Madang

Madang 4.2.005 – 10:00am (PNG)

I land in a makeshift airfield surrounded by swampy terrain and coconut trees. The baggage claim area is a long plywood table under a shaky roofmade of sheet metal. The baggage handler brings over the luggage on a forklift and tosses them liberally. Once there are no more bags, 25-30 people remain standing in a fuddle awaiting their precious cargo. The man shrugs and says ‘that’s it – come back tomorrow’. End of discussion.

This story is not meant to slam air travel. This is merely a microcosm of the attitude in PNG. Things like this happen all the time. In fact, a recent marketing campaign for travel to the country was simply ‘Unexpected –PNG’. That’s how life operates. If something goes wrong, you simply have a laugh and move right on. A very laid back culture. Everyone here is on ‘PNG Time’. If a meeting starts at 8am, expect everyone to arrive by 9. If someone tells you it takes 1 hour to walk to a certain town, you better be prepared for 2 ½.

Beautiful mornings. By 10am you can feel the heat coming to the surface. By 11am, it is in your face. It cloaks you. The evenings are very pleasant, with the breeze coming off the ocean. It rains professionally in PNG – mostly at night. Torrential downpours. This is the end of the rainy season. Beautiful landscape. Densely populates forests. Dirt roads filled withPMVs (public motor vehicles) which look like VW vans and are crammed with 4 rows of seats. This is the #1 form of transportation in PMG. The roads are lined with people. I always wonder where they are going. Open markets, groceries and various shops. PNG has to import everything so prices are absurd and selection is limited. I walked into ‘Best Buy’ and felt like I traveled back in time to 1973. I would call the ball caps and jerseys they wear ‘throw backs.’ Everywhere I go I am met with stares. Nothing menacing, just cuiriosity. My Tok Pisin is poor but from what I can interpret they are saying ‘who is that pink skinned man and why is he wearing Ponch’s sunglasses from CHiPs?’