Road to PNG
My journey to PNG began on Sunday, December 19, 2004. My parents, my brother, my uncle, my auntie and my two cousins, they all accompanied me to the airport. We were going to the domestic flight terminal since I had to fly to Jayapura (the capital city of Papua province) first before crossing the border to go to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
My flight schedule to Jayapura was at 21 pm (GMT +7). But, it was delayed for 30 minutes. I was a bit nervous since it was my first time going abroad, not to mention my first time to go to Jayapura…alone…by myself. There was a little bit accident in the plane. Instead of sitting on seat 8A, I was sitting on seat 9A. A little bit embarrased…lol. Then, I moved to seat 8A, next to the window, just like I wanted it to be. Perfect! And, I found out the one who sat next to me was a young good-looking guy…super! We talked about lot of things but we didn’t exchange any contact number though. After we had our dinner, we fell asleep.
The flight destination was Jakarta to Merauke (the easternmost city of Indonesia located in Papua province) with 2 stopovers at Makassar and Jayapura. My "new friend" who sat next to me got off in Makassar. After saying goodbye to each other, I went to the waiting room. The transit time was scheduled for 40 minutes. I was supposed to fly to Jayapura from Makassar at 2 am (GMT +8), but the flight was delayed for another 3 hours. So, the plane took off for Jayapura at 5 am (GMT +8). This time that sat next to me was an elderly couple. The husband of the lady was a linguist – they went to Jayapura to see their daughter’s family and to get involved in a project to make a translation of bible in Indonesian language version into a local language of an ethnic in Papua province. I wasn’t sure whether they were coming from Netherlands or USA. I was about to speak in English to them but had to call off my plan since they always talked to me in bahasa Indonesia. They told me they used to live in Jayapura for more than 25 years and they amazed when I told them it was my first time going to Papua Nugini via Jayapura. They were so nice – when we were about to arrive in Jayapura, the old lady explained to me a little bit about Lake Sentani that we could see it through the window.
The plane landed on Sentani airport, Jayapura at 9 am (GMT +9) on Monday, Dec 20. I had to wait for 15-20 minutes to collect my baggage. I was sending sms to my boss’ wife since she was the one who would pick me up at the airport. Then, she came and we went to my boss’s house in Jayapura. I spent a night there and on Tuesday, Dec 21, we- my
boss’s wife, my boss’s youngest son, my boss’s sister and I- went to Vanimo (a city in the northern part of PNG). It took 2 hours to reach the border (Skouw) and we were passing through the border of Indonesia – PNG (Skouw-Wutung) then it took an hour to go to Vanimo from the border (Wutung). We spent a night in Vanimo and on Wednesday, Dec 22 we flew to Port Moresby (POM) using Air Niugini, the national flag carrier of PNG. The plane took off at 11 am (GMT +10). At last, we arrived in POM at 13.30 pm (GMT +10).
My flight schedule to Jayapura was at 21 pm (GMT +7). But, it was delayed for 30 minutes. I was a bit nervous since it was my first time going abroad, not to mention my first time to go to Jayapura…alone…by myself. There was a little bit accident in the plane. Instead of sitting on seat 8A, I was sitting on seat 9A. A little bit embarrased…lol. Then, I moved to seat 8A, next to the window, just like I wanted it to be. Perfect! And, I found out the one who sat next to me was a young good-looking guy…super! We talked about lot of things but we didn’t exchange any contact number though. After we had our dinner, we fell asleep.
The flight destination was Jakarta to Merauke (the easternmost city of Indonesia located in Papua province) with 2 stopovers at Makassar and Jayapura. My "new friend" who sat next to me got off in Makassar. After saying goodbye to each other, I went to the waiting room. The transit time was scheduled for 40 minutes. I was supposed to fly to Jayapura from Makassar at 2 am (GMT +8), but the flight was delayed for another 3 hours. So, the plane took off for Jayapura at 5 am (GMT +8). This time that sat next to me was an elderly couple. The husband of the lady was a linguist – they went to Jayapura to see their daughter’s family and to get involved in a project to make a translation of bible in Indonesian language version into a local language of an ethnic in Papua province. I wasn’t sure whether they were coming from Netherlands or USA. I was about to speak in English to them but had to call off my plan since they always talked to me in bahasa Indonesia. They told me they used to live in Jayapura for more than 25 years and they amazed when I told them it was my first time going to Papua Nugini via Jayapura. They were so nice – when we were about to arrive in Jayapura, the old lady explained to me a little bit about Lake Sentani that we could see it through the window.
The plane landed on Sentani airport, Jayapura at 9 am (GMT +9) on Monday, Dec 20. I had to wait for 15-20 minutes to collect my baggage. I was sending sms to my boss’ wife since she was the one who would pick me up at the airport. Then, she came and we went to my boss’s house in Jayapura. I spent a night there and on Tuesday, Dec 21, we- my
boss’s wife, my boss’s youngest son, my boss’s sister and I- went to Vanimo (a city in the northern part of PNG). It took 2 hours to reach the border (Skouw) and we were passing through the border of Indonesia – PNG (Skouw-Wutung) then it took an hour to go to Vanimo from the border (Wutung). We spent a night in Vanimo and on Wednesday, Dec 22 we flew to Port Moresby (POM) using Air Niugini, the national flag carrier of PNG. The plane took off at 11 am (GMT +10). At last, we arrived in POM at 13.30 pm (GMT +10). ==written in June '05==
Labels: png
posted by lachicabonita | 6:24 PM
2 Comments:
Any photos of the trip?
yeah. will post them later :)
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