First, I want to send out a very special welcome to those of you who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting but are following our blog from Europe and other exciting locations throughout the world. I hope our stories and photos give you some idea of the beautiful places we have visited. Our world cruise is four months in duration. Then my husband and I will travel independently throughout Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, and Iceland for another couple of months. We will then fly to New York and meet our beautiful 15 year old twin granddaughters and take them on a road trip across the U.S. back to Los Angeles. Our entire trip is approximately six months long, including the cruise, travel in Europe and the U.S. road trip. Quite a long time to be away from our children and grandchildren, but a lifelong dream and tremendous blessing for us. Luckily, we have FaceTime to keep us in contact with our family. Hope you enjoy reading the blog.
Now, about Madang:
We woke up early again this morning to go to the top deck and watch the long canoe and several other smaller decorated canoes escort us as we sailed into the bay at Madang. What a beautiful sight and warm, gracious greeting from the local Islanders. Madang is known in many circles as the "prettiest town in the South Pacific". There are numerous parks, streams and rivers, majestic shade trees, and beautiful Islands just off the coast which provide magnificent shoreline views. Although the village of Madang is small, there is a department store, resort hotel, art gallery and grocery market as well as a large open air farmer's market. There is even a nine-hole golf course and a country club!!!! As we sailed into the gorgeous harbor this morning we could see houses dotting the coastline - actual houses, not just structures composed of four bamboo sticks holding up a grass roof.
When we got off of the the ship there were approximately 7 buses lined up to take us on our various day trips. Now, these buses were not completely luxurious, air-conditioned buses. However, we weren't squeezed together like we were a couple of days ago. Buses were a bit larger than the previous vans and had lots of large, open windows which made traveling much more comfortable than in Alotau. The moment we boarded our bus and started moving through the port we could see part of the reason for the slightly more "upscale" look of Madang. There were warehouses at the port preparing goods for export including fish, copra (coconut meat), cocoa, and coffee. Even with the exports, however, our guide explained unemployment continues to be a problem at 50-60%. That explains why, once again, we noticed so many men standing along the roadsides, chatting away with their friends and waving at us!!!
Although tourism is becoming more popular, there are still relatively few tourists who venture into Papua New Guinea (PNG). Many of the local university students are majoring in hospitality/tourism and PNG is hoping to expand their tourist services in the near future. Evidently we are only the second cruise ship they have welcomed this year. They are hoping to host another seven cruise ships by the end of this year which is not exactly a plethora of tourists. Very few people visit by flying to PNG. Most visitors are cruise ship passengers making a one day stop. There were a few Australians and a couple of European visitors on the Island while we were there.
Our guide told us that there are four distinct groups of people in Madang - Islanders, coastal people, river people, and mountain people. Although all of these groups are similar in appearance they all speak different languages and can't understand one another. Must make for interesting relationships since they are not allowed to marry within their own tribal group. Of course, there's many married folks in the U.S. who would claim that their spouse doesn't understand a thing they say!!!!
Our tour today was quite interesting. We visited a large village, where four clans/extended families reside. Each family lives in a one room house which is elevated on stilts for greater air flow as well as protection against high water from the sea. They were still basic structures but the walls were enclosed and looked to be much sturdier/permanent than the ones we saw in Alotau. The women offered wares they had created and hoped to sell to us. There were clay pots, straw bags, necklaces, and skirts made from hand dyed fabric. Although the clay pots were lovely they were fairly expensive, costing up to $50 for a large one. One problem with them is they are not fired in a kiln so they are easily broken. They use an open flame to fire them, but they are not nearly as sturdy as using a kiln. Villagers told us they had kilns that someone had provided them but they were sitting there unused, collecting rust, because they chose to continue with the old way of making pots. It would be quite difficult to transport the pots back to the U.S. in one piece so we walked away without buying one.
As we drove along the shore to our next destination we passed many, many sandy beaches. Although the sand was not as pure white as we have seen in some other places we have visited, it felt very good on the feet to walk through the soft sand and delight in the 84 degree water!!! Just beautiful. Since it was Sunday, there were numerous families enjoying the day together on the beaches, smiling, waving and saying a friendly hello as we passed.
This afternoon we arrived at the Madang Resort which was our final destination in PNG. The Islanders from all of the different areas had come, dressed in their finest tribal clothing, bodies painted with drawings symbolizing the history of their village, eager to share their traditional dances with us. By the time we arrived all of the tribes were gathered in one giant park-like field, with grass and magnificent shade trees, situated on the bay. What an imposing kaleidoscope of sights and sounds. The colors of the tribal dress were vibrant. There was a myriad of exotic textures. The sounds emanating from various types of drums, hallowed out bamboo stalks, and other percussion instruments blended perfectly with the voices chanting in rhythm to create an excitement and passion that permeated the entire park. The sun was strong and the heat intense yet the dancers continued to dance enthusiastically for a couple of hours.
The Island women had prepared an enormous buffet lunch for us with fish, chicken and kalua pork. There were numerous salads, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately we had received numerous warnings about eating the food on the Island so most of us were afraid to eat anything away from the ship. Hopefully, after we left the entire Island feasted!
Soon it was time to be on our way and return to the ship. It was interesting to listen to different passengers' perceptions of the day. I realize that we are traveling with a very affluent, but diverse, group of people. Some passengers are more comfortable remaining on the ship when we're in port. Others want to be completely independent and go out on their own and explore the communities. Probably most folks join one of the beautiful tours offered by our ship in each port However, what interests me most are the different reactions our passengers have to the local people and environments we visit. We have some passengers who join in with the locals, dancing and celebrating along with them. It's soooo much fun to see the joy on the faces of both visitors and hosts when this happens. Other guests thoroughly appreciate and embrace the surroundings but choose to watch from the sidelines. That's a majority of our passengers. Finally, there are a number of people who leave the ship to participate in a tour but seem very uncomfortable throughout the entire excursion. They spend a few minutes at a site or event and are eager to return to the comfort and safety of the ship. Or, they avoid the excursions completely and walk down the gangway, take a look around, and quickly return to the ship. People are so interesting and it's fascinating to watch how we react to unfamiliar environments which cause us to step outside of our comfort zones.
Well, we are back on the ship now, sailing for the next couple of days on our way to Palau. Then, we will head for the Philippines. So many exciting adventures still ahead!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment