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News – August 2010 (Lae/Papua New Guinea, August 26th, 2010)
(News of September will be combined with those of October in the 2nd half of the month)
- Website statistics: In July we were able to welcome 35'401 visitors who did 1'342'060 hits, according to 'Webalizer'.
- 'Google-Analytics' showed 34'976 Pageviews during the same period. The visitors are from ~176 countries!
- (June = 43'959 visitors – 2'383'207 Hits / May = 43'023 visitors – 1'635'886 Hits)
- ('Google-Analytics': June = 77'857 Pageviews / May = 45'790 Pageviews)
- Record day since 12/17/1998 = the birthday of our website: on 11/5/2007 = 13'407 visitors and 787'456 hits
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- We mentioned in the last News June/July 2010 that after Sumatra/Indonesia we were pleased to look forward to future adventures
- in a new country. Well, here in Papua New Guinea they really started: It began very normal on July 26th, 2010, with three flights:
- With AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia to Singapore – change to a night flight with Air Niugini to Port Moresby, the capital of
- PNG, and afterwards continuing with Airlines PNG to Alotau at Milne Bay. Why not directly to Lae at the Huon Gulf, where our
- LandCruiser is arriving? – the vessel was delayed. Back then it showed already a setback of nine days and we couldn't change
- anymore our budget airline tickets. Because the ship's delay grew finally up to nearly three weeks, we decided to pass the time
- "won" in a place not reachable by car. This was the Southeastern corner of Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately we didn't care
- enough about the weather pattern there and, as a result, ended up in the full rainy season. While in all of PNG the dry season lasts
- from May to October, the wet is on at Milne Bay and in the Huon Gulf area.
- As known, mosquitoes develop faster during the rainy seasons than in the dry. Hence it didn't take long until Liliana was bitten by a
- malaria infested Anopheles. When the fever reached nearly 104°F and the shivers got more severe at 11pm on August 4th, she had
- to be rushed to the local hospital in Alotau. When shortly after she was again released with a bunch of Fansidar and Chloroquine
- tablets, a pharmacist advised that this wouldn't help much due to the advanced resistance of the Tropica strain in PNG. But she got
- a new medicine ('Malucura') from Vietnam that – like the Chinese 'Atimita' – would work with Artesunate/Artemisinin (50mg)
- produced from herbs. Not to experience a similar hospital tragedy like in Tonga, Liliana swallowed these pills and it really worked
- immediately without any side effects. Nevertheless she was recommended later to extend the treatment for five days by taking daily
- the antibiotics 'Doxycycline' (2x100mg), which is prescribed prophylactically in Australia if taken in half dosage.
- Despite of this first incident, we enjoyed Alotau with its extremely friendly people, as well as the three-day stay in the jungle at the
- „Ulumani-Treetops Rainforest Lodge“, organized by the "PNG Tourist Promotion Authority". On August 8th, we flew back to
- Port Moresby for three days. There we experienced surprise No. 2: While we knew that in the whole of PNG a simple
- "backpacker-style" room will cost around US$65, nothing is available in the capital below US$130, which is said to be a super
- "special rate"! Only recently gas (LNG) and oil deposits were discovered in the Southern Highlands, which brought the prices
- completely out of control, particularly in Port Moresby. As not otherwise expected, the local population doesn't (yet) benefit and is
- suffering heavily due to the sharp rise of prices. On the other hand, PNG is rich on natural resources (gold, copper, etc. and
- currently also gas and oil; there are rumors about uranium too). However, a part of that wealth should be diverted also to the
- people, especially also into the infrastructure. The roads are partly in such a terrific desolation, even within the cities, that it's simply
- a shame.
- Actually, we planned at first to visit the famous "Mount Hagen Cultural Show" with our own car. But as it was still sailing at high
- seas, we flew on August 11th, from Port Moresby to this awesome spectacle – there are anyway no roads out from the capital.
- Mount Hagen, the capital of the Western Highlands Province, which was split mid-August 2010 (the new born province is named
- Jiwaka) lies on a height of about 9'000ft. Therefore the climate during the dry season is marvelous: During the day not too hot, but
- cooling nicely at night; and a beautiful blue sky with white cumulus clouds in a deep-green mountain scenery. During the evening it's
- possible that short but enormous downpours occur.
- As a third surprise, like out of the clear sky, we got the news that during our entire visit in Mount Hagen we shall be able to stay in
- a staff house for free, offered by "Trans Niugini Tours". Also the transports to and from the showground would be included,
- additionally an individual tour to three villages in the area. Happily, we accepted this generous offer that helps greatly to alleviate
- our strained budget. This gesture was initiated by the CEO of the "Papua New Guinea Tourist Promotion Authority", Mr. Peter
- Vincent, together with the owner of "Trans Niugini Tours", Mr. Bob Bates, who runs besides the ship "Sepik Spirit" and Karawari-
- Lodge in East Sepik Province another four Luxury-Jungle-Lodges (Ambua/Southern Highlands Prov., Bensbach/Western Prov.,
- Rondon/Western Highlands Prov. and Malolo/Madang Province).
- The show itself – a Sing-Sing, i.e. a gathering of about 80 Highlands tribes in traditional costumes and paintings – is unique with its
- monotonous singing and dancing supported by vigorous drum rhythms. It definitively belongs to the highlights of our worldtrip.
- Each group consists of about 20 participants who dress up incredibly colorful and are mostly adorned with feathers of the bird of
- paradise. The visitors pay undoubtedly a hefty entry fee (US$110 p.p. for 2 days), but are allowed to shoot any amount of photos
- and are able to mix even with the performers, either during the preparations or after the parade on the showground itself. Looking
- back we classify this spectacle as fourth surprise in the most positive way!
- "This was the fourth stroke – the fifth follows instantly", unfortunately rather on the negative side: Flying to PNG, on our stopover in
- Singapore, we treated ourselves with the luxury of buying a Blackberry mobile phone in the duty-free-shop. Knowing that "normal"
- internet access in Papua New Guinea is rather difficult, we intended to solve this problem with the Digicel-Mobile-Net, which isn't
- cheap at all (US$0.75/MB), but covers nearly the whole country. After adjusting the mobile in Port Moresby, it worked at full
- satisfaction. But after three days, it fell out from the pocket of Emil's trousers onto the bus seat. Minutes later, he realized the loss,
- but it had already disappeared – for ever. It happened on Friday, 13th August!
- The sixth episode was the release of our car in Lae, the second biggest city of the country, which we reached on a clear day after
- a one-hour flight from Mount Hagen. On the same day, exactly on August 17th, 2010, the container carrying our Toyota – the
- 19th during our journey – was discharged from the freighter. On the following day, Wednesday, customs and quarantine checked
- the vehicle, both harmless and fair. Nearly all Papua New Guineans are anyway extremely friendly! But somehow we felt that
- something was coming up: It was the port of Lae's invoice for fees: It's not a new record, but charging US$850 for unloading a
- vehicle isn't much less than the US$1065 paid in Nouméa in New Caledonia. It knocked us nearly down – we didn't expect such a
- high amount. Even if the rate of the Swiss Francs is high, our retirement pension is rather modest. Hardly left the harbor gate and
- reached the Yacht Club, where we had our well-deserved "welcome drink", a journalist caught up with us: "The National" had
- heard that an "UFO" (unidentified foreign object) has reached the town! Since the article was published, PNG-ans are waiving and
- hooting everywhere, while the passing expats – none are walking by foot – are more or less just staring grimly at us through the
- closed windows (after the motto: What is he doing here?).
- In any case, PNG kept us so far always on the go. Not for nothing people are saying in PNG: "Expect the unexpected"! Hopefully
- it won't be the rascals along the roads!
- Following the Independence Day on September 16th, 2010 (35 years of PNG), Papua New Guinea comes up with another big
- event: The Goroka-Show, taking place from September 17th to 19th. It's said to be a similar Sing-Sing like the Mount Hagen-
- Show, with partly the same performers. Goroka itself lies about half-way between Lae and Mount Hagen and is the capital of the
- province of the Eastern Highlands. It's well possible that we will attend it too – the first show having left such an incredible
- impression on us. But in between, we shall visit the coastal city of Madang, which is praised as a "beach holiday destination". Let's
- see what's awaiting us!
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Tongatapu Island |  |
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Tahiti
1st part Picture Report (Aug.-Sept.
2009) Tahiti 2nd part Picture Report (Oct. 2009) Moorea Picture Report (Sept. 2009) |
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Rarotonga Island |  |
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Temples, Pagodas, Shrines | |
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| The visit of 14 Pacific Islands with and 1 without our LandCruiser | Pacific (Febr. 2008-Jan. 2010 + Aug.-Sept. 2010) |
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| The visit of 13 Caribbean Islands with our LandCruiser | Caribbean (June 2003-Dec. 2004) |
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| + added from the United Arab Emirates: | Fairytale Wedding in Dubai (March 1999) |
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| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
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| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
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| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997) |
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