SONJA LAPANOV’S NEW BOOK ON INDONESIA “THE MILKY WAY OF THE OCEAN”
The Association for Serbian and Indonesian Friendships “Nusantara” proudly announces the coming of the new book by Sonja Lapanov “The Milky Way of the Ocean – Unity in Diversity“. The book is dedicated to Indonesia, the biggest archipelago on Earth, the most populous Muslim country in the world and the land of volcanoes and earthquakespopulated by more than 700 different people, all living in unity.
The printing version of this book was made possible with the help of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economies of Indonesia. The initiative has come from the ambassador of Indonesia in Serbia H.E Samuel Samson. Another significant contributor was Nebojsa Panic, director of the Serbo-Indonesian company IndoSerbiaFood which operates in Serbia very successfully. Additional help has come from Nusantara itself as the publisher, the Graficki Atelje Dereta. The promotion of the book will be held on the international tourism fair on the Indonesian stall who this year is a very important partner of Serbia on this big manifestation. The book is planned to be translated into English and Indonesian.
Welcome to the Tourism Fair
Brošura – PDF [1,8MB]
The idea of writing the book “Ocean Milky Way” came from His Excellency Samuel Samson, the ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in Serbia. Prior to her trip to Indonesia in 2011, Sonja Lapatanov met H.E. Samuel Samson at the embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and promised him to gather and publish all of her impressions and adventures in one of the travel reports she was about to write. The ambassador suggested: “Why wouldn’t you write the whole book about it, a travel journal?” And this was the cue for a new book, a new travel journal. Since the very beginning Sonja found it very difficult to discern and separate from all of the diversities that Indonesia most certainly has, the ones that will be used as a part of this travel journal. Still, among this variety of extraordinary experiences and marvelous impressions, the author made a choice and the book “Ocean Milky Way” was created, the fifth travel journal about the ”land of superlatives”, as the author says. In this incredible journey, walking excluded, from Belgrade, via Frankfurt, the Republic of Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Irian Jaya, Bali, Flores, Komodo, and then back to Bali, via the Republic of Singapore, Frankfurt and finally Belgrade, the author crossed 37 200 km. Garuda, the local airline, only in Indonesia took off and landed for 18 times on the airports of the Nusantara archipelago! The book “Ocean Milky Way” was being written, with short brakes, for two years in total. The book represents the first and only travel journal written by a Serbian author that describes thrilling experiences and adventures of the journey to friendly Indonesia.
From the author’s point of view, the book “Ocean Milky Way” includes a sort of assemblage of all the diversities of the Indonesian islands and a remarkable space of contrasts which reveals the symbolism in its motto “unity in diversity”.
With this book, the author Sonja Lapatanov tries to show to the audience and potential travelers to Indonesia the beauty of its diversity and to arouse the interest and curiosity for this completely different way of life. It is understood that each one of us would experience Indonesia in a different way, because the individual findings differ, and every encounter with a foreign country and its people most certainly makes an impact on our opinion. The author hopes that the book ” Ocean Milky Way” will bring the unique opportunity to readers, potential travelers and even those who have already had the opportunity to see all of the Indonesian beauty, to find or get to know even better some parts of this archipelago. Therefore, Sonja Lapatanov wants to send a message not only to all the adventurers but also to new generations of young globetrotters in Serbia that Indonesia, a country impossible to skip or bypass because of its position between India, Pacific, China, Japan and Australia, is more than worth visiting nowadays.
After four books of travel writing, successful author Sonja Lapatanov writes her fifth book “Ocean Milky Way” to young globetrotters as well as to those who are not prepared to leave the coziness of their home because for them a kind of journey offered by a good book of travel writing as this one is more than enough to satisfy their need to meet the world. In addition, thanks to her recognizable ability to puzzle out most unusual people, their customs and culture, Sonja Lapatanov successfully contributes to preservation and enhancement of the long-lasting friendship between Serbia and Indonesia.
1. Travel journal – Sumatra
THE LAND OF GOLD
While ancient civilizations considered Sumatra for a mystical “land of gold”, situated in Nusantara – a great diverse archipelago, this big island was for ages a gate to all of the people coming from the West.
2. Travel journal – Java
TEMPLES AND DANGEROUS VOLCANOES
Java is known as “king of all Indonesian islands”. Although it doesn’t have Balinese beaches, jungles of Kalimantan, remoteness of Irian Jaya, tradition of Sulawesi and Sumatran climate, Java is the heart of Indonesia and it is pulsating with more energy than any other island of this archipelago which contains more than 17 000 islands. According to many people, Indonesia starts and ends in Java.
3. Travel journal – Kalimantan
RIVER OF DIAMONDS
Shrouded in mystery, Kalimantan is a shelter for Indonesian deepest secrets and most valuable treasures: hundred year old tropical rainforests, fantastic creatures, and people who live there in the same way as they lived centuries ago, completely isolated.
4. Travel journal – Travel journal – Sulawesi
LIVING TO DIE
Sulawesi, the old Celebes, “the land that time forgot”, is the fourth largest island in this big insular empire, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations, right after Bali and Java.
5. Travel journal – Irijan Jaya
LOST IN TIME
New Guinea is the world’s second largest island and it is divided politically in two halves. The eastern half is a part of the country of Papua Niugini, and the western half belongs to Irian Jaya, twenty-sixth Indonesian province. When I first visited Papua Niugini a few years ago, an island of unspoiled nature, fascinating landscape and even more fascinating people, it never occur to me I’ll be visiting it again, but, it happened. However, this was completely new and exciting journey throughout Irian Jaya where the way of life didn’t change much from the way it was back in the Stone Age.
6. Travel journal – Bali
MISTRESS OF GODS
According to legend, Bali is an island born of fire and water, somewhere between heaven and earth. Mystical island of fantasy, dream and reality, a home of gods and demons, the island of fortunate souls and tamed soul of Asia, today is one of the biggest tourist attractions.
7. Travel journal – Flores
BORDER ISLAND
Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and a part of the east region Nusa Tenggara. It is situated east of Bali, its more famous neighbor, and unlike Bali, Flores is still spared from mass tourism.
8. Travel journal – Komodo and Rinca
THEY DON’T MISS DRAGONS
What I was expecting the most when it comes to my trip to Indonesia is this journey to prehistory, to the islands Komodo and Ranca where true dragons live, like ones known to us from fairy tales.
About the autor
SONJA LAPATANOV was born in Bitolj – FRY Macedonia.
After finishing high school and ballet school “Lujo Davičo” in Belgrade, she became a permanent member of the Ballet of the National Theatre in Belgrade, where she performed in performances of the current repertoire as a distinguished soloist during her twenty-three years of experience.
In 1977 she received a scholarship from the government of the USSR for professional training in GITIS (National Academy of theater arts) in Moscow. Upon completion of professional training and internship at the Bolshoi Theatre, she acquired the qualification of choreographer and teacher. Having returned to Belgrade she dedicates herself to choreography, where she achieved noticeable success, setting new standards in this area.
As she was particularly interested in the modern expression of the ballet, in 1984 she went to continue her studies in New York in Pepsi Bethel American Authentic Jazz Dance Theatre.
For her creative work she received excellent reviews from critics and from public and she won many major Yugoslav and Serbian professional and community honors and awards, among them Sterija’s Awards, Cultural and Educational Community of Belgrade “Zlatni beočug”, which is awarded for a lasting contribution to culture and for more successful spiritual life of the city and a special Award for outstanding contribution to national culture in Republic of Serbia.
Sonja travels from her childhood. It first started with her parents, then with the ballet ensemble of the National Theatre, and since 1990 she travels independently around the world, and she becomes an avid Globetrotter. She’s traveled more than 120 countries around the world, and she started writing stories from her travels in 1995. Since then, she published her stories in daily newspapers, journals, reviews and magazines, and her reports on relevant TV stations.
She begun writing travel prose in 2006 and since then she has published five books: “In the skirts of the Himalayas”, “Paradise Island”, “Mama Africa”, “Mundo Maya” and “Milky Way of the Ocean”, dedicated to Indonesia.
As a successful and respected author, Sonja Lapatanov, avid traveler and writer, – reporter, with her exceptional books on travel, managed to climb to the top of the list of most read books of Dereta publishing company, as shown by the sold out print runs and great interest of readers for the genre that the author represents.