Places to lay our heads

Trip Start Feb 06, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Papua New Guinea Madang, Papua New Guinea
Friday, November 28, 2008

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

Bogia

. 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

Karkar school guest house.

. 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!