Kardoman Tumangger: Sorong: The Western City of Papua Island

Sorong Airport "DEO"

Dear readers, from now on till the next post on this blog, I'll try to write down in English. I really sorry if you find many grammar errors in my post or even it's getting hard to understand what I mean. Please inform me if you find one so I can fix it. Thank you before.

First, I will tell you about my trip to Sorong. Let me give you a brief information about Sorong that I collected from many sources. Sorong is a chartered coastal city in the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua. Its only land borders are with Sorong Regency. It is the gateway to Indonesia's Raja Ampat Islands, species rich coral reef islands in an area considered the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity. It also is the logistics hub for Indonesia's thriving eastern oil and gas frontier. Sorong has experienced exponential growth in the last five years, and further growth is anticipated as Sorong becomes linked by road to other frontier towns in Papua's Bird's Head Peninsula. The city has a population of 125,535. It is served by the Sorong Airport (also known as Domine Edward Osok Airport or "DEO").

How to get Sorong?

From Jakarta, there are several airlines that will carry you to this city. They are Express Air, Pelita Air Service, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Lion Air and Sriwijaya Air. Express Air serves direct flight from Jakarta without any stop, it only takes 4 hours. The closest and comfort hotel from the airport is JE Meridien. But if you want to see the red district or feel night's life in Sorong, please book Memberano Hotel. Hahaha, but be careful and "play" safely..

Actually, I came to Sorong not for holiday. A few weeks before, my boss placed me in Pertamina Refinery Unit VII in Kasim. Since as Pertamina's employee, I worked in Head Office in Jakarta. Kasim is about 100km of the southern part Sorong and it takes at least two hour to get there. It's located in the middle of forest, so the nearest resident is about 15km (our driver's information). My plane departed at 1 a.m Indonesia Western Time and arrived at 7.20 a.m Indonesia Eastern Time. So, here are some of pictures that was taken during my trip to Sorong.