TRAVELING: Jayapura, Papua

Hey Junes, 

I want to share about my quick trip to Jayapura. I was there for business trip, but don't worry, I will not bore you with the work side of the story, hehe...

FLIGHT

I took Garuda which - very fortunately - has now had direct flight to Jayapura, yeay! My flight was scheduled on a Wednesday at 23:50, just a few minutes before midnight. We are served bread about an hour after it took off, and woken up about 90 minutes before landing for breakfast (nasi uduk). It was on time, and I landed there at 07:20 in the morning, about 5.5 hour flight (5 hours in the air). After a quick wash, my colleague and I met our driver and went to work. 

We returned to Jakarta with another direct flight at 12.10 noon. It was also smooth despite the slight delay. I arrived in Jakarta at a few minutes after 15.10. We got lunch and snack too. 

LOCAL TRANSPORT

I booked a car (Avanza 2009) with a driver (Pak Dullah from Makassar). He was a good driver, know the ways, quiet, and kind. We always asked him to join us during lunch/dinner, but he did not eat much, I have to shove veggies/meat to his plate to make him eat more. The rate (April 2014) was IDR 600.000 nett all inclusive (park, gas, rent, driver fee) for about 12-hour work per day. On the last day, te rate should be IDR 300.000 for airport drop-off but as we need to go to other places first, it became IDR 450.000. I recommended him, so if you need his number, just contact me :)

HOTEL

We stayed at Swiss Bel-Hotel Jayapura. I booked it via tiket.com utilizing Mandiri Credit Card's 15% discount program. If booking directly through the hotel, you can claim points with your GFF card. 

My room faced the ocean, yeay! Beautiful view. The room itself was okay. Designed in old-fashioned style, I don't fancy it, but it was clean. No hair dryer, but there was hot water electric kettle, fridge with freezer (my ASIP ice gels was frozen well), and LCD TV with favorite channels, such as AXN, Star World, HBO, Star Movies Premium, etc. They gave quite a complete toiletries set (bath gels, shampoo, tooth brush, shower cap, sewing kit, sanitary bag, but no hair brush), a mat, and 2 body towels. The wet mat was unfortunately not changed on the next day.  Every early evenings, a staff will walk around and knock your door asking if you need anything (toiletries perhaps). 

The breakfast was fine, you can choose outdoor seating area overlooking the ocean. The variation was okay. 

There were 2 pools (and a fitness center) nearby the breakfast area, 1 small one for kids, and 1 bigger one. 

My colleague was visiting the hotel's cafe on the second evening and was worried about the mosquito's bites (thankfully he is okay though). Outside the hotel, just a short walk, there were a lot of seafood warung, cafe, and minimarket nearby.

CULINARY

We simply asked Pak Dullah to take us to good place for lunch/dinner. On the first day, we went for lunch at a seafood restaurant. It was about IDR 285.000 for 3-person lunch (fish, shrimp, squid, rice, kangkung, drink). The taste was good. 

In the evening, we walked 2 minutes and eat at seaview warung next to the hotel. It costs IDR 210.000 for two persons (fish, shrimp, kangkung, rice, drinks). 

On the next day, we skipped lunch (but ate 7 small roti gulung abon each as substitution, haha) and ate at around 5pm at Youngwa restaurant. Beautiful view, clean bathroom (important! hehe), good food. It costs about IDR 250.000 for 3 persons (fish, squid, kangkung, rice, papeda - huge portion, drinks).

OLEH-OLEH - FOOD

You must definitely buy roti gulung abon! We tried 2 bakery. The first one was Hawai Bakery, then Manokwari Bakery. The Hawai ones were still imported from Manokwari city while the Manokwari Bakery's ones are baked in Jayapura (its store/baking center was located not too far from Swiss Bel).

Hawai Bakery tasted so full of floss so even when you bought other flavors, it still tasted like floss only. Manokwari has 5 flavors (tuna, beef, chicken floss, chocolate, cheese). The chocolate/cheese one had only a little floss so still tasted like choco/cheese roll.

At the end, we chose to buy from Manokwari Bakery because it was cheaper, baked freshly in Jayapura, and tasted as good (or better). 

Manokwari:

IDR 70.000 for 1 pack of small 10 floss bread roll, and IDR 110.000 for the big pack of 10 big rolls (twice as big). You can mix the flavors, the most usual packs sold was mix (5 flavors) or beef floss. You can also mix any combination of the flavors if you go to the baking center (not the airport outlets). Btw, the great news was that the airport outlet sells it with the exact same price (it was sold in a canteen just before the boarding area, on the right-hand side). I already bought a lot but still... not enough, haha 😂 oh, and they also sold papua chocolate (30.000 per smal packs of 9 praline-like chocolate). 

Hawaii:

IDR 90.000 for small packs and IDR 130.000 for big packs (any flavors) at outlets outside airport. 

IDR 85.000 for beef floss flavors and 95.000 for mix in small packs, or IDR 125.000 and 135.000 for big packs.

OLEH-OLEH - SOUVENIR

Our kind driver took us to Aneka Batik for shopping. Surprisingly, there were a lot of good quality (well-designed, good color, good fabric) t-shirts and batik here. I instantly wondered whether the shirts were made in Bandung, hehe. 

T-shirts for kids ranged from IDR 50.000-70.000 depend on sizes, adult t-shirts priced at around IDR 90.000. Batik shirts varied from IDR 100.000 to 500.000. There are small cloth bag for 20.000, cell phone bag for 45.000, and women bags for 150.000-300.000. 

Another option to buy your souvenir is actually at airport. The price there was surprisingly good. I got well-designed shirt (size S/M) at only 50.000. The floss bread roll is also sold with same/similar price in the airport.

SIGHTSEEING

Oh, btw, have I told you? Jayapura was beautiful! Hills, lake, ocean, green scenery everywhere :) I did not have much time so only went to Mac Arthur Hills to see the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, when we went there, the gate was closed (we went at 15:45) so we chose a spot in the way back down and took pictures there :) Btw, you need to stop at a military post before entering the Mc Arthur area, open the windows, leave an ID, and you were good to go.

One more tip, I don't take pil kina before I went there, and Alhamdulillah was fine as I only went to Jayapura city and Sentani are. 

Okayyyy... That's it. A few tips for those who might want to go to Jayapura :) Not too many tips perhaps, due to my limited time there, but hopefully it helps. Have fun in Jayapura!

-FW-