Hello all!
Its early in the afternoon and I’ve just landed in Port Moresby, Jacksons International Airport in Papa New Guinea. I’m excited to start exploring this amazing country (since I’m only going to be here for a short three days), but first I need to check into my hotel. I’m staying in a small town in the Eastern Highlands called Kainantu. Kainantu is about an hour away from Goroka, the capital of the Eastern Highlands province. My friend Jenny from back home is also touring Southeast Asia and we’re both staying in Kainantu Lodge. We’ve decided to meet up later tonight and spend the next couple of days soaking up Papa New Guinea’s diverse culture. Well that’s all for now, I’m going to catch the shuttle, get settled into my hotel and grab a bite to eat! I promise to give you all a full update later!
- The small town of Kainantu can be found in the Eastern Highlands of Papa New Guinea.
Ah, what a day!
Yesterday night, Jenny and I had dinner at the local markets outside of our hotel. We wanted to try out some of the traditional cuisines of Papa New Guinea so we ventured a bit further out to escape the Western foods that seem to be really popular here. After wandering for a bit, we found a food stand that was selling mumu. Mumu is a dish combining roast pork, sweet potatoes, rice, and greens that is cooked in a stone oven in the ground. We enjoyed our generous portions of mumu at the picnic tables set up next to the food stand. It was absolutely delicious.
- This is an example of what a mumu pit oven looks like. The pit is lined with stones and grasses for insulation.
On the walk back to the hotel, we noticed a farmer’s market that was selling an assortment of fruits: pineapples, pawpaws, mangoes, passion fruit, and bananas… Jenny and I were both craving for something sweet so we bought some fruit to enjoy back at the hotel. After getting back, we found out that there was going to be a traditional performance in the lounge bar. We wanted to take full advantage of our hotel, so we quickly washed the fruits we bought and made our way down to watch the performance.
The performance reminded me a little bit of Hawaiian hula dancing. The dancers had painted faces, wore grass skirts, and beat drums as they swayed along to the music. Their outfits were made up of natural elements such as woven grasses, stretched animal skins, and shells. I would also like to mention that the fruit that we bought from the market was some of the best fruit I’ve ever had in my life! I guess this just goes to show the importance of having fresh, locally-grown produce to consume.
- The mangoes I had in PNG were some of the best mangoes I’ve ever had.
This morning Jenny and I woke up at 5:00 AM refreshed and eager to do some sight-seeing in the capital city Goroka. However, ours plans quickly changed when we ran into an English couple at breakfast that told us about their plans for the day. They were going to hike up Mount Wilhelm and invited us to join them. Of course, there was no question; we were not going to give up this opportunity. We first had to travel to the village of Keglsugl where the trail began. When we got to the Keglsugl, we paid a local who was about our age to guide us up the mountain. The route involves climbing up through a mountain rain forest and then along an alpine grassland glacial valley to the twin lakes of Piunde and Aunde. The view from the the peak was incredible, I wish I had been better equipped, and had a camera to commemorate the moment. The entire hike took about 5 hours, and the hike down took a little less than that. And now as I sit here writing this, it’s 2:00 AM and I feel the soreness setting in. My stay in Papa New Guinea has been more than I could have ever imagined. I enjoyed everything from local cuisine and language, to scaling the highest mountain peak in the country. G’night everybody and I’ll see you all in the Phillipines!
- A professional photograph of Mount Wilhelm. If only I had brought my camera!
References and Image Sources:
- http://www.iexplore.com/dmap/Papua+New+Guinea/Dining
- http://www.pngbd.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2582
- http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/papua.htm
- http://www.hedon.info/Mumu-ATraditionalMethodOfSlowCookingInPapuaNewGuinea
- http://www.aerohub.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mt-wilhelm-png.jpg
- http://www.chem.purdue.edu/wasserman/mangoes.jpg
- http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/pit6.jpg
