The
Islands: After
spending some time in the Highlands and Sepik River Valley, it was time
to head to the islands for a little change of pace.
Upon leaving
Wom, I spent a few
days at Ralf's place. The ride back from Angoram was in a
private
Land Cruiser. It was 10x more comfortable and four hours
faster
than the PMV getting to Angoram. I offered the driver some
gas
money but he didn't want anything. Ralf later instructed me
the
best way to give was to offer it for their church. I spent a
lot
of time talking with Ralf. He's a great guy who is in some
ways
hopelessly idealistic. He often doesn't seem to notice the
darker
side of societies. Not that there is anything wrong with it,
but
it's just not the way I think leads to the most realistic understanding
of people.
I was going to be heading to the islands and Ralf
said that he would give me a ride to the airport. Only
problem is
that he did the Humpty-Dumpty thing with his car. He took it
apart to fix it and was having trouble getting it back to
together. Instead, he got up early and flagged down a vehicle
for
me. I said goodbye to him and was off to some of the
islands. While at the airport I met a Dutch expat who didn't
seem
very nice at all. He said, "You tourists come here expecting
to
go places no one else has gone, don't you." I replied, "No, I
didn't but I have been places where I was the first tourist to
go." "Oh, yeah, big tough explorer finding uncontacted
tribes." He then started to rip on Ralf.
I simply
said, "You know, you're a gigantic dick." and walked away.
Sometimes, you have to call 'em as you see 'em.
The plane landed
in Rabaul on the island of New Britain and I found a place to
stay. They had a "budget bed" for 35k which I said was
fine. The woman brought me down the hall, which had a bed at
the
end of it. I joked, "Is that the budget bed?" She
wasn't
joking. It was a small bed, right outside the bathroom next
to a
door that opened to the street, with no secure place for my
pack. Sigh...for 35K, you'd expect a little
more than that. Eventually I found a nice place on the ocean
for
the same price as the "budget bed" and guess what...it even had a door!
I
went for a swim and floated in the water under the setting
sun.
Thomas, the owner of the place, was a very forward thinker and thought
in long timelines about how to succeed, something often lacking
here. We talked about what westerners like. For
example, he
thought about getting some kayaks. When I mentioned that he
shouldn't forget life jackets he looked at me strangely,
"Why?"
"Because not all people live on the ocean and learned to swim by age
two and besides, it's often legally required in our
countries."
He didn't know about that but was eager to learn. The next
day, I
went diving but it was the worst diving I've ever had and the equipment
was in terrible shape. I was quite content to return to
Thomas'
place and float in the warm water as the sun set.
I
took a PMV into Rabaul, a city that prior to a 1994 volcanic eruption
was considered one of the prettiest cities in the Pacific. It
was
a ghost town, covered in 1-3 meters of ash. I met Michael, a
pleasant high school student who showed me around. All around
were hundreds and hundreds of homes filled with ash, walking around
them where your feet were at window level. There was one area
that had a very long fence that stuck out of the ground about 10 cm.
but beyond the fence was nothing but an empty ash field. I
figured out that it was an airport. Many houses had roofs
caved
in from the ash. All around were the signs of a
silent,
very dead city. We ran across someone from a local village
who
wanted to show me a downed Japanese WWII bomber. Afterwards,
he
tried to charge me, which I declined claiming not to have money on
me. I could see Michael was very embarrassed at this and he
apologized profusely. We spent the afternoon walking around
or
sitting in the shade. Later I bought him a soda and when I
told
him to show the soda to the guy and say, "Here's the money he didn't
have", he laughed himself silly.
I
spent a few days hanging out on the beach and seeing a WWII site or
two. During the war, Rabaul was a Japanese
stronghold.
Tunnels were dug into the hillsides for defense and to hide military
equipment and it's common to see these tunnels all over. Next
I
headed to the island of New Ireland. It was an open ocean
crossing in small, uncovered boats, not exactly something I looked
forward to, but that's the local transport. I sat on the
beach
and chatted with others waiting for the boat. They said,
"You're
different than most tourists. You sit with us and
talk.
Most whites don't want to be around us." I was both honored
and
taken aback. "Why wouldn't I want to sit with you?"
They
were both honored and taken aback. It seems that many people
still have somewhat colonial attitudes toward them, which is a
shame. As in most places, if you treat someone with respect,
they'll more often than not return it.
The boat crossing to New
Ireland was rather unpleasant as the swells were over 1.5 meters tall
in a boat under six meters long. We couldn't see land in
either
direction for a long period of time. When we landed on an open
beach and the people saw me tentatively walking over the sharp rocks,
they gave me a pair of flip-flops. Always taking care of
their
guests, that's for sure. It was a long wait for a PMV and I
spent
time with Peter, who invited me to his family home in
Namatanai.
His family was very friendly and fed us well. We sat out late
into the night talking under the stars and watching
fireflies.
When we went to bed, Peter offered me the bed and he slept on the
floor. I feebly protested, more as a formality than anything,
and
ended up sleeping in the bed as all such protestations are doomed with
the hospitality of the Papuans. If there is one thing I've
learned about this country, kindness is endemic.
I
spent the morning with the family and at their suggestion, caught a PMV
to Konos, a small village along the coast. The PMV driver
tried
to charge me an exorbitant amount. I ended up paying 15K,
which
still seemed like a lot. The drive to Konos was absolutely
amazing. The skies and water, oh so blue, the temperature
pleasant, the breezes fresh. It was a wonderful drive in the
back
of the flat-bed truck with the wind keeping us cool and plenty of good
company. It's rare that a PMV ride is that pleasant, but
there
you go. In Konos, I stayed in the house of Gerson.
He was
angry when asked about why the PMV ride was so expensive. He
knew
the driver, the Viam Express, and he was on the transport board of New
Ireland and told me that he would take administrative action against
the driver for charging more than the board rate. He said,
"We
only get about ten tourists a year in this area and we can't have them
be cheated. No one on that truck paid more than 5k.
If you
see him again, try to get a refund."
I spent a pleasant few
days in Konos doing nothing at all. During the day I would
find a
quiet beach and pass the day reading and sitting. I'd go out
swimming, look at fish and coral, then go back to reading for a
while. When the tide was low, the offshore reefs stuck out of
the
water, preventing much circulation of the water. The sun
would
then heat up the water to the point where it was downright
warm.
Too warm for comfort, in fact, and one had to get out of the water to
cool off. That's not an exaggeration at all. New
Ireland is
2 degrees south of the equator and during mid-day, the sun is very
intense. The only time I've felt water as warm as that was in
a
hot spring or bathtub.
In
the evenings, I would head back to the village and spend it with Gerson
and family and a few of the villagers. I noticed that when I
talked to the men, the women would gather nearby. Near enough
to
listen in, but not near enough to take part. When I made some
indication that they could join in, Gerson said that they were fine
where they were. It was then I realized that men and women
socialize separately, and it was best if they just listened
in.
One
annoying thing I found about Konos is that people wouldn't leave me
alone. It seemed as if I could get no peace when all I really
wanted was an hour or two by myself. When I mentioned this to
Gerson, he said, "I've noticed that when you want to be alone, you go
sit by the water and read a book." "Yeah, that's what I do." He continued, "In the villages, people don't read
much. So when they see you reading they think, 'He looks
bored,
we better entertain him.'" Suddenly, a lot of things started
to
make sense!
I wanted to go diving in Kavieng at the western tip
of the island. That didn't work out for various reasons that
are
so common in PNG. The woman who ran the hotel was having
trouble
with her computer and I fixed it for her as a favor. She
responded by giving me a room to myself with a shower and even air
conditioning for free. I have to say, it's extremely rare
that I
stay in an air-conditioned place, but there it was.
I
wasn't sure where I was going after leaving Kavieng, but the PMV's last
stop was Konos, so that sounded like a good enough destination
again. When I arrived back in Konos, Gerson and family were
playing a game with a pig sitting next to them. That's such a
great vision of PNG: a family and their pigs. Never
underestimate
the importance of pigs in this society, that's for sure. They
were glad to see me and I spent a few more days with them.
Days
were on the beach, evenings with the family. It's a pleasant
routine.
Eventually
the road took me to Dalom, another village along the coast where I
would spend a few days. The ocean wasn't as nice here and the
village seemed to be centered more around the
river. People
would bathe and kids would swim in the river. I didn't see
kids
in the ocean quite as much there. The most interesting part
of
Dalom was the court hearings. I met a man who was on his way
to
court. He killed a neighbor's pig in his garden and the
neighbor
wanted 500K compensation. The judges would be several people
from
the village who would sit on chairs and take notes. The
people
testifying would sit on the ground before the judges, and behind them
were the spectators. When is the last time you saw dozens of
people going to a minor civil case back home? But here,
everyone
came out. After the court, I talked to the man and he said he
had
to pay 150K and not 500K as the pig was tearing up his
garden.
Remember, this isn't just a hobby garden we're talking about, this is
the man's livelihood and food source. He wasn't happy as 150K
was
still a lot to him. He said, "Next time, I'm still going to
spear
the pig, but I'll eat it and not tell anyone about it."
I headed
back to Namatanai, trying to catch a PMV to the south eastern tip of
the island. Peter lived down there and had invited
me. He
said that part of the island gets 2-3 tourists a year. Sounds
good to me. I had no luck getting a PMV and was told that
there
was one heading down there in three days but nothing before.
Hmmm....what to do, what to do? Then, I saw him: The Viam
Express. It was the driver who had cheated me the other day.
Unfortunately,
he was just starting to drive away and I didn't get to talk to
him. I wandered around a while and then saw the same driver
again. I started running for the truck. An albino
man
greeted me but I just said "Hi" on the run and kept going. I
caught up to the truck and said, "You cheated me and owe me
10k."
He pleaded ignorance and I said, "Do you know who I stayed with in
Konos? It was Gerson on the transport board and he's
angry.
He said that you owe me money and if I don't get it back, to contact
him and he would see that you lose your license." He
pretended
not to have any money but was met with, "Oh look! There's the
post office fifty meters away, looks like I'll have to send Gerson
a letter telling him of your refusal. He'd love to hear about
that." He said, "Ok, ok." And found 5K under the
seat. I
said, "You owe me ten." "I don't have it." I slyly
glanced
over at the post office and look back at him, "Oh, here's five more."
And pulls 5K from his pocket. I smile and nod and go my merry
way, happy in my little victory. It's so rare when traveling
that
when someone tries to cheat you, you actually get a measure of
revenge. This made my whole day. It might sound
petty, but
so what?
Shortly after this, the albino approached me and
introduced himself as Jason. Turns out that he wasn't an
albino,
but an American. Outside of Kavieng, I hadn't seen a single
tourist or even white person and wasn't expecting to see one.
Jason and I spent some time together that day and he invited me to go
to a village that was about ten minutes away on the southern
coast. It was close enough that I could return to Namatanai
later
see if I could find a ride to the southeast. We caught a PMV
and
it turns out that the ride to Bom was nearly an hour. During
the
ride, it slowly dawned on me that I wouldn't be returning to Namatanai
not only that evening but probably never. Things never seem
to
work out as planned, do they? But it's ok.
When we arrived
in Bom, a gathering of about ten huts, who should be there...Viam
Express! I say, "Hey man, how are you?" He says,
"What are
you doing here?! Are you following me?" It turns
out his
wife is from Bom and wouldn't you know it, we're together again, me and
my best buddy.
I
spent two days in the area with Jason and his friend Yvonne.
We
didn't do much, mostly relaxing. I read a story in a local
newspaper about a village that had a bridge fall down. Rather
than wait for the government to fix it, they rebuilt it
themselves. It's a common trait in PNG to be self-reliant
because
if you wait for the government to fix it, you'd still be
waiting.
The three of us were supposed to catch a boat back towards Rabaul at 6
a.m. At 6:30, we saw the driver taking a bath covered in soap
wearing a smile, but you always account for such things in your
planning here. I think we got to the boat about two hours
later
than intended, which isn't bad for these parts.
We eventually
ended up at Coconut City which is where Jason and Yvonne were
working. It's a giant coconut plantation and Jason and I
walked
around for a couple of hours. Jason mentioned that the
workers
often slept in the coconut drying ovens as they were quiet and no one
could see them. So when we got to the ovens, we were careful
not
to make too much noise so as not to disturb them. I spent a
few
days with those two and thoroughly enjoyed the solitude of the
plantation.
I tried to make arrangements for a place to dive but
the phone system was out for the entire day and part of the next
morning. Sometimes it seems as if this country is just going
to
implode, but somehow they muddle through it all. When I
finally
phoned the place they told me they had "backpacker"
accommodation. "Great, I'll book a bed." I replied but then
was
told, "It's 180K per night which includes food and
laundry." I asked them, "Do you have any idea what
'backpacker accommodation' really means?" Well diving was
nixed
and I would be catching a ferry straight back to Lae and a PMV to
Madang where I could dive.
It
was a good time with Jason and
Yvonne at Coconut city and the most profound thing I said was, "I never
knew there were so many coconuts in the entire world." We got
up
at 6 a.m. to catch the boat and naturally, the power was out and Jason
held a flashlight so that I could get things in my pack. I
said
goodbye and got on the ferry. I still, to this day, talk to
Jason
on a regular basis. And to think, it all started with
thinking he
was an albino.
The boat pitched in the swells and
every 45 seconds a piece of machinery under the deck went "BANG!"
effectively preventing me from sleeping. I'm a light sleeper
and
it was one of the most miserable boat rides of my life. It
was a
two day journey and it saved about 130K over flying. A good
part
of the ride I kept saying, "I should have flown, I should have flown, I
should have....."