Raja Ampat 1 - Raja Ampat 2 - Bunaken - Lembeh
Trip report for Raja Ampat and Sulawesi
1. Raja Ampat
Left home saturday morning, took the train to Frankfurt from where I was
supposed to fly to Singapore and then connect to Jacarta. The 11 hours
flight to Singapore was loooong... I wasn't able to sleep so I cursed myself
for always booking those damned long distance flights... We arrived in
Singapoe a little bit later than planned but that was not a problem since I
had enough time. Bought wound disinfectant that I had forgotten and walked
over to the gate. We boarded the plane and then I was out.... tired to the
bone. I know that we had heavy turbulences but my mind was too foggy from
sleep that I didn't care.
Let me tell you something about Singapore Airlines. Back in the days when I
had to go to New York a lot I always tried to fly SA. Their business class
is a dream but so far I had never flown economy. And I have to say that
their service is really, really good. After take-off I treated myself to a
Singapore Sling a cocktail that has been invented in Singapore and they gave
it for free. It is good too...
When we arrived in Jacarta I was quicker at the 'Visum fee' counter than
most others so I had my fee paid in a heartbeat. Immigration was fast as
well, my luggage arrived and outside someone from the hotel was already
waiting for me. My flight from Germany arrived around 8:30 AM but the one to
Papua leaves at 5 AM. So I had one day to 'kill' in Jakarta.
On the way from the airport to the hotel I could see the bottles with gas at
the edge of the road (I knew what it was because I had seen that in Sulawesi
last year). There are a few canals around the airport and I saw people
washing in them. Themselves and clothes. Once checked in I directly went to
sleep some more.
At 1 PM I was finally able to drag myself out of the bed again and took the
hotel shuttle to the airport again. When we passed a church a young guy sat
under an umbrella in the middle of the road and what made it so remarkable
for me was that the taxi driver in front of us held a hand out of the window
and the guy had a fishernet that he held over. So it looks like he was
collecting donations in this fishernet. Shortly after that we came at a big
crossing and I saw the boys running after a truck. The biggest (10 years max)
was able to get on the truck and get a ride while the two smaller ones
didn't make it.
At the airport I was looking for SIM cards. The guy from the travel agency
had told me that he has a small mobile WLAN modem and that it works fine in
Raja Ampat. I knew my hotel there had satellite internet but the SIM Card
doesn't cost anything so I didn't want to spend a lot of money if I could
easily save it. At the airport I found a shop that had the SIM cards but I
didn't see any employee in there. After I had glanced around I suddenly saw
a woman raising her head (she was hidden before), she looked at me, head
went down again and I was dismissed. I was about to laugh... So I continued
looking and found another shop with a guy who spoke english and he sold me
my internet SIM card and then (as safety) I wanted to have another one for
my phone too. Spent too much money on text messages when I was in Mexico...
Didn't take any pics that day and when I was at the airport I
regretted not having brought my cam. Often I take pics just to remind me of
certain situations so I don't forget. I would have loved a pic of the guy
with the fihernet collecting donations in the middle of the road.
Forgot to tell a few things: when I arrived in Jakarta I went back into the
airport while waiting for the shuttle because I wanted to use an ATM. There
seem to be lots of muslims here (lots of women with their hair covered) and
when I walked by I saw one with a luggage card. She had a protection over
her mouth and when she saw me coming she moved backwards. This struck me as
odd as I wasn't going to embrace her... But I made sure to stay away from
her since that was obviously what she wanted. The entire airport smelled of
this stinking sticks but I guess that was to keep the moscitos away.
When I had dinner at the hotel restaurant that night I saw on the menue that
the only beer they had besides two local ones was Corona... I had very good
food and I guess it was the start of my '4 weeks rice diet'....
The flight over to Papua was a little bit chaotic. I arrived at the airport
very early and was really astonished that at the check in counter people
were stepping back so I could check in first. When I went up to the gate a
woman started to talk to me and with hands and feet we established that she
didn't speak english, I didn't speak indonesian, that I was going diving and
that we were both flying to Sorong... :D Another older couple came by and
greeted me with a friendly 'hello'. I was really positively surprised how
nice people are even in Jakarta. The flight itself was the problem. I didn't
know that this was not a direct flight and it was hard to understand the
english of the flight attendants. When we landed in Makassar I understood
that we had to take all our personal belongings with us. When I re-entered
the plane I saw that I had been the only idiot who actually had done that....
;)
When I arrived at the airport in Sorong I saw that children were playing
close to the runway. It is a small airport and definitely not in line with
european security standards... on the flight someone who looked like Edy
Murphy's father in 'The prince of Zamunda' sat close to me. The guy with him
nearly shoved me aside when we arrived and when I stepped out of the plane I
saw that a photographer was taking pics and he was being brought away by two
smaller cars. Looks like I was sitting close to a VIP!
Wasn't the king of Zamunda though.
When I stepped into the terminal area Romy was already waiting for me. Since
there were only two non-indonesian persons on the flight it was not really
hard for him to find me.
While we waited for my two suitcases I saw this:
Romy explained to me that indonesians love soccer and the german flag on the
airport bus was in honour fo the german national team. Then the luggage
arrived and it was not hard to find my suitcases because indonesians LOVE to
travel with cardboard boxes. So there were more boxes than suitcases.
The boat to the resort goes only once per week so they need to wait till all
guests have arrived. Romy brought me to a hotel close to the airport where I
had a late lunch and could wait. There I met Shani and Chris from Australia
who were two of my buddies for the week to come. When the last flight was
about to arrive Romy came to get us and bring us to the harbour where we
were waiting for the other guests.
The last group (from Australia as well) had difficulties with their luggage
at the airport so when we were finally ready to leave it was already pitch
dark. We had another 2.5 hours boat ride and during that ride I promised
myself that I would never ever travel again in my life. I had left home
saturday morning and by then it was monday evening...
We arrived at the resort shortly after 10 PM where we were greated by Mel
and Dex, the managers. We just had a short look at the bungalows and then we
had dinner. First glimpse on my bed for the next two weeks... I probably
don't have to mention that I went to sleep shortly after dinner.
The next morning I woke up to the sun shining and saw the view from my
bungalow for the first time:
And yes, I DID spend a lot of time in that hammock... LOVED it!
When I walked over to the jetty for the first dive I saw my first and only
epaulette shark (he is being called 'walking shark' as well since he walks
on the ground)
That batfish followed us most of the time during the first dive.
Giant clams ARE giant in Raja Ampat...
Lots of fish in Raja Ampat
Clown fish
And here are the bungalows... mine was the fourth from the right
My bathroom
And my travel companion....
Second dive was Manta Point... much point no manta... (pics from there to
follow later). Had lunch there and then we went to Mike's point. I didn't go
in as I didn't want to do 4 dives and when I heard that the current had been
rather strong there I was glad I hadn't gone in.
