Getting there: Lae

Our arrival in Port Moresby was, in terms of bloggable material, uneventful. It was too dark to properly see anything, and the only thing that made an impression was the full-body immersion in the hot, heavy tropical air.

What followed was a short (1 hour-ish) Plane ride to Lae (for location references- see the maps in the previous post. As ever, click to enlarge!), which took us over mostly inscrutable jungle mountains- an undifferentiated mass of white clouds and green wrinkly land. One got an impression, even from the air, that PNG is covered by terrain which is generally more severe than it is forgiving.

Disembarking at Lae, we were greeted with, appropriately enough, leis. One thing that never failed to impress me about PNG was the abundance of real flowers used in everything. Since any place that's not a building is a fecund tropical flower garden, it is just makes more sense to go out and snip a few than use nasty plastic flowers.

Us upon arrival- a typical scene. My photo folder is full of pictures of other people taking pictures. I was also intrigued to learn that marigolds grow in PNG.



Here's our fearless leader, Christian! He valiantly volunteered to bring the whole trip effort together for no real reward other than a well-planned trip. This after getting malaria last time he went.



From the airport, we drove a ways to the city of Lae, where we were to spend a night (it turned into two because of a failed boat motor) at the Melanesian Hotel.

The Melanesian Hotel was pretty nice, considering the conditions of the surrounding town. The hotel featured a restaurant with a full, delicious menu, and each room had air conditioning. It was surrounded by a high security fence, and guards were stalking around the property at any given time. Much hay had been made of the fact that Port Moresby is, according to some counts, the most dangerous capital in the World (that excludes Baghdad). I don't know where Lae stands in comparison to Port Moresby, but it can't have been far off. Everything had a run-down, tired look about it, and groups of dispossessed-looking men were sulking in front of decaying buildings. Apparently a hosteler-adventurer type wondering through the town a couple years ago was also raped multiple times by a gang of local women. Lae is a showcase of the myriad problems that can afflict a poor and poorly managed tropical country in the throws of development. Here's a picture of Lae as we drove through it- this could be more or less anywhere in the area:




Lae also has the distinction of being the last place Amelia Earhart was seen alive- here's a memorial to her near our hotel:



Not the grandest memorial in the world, but hey, it's something. Near the memorial (and indeed, everywhere else in PNG) grew copious quantities of shy grass, a tropical weed that is novel in it's rapid response to being touched. Touching the leaves triggers a rapid movement response, that causes the leaves to fold up for a few minutes. To members of the group (myself included) this proved to be no end of fascinating:



The plant itself- this time with leaves open.



The hotel was our retreat from, well, the rest of Lae. Here are some pictures.

First off- here's some more Tok Pisin, in this case on the Do Not Disturb doorknob tabs.



Here's the gang at the hotel, soon after arrival. Dazed, but exited.



This is the view from the back side of the hotel (sorry for the small image size)- looking south towards where we would be traveling.



Finally- they make a mean cappuccino at the Melanesian Hotel, in case you ever head down that way.



Actual time spent in Lae, mostly involving a rainforest preserve, will be the subject of the next PNG post. Until then, I'm going to take a short break, and enjoy some of the warmth that's finally creeping back into my bones with the onset of Spring. Peace all!