Goodbye Jakarta

It's almost time for me to say goodbye to Jakarta. Yesterday, with the help of the hotel staff and a local travlel agent, I was able to book a flight out of Jakarta tonight to Jayapura. I'll leave Jakarta in a couple of hours to head for the airport for my flight to the world's second biggest island and the only tropical island that boasts glacier-topped mountains.

I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out how to get to New Guinea as soon as possible and how to make arrangements once I am on the ground. Because my carefully laid plans were thrown into disarray at late notice, I left the UK later than expected and my mission pilot Bob Roberts is unavailable at this time - but he has put me in touch with his son Eric who flies for a Catholic Mission organisation in Papua so I hope to apply for my travel permit as soon as I arrive in Papua tomorrow (it may take one or two days). I've just spoken to Eric by phone and he advised me that there is a missionj flight scheduled for Bime tomorrow but there's no way I can get on it as it will fly in the morning and I won't have a permit by then. Bummer! Eric will leave Jayapura tomorrow for a couple of days so it look like I'll be visiting the mission offices as soon as I arrive and testing out my Indonesian skills on a local staff member called Bob! Eric also advised me that one of his pilots (Mark) is arriving into Jayapura on teh same flight as me so I may be able to get something organised through him.

It's definitely a challenge trying to pull things together here but I remain hopeful that I can get into Jayapura, get my permit, get to Bime and then get back to Jayapura. I'm not so sure about my chances of actually reaching Mandala, summiting and getting back to Bime in time to catch any flight out, but at least I'm here in Indonesia doing whatever I can to make it happen. As always, the hardest part of any journey is actually getting on the flight and I did that two days ago so it's onwards and upwards from here.

I also found time today to apply for a secopnd passport via the British Consulate here in Jakarta - once the expedition is finished, I need to send my passport back to Sudan to apply for a final exit visa, which allows my previous employer to clear up some paperwork. However, I also need to apply for a Bangaldeshi visa to allow me to take up my new role with the Red Cross. The small complication is that I'm currently scheduled to fly back to Jakarta on 3rd January, when the Consulate is still closed. And then I'm due to fly out to the UK on 4th! Therefore, I may ask a huge favour of another expedition leader who will pass through Jakarta before me and could potentially pick up my new passport and take it to the UK (Martin are you reading this???).

I also bought a big knife (parang) so at least I'll look like a real adventurer while I sit in Jayapura waiting for my permit to be processed.

That's all for now - I need to go and eat before I leave for my flight.

Ricky