Comfort Inn Coast Watchers Madang

... for research. It was very hot and steamy walking through the forest – our hottest day yet. Again, the track was not very good, but it served its purpose. We learned about plants for treating asthma, fever, malaria, and snake bite. We also learned about a "poisonous" bird – it’s feathers secrete a substance that is irritating to the touch … apparently, the substance comes from a beetle that the birds ingest. Weird.

Once we were satisfied with our visit, we ...

... all around, as usual. Lincoln told us this was his village, and we would walk the adventure trail to see some strange things. He recruited four young people to act as our guides and trail support.

And we needed them. I do a lot of hiking, a fair amount of which is through the mud, but this was so slick, and the trail was usually so steep, that we were sliding all over the place. It was very helpful to take Katja’s hand periodically to steady myself.

After a few ...

... Hier wordt je meteen geconfronteerd met de willekeur van prijzen. Voor een hotelkamer zonder douche en wc en waar net 2 bedden in kunnen betaal je hier dus 120 euro. Kwestie van vraag en aanbod maar voor een ontwikkelingsland absurde prijzen. Je hebt echter weinig keus. Later zijn we er achter gekomen dat dit soort prijzen heel normaal is. Toerisme in PNG is zo goed als niet bestaand. De weinige mensen die hier komen zijn Australiërs die iets doen bij de ...

... river trips he’ll spot a bird for you and instantly knows which one it is but now we want to see it as well. So look at that green tree is not enough information as all trees here are green. More exact information is needed like: see that big leafy tree, yes, next to it on the right is a small leafy tree, OK, There is a branch to the left, yep, and on it is a yellow breasted fruit dove. You keep staring and then it’s either oh yes its beautiful or oops ...

... end of the town when the works is operating.
Alongside this big stuff there is the
occasional cruise liner which blocks off one end of the wharf. They
only stay a night or two, while the tourists are toured round the sights,
or disappear for a brief inland view of jungle and village life. The
money is there and it is important, but it is tightly organized and
set up so that the locals have little to do with the parceled version
of ...

... wails of the young runners echo clearly right across the school grounds.More children, this time in a cloudburst of water, sheeting down and turning the field into a lake. PNG adults don't like rain. The children feel differently. They are off! A gang, all ages. Screaming and giggling, creating a slide across the water soaked grass which very soon turns to a mud patch filled with slithering laughing bodies, who rush away across the grass, turn streaming with ...

... we left with happy memories and an enormous number of bites, which showed we pleased someone during our stay anyway. Strangely the goodest thing about this place was that they had somehow had a delivery of reject Australian library books from Rotary(who do that sort of thing) so we spent our time relaxing and having a brilliant reading binge. Come to think of it the fleas didn't have to do much travelling to find us. When we want to treat ourselves we leave the ...

... it splits to, one way to Lae which is a large coastal city, and the other way up the highlands. The coast road has been patched up and this has knocked our journey down to 3.5 hours from 4.5 hrs. It is a beautiful journey, plantations mixed with grassy craggy hills and forest, with bush villages dotted along the road and the most spectacular coastal views . The other road inland is not so clever, and there are severe restrictions to travelling on it ...

... the Grade 10 and Grade 12 exams which are the 'selection ' times equivalent to our GCSE and A levels coupled with a sort of school certificate atmosphere as well. So a lot of the students know this is it and if they flunk they will be out of school.....so some of them don't even turn up at all. Then the time is now for Heads to look at their teachers and decide which ones they want to keep or not keep. So staff know there is a naming and listing going on, with Board ...

Whilst in Madang we frequented the RSL Club as it seemed to be the only place there! Meeting the locals was quite a rarety as there didn't seem to be too many. However, one very regular 'customer' was a very tall chap with a military air and a small dog who would nip his legs if he thought his 'master' had had too much to drink! This guy turned out to be a remnant of the War! Left behind (or had he ...