Papua New Guinea, most dangerous country in the South Pacific, eastern half of the island of Papua, fascinatingly difficult to get around and still darned difficult to reach. "Off the beaten path" in some respects, but in other cases it is well visited. Yet, development is scarce, the people are still very much obsessed with their traditional ways, and economic development is little more than a pipe dream. And the 'pipe dreams' do come through on occasion, as the vast expanses of jungle are being surveyed and purchased by big oil and lumber companies from abroad.

Political wrangling regarding Bougainville, roaming bands of thugs kindly referred to as 'rascals', and expensive consumer goods from Australia have created a dichotomous sort of place. PNG is a messy nation very much under construction, and as I would find out, one of the least developed countries on the planet. All of this enticed me to visit, and after a mere 21 hours of flying(and even more hours stopping over in Japan and Australia), I finally arrived in Port Moresby - a city I would return to later.

The problem with Papua New Guinea is that there are many isolated areas, none of them connected together - by road, rail, or other inexpensive means. If there is one country that relies most heavily on air travel, it's PNG, and while flights are frequent and reliable they are still expensive. Given the short time I had, relatively - one week in country - I decided to "focus" on one region. My choice - the north coast, its administrative capital Wewak, the mighty Sepik river and its traditional river villages, and perhaps beyond.

I only had a brief whisper of the humidity in Port Moresby until I hopped aboard an Air Niugini flight headed north, fed coffee and a biscuit on the small F-28 jet aircraft, and 90 minutes later we touched down. The sun was setting, the jet's noise was dying, and a crowd of dark-skinned people stood behind a chain link fence staring. A throng of people that looked like the Flanders Family from the Simpsons were disembarking as well - and amidst the crowd I, in my well dressed manner, waited for my backpack to be unloaded amongst piles of other luggage onto a single bench. And with that, after my usual hesitation upon realizing I was once again on my own on the other side of the world, stepped beyond the old fence.....


Wewak



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