alone  / 2013

PNG (Papua New Guinea) 1 week adventure before Christmas 2013. First I arrived at Mt.Hagen airport. No taxi in town. Only shared mini-bus.

PNG life style is simple. They live in bush near town and come to the town for small trading business. I was looking forward to seeing naked tribe, but no more today.

The road condition was very bad. PNG man can marriage multi women if he has enough money to keep their life. Some family have 10 more kids. Family live together. 

People are so pure and kind. They always say hello to me and want to shake hands when I was waking in town.

Traveling problem is the cost. Many product are imported, that is why everything high price. For example Coca Cola 330ml = 1.5 US$, Lunch plate = 10 US$, guest house 40-60 US$. 

Not many restaurants in town.

Nice breakfast at hotel. Wild fruits tastes nice. Suger fruit (right photo) taste so nice.

Many betel nuts shops on street. Chewing betel nuts is PNG most favorite food and their amusement. They bite it with mustard seed and  lime powder. Red teeth means they chewed betel nuts.

Mini bus from Mt. Hagen to Goroka. I had a serious toilet problem and asked to stop the bus. I did toilet beside the door. Some passengers gave toilet paper and wild leaves to me. One man gave me a new short pants. Some washed my wheelchair after I returned to the bus. Anyway, bad road, shaking body. If I missed toilet in the bus, it would be the worst.

Bus terminal is always noisy. No rule here. When passengers are full, the bus start. I got the side front seat, but I must wait 2 hours.

The bridge was collapsed on the way to Madang from Groka. Some people passed in the river. 3 hours later, the bridge was open only for human. But there was 1 meter gap, my wheelchair was carried by kind people. Bus drivers negotiated to change their passengers, so we switched the bus. 

Another bridge was also broken. Flood river. 34 full passengers all must stay over night on the road. Very bad luck. We stopped on a gas stand with mini bar. I was thinking to sleep on the floor, but many drunken local people there. 

A local tribe resident invited me to their house. YES ! I stayed at a local house in Papua rainforest jangle !

Next morning 06:00, my mini-bus was gone already. I caught another bus 07:30 and finally reached the coastal town from deep mountain area. 2 days long bus ride.

Final destination is Madang, sea side city.

Half day snorkeling by Madang Resort Hotel. It cost 70 US$ (I must pay 2 persons fee). Incredible beautiful sea and corals. My best snorkeling in my traveling life in the world. One Japanese gay worked in the dive shop. So lucky. We enjoyed together.

Good bye Papua. No wheelchair accessibility. However people are kind. They always helped me.