I left my “lovely” hotel by becak for Wamena’s shed of an airport at 0800. I went straight to the check-in counter as there was no queue. There was already a large crowd in the departure hall but I later realised it was holding passengers for two flights and their well-wishers.
My flight wasn’t till 1015 but I asked if I could standby for the earlier one. They cheerfully put me on the 0900 ATR flight which I think was an extra flight (like the one I came on). I learnt later from a couple of girls staying at my Sentani hotel that the first flight was delayed till around 1000, some three hours later which meant that my original flight would have been about 1300. It was funny talking to them as they didn’t know whether they flew on a jet or propeller pane when I tried to establish which flight they got on eventually; you can’t possibly miss a propeller when walking to a plane without an airbridge.
Anyway, taxiing out of Wamena airport’s “terminal”, I saw barrels of fuel being un/loaded from a cargo aircraft. I was told that petrol in Wamena is IDR10K per litre rather than IDR6K in other parts of Papua. Further away from Wamena, it is sold on the blackmarket for much more, ,eg. IDR15-35K!
I arrived in Jayapura’s Sentani airport and walked to the hotel. After attending to chores like putting my muddy clothes to the laundry, I decided to go into Jayapura.
Going by public transport involved four rides in vans, ie. three changes at Waena, Abepura and Entrop. It sounds complicated but it’s really simple as one just walks out of the van into another.
It started pouring about halfway and it didn’t relent at all. I hopped off at Hotel Yasmin in Jayapura and went in for lunch. It was a very nice hotel/restaurant and the food was delicious but expensive (but only a tad more expensive than a meal in a simpler place in Wamena). I considered it a treat. Ordering the meal was more interesting as they didn’t have several of the other items I initially wanted.
After a long sit-down in the resto, it was still raining so I embarked on the reverse journey back to the hotel. I got a glimpse of the bay through the driving rain. There’s not much to see in Jayapura; it is another unsightly Indonesian city. Arguably, it is the last Asian large city and the first in Oceania/Micronesia.
I toyed with the idea of visiting the museum in Waena/Abepura but gave it a miss due to the rain.
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- Fuel is flown into Wamena in barrels and un/loaded by forklift. Wonder how often they damage an aircraft with the forklift. Petrol is minimum IDR10000 in Wamena (more on the blackmarket) compared to IDR6000 normally.
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- Always amazes me how dust and cockroaches get into seemingly sealed places … like glass cabinets and aircraft windows.
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- Coming into Sentani airport again.
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- Dog and pork available here.
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- Super delicious Papuan specialty from Manokwari; pork floss in bread then baked.
