A week in Papua New Guinea

[calxoddity]

Hi,
  For the first time, I visited Papua New Guinea to do some work for a client located there.  Whilst I wasn't sure what to expect, the reality was probably well into the lower end of my expectations.

The location of my work was downtown Port Moresby, staying at one of the main hotels there.  I was picked up from the airport by my contact in Port Moresby because the taxis have no meters and are unregulated, and the buses are not particularly safe or trustworthy for anybody looking like they may have some money.

My normal practice whenever I visit a new location is to go for a look around on foot and take some photos.  I was warned most emphatically not to do this during the daytime unless one of the hotel guards accompanied me, and not to walk around at night at all. 

The homes, shops, embassies and businesses are all very securely locked up, with bars on windows and high fences.  Razor wire was everywhere atop fences and gates - not the pretend razor wire, but the serious cut-you-up stuff.  Driving down the street in one of the more upmarket suburbs, every house was a secure compound, all with locked gates and many accompanied by guards.

The city infrastructure and buildings look like they're slowly falling apart - nice roads that have had no maintenance, so have many large pot-holes, modern buildings that have not be maintained etc and rubbish everywhere.  The locals tell me that maintenance is not something that is done on anything - use it till it totally breaks then fix it is the way of things.

The cost of food and goods is quite high, apparently because of duties.  Power supply is irregular - we had blackouts pretty much every day.  The local paper made interesting reading - a guy got chopped to death because they thought he might be a sorcerer.

It's not a place I would rush to go back to.  Maybe other parts of PNG are more hospitable, but feedback from the locals suggests this may not be the case.  The low wages, poverty and prevalence of village/tribal based culture (800 tribes?) and subsistence agriculture appears to have created a substantial gulf between the "haves" and "have-nots" - with ex-pats being the majority of the "haves".

Regards,
Shane

[Aussie Sapphire]

WOW - sounds like an interesting but not all that fun experience.  A real pity to see things fall apart like that.  You hear on the news occasionally about violence over there but from your description it sounds like personal safety is a real issue if you cant even go anywhere without a guard.

You hear about problems from time to time in Thailand - there was a bloke from Melbourne got stabbed in the gem market at Chanthaburi about a year ago and I'm sure plenty of incidents dont make it on to the news. BUT, Andrew says that apart from slightly scary bus trips, he has never been concerned about his safety (even with the political drama of his last trip). 

Glad you made it back in one piece.

cheers
Leah

[moonshadow_dancer]

Gee Shane, sounds like your lucky to get out of there in one piece.

I am just crossing out PNG off my to go to list, I do think there would be some nice scenery over there for the camera buffs, but I doubt it would be worth risking your life for just to get a few photos.

After reading this I am so thankful I live in Australia where it is relatively safe.

I hope you did manage a few photos for us to see as I doubt a lot of us will ever go there.

Take Care
Deb