Mar 1

As expected, today's travel provided much fodder to write about, starting with leaving for the airport. Our flight was at 7 AM, which meant we needed to be at the airport at 6 AM, which meant leaving the hotel at 5:15 AM. I used last night to pack, so my alarm went off at 4:10 and I had a wake up call at 4:30 so I could shower, finish any remaining packing, grab a quick bite, check out, and be at the car by 5:15. I arrived first - at 5:05 AM, and a second colleague arrived right at 5:15. At 5:20, and still no sign of our third, we decided to call her. It was a good thing we did because it woke her up. So, at 5:40, we finally left the hotel. Thankfully, the traffic was light and our driver drove the car as fast as it would safely go and got us to the airport shortly after 6 AM.

Once at the airport, life got interesting. In my prior trip, I only saw the international terminal, and it was like any other major aiport complete with shops, restaurants and lounges. This time, we were flying domestic, and it's a whole different story. First, we couldn't quite figure out how to get in because they wanted us to show them a ticket and we had e-tickets. Our itinerary turned out to be sufficient. Second, the domestic terminal did not have any of the accoutrements you find in the internationl terminal. It was very spartan, and not busy at all. I think it had one shop.

Security was tight. To enter the domestic terminal, we had to show our tickets and have our bagged scanned. Once we checked in, we had to go through another checkpoint where we showed our boarding pass and our ID and paid a $30,000 Rupiah (about $4 USD) departure fee. From there, we proceeded up to a security check point where they scanned our bags before allowing us back to the area where the gates were. The walkway from security to the gate was outdoors, but covered. When we arrived at the gate, they scanned our bags again before allowing us in and verified our identity to our boarding pass. Then, we walked down three flights of stairs, across the tarmac, climbed aboard the plane as the last passengers to board, and the 7 AM flight left the airport at 6:30.

We flew an AirFast flight from Jakarta to Timika - with two stops on the way. We took off, and landed an hour later. Took off again, landed about 2 hours later. This time, even though we were taking the same plane to Timika, they made us get off the plane, walk through arrivals, back through security (scan, then hand check, then ID verification) and back on through departures. Even more interesting was that the reading material on the plane was the history of my company and information about the mine! It was almost as if AirFast was a company owned airline.

The view from the plan during take off, landing, and while in flight was spectacular. Indonesia, with over 10,000 islands, is the world's largest archipelago, so as we flew from island to island we would see hundreds more from the plane. The water went from dark blue to pale green as little islands dotted the ocean. The islands themselves were luxuriously verdant with tall trees and rich green vegetation covering every inch without man-made development.



When we finally arrived at Timika - 5 hours after we left Jakarta - it felt as if we were going to land in the middle of the jungle.


We kept getting closer and closer to the ground and all we could see for miles was thick vegetation and tall trees. When we could hear the countdown from the cockpit (500 ft, 400 ft, 300 ft - we were in the first row, so we heard the computerized messages as they were announced) we finally saw a runway and then we safely touched down and taxied to the end of the runway....where we proceeded to do a U-turn, travel the same runway in reverse, and park next to an air hanger.

We deplaned, walked a few dozen feet to board a bus that, when full, drove us a few hundred feet to the only terminal. The terminal was more like a walled pavillion. No chairs, no televisions - very remote. I asked a security guard where I could claim my baggage and he pointed to the open wall behind me. I looked, and the wall was open to the elements with a chain link fence coming down from the ceiling and stopping a few feet above what can only be described as a metal shelf. The baggage handlers then drove up from collecting the bags from the plane, and placed the luggage on the shelf where passengers would come and collect it. Nothing automated about that task.

Our company appointed greeters arrived and took us to one of two offices at the terminal. We went in there, received our company badges for while we are here, and watched a safety videon that discussed both mine safety and the cautions of malaria. From there, the hotel shuttle took us to the Sheraton Timika.

For those of you who don't work for my company, you probably are wondering why I would get a company badge at the airport. Well, it's a company island. The airport, the hotel, pretty much everything on the island we build and/or manage. The internet connection I am using from the hotel is on the company network. I logged on to my company network from my hotel room as if I were at my desk at work - not through a VPN connection.

The hotel itself, and the island for that matter (what we've seen of it) is beautiful. Lush vegetation everywhere, beautiful, hand-carved artwork and friendly people. Warnings on how to prevent malaria are everywhere and there is even a special DEET lotion they provided for you in the hotel room. The only issue at this point is my TV doesn't turn on, but there isn't much to watch, anyway, so it really isn't a loss. However, it is a good thing I didn't watch any of the 9 DVD's I bought in Jakarta, because I bet I'll watch them all while I'm here.