Papua

12/28

In the last couple of days everyone (people I met at hotels, airports, buses) kept asking me if I wasn’t afraid traveling alone to Papua and they said I should take care, be careful, even - buy a knife (but as you know I already got a knife, a pretty professional one). They warned me that Papua was wild and strange, and people violent. Robbery and theft were supposed to be more than common. 

Well, I got to Papua and people are super-nice and helpful. The airport reminded me of airports in Burma. I could see with my own eyes the difference between Papua and other Indonesian provinces (I will also write something later on about the Papua struggle for independence). My hotel is rather creepy though, the room is far from being clean with cockroaches running around. But I’ve been to worse. And this one has Internet (good enough to quickly let friends & family know that I’m OK), it has good food and is cheap. Thus, not that bad in the end. I thought I will be going directly to Wamena to start my trekking in the Baliem Valley, but turned out there were no flights in the afternoon. 

So, I landed in Jayapura where I decided to use the time to obtain the travel permit. I’ve spent three hours at a police station. First they wanted photocopies of my Indonesian visa, I did have a photocopy of my passport but without the visa (visa on arrival), a small shop nearby where you can make copies was closed though. The police officers finally agreed to make the copy at the police station (I was under the impression it was an absolute exception and a huge favor), then it took them a while to fill the papers, and then… the computer bugged out and they couldn’t print my permit. Finally – as I’ve already mentioned – after three hours I got the permit and I can go trekking in the Baliem Valley. 

Interesting thing is that there are no tourists here – I mean, I haven’t seen a Western tourist at the airport nor in the city. And it is supposed to be one of the recommended tourist destinations (recommended e.g. by the Lonely Planet), so there is something strange going on here. Maybe it is just not the place to be for New Years Eve? I wonder how many tourists I will meet in Wamena.