Baliem Valley - Papua

Once you read or give it a deeper study to Danis way of life, dont be surprise that you may find your eye lifting or forehead wrinkling. Why? Because the Dani is uniquely amazing.
The Dani men and women sleep separately in different honai (Danis traditional house). The men sleep grouped in one honai, while the women and children slumber in another honai. As descended from their ancestor, sex is taboo for the women after giving birth, for 2 or 5 years, as the result the Dani generated healthier kids since the women focus on babysitting the kids during the most important phase of growth. This situation makes the men vulnerable to polygamy, its a true fact of life that the Dani men are allowed to have more than 1 wife or as many as he can afford. A man should give 4-5 pigs to the girls parent he wants to marry. For Dani men, his social status are initiated by the number of wives and pigs he has.
Another remarkable custom of Dani is that women will amputate their finger when their relatives die, hence doesnt be surprise when you see women with missing finger.
To enhance the quality of your experience in Baliem Valley, guide is essential since there are no clear maps or signage initiated for visitor. The guide will help to lead the track, communicate with the local people and in advance, the guide will inform the tourist about local dos and donts.

Flying might be the only way to access the Baliem Valley through Wamena. Here are some alternatives on carrier from Jayapura to Wamena: (For further info, ask the officers at Sentani Airport Information Center).
Trigana Air Services provide daily flights into and out of Wamena. Spot the Trigana Air Service Offices at Sentani Airport terminal and Wamena Airport terminal.
MAF
AMA
Yajasi
Manunggal Air
Hercules carrier provide by Indonesian army (TNI)
To access Baliem Valley, you can rent car or public bus from Wamena.

For those who are adventurer and cultural observer in heart, stay and mingle with the Baliem Valley people is possible, just make sure your guide booked it before your visit. Go Show? Affordable.
If the first alternative is way too extreme, you can stay at hotels at Wamena:
Wamena Hotel at Jl. Homhom 61
Srikandi Hotel at Jl. Irian 16
Pondok Wisata Putri Dani at Jl. Irian 40
Nayak Hotel at Jl. Gatot Subroto 63
Hotel Syah Rial Makmur at Jl. Gatot Subroto 45
Hotel Anggrek at Jalan Ambon 1
Baliem Pilamo Hotel at Jalan Trikora
Baliem Valley Resort (3 star resort), http://www.baliem-valley-resort.de/

Seven Questions That Will Change Your Life

Written on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 by Alex ShalmanPosted in Goal Setting, Personal Development

Self reflection should be more than a minor consideration if you’re serious about personal growth. I can testify that it’s worked wonders for me, for grounding myself and evaluating my life’s progress. How else am I supposed to make improvements, if I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong in the past? Many people try to ignore past errors, but then history repeats itself, as we all know.
Here are some questions that I find useful to use for self reflection. The format that I use is that of a weekly self assessment and reflection journal. Try it yourself, ask yourself the following questions Sunday night, when your week is complete.
1. What will I try to improve on next week?
2. What was I most proud of this week?
3. What was my biggest accomplishment this week?
4. What have I done to get closer to my life goals this week?
5. What was hard for me this week, and why?
6. What was my biggest waste of time this week?
7. What did I do this week that made me ashamed?
By answering these questions for myself in my writing journal, or journal diary as it is sometimes called, I force myself to take a hard look at myself. I may spend months or years treading water, not getting anywhere, if I didn’t take this time to analyze myself.
For me a week is enough time to pull myself back if I’ve gotten too far off-course. If I’ve stopped exercising for a week, I would be ashamed of myself, and my weekly review would get me to the gym first thing Monday morning.
By recording things that made me proud and that I consider my biggest accomplishments, I can emulate them in the future. The benefit for me is that these are the things that make me feel good and are likely taking me towards my life goals.
I record the activities that I’ve found to be hard during the week. Maybe it was a test, or a work out at the gym. I can then analyze where I went wrong, or right. A test being hard could mean that I wasn’t prepared enough, or it was meant to be a challenging critical thinking exam. A hard day at the gym could mean that I’ve let myself get out of shape, or I’m over working myself. I can make adjustments for the following week and plan accordingly.
What things will you discover yourself if you stare these seven hard questions dead in the eyes?