60 Indonesia from Papua New Guinea 1997
Indonesia from Papua New Guinea 1997
By Rick Bein and lovingly edited, by Alex Bein, Maryellen Bein, Jeanie Bein and Candy Riggins, January 1998
I took vacation leave from my post at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (UNITECH) in Lae in mid-December 1997. My spouse (Maryellen) and I, two teenage daughters (Molly and Kristen) and two adult children (Candy and Christopher) joined us from the States to make the two-week journey to Indonesia.
Papua New Guinea.png by spoolwippets is marked with CCO 1.0. Jaia Pura State in Indonesia borders on the left of the map.
We left Lae, Papua New Guinea early Tuesday 16 December 1997 for Vanimo, Papua New Guinea from where we arranged to travel on to Indonesia. After a short stop in Madang, we experienced spectacular views as the plane flew past a smoking volcano, over the meandering Ramu and Sepic Rivers and their silt plumes that extended far out to sea.
Meandering Sepic River: Photo by Rick Bein 1998.
We had a four-hour layover in Wewak because of plane delays. There we enjoyed a few hours resting and collecting shells on the beach outside the Sandaun Motel across the street from the Airport. There we enjoyed a few hours resting and collecting shells.
Molly, Candy and Christopher Beckman with stick retriever on Beach at Wewak. Photo by Rick Bein 1998.
Christopher befriended one of the local dogs who loved to chase anything thrown into the sea. He almost boarded the plane with us when we left for Vanimo.
Once in Vanimo we discovered that there were no hotel rooms available since there were two simultaneous conferences being held when we arrived. Lucky for us Philip Tjoeng, a stranger to us, and owner of Vanair Airlines and several shops in Vanimo, happened to be at the airport. This angel quickly saw our predicament and as naturally as if we had been his own family offered us his home. We stayed two nights with our wonderful host whom we enjoyed very much and who even lent us his private vehicle to drive over to the Irian Jaya border. Bernard Marahau, brother of Guli in the Mining Engineering Department at Unitech, took a
Departing Vanimo for Indonesia Photo by Rick Bein 1998.
Map of Indonesia, 2011″ by nathanh100 is free licensed under CC BY 2.0
half day off work and accompanied us along this coast road. We enjoyed swimming in the surf not far from Vanimo.
On Wednesday we dealt with the issue of getting over to Indonesia which involved acquiring a visa from the Indonesian consulate, an exit stamp for the PNG and booking passage over to Jaya Pura. The first two were routine, but we found out that it was not possible to travel by water over to Jaya Pura as planned. A recent Indonesian change in policy prohibits travelers from PNG from arriving in Irian Jaya by surface travel, so we needed to charter a small plane. As it turned out we were able to fill up the plane with additional passengers which reduced our cost considerably!
On Thursday, the 18th we arrived