Some related notes about flying in Indonesia before moving on - there aren't very many flights scheduled from Jakarta to West Papua, and the ones that are scheduled are a bit more, um, rustic than flights we've taken elsewhere. First, the distance from Jakarta to Jayapura is pretty huge - four or five hour's flight time, about the same as from LA to Florida in the US. (Okay, that's a rough guess - please correct me if I'm wrong.) It's made longer by two stops in between, during which everyone gets off the plane, the crew is changed, and then continuing passengers get back on the plane again for the next leg of the trip.
Second, the plane has seen a little more wear and tear than most airplanes that are flying around in other places. From the look of it, our 737 probably started its career flying between Dallas and Omaha sometime around 1977, and hadn't had any new seat upholstery installed since then. We made it there safely, stopping first at Makassar on the island of Sulawesi, then the small company-owned gold mining town of Timika in West Papua before arriving in Jayapura in the late afternoon.
The best part of the journey came on the way back, as we made our first stop on the small island of Biak. What made it? As we taxied around for takeoff, I noticed that there were all sorts of people, grouped along the edge of the runway. I was curious for a bit, then noticed the blankets, baskets of food, and even a vendor or two. Everyone was coming out for a picnic, and to watch the plane take off.
I was just starting to think how many milliseconds somebody would be able to even be inside of the security fence in an airport in the Sates before the National Guard would be called in and every single airport in the country closed, when we started our takeoff. As we accelerated, I watched the two kids in the picture above running alongside the runway, waving and smiling and (I assume) screaming with delight at the top of their lungs. Would that every airport in the world could be so...
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