Strange Pants - Travel

Most signs have a sort of universality about them: the male/female symbols that denote toilets, the non-smoking sign, etc are instantly recognisable anywhere in the world.

But this sign took me some time to figure out.

[Image from http://www.ling.su.se/staff/evali/simuk.htm]

I first saw it while waiting in line to get through Immigration at Jackson International Airport, and wondered for a few minutes why they would put up a sign specifically forbidding grenades!

Once outside the airport, it dawned on me that the red spit marks everywhere and the sign were both a tribute to betel nut.

Betel nut (known as buai locally) makes it’s presence felt everywhere: people selling it on the footpath, signs forbidding people to sell it on the footpath, signs forbidding people to chew (and spit) betel nut, ugly red splashes all over the road and footpath. In some places the red stain is not just the odd splash but a solid red blanket covering huge areas of footpath and wall.

Filed by Jachin Sheehy under New--Strange Travel
Comment [1]

Most people I met before leaving for Port Moresby seemed negative about the place. The shuttle bus driver that dropped me off at Brisbane Airport, handed my luggage to me saying, “Have a safe trip. No really! I mean stay safe”. Not terribly comforting… considering that on earlier enquiring about my destination, he had rejoined with the information that he himself had lived in Port Moresby for some years.

A quick read of the Australian Government travel advisory on PNG was even less positive. Further reading online revealed Port Moresby ranked at the bottom of a list of 130 cities worldwide.

The Air Niugini inflight magazine was the first to attempt turning the tide of popular opinion, with a piece written by no less than Robert Keith-Reid. Well, if Keith-Reid can survive Moresby, there may be hope after all!

So are Moresby’s security problems are over-hyped?

After landing at Jackson International, the signals became rather confused. During the short drive from the airport to the hotel, I was struck by two things: the amount of razor wire on display, and the prevalence of grafitti. So the locals stay inside the razor wire and the hooligans paint the outside?

The hotel , when we finally arrived, seemed to have pretty conservative views about security as well. though not stooping to the level of draping everything in razor wire, they keep the main gate closed, have a posse of security guards around the clock and even keep a Rotweiler (day shift) and a German Shepherd (night shift) on hand.

To the consternation of another traveller from Fiji, a walk around the block was proposed. An hour later, we were back in the hotel, having walked down to Ela beach, around the block, checked out the ubiquitous Chinese takeaway shops, photographed “the oldest building in Port Moresby”, and were generally ignored.

The locals advise that it’s generally safe as long as you keep out of the settlements. When asked about the ubiquitous security guards: “It’s mostly a precaution”. A precaution against what, I have yet to ascertain.

Filed by Jachin Sheehy under PNG Travel
Comment

I’m currently spending a few days in Port Moresby on business. This being my first time to PNG, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Being the pedantic sort that I am, I like to research my travel destinations on the net before I get there: the more information, the more comfortable I feel. I usually look for:

• Maps (to figure out where all my points of interest are in relation to each other)
• Hotel details (Location, how to get there, costs, amenities, and as many reviews as I can find)
• Local transportation costs (I’ve seen way too many visitors being ripped off by taxi drivers)
• Restuarant recommendations (everyone gets sick of hotel food after a while)
• Any cultural particulars to be aware of
• and of course, the generic twaddle that visitors beureaus like to feed tourists.

PNG is sadly lacking in quality web content. The best map of Port Moresby I was able to find was a satellite photo by the good people at Google , none of the local hotels seemed to have a decent website of their own (with most only able to provide a one page summary for travel sites), and further information was was very spread out.

Where do you get your travel information from?

Filed by Jachin Sheehy under PNG Travel
Comment [1]