My Amazing Journey to Manokwari, West Papua

My Amazing Journey to Manokwari, West Papua

Originally written by : Rahmat Suyatna

A couple of months ago, I and my friend went to Manokwari, West Papua for doing business. A month before going there, I have set my mind that Manokwari was a scary place. I always heard that war amongst tribes often happened just for pig stealing. I was afraid of thinking about my journey planning. I asked my friend who had gone there last year. He said that I should not be affraid of going to Manokwari because it is the capital city West Papua province. Listening to my friend information, I was little bit calm. 

My colleage in Manokwari had bought us tickets for both of us. We would fly by Sriwijaya Air at 9.30 pm. We came to Soekarno Hatta airport at 8.30 pm so we  still had one hour to fly. We transit in Makassar before continuing our flight to Sorong then to Manokwari. We left for Makassar at 11.30 due to delay and arrived at Makassar at 03.00 am. Without having to wait, we directly walked to terminal for transit flight. We flight to Sorong at 04.30 a.m. The flight to Sorong took around 2 hours. We arrived there at 7. The plane embarked the baggages, because there were many passengers who went off in Sorong. We were waiting for gas refueling and new passengers aboard. We flight again to Manokwari at 7.30 a.m. Finally, the plane landed on Rendani Airport. We arrived at Manokwari at 08.00 am. My colleage had waited for us and picked us up to Fujita Hotel on Jalan Wosi. 

I was amazed that Manokwari was actually beautiful and the richest place I had ever visited. My friend told me right information about Manokwari, West Papua. At noon, I went to store to buy anti-mosquitos lotion to repel Malaria disease. According to my friend, Manokwari has become endemic Malaria and dengue fever. It was a terrible and horror news about Manokwari. We slept very well because we were very tired having been doing long journey from Java island to West Papua. I woke up late in the morning, I just knew that West Papua had 2 hours difference from Java island. It influenced me so much because my smartphone clock had been set to West Papua hour.

On my way to the office, my driver offered me to go around new governor palace on the hill. Again, I was amazed. The scenery from the hill was so incredibly beautiful. We could  watch the fisherman boat over the sea, the tanker of Pertamina fleet, and the small island that I did not know its name.  When I talked about the people of Manokwari. They were familiar people, they welcome us so friendly. The amity could be seen from their good behaviour when we went home to Java. They provided a wonderful gift in the form of batik.

In the night before going home to Java. We were accompanied by Edwin, office driver, to go around Manokwari city.  On the way to city, we passed a beautiful scenery of Manokwari sea. We could see Manokwari sea very beautiful in the night. I felt like at home in the city of Manokwari . Feeling much longer I wanted to stay here, enjoy the panoramic beauty , enjoy fresh grilled fish at Jalan Wosi , eat papeda served with yellow sauce fish. It was an unforgettable experience (*****)