Mulia Part 1

I never imagine myself living far from home. Unlike my other friends, I never rented a kos-kosan room while attending college. I rather to take train or do 40 minutes of driving to reach the 25 km away campus. 

After graduated, I went working in the CBD area. The traffic may gets crazy most of the times, but I think the distance is bearable, so again I didn’t rent a kos-kosan.

But sometimes life brings you (strange) surprises.

Here I am now. Being thousand miles away from home, in the midst of Papua highlands, breathing the air of a small regency capital called Mulia.

Let me tell you something first. I turned down my career in advertising last March. Say I didn’t feel right being in the industry. I went jobless for 2 months before accepting an offer from an NGO based in Papua; the land of beauty which I thought I would never visited in my entire life.

My office focuses on sexual and reproductive health which includes Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs), HIV/AIDS, safe motherhood and family planning. We have office in Jayapura, but the project area is in Puncak Jaya regency. This, by all means, requires staff to travel frequently to run the project. 

And that’s exactly the reason why I’m in Mulia.

***

Preparation for the trip has begun weeks before the actual departure day. Frozen foods, personal hygiene, and flash light are on the top of my list. The very expensive prices in there  had me double checked everything to make sure they’re covered.

A colleague who’s based in Mulia illustrate how crazy prices can be. Let’s say the price of an egg in Jayapura is Rp 1500, then in Mulia you have to pay it for Rp 4000. A Teh Kotak is Rp 10.000, a bottle of Minyak Kayu Putih is Rp 20.000, a bottle of Minutes Maid Pulpy Orange is Rp 20.000 and a single pampers (not a box) would cost you Rp 10.000. Considering the holy-shit-it’s-so-expensive circumstance, and moreover I’ll be having my Ramadhan in Mulia, I prepared myself with chicken nuggets, abon, and instant noodles. Those stuffs really made my 40L carrier bloated and looked like it was going to explode anytime soon. 

Now let’s talk about how to get yourself there.

Jayapura – Mulia route is served by several aviation companies such as Maf, Trigana, Merpati, Yajasi and Susi Air. They’re the ones that link Puncak Jaya with the outside world. But dear comrades, please do not imagine Boeing 737 or other fancy bird, because all flights to Mulia are using propeller-driven planes. It’s the trick to conquer the mountainous nature and the short runway.

While Merpati and Trigana offer fixed ticket rate, Maf, Yajasi, and Susi Air are using the weight system. It is where they weigh each passanger and the luggage then multiply the total weight by their standard rate. The heavier the total weight means the more expensive the fare is.

On the departure day, office’s driver picked me up at 4 in the morning. We then drove to Sentani to fly with Yajasi. I was confused when we didn’t go to airport’s main entrance, and instead went to a warehouse-alike building. My colleague explained later that unless you’re flying with Merpati or Trigana, you won’t be using the airport’s main entrance. Yajasi building and it’s rented lot is located next to the main area of Sentani. And that’s where we’re heading.

At 5.30 we did registration and weighing. Surprise number one: no x-ray examination nor maximum liquid volume control nor metal checking. Not a thing. All weighed luggage go directly to the baggage cart. I whispered to my colleague, if we happen to have a psycho on board, carrying a gun or machete, then we all will have a tragic end.    

The holy scale

Anyway, after registration, the staff asked us to wait. They will later announce when the plane is taking off.  Surprise number two: yes as there’s no fixed schedule for the flight. The decision of whether to fly the plane or not will be based on the weather condition in both Sentani and Mulia. It’s very likely to happen that passengers have to wait for hours because the awful weather. And if it gets intolerable, then the worst thing to happen is a cancellation. You’ll need to come back the next morning and see if the weather allows you to fly.

So there I was, sitting nervously in a semi-outdoor clinic style waiting room. Everything seemed to go in a slow-mo when you’re waiting for uncertainty. 5 minutes feels like 15 minutes. 15 minutes feels like half an hour. Half an hour feels like FOREVER.

The waiting room and the people who can't wait to fly

My optimism almost crushed to the lowest level before a crew opened the lot gate and shouted: Mulia Mulia! Mulia, we’re flying now!

Alhamdulillah. Praise the Lord.

Considering it was my first time flying with propelled-driven planes, it took me quite a while to pull my guts and stepped into the 8-seater Pilatus aircraft. I buckled up straight away and read the safety instructions. I was so busy remembering how to put the life jacket on and didn’t even notice when the pilot greeted us which brought us to surprise number three: missionary company has this procedure of reciting prayers (usually leads by the pilot) before taking off. He quoted some verses from the bible and asked for mercy. I have never experienced it before since no commercial flight would perform such thing, but gotta tell you, I felt calm afterwards.

The eight-seater Pilatus

Mister pilot, about to recite prayers

In the next 10 minutes I found the plane’s floating amid puffy clouds. I couldn’t take my eyes of the window, given that much of visual magnificence.  I was totally overdosed with the beauty of mother nature.  Seriously, Papua is majestic.

After 40 minutes of optical entertainment and skillful maneuvers from the pilot, we landed safely in Mulia airport. Pretty mountainous green scenery saluted us as I got out of the plane. Chilly breeze touched my skin.

I put my jacket on and exhaled vapour.

Good morning, Mulia.