Perjalanan ke Atap Dunia

Author: Daniel Mahendra
Publisher: Penerbit MEDIUM
Publication Date: May 2012
Pages: 356

"Masa muda Daniel. Masa muda. Memang seharusnya begitu. Pergilah kemanapun kakimu melangkah. Itu akan menempamu. Merperkaya pengalaman batinmu. Tetapi pada saatnya tiba, jadilah laki-laki yang merasa cukup dengan keluarga di rumah."

It's all started when  Daniel Mahendra as a little boy read the comic strip Tintin in Tibet back in 1985. At the time he finished reading the book suddenly a dream to visit Tibet, the country that also known as the Roof of the World, came up. It turns out that the dream is alive. It's still there. It's grown up together with Daniel. At first it was just a dream until one day Daniel thought that it's time to execute the dream. A dream will always be a dream until you're brave enough to make it real.
 
Here we go the time to prepare everything. The budget of course, the visa, the ticket, the itinerary and all. But plan sometimes does not turn out the way we plan. When some of the itineraries were almost done out of the blue on March 7, 2011 a bad news came out: Tibet closed for foreigners in March. 

Tibet was actually an independent country but in 1950 China 'invaded' it and this cause Dalai Lama, Tibet political and spiritual leader, was expelled from Potala Palace to Dharamsala, India on March 17, 1959. Therefore now Tibet is 'legally' under China, if we want to visit it we must get a visa from China government. 

That is only one of the 'obstacles' that Daniel got. There are still many great things to explore in the book since the book was written in a kind of fictional style so you will feel that you also take part in the journey with Daniel. You will feel touched, happy, disappointed, stressful and all mixed feeling together with him. A recommended book for those who plan to go to Tibet, Nepal and China since you'll find many info here but even if you don't plan to go there, the book is still interesting.

One important message of the book is to have a dream and courage to make it real.
 

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