Yippieee... I come to Papua

After few years, I've decided to make my own blog. Actually my best buddy Timothy always suggest me to write a blog but I never listened to him. Finally, I get an idea to create my own blog. First of all, I want to write about my life and working experiences from April 2010 until March 2011 in Papua, Indonesia.

My penpals from Canada, Curt has suggested me to write a book about Papua but I can't make nice figures of speech or beautiful sentences,  so I decide to make a blog with simple English and hopefully people could understand. I was also inspired by a book that Curt has sent to me, "In Papua New Guinea" by Christina Dodwell.

Papua was a place that I wanted to visit since long time ago, even before I entered medical faculty.  A place that is full of adventure. To fulfill my dream, I decided to apply a job as a GP (General Physician) in Indonesian Health Department to work in Papua, Indonesia.  And yesss.... I got it. I will work in Paniai Regency in Papua Province for one year. I was so very happy and I celebrated it with my friend Marco. We ate so much pork in Mangga Besar at that moment. Hehehehe...

My family and friends said that I was so crazy to work in Papua. They thought that Papua is a freaky, scary, crazy place especially for a city girl like me. They doubted if I'd able to live in a remote place without electric, without signal, without department store, without my favorite food (they knew that I like to eat a lot), without my favorite shoes. But I was so sure that I will able to survive in Papua. It was my choice to work there so I’d took every consequence of it.  “Yeah… I know I can do it,”  that’s what my heart said. I just can't wait for my journey to Paniai, Papua so I packed my big and heavy suitcase right away.

Well it was expensive to go to Papua and the living cost was pretty big enough, but I had nothing to worry because the government will pay all my accommodation, so let's take the chance :)  Early in April 2010, I went to Jayapura. I had to report myself to the health service in Jayapura province. I felt so happy as the plane was landing in Sentani international airport early in the morning after 8 hours flight and I said to myself, "Welcome to Papua". Then I began my first step in Sentani airport Jayapura with a big smile. Of course I didn’t forget to take picture with my friends in Sentani international airport, although we looked so tired. By the way, Papua time is 2 hours ahead than Jakarta time.

There I met my friends who were going to work in Paniai Regency too. They are Komet, Hasyrul, Grace and her close friend Edo. From Port Mumbay harbor Jayapura, we went to Nabire by using a big ship named Nggapulu. It was my first time traveling with a very big ship. It took about 3 days and 2 nights to reach Nabire (normally it only took about 24 hour).





Yes it was a long trip because the engine was not working so good... and guess what? While my friends Komet and Hasyrul took the second class, me with my friend Grace and Edo took the economy class. It was the cheapest class in the ship and it cost about 250.000 rupiah (25 USD). The place was so crowded. We had to struggle just to get a bed near the window. We slept on metal beds without any mattress. I can’t believe that we had to sleep just like “Ikan Teri Asin” (salted fish that packed so full).  And when I went to the toilet, oooooh no... it was very very stink and there were many maggots too. Yukkkzzzz... yes I wanted to puke there. If we wanted to pee or took a shower, we went to Komet and Hasyrul who had a better toilet. Oooops... I knew it was illegal but it was a very common thing in Indonesia. By the way, in every corner of the economy class, I saw many animals like chicken, birds, goats, vegetables, and of course animal shits too. Oooh... next time I will take the VIP class (definitely).

Finally we reached Nabire at midnight and we were so lucky because our friend Komet called his aunty and she picked us from the harbor. Me and my friends spent 3 days in Edo's house in Nabire. Nabire is a city which is located near the sea so the temperature is pretty hot. We had a chance to see the beach in Nabire, went to the market, and tasted delicious seafoods in Nabire. Then we continue our journey to Enarotali, the main city of Paniai Regency.