Published: December 10th 2024, 9:07:27 pm
Its 10pm, raining outside, and there is me, sitting in my little hut, finally getting to write again after trying to load this webpage for a good 20 minutes. I just saw a rat ran past my bed, how nice haha. At this point I'm used to them, they either steal my food whilst I sleep or just leave shit all over rrrr. Its ok tho.
Today was a cool day, we saw another tribe. So many impressions recently. Good news is that I'm filming all of this for YouTube videos hehe. SOON!! And incase anyone is wondering - all of what I'm writing here is up to date.
Today, I wanna share a bit about traveling in Papua New Guinea. This is a special country, nothing for a beginner or someone who doesn't seek raw, adventure and authentic. Its a country that's well recognized in the extreme-travel community. During our whole stay so far we haven't seen a single other tourist which has never happened to me before on any other trip for this time duration.
As an Austrian citizen, I need to apply for an E-Visa which instantly got approved, allowing me to stay up to 30 days. We crossed by land from Indonesia to Papua, oh I remember well, that was a looong day of hitchhiking (8 hours?), but we were super lucky with all of our rides. The entry went smooth, I barely had to answer any questions as they asked Daniel everything, which honestly good for me lol, because I forgot things like names easily, and they asked us about our detailed itinerary which I probably couldn't have recalled as well as he did. In many cultures it's common not to talk to the wife of someone else. Obviously we aren't married, or a couple, but they don't know that. I have experienced this many times through out the trip, that a man slightly ignored me in a conversation, but not even in a bad way... they just wanted to be respectful. It is a different type of "ignoring" that I'd experience in Morocco for example. To our surprise, Papua can be expensive. They have a petrol shortage, so 1L costs 3-4€. Whilst we only paid for one night of accommodation so far, which was 13€ each, we have spent hundreds on transportation. Roads are - if there are any - not too bad, the only issue is, many parts of the country do not connect, so we additionally ended up booking 2 domestic flights after our arrival, once we realised this will be our only option. They came out to around 350€. Some parts of the trip we had to move via boat, as the road was of high risk of hijacking, especially before christmas. Just the other day we were in a bus as suddenly many men and a big tree stump was laying across the road. For a second I thought "fuck, this is a hijack". Luckily it wasn't one, they just wanted a small fee for cleaning the road. If it was, I now would be all my belongings shorter. Wouldn't have been so fun. The busses are packed and hot, sometimes you have to keep your luggage on your lap if it doesn't fit under the seat. People have been kind to us and usually give us nice seats. Usually there is always people standing as well, or hanging outside of the vehicle. We have had up to 14 people in one car, that would usually seat 6 people in Europe. I like taking the public transport tho. It's how you really get to know a place better.
Accommodation can also be quite pricey. Many guesthouses want 60+€ for a night, and no, those aren't nice. They are in shitty towns where every single house has a barb wire and a security guard for safety. Besides a little foam pad on the floor and some rats you'll be sharing the room with, you don't really get a lot. If you're lucky, you get some electricity in the evening, but honestly so far every place we have been to has blackouts 24/7. Its normal here.We have been sleeping in the villages, many nights we just got invited by locals, and some nights now we get to stay somewhere for free in exchange for videos. Perks of doing social media, for sure. the last 2 nights we will be couchsurfing.
Food is cheap here. Just the other day I had the pleasure to walk into one of the bigger Chinese owned grocery stores in one of the towns, and oh my god guys haha let me tell you, my eyes widened as I walked down the isles seeing things such as cereal, chocolate, chickpeas and other goods. The stores we have been to so far haven't had quite the biggest selection. There is basic food stalls everywhere selling sausages. Their staple food here is sweet potato (not the same one as we know it from the west). My favorite has been the markets tho, that have provided me with 0.12€ coconuts and mangoes for most of my trip now. They usually have fruits, veggies, sausages and if lucky sweet potato. Now, that we changed region, they also have Avocado which I have been eating 3 a day after being deprived for a WHOLE MONTH (if you know me you know...). Peanut butter and banana is also always a good combo. There is not really any kitchens here, people cook over fire and get their food directly from their garden. Exactly my style.
Now, is Papua dangerous? So far we have had amazing experiences only. We don't feel unsafe on the streets or feel like we have to worry. That being said, we do take certain safety precautions. We avoid cities and the night. And certain regions are almost off limit. Busses going into that region only go armoured. Supposedly, Port Moresby is quite sketchy too. I am talking robberies, and so on. If we are just going on a quick afternoon trip to the nearest town I will often leave all my belongings at home and only take a bit of cash. Every second person has a bush knife here, which at first felt weird but I already got used to it. We bought one too and even were allowed to took it on the flight in a carry on, this is legal here. Crazy, right? Catcalling is not really a thing here. Only ONCE a man said something weird to me on the street, that was one of the rare times we went to town, but besides it's been okay. I do think the reason for that is partly because we avoid towns and cities and don't spend more time there than needed.
Payment, how is it? We usually pay cash, stores will also accept card usually, and conveniently you can do cash back there which we have been taking advantage of, since atms aren't everywhere.
Internet has been funny. You can buy digicel (works best) here, and pay for data as you go, it's quite pricey and they restrict your data between 6pm-8am which sucks because that is often the only time we can really be on our phones. Service has been.... bad. We have been really remote tho. All the towns are fine. I have not experienced Wifi once since being here if you were wondering. The data packs you can find anywhere tho, no matter how remote you are. So that's easy.
Climate? Well, the coast region was super hot and humid, I'd be dripping in sweat as soon as we started walking, the highlands now are quite chilly in the mornings and evenings. Rainy season has technically started in PNG, however, so far we've been lucky and only really had some rain today. Which was okay, as we had a free afternoon anyways and besides going to town we just relaxed.
Language? English is a national language here so its super easy to communicate. Papua is super diverse when it comes to languages tho, as every single tribe has their own. They are still preserved and used. There is over 800 languages in PNG. In the villages, many people can not speak english but Pigeon, which is more like a broken english and a mix between their tribal language and english. Some words are quite funny. Library for example means book house. Hospital means sick house. Poro means friend. But generally communication has been super easy here.
Its 22:40pm now, the generator power just turned off and immediately the rat started coming out again lol. I will attach you guys a video down below haha. Cheers to that. I really hope they won't eat my food, as I have some oats with me haha. Tomorrow, we will move on to another village 2 hours away from here. I will share my detailed itinerary at the end of my trip, so you guys can see which route we took, incase anyone is considering traveling here too.
Ask away in the comments if you have any questions here.
As always, thanks for being here. I appreciate every single one of you and am excited to build this community with you here.