TravelStream™ news feed for member bobandpam on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bobandpam en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:11:27 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/4/1253409039/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/4/1253409039/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/4/1253409039/tpod.html Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:11:27 -0400 A variety of images from Papua New Guinea

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Madang, Papua New Guinea

A selection of our latest photo experiences...

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1245038400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1245038400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1245038400/tpod.html Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:47:30 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Madang, Papua New Guinea

PNG 17......Madang Water Life
Madang is a busy port. It has winding
access channels with deep water, then inlets and islands which give
long water frontages and many landing points for a range of shipping.
You are never far from the waterside and cargo or people traffic is
a major business here.
The big boys come in under pilot direction.
There is a pilot boat and two bright red tugs who work the big boats
through the narrow entrance channel into the deep water wharves. Containers
come in and out. There deck cargoes from all over the Pacific and the
ships carry registry labels from as far away as Hongkong, Singapore,
Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Manila and Tokyo. To name a few. Sometimes there
are so many that they have to drop anchor out in the sheltered reaches
by the barrier island and wait for spaces to be freed up for unloading.
Yesterday there were 5 waiting. They were joined by a cable layer which
will link Madang to the undersea optic cable from Guam. Broadband is
on its way!
The Copra processing factory backs
on to the wharf, with its flat bottomed ‘landing craft’ type ship,
capable of carrying vehicles into shallow water landings on the islands
or in the estuaries of the Ramu or Sepik rivers, and returning after
collecting loads of copra for the Madang processing plant. The sweet
smell dominates the northern 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 tourism. We get left in the wake.
More our size are the ferries and the
copra boats from Karkar which carry people and cargo along the coast
or out to the nearest islands. These are small diesel driven ferries
which are run by Star Shipping Luship and small private concerns. Conditions
are basic, and some of the trips along the coast might be overnight
to places like Wewak, Lae or Rabaul. This is the established system
which was so important before the coastal roads were built. The Raikos
with its mine site at Basimo is served by these ships, as are all the
places where roads have not reached. There is always a crowd around
the ferry offices when a sailing time is due. Timekeeping is erratic.
People with their baggage wait patiently until loading has been completed
and then they squash on board. There is plenty of demand for the ferries
and the business is good as long as the price of diesel doesn’t go
too mad.
Around these commercial trips are the
multitude of small boats of all shapes and sizes which carry people,
commuters, across the inlets to town or to the settlements. There are
a few high powered speedboats with 275hp engines which roar around with
their few exalted passengers, only slowing to avoid upsetting the smaller
boats with their wake. The inlets are dotted with outrigger canoes which
may be carrying people to town or home, or they may be out fishing for
the day. They look frail, skippered by men, women, or small children,
but the narrow hull and balancing outrigger float serve their purpose
in the sheltered waters or when the sea is calm. When the sea is calm
outrigger canoes gather at the prime fishing spots along the edge of
the reef. In the evening in the shallow waters at the edge of the town
by the Boat club they are loaded up with shopping and then with one
or two passengers cruise out across the bay in the gathering dark to
the settlements among the coconut palms.
The most frequent crossings are made
by ‘banana boats’, 14ft glass fibre dinghies with outboards 40-75hp.
They travel to and fro each day across all the narrow channels, bringing
hundreds of people into work or market, then returning in the late afternoon.
Problem is it can often look as if they are trying to bring all hundred
people in one boat. Overloading is common. As is overturning. Sometimes
the boat is so low in the water, buried under its human load, that any
small wave or wake from a passing boat will splash over the side and
threaten to tip all the passengers into the water. Boat watchers can
cast bets on who gets across safely when they see a particularly heavily
loaded boat. There is also the hazard of the speed boat which through
ignorance or arrogance declines to slow down. Still, the ‘banana boats’
operate their taxi services, with many satisfied customers every day,
so the risks must be small and discounted. It always happens to someone
else anyway. This we all know.
Occasionally in the midst of steel
and glass fibre vessels a greater skill will show, gliding dugouts with
no outrigger and a standing paddler who uses a long handled paddle more
like a broad spear. These are the remnants. Incredibly skillful. Balancing
delicately and confidently. Moving effortlessly among the more unruly
and raucous elements which have now taken over the water space. These
special gliding people are always old and alone. They carry small amounts
of cargo, or they move across the harbor’s inlets from one fishing
spot to another. The canoes are very long, made from one log and shaved
back and back to a thin, delicate shape which has a short curve in the
stern, a longer shallow curve for the prow. The canoeist leans into
the paddle stroke while standing upright, one foot in front of the other,
perfectly balanced and appearing to pull the canoe across the surface
in a long, smooth glide, then lifting the blade head glittering above
the water before the next smooth entry and pull.
Imagine the place when all travelers
were as silent as this.





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1243304580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1243304580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1243304580/tpod.html Mon, 25 May 2009 22:26:07 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Madang, Papua New Guinea

Png.16 .....you'll never believe what I saw!Smiles are part of life in PNG, big smiles as strangers greet you, smiles red from betel , smiles gleaming white . 'The land of the unexpected 'also produces its fair share of smiles and laughter. Scenes to entertain and surprise are one of the joys of a journey. Amongst the scenic beauty and the clear light the human  eccentricity shines through to provide a smile, a giggle, or disbelieving hysterical laughter.............A whole crowd roaring with laughter at a sing-sing, when after several groups of traditional dancers dressed up in feathers and swirling grasses, the 'Snake Dancers' arrive dressed in grey paint and ashes. They mime out the snake hunting and being hunted, and the crowds laughter rolls on and on as the parody is played out with sliding , then high lifting steps, elaborate shoulder lifts and bum wriggles at strategic intervals to further entertain the near hysterical audience.Silhouetted  across the school grounds a father cuts the grass with a push me lawnmower, walking straight lines between the classrooms in the early evening. As he completes the cut his two youngsters, miniature matchstick men in the distance, race towards him along the freshly cut track in the grass. He turns and cuts again. They wait, then as he finishes another race is run. They are so far away we can only just hear the lawnmower, but when the race begins the banshee 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 water, then charge back to hurl themselves along the slide yet again, bumping into spread-eagled bodies and resting breathless in the mud for seconds, before bursting noisily up and away to start the whole mad rush again. And all the time the rain pours down.Dogs provide lots of amusement. They usually ignore humans and spend time on strictly doggy business. A new pup at school had not yet reached that stage of independence, still linked to the human mother surrogate. Sunday is early mass, church communion time. Mistress attending with 500 students and add ons from the village. They pray and sing and listen, then line up for communion. The pup, intrigued, follows and lines up too. Very orderly with no pushing, pup in line, waiting properly.  At the head of the line there is a hesitation in front of the priest. Mistress receives her bread and turns and goes. Pup waits, tail wagging expectantly. When nothing comes it sits, puzzled, in front of the priest. Nothing offered but a gentle foot pushing the pup on as the line moves again. We wondered. Will she come again, or like many find another way to spend her Sunday mornings?People now, or students anyway. Demonstration of an English lesson on description and characterization in stories. Extensive presenting of key ideas receives small gain, students who are not used to drama and practical lessons are struggling and silent. The characters become Robin Hood, Little John and Maid Marian. There are parallels here in PNG society. A glimmer from the students. Stand up. Act bold and brave.....a small movement, a start. Brave and bold figures move experimentally and tentatively, some boys, some girls.  But still not sure. The character of Little John.....much better. Noise and big body movements produce a bit more involvement, a bit more energy. The class is waking up and realizing they can do this....understanding of characterization is possible. But what about the heroine, Maid Marian. Key words and explanation again, the story sketched and retold......the gaps between the desks are suddenly filled with curvy giggling heroines as the boys strut their miming talents and the whole class roars its laughter sound...which actually resembles a football crowd as a goal is scored, and can be as surprising as macho male students entertaining themselves by wiggling hips and pursing lips as they become the femme fatale of Sherwood.Stories told are a major part of conversation in PNG. In fact conversations are referred to as storytelling. So a PNG people story. One of the minibus drivers is an ex prison guard. He describes a duty run through a part of central PNG, with reports rife of an ongoing tribal fight which has got very nasty. As he drives along a rough track, suddenly a tribesman leaps into the road, with much arm waving and spear pointing. His moment has come, there is no way back. 'Wait boss, Wait boss' and the tribesman runs along the track, shouting and waving arms. Figures rise from behind trees and bushes on both sides. Bows and arrows, spears, bush knives...and more worrying a shotgun or two and a grenade launcher. 'Wait boss, Wait boss' is all he hears. Wait for what? Another figure in the track, bigger, more authoritative. Now the arm waving is telling him to proceed, 'Come boss, Come boss' He checks the doors are locked and the windows are up, gets into gear  and drives slowly forward. The men step aside and wave him through. 'No problem, yu arrait, yu arrait. No problem' The war has stopped to let him go past. Looking back he sees the figures melting back into the trees which closely bank the track. They have other things to attend to now. Traffic control time is over. People provide smiles, including of course the VSO volunteers. A birthday party, this time planned with fancy dress and candles on the balcony. Superman as host and we appear as Dalmatians 102 and 103.There is Daisy Duke with the curves of TV fame, Katherine Hepburn in her pyjamas, Indiana Jones ready for adventure and a delicate Dutch elf. The visiting manager is Jake...he has been working mightily to keep things glued together, with much travelling and report writing and no breaks. 'I'll come, just sort out a costume, I don't mind' There are giggles and secretive going ons. He disappears to the dressing room to get his costume, not seen yet. Appears gracefully with much - heralded entrance as a blushing bride in full regalia with veil and bouquet. Which is funny. Funnier when you realize that Jake is about 6ft 7", very lanky, blonde hair, and because of all the time spent inside at work has a milk white complexion. He smiles demurely and takes the applause as his due. Sadly no bridegroom but with Superman present, who knows!   
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1205676420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1205676420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1205676420/tpod.html Sun, 03 May 2009 00:04:38 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Madang, Madang, Papua New Guinea

Well this is a letter typed in our budget room at Madang Lodge. I am
hoping that a cut and paste will allow me to send it on hotmail when
we next get to the VSO office in Madang.

A budget room is a small room with two single beds, two wardrobes and
a fan. It has been our home for the last 3 weeks while we have been
doing our in country orientation. After all the ribbing about dungie
spiders and other unpleasant things it has been a pleasant place to
put our weary heads.

The rooms surround a flowered quad which has wooden carvings to add
character. We have to share 4 showers and toilets with other
residents, the Seaview Restaurant, small tea shop, shop and pool
swimming. VSO have special rates for volunteers and we are entitled
to three meals a day from the VSO menu. There is a good selection of
food but you can't go wrong with cereal, toast , coffee and fresh
fruit, served by waiters in lap laps, who are incredibly polite,
although rather slow. The restaurant overlooks the sea and is a
superb place to start the day.

Actually the start of the day is usually heralded by the chorus of
fruit bats coming to roost after their night hunting for food. They
are like large birds who chatter noisily and only the most weary
residents sleep through their return. We have decided that dawn is
the best part of the day and to get up and take a plunge in the pool
is a heavenly start to the day.

VSO send a mini bus to take us to the office for our lectures but we
often walk and feel very safe doing so. It takes about 15-20 minutes
sauntering along. It is not a good idea to walk too quickly. The
temperature has already started to rise! Walking to town is very
similar to walking in Zambia. Trees and bushes are the same, well
trodden footpaths and no pavements as we know them. The roads are
generally in better condition than many in Zambia, although heavy
rains take their toll.

Well I started by saying we had completed our in country training and
this is our first day when we have been left to our own devices for a
fortnight. Last night there was a BBQ for employers and all VSO
personnel..............it rained and how it
rained......................!

This morning was over-caste but we had arranged to be taken out on a
boat to do some swimming and snorkelling on Jan's boat. We had not
met Jan! Eunice, his wife had given a lecture on coping with stress
and told us that Jan had a boat which he took out every Saturday and
that for 30 Kina he would take passengers. Lynn and Roger, who are
also volunteers, have been here since July 2007. They were going out
this Saturday and they said they would pick us up from the lodge so
that we could all go out with Jan.

Jan and Eunice have been in PNG for 28 years. We were waiting for the
boat to arrive and really not prepared for Jan. He is slim built, nut
brown, has a long, grey pony tail and smokes cigars. He talks about
many subjects and is not your stereotypical, Indianna, boy. The fact
that he is a Lutheran minister here to translate the bible into, which
ever, of the 880 languages need translation is just another side to
this very interesting and complex character. For anyone wanting a
day or days out fishing or diving he is a great contact. His schedule
is very flexible and he is very knowledgeable and good value
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1227834000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1227834000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1227834000/tpod.html Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:20:03 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Madang, Papua New Guinea

Of course you will have got the idea that we are a bit like the lost tribe in the way we travel about, so a flavour of where we rest out heads may not go amiss. Starting from the sublime...we were chatting to a lecturer from the Marine College.. turns out he is on a training course to Tasmania, would we like to stay in his flat. Heartbreakingly we have to accept so end up with 3 days of air-con, fans, tele ,house maid, washed and ironed clothes, etc. Its just who you know I suppose!

In marked contrast the week before and after left the other end of the scale to be admired for its simplicity and the fact that you have to be humble and share with the local wildlife. Place before the flat was no water, very little power, very hot, very sticky, and a kerosene stove to cook on. We got by and it was just like camping....Then the week after the flat was water after awhile, power all day til nine, really dirty, and a total mess so we ended doing a big bed, cupboard, table, move about and spent lots of time having a clean. We suspect we got this place because the school is not too pleased to have us, while the first one is just poor.

We did spend a few days in a village guest house which was all bamboo and woven bits and all that stuff, and we were really well looked after by everyone. The greeting was welcoming, they wanted to share their lifestyle with us, and their dog wanted to share its flies and fleas so 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 humble hostel which is our usual stopover and walk across the bridge to the MADANG RESORT which prides itself in its adverts as the best resort in PNG. We just spoil ourselves by having a breakfast there, what a treat, but once we got sent there because there was no other room at the inn...you know the rest of the story...except for us there wasn't a stable , it was a building site in the part of the resort which was having a major make-over . It was just like one of the Spanish holidays from hell with power cables, jack hammers, saws, sledgehammers, singing workmen and water very much present as it went swishing down the corridor(we were on the 1st floor).

We are usually billeted in the CWA when we are in town for meetings or stop overs between journeys. This is like a youth hostel with a central kitchen and eating area, clean rooms and en suite with showers and reliable water. We munch simple breakfasts and then go next door to the Chinese(the world over!) for a cheap meal on the balcony overlooking the narrow channel which brings the big boats to the harbour. Lovely. Early evening the people who have been in town come to the shore to get their canoe, and cross the channel to the settlements while dodging the motorboats and the larger stuff. Usually the women do the paddling while husbands recline, or occasionally really young kids in canoes on their own. Very picturesque in the sunset and the foods OK too!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1219627980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1219627980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1219627980/tpod.html Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:46:43 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Madang, Papua New Guinea

We are in Madang for one more week delivering the last of the workshops for heads and deputies, this time on the management of change. It could be a disaster. Heads here are not trained for the job and literally walk from the classrom to the new position. We have 3 heads with some experience but it is scary to think of the responsibility they are given without adequate prparation.
Yesterday was our anniversary and Bob booked us into Coastwatchers for a lovely meal and we stayed over night which meant we didn't have to get a lift back to the flat in which we are staying this week. The down side of being in PNG is that it is not considered safe to walk around at night and there is no taxi or bus sevice so if you don't have your own transport you are stuck. Most of the time this is not a problem as we are with friends who will give us a lift but last night we wanted a meal for two, very romantic. Well you need your own space sometimes.
It was novel to watch some of the olympics on TV oh the things we used to take for granted. We had alcohol with the meal that is a novelty too! How life has changed.
Last week we were staying on Karkar Island working at the local secondary school. It is in a beautiful location but everything is very basic even the guest house in which we were staying.
The local store is like the one in Bogia. not disimilar to walking into a wild west movie. The difference between Karkar and Bogia being that they sell ice-cream. What a treat! The people who own the guest house also own a cocoa and coconut plantation on the island.
They are PNG Aussies and have lived here for three generations.It was a novel experience being invited for dinner. The doberman was big enough to eat you for lunch to start with, Amber! The crocodile skin and our host made you think of Crocodile Dundee. There were similarities.
We also met the another family with a plantation. The father is from Nottingham. He married a lady from Karkar and has 4 children. Two of them are in Australia with their families and 2 live in Madang and help run the business. The first time we visited we stayed in their guest house. This time we went across on the boat which carries produce. We were looked after and again invited for a meal. Paul,s in laws were visiting from Germany. All in all a very interesting visit and that's without mentioning the work.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1224806160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1224806160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1224806160/tpod.html Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:35:30 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Bogia, Papua New Guinea

Those who know will appreciate the importance placed on the daily crust in our family. Much heart searching takes place over the ingredients and the cooking which will produce the next, and the next, and the next meal. From this I would not like you to think of us as fixated, gluttonous, overfed or greedy; but there is definitely a hobbit like fixation with the actions necessary to provide the next meal.

So food has predictably been part of our learning curve.

You must first be made aware that virtually anything grows in this country. We have met strawberries delicious and wholesome , flown into market from an isolated compound high in the mountains which can only be accessed by air. We have seen bananas of green, banana of red, bananas petite and bananas enormous. There are potatoes and sweet potatoes, taro and tomatoes, sweet pineapple and sour pineapple, orange oranges and green oranges. To survive takes nothing more than a slow walk through the groves of banana trees, or perhaps you prefer coconut, delicious cool and fresh, a freshly killed pig or the freshest of chickens.

Like all diets there are surprises. If you don't eat protein in any amount recognisable, and you don't eat dairy produce, and your diet is virtually all unprocessed foods, you loose weight! The locals are trim and lean, and it really is unusual to see a fat PNG person. They are a fit and strong looking lot with a very healthy set of muscles.

However....for some strange historical marketing reason the PNG average person eats rice and tinned fish. This can at best be described as a culinary eccentricity. At worst sheer bloody mindedness. Rice does grow, but caring for it is harder work than the average adult male PNG farmer wishes to engage in, so there is no rice of any quantity grown in the country and it is all imported at some cost (a fact which causes great moaning amongst the shoppers of PNG). Fish of course there is in abundance.

The seas around are famous for their nurseries of fish stock, there are fish, fish, fish...or even bigger FISH. A lavish diet indeed and so healthy. But to fish every day is really too much hard work is it not. The sun, the blueness of the sea, the soft breezes, the slow rocking of the canoe. Yes, certainly a tin would be easier. It will have the same fish in it, and we will buy it from the factory down the road which is owned by a...Phillipino....or a Chinese! Sadly the Phillipino or the Chinese do not tin the best of the fish for domestic consumption, so the PNG eater has to suffer those portions of the fish which are not acceptable in the Phillipino or Chinese home market. So something called fish comes in a tin, with imported rice. The most common meal in town.

Here I have to offer words of praise to Pam. She has taken all the vagaries of food supply and cooking equipment and produced an enormous variety of superb dishes, with an equally great variety of ingredients. There are times when she concocts a something which is so special that I innocently ask 'How?' but the shake of the head and wondering eye leads to the assumption that there is no way that dish will be repeated. However there is always another creation to explore.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1207372200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1207372200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1207372200/tpod.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:32:06 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Madang, Madang, Papua New Guinea

The logistics of moving around will be an interesting challenge over the next few months. Everyone seems very concerned about the white bubuman and and bubumeri, more respect for our age than anything else. We have enjoyed another stay at the lodge and it is good to catch up on all the news of other vols. There have been a few changes. Emma is a trainer from Harbourne hall on a short stay doing work for the HIV programme. It is good to talk to somebody from home.

It is raining here and has been raining all night so we are cool. It is a bit like July at home and all the Europeans are out and about while PNG people stay at home. Our meeting yesterday resulted in a plan but how the plan will be carried out is another matter. We return to Bogia tomorrow if we have transport otherwise we will have to stay another night in the lodge. All in all routine is not one of the key words here, but we have a place to stay wherever we are so we have to rely on the people with the contacts tomove us around when needed. The travelling is interesting as well with the coast road tarmac ending at our school, and surfaces not reliable(although not as bad as Zambia. We expect to do some to and fro stuff in the next few months as we see all the sec schools and then spend time with the feeder primaries...we are not dealing with little kids here as the age in a primary can be 20 as kids get back to school after the schools fees ran out for a while...there is a faith in education as a need to have so that should be an interesting imperative....an interesting life...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1239409980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1239409980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1239409980/tpod.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:21:29 -0400 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Bogia, Papua New Guinea

PNG 15.....news from PNG

One term done , and what have we done!! We got back into harness with a lengthy meeting to plan the programme with the Ian, the visiting consultant. This was mixed up with farewells to the education programme manager who has gone to be VSO health programme manager in Cambodia, and our Country Manager Joe has gone off to the Solomon Islands as OXFAM programme Manager...tough life if you don't weaken!. We have now done two visits to each of our schools and are getting the flavour of what a new academic year has in store when there is so much upheaval in staffing and policies and finance.

People are obviously a major part of our working, and non working, days. There is an enormous variety as you would expect and we get fun, interest and amazement from those we see on our travels. There is no real consistency, although maybe when you are not used to them the average Papuan can be a bit of a shock at first because visually they are a bit fierce.

Well the men are anyway! The youngest kids usually have little or nothing on and if the sea is safe or there is a river they are happy to splash around for hours with nothing on. The older ones are pretty good at spear fishing using a sort of catapult and the sharpened spokes from broken umbrellas. Working men in town will nearly always be wearing baggy t-shirts and shorts which all come from the second hand clothes shops which are huge. They also have a great love of a flash line in hats, from the woolly sort which we associate with mountaineers, to Andy Cap flat caps or American baseball hats. There is a fair sprinkling of Rastafarians as well with their crocheted rainbow hats. Nearly every man caries a bag, a bilem, which goes over his neck and one shoulder. This carries mainly his betel nuts, Daka stems of pepper, and plastic jar with ground lime in it for chewing. They are nearly always chewing. They start with the betel nut, which is a green -husked nut about the size of a golf ball. They peel the husk off with their teeth and throw that away...anywhere. Then after that is chewed soft they add little bites of daka which has been dipped into the lime. The reaction between the lime and the green mush in their mouth turns a bright red, so their mouth is red, teeth, lips, and the road after they spit out a long stream of bright red juice when they have worked on it enough.

The women also chew, so there are many smiling faces which present the most alarming bright red lips and gums with the most revolting blackened and broken teeth. The lime grinds away at the teeth while the chemical reaction causes all sorts of grotty things to happen to the mouth....ending up with cancer. Other than that the women can be lovely! They also dress in baggy shorts and t-shirts in town, but many wear the baggy 'meri dress' which is very brightly patterned and loose. Hair can be in any style you imagine. Long is possible, pigtails, bunches, plaits, buns, shaved off all together, or anything in between. Most men have some sort of face hair, of a great variety of shape and style, and some of the women do too! Specially those from the Sepik and Ramu river regions. Going through the jungly bits along the coast road you still see the skirt and boobs look in some of the tribes, and there is usually a fair display of muscles and skin bits as the men go from the villages into the bush gardens or collect building wood from the bush. They are very strong and fit.

There are of course, plenty of anomalies. The ladies in town with the tight jeans and clinging tops may be something to do with the shed hotel which hires rooms by the hour. Those men in long pressed trousers and long sleeved shirts will be from the offices, schools or government. They will also be the ones wearing regulation black shoes. Boots of any sort are a bit of a status symbol while the flipflop has a major role to play, although some still protect theirs by carrying them as they walk along the rougher roads barefoot. Feet are created made of iron here, even the mini kids can walk barefoot over burning coals without a twitch. You do occasionally see the opposite of all this when a family has come into some cash, and the youngest is dressed in the brightest clothes possible including those shoes that flash as they walk, and they strut their stuff as they follow parents down the road to church or market.

Ex-pats also present the rage of sartorial elegance. There are still the antique white explorer looks floating around with brown shoes, long socks and pressed tailored shorts and shirts with the required two pockets...these gentlemen always have a very large 4x4 as well. Not so old can come in all shapes and colours. The Father Walter who runs the local catholic Conference centre always wears sandals, baggy dark brown shorts, and a vest(singlet) which obviously starts off as white. The nuns always look immaculate which I just don't understand at all. And those Indian nuns who belong to the St Theresa lot are always smiling as well. I think they are just showing off that they can wash whiter than anyone else. The Italian Father who insists on living on the volcanic island near us has a neat line in baggy shorts and singlets as well, but he is a bit more mobile than Father Walter so he sports a neat line in training shoes which possibly started off as white as well but I cannot say for certain.

Finally the item of costume which is essential in our neck of the woods is the knife. These can be of the small variety which can be used for cleaning your fingernails, and such like. The blades about as long as a carving knife. Then there are the genuine workers who carry a real knife. Not a machete but made in the same style about as long as from your elbow to your fingers. And heavy. It's used for splitting coconut, that sort of thing. A domestic essential. Then there are the wood men who will have the world famous machete. This will cut anything if you have the time or the inclination. It is strong and heavy and swings well. Good for bamboos, trees, or anything in between. Finally there is the grass knife. Everyone has these and the children all have to bring them to school as part of their boarding kit. Yes.....their boarding kit. A grass knife is about a metre long of steel sharpened on one edge and it has a cloth or tape handle roughly wrapped at one end. The handles can have time spent on them as a form of ID, just to be flash. This delightful implement is carried along the paths and streets by children of all ages and by men and women. It cuts grass well. It also cuts people pretty well by accident as it swishes through its cutting arc of about 2 metres of swing, and then of course there are those times in PNG when the cutting of people is not an accident.....so you need a knife.

I've got one. A short coconut cutting knife. I use it with trepidation and count my fingers after each swing.............so far so good
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1234062720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1234062720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobandpam/1/1234062720/tpod.html Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:13:31 -0500 The first voyage of our retirement. Papua New Guinea and...

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Bogia, Papua New Guinea

PNG 14.....away from it all for a break

All the excitement that went into the planning of the celebration trip to Bangkok for the wedding of Robert and Michelle, coupled with the follow up plans for Australia and getting people to visit, did not come close to the actual feelings once the travelling began and we spent nearly 2 months of travel and seeing new places. Then of course the pleasure from meeting people who we have missed, meeting friends from long ago, and coming to some small understanding about why they went to live on the other side of the world.

From November 28th to January 28th we have been on the move and it has been a wonderful experience, a wonderful kaleidoscope of experiences. Famous places. Quiet back yards. Crammed and teeming cities and wild empty coastlines. Pam has no favourites. It was all so special. For me the huge trees in the beech forests of the south coast hit the top. We have had a brilliant time.

From a family point of view the gathering in Hua Hin was very special. To see all together was lovely, and Michelle looked lovely as well. The words said brought tears , from the bride and the mothers in law. Robert had his special time for showing how much his wife meant to him. Michelle's parents met the new members of the family and tho' the language was different the smiles where conveying the shared emotions. The hotel arrangements where smooth, elegant and definitely extravagant! We all looked very posh in our clothes, but I decided to keep mine when Rachel and Ruth were doing their swap shop dressing routine. A good time was had by all.

After the day of celebrations we said goodbye to Dan and Rachel as they went off south to their jungle resort..romantic again...while the rest of the party went in search of elephants for a satisfying tourist experience which provided thousands of photos which demonstrate quite clearly that elephants are big and humans are very small. Time spent in Bangkok had also provided multi-spired temples of glittering magnificence. Redefining glitter and glitz in absolute acres of gold leaf. Trips on long tailed boats which act as resting homes for any large car engine mounted in a truly Heath Robinson style, swivelling and roaring on the stern of a smoothly graceful boat hull which had its origins in a time of completely different technology and aesthetics.

For Pam and myself the second half of the holiday has been in Australia. We had the pleasure of meeting friends we do not often see...in one case 1984! And the conversation had all the comfort of friendship offered by Trevor and Robin, and specially Sandra and Rod.Favours from Glenis who apart from being a walking talking encyclopaedia of world travel also has a flat which overlooks the fireworks display on New Years Eve. Sandy last seen in Ashford and Zambia giving us a night-time tour of Melbourne.The Stauntons who looked after us and and showed us the countryside around Sydney. Kate and Xavier who welcomed us at Manley. And Kaye who wonderfully replaced Gill as host in Melbourne because Gill had run away to work in London.

Finally of course the place itself. The size, space, countryside and city, land, coastline, mountain, sea. Kangeroos and koalas, the Great Reef of course. And we only saw a little slice of it all!
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