Thursday, July 14, 2011

Fate Brought Me to Raja Ampat

So, here's the story of a "not so called adventurer" girl, got really lucky to have the opportunity to visit one of the most wanted diving destination in the world, Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua. Maybe it didn't make sense to lots of people that I, this city girl, who can't really swim not even dive, who got seasick when traveled by boat, got this huge "jackpot" to go and done some research for the government project in this breathtaking islands.
How breathtaking is Raja Ampat? Hmm.... let's see....
















Well, it's so breathtaking view, isn't? These pictures were taken on our only 2 days trip in Raja Ampat. According to the local authority, in order to fully enjoy the beauty of Raja Ampat, at least we have to stay minimum of 7 days up to 12 days. I can't imagine what kind of pictures that I can take if I stayed there longer.... Lots of people will go ballistic with envy :D

Raja Ampat or Four Kings, were named because back in those old days, there were Four Kings who ruled the islands. It Consists of four majors islands Waigeo, Salawati, Batanta and Misool. As hidden up north in the bird head of Papua, Raja Ampat is well known as the richest underwater biota in the world. Therefore, it is the ultimate destination for divers or adventurers around the globe.




Ok, so no doubt that Raja Ampat is beautiful. But as old people said "no pain no gain", I'll tell you why people went ballistic when I got to go to Raja Ampat. Papua Island is on the far east of Indonesia. It took almost 6 hours to get to Sorong, which is the closest city and airport. My team and I, we took a midnight airlines in order to be there in the morning. And flights to Sorong are limited. Apparently, not every flights have the route up to Sorong, Papua.
So, here's the route to Raja Ampat, and believe me, it's not even close there. We flew from Jakarta to Ambon, and changed to small planes with propellers another an hour and a half to Sorong. From Sorong, we took speed boad to the biggest city in Waigeo for 2 hours. YES!!! Two freaking hours on the boat crossing the ocean.... Like, freaking OCEAN!! Thanks to mint candies which helped me not to humiliate myself in from of everybody.

And my misery continued. There were only ocean wherever I go, so I had to endure myself for another 2 days in the boat of islands hoping. And this coward girl became so blessed when she had to face the nature like this. Felt like human were nothing compare to powerful nature.


Two days were gone so fast and we had to go back to the mad city again. I had to prepare a presentation about Raja Ampat for trade expo in Den Haag. Gosh.... I can't believe that I was in Raja Ampat....
Yes, I can scream on top of my lung "UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I was in Raja Ampat, it was a wonderful way to close the year....

Dec 2010, Raja Ampat, Papua Indonesia

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