.
They are constantly changing, too, which is part of the challenge for pilots. |
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| Rivers literally "cut" through the mountains. |
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| So green |
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| Langda |
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Langda
(note the drop-offs/land slides) |
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Langda
(note the tall mountains behind the village) |
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| Langda |
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Majestic mountains all around
(Langda in lower left corner) |
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| View of some of the highest peaks around Langda's valley |
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Directly above Langda
(note the ridge-line from top center angling down right) |
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Coming into land in Langda
(turning onto final) |
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| Coming into land in Langda |
I'll post pictures from the ground in my next post. Stay tuned!
