Coming to an end......

Hi everyone,

Well I am just about done with this tour of Papua New Guinea. The last couple of weeks have been work, work, work. I haven't been out and about to enjoy the scenery. Hope everyone has enjoyed the blog. It looks like I will be coming back for another tour at the end of January. That will depend on when I get my Visa from the government. I'll let everyone know what's happening after I get home.

I do have a couple of pictures to show.

 First, I want to introduce Henry. (or his cousin) He is in my room and hides behind the wall locker. The other morning I got up and he was beside my water bottle. By the time I got my camera he was at the locker as you see. The baseboard is only 1 1/2" tall. Anyway, He enjoys living indoors rather than in the rain.

 When I got to work the other morning I went out to view the sunrise over the mountians. We had rained that night for a couple of hours and the clouds were still passing through. It rains in spots. At camp we had the rain, light rain - only a couple of inches in two hours. At the worksite, 25 km away, there was no rain. However, a day or so ago it dump about 2 to 3 inches on the work site in 45 min to an hour. It was really cool to watch. Also, the temperature was about 90 deg at the time.

 Today was a really hot and muggy day. with the heat index it got to 112 deg. What your looking at is a road roller window that shattered today from the heat and vibration. The cab is fully enclosed and rather hot inside. fortunatly the driver was not hurt; but he about peed his pants when it happened. that's a large safety glass panel in that window.

The final picture is the sunset from my camp where I live. It's always so dramatic with the sundown.

So that ends the show. I will call everyone when I get home. I should be arriving on the 21st of December in time for Christmas.

Take care,
ken

Cairns, Australia..... Part 2

Hi everyone,

Monday was a really busy day when I got back. Had lots to do and came home real late. Didn't have time to write anything. Those that sent email messages, I will respond soon.

This next set of pictures were taken at night around town. The main part of town was not busy, however, the water front was going great. There was an open night market with all the vendors selling everything from jewelry to massages. The food court had great food and the action was fun.

 This is one of the entries to the open market. It is in a building covering a half a block in width by a full block long. Shops were crammed in every corner. You could buy any in this shopping are at good prices compared to department stores. But the items were still expensive.

Walking down one of the isles I saw this rack of large tennis shoes. They are shoulder bags. I thought they were cool.

 Around the corner was this wall of kangaroo hides for sale. They ranged from $50.00 to $100.00, depending on the size. the fur is soft and would make a nice throw rug in the living room.

At the other end of the market was the food court. Food from all over the world was being made. I ate here at this place. In the middle of the picture are plates. You pick the size of plate and pay the price listed. The plates ranged from $12.95 to 15.95. I picked a dinner size plate at $14.95 and a coke for $4.00. Then you start at one end of the line and fill the plate as much as you can carry with an assortment of food. They had the usual Chinese noodles and rice plus chicken and battered shrimp. They also had whole crab, steamed mussels, jumbo shrimp, fresh fish and other assorted foods. The catch is, you only get one pass at the food bar. So, my plate was well mounded with an assortment of food.

 Now that I was full of great food, I went back into the market area. In this one section are massage shops. I must of walked around these 3 time before I decided to get a massage. The signs in front advertised an "A" package of foot, ankle, calf, neck, shoulders, and back massage for $15.00 it is a 40 minute process. What was strange was the "B" package was all of the above except the back massage for the same price and time. Of course, I opted for the "A" package. This is Kym from China. She was my masseuse. Kym was about 5 feet tall and couldn't have weighted more than 100 pounds. She first brought out a bucket of tea to soak my feet in. You can see the lady to the left with her feet in the bucket. after 10 to 15 minutes, Kym started massaging my feet. She hit every pressure point there was and I was wincing from the dull pain. She continued massaging to the lower knee on each leg attacking all the pressure point and muscles. From there she took me through the green curtain in the background where there were 12 tables and 6 massage chairs. Every one was occupied with people getting massages. I figured this little girl wasn't big enough to give a good back massage. I was wrong! Since I was laying face down on the bench I couldn't see her and the next thing I know she was on the table too and started hitting every pressure point in my back, neck, and shoulders. She found the bad spot in the middle of my back when I jumped a little from the pain of her fingers pushing in. 40 minutes later I was done and felt great. It was strange to get a massage with so many people in the same area. Yes, I did have my clothes on except my shirt. The women in there getting massages were allowed to leave there shirts on. It was well worth the 15 buck for the experience.

 After a great massage it was time to walk the shop and find some coffee. Here is what the sidewalks look like in this area I was in. The walkways were near the stores and tables with chairs were near the street.

 For you boot lovers. Here is a custom made pair of boots made from sheepskin and alligator skin. This was in a shop that sold all local made products.

Further down the street was this art gallery with origanal artwork from local aboriginal tribe members. The cheapest painting I saw was $1200.00 and they went up from there.

 Worked my way back to the market to walk through more of the isles. Here are some of the items for sale in one small shop.

 Jewelry counters were all throughout the market. Opals are very common in Australia and almost all the jewelry had some Opal stones in them. Most of the jewelry was silver and some were done in gold.

 Outside of the market down a shop or two was this bar with a wall of Corona beer bottles. I didn't drink in the bars because of the price. A 16oz of tap beer is $8.00. I went from a cup of coffee which only cost me $4.00 for one cup of black coffee. I could have saved some money by buying a bottle of water; it was only $2.80 for 1liter.

 It was desert time before returning to my room. This a shop that sold cones of Gelatia. (Think thats how you spell it). Its all hand made and they had a fruit or item depicting the flavor. I had a black cherry/walnut cone. All I can say is YUMMMM!

Those that like Red Bull. They had that flavor too.

 Almost forgot. The street music was unique. This guy was making good money with the crowd of people he captured playing aboriginal music. This finished my night in Cairns and my one day trip.

On the flight home I looked down and saw this atoll in the middle of the ocean. It was remarkable.

That ends my trip. Now I am back in the dusty hot world of Papua New Guinea. I hope the rain comes soon.

Take care all. Hope your enjoying the pictures.
ken

A day in Cairns, Australia

Hello everyone,

Last week was just another workweek in PNG. 14 hour days, 106 to 109 degrees, and dusty. I came down with sinus infection and chest congestion from the dust and going in and out of air conditioning. Went to the clinic and got some drugs. On Sunday morning I flew to Cairns, Australia for my one day layover. The pronunciation of Cairns is "Cans" (for those that didn't know). YEA !! I hit my 30 day mark and now it's 30 days till I get home.

Papua New Guinea has a law that if you don't have a work visa you can only stay 30 days at a time then leave the country. Which I did and returned today for my next 30 day stay.

What a fantastic place Cairns is. The weather was hot yet low humidity which made it nice. Being located on the ocean the breeze is cool in the evening. Since I only had one day, I spent the time walking the downtown core area and along the beach. At night I went to the Open Night Market to have dinner and checkout the little shops that are set up like an open market. For those that have been to Saturday Market in Portland, Or. - it's about the same number of vendors inside a huge building. The town is real clean, the people are friendly, and on the weekends it's full of tourists from Japan along with other Aussie's. The food is great, and everywhere you go it is expensive. I'll get into more details along with the picture show to follow.

 When I left PNG we flew over the reefs just of the coast of PNG. The different shades of blue in the ocean are un-describable. From the air I could see the bottom many feet deep then it dropped off to a royal blue deep ocean.

 As I approached Australia, I could see the Great Barrier reef. From the air it was fantastic. Again the blues and turquoise colors was amazing. You have to see it to really grasp the beauty of the reef. The white line in front of the reef are waves breaking on the sand.

 This is a view of northern Cairns. The area is houses on canals with boats in front. Very similar to Naples in Southern California.

 As we were approaching the runway, I got this picture of the country side around Cairns.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown across from the beach. The trees in the middle of the hotel was like a rainforest that you could walk through on paths. I was on the third floor shooting this picture. The hotel is expensive and everything was al-a-cart. Internet access was $12.50 an hour. If you charge any services from the hotel there was a 1.5% surcharge. I had a continental breakfast of fruit, coffee, toast, muffin - $18.00. And the list went on.

 Here it the pathway in the center of the hotel. There is a bridge over a pond and stream.

 At the end of the pond were these huge fish. I think they are carp but not sure. There was a sign up saying feeding times were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Don't have any Idea what they eat, but they were big.

 Across the street from the hotel was a boardwalk that went along the water for a couple of miles. It's about 11am when I shot this picture. By 1pm it was full of people walking and jogging. To the right is a park area that went the length of the walk and then some more. Along the way were open building that had 6 gas fired gills for cooking. By late afternoon people were picnicking everywhere.

Near the yacht club at the end of the board walk is this public pool. I couldn't get the whole pool in the picture because of it's size. The pool wraps around to the right with more swimming area.

 I left the beach area and went into the center of town. This building is the oldest in town and the center of the business area. There is a square for people to sit and walk around with no cars allowed. To the right and left are the streets for cars.

 Most of the sidewalks are covered as shown above. This road goes up to the main shopping center.

 On the way to the Mall I stopped here for lunch. This was a fun pub with great food. I had fish and chip with a pot for $12.00. A "POT" is an 8oz glass of beer. Of course, I had a local beer that was great, then had another. It cost $3.85 for another pot of beer.

 Here is an interior shot of the bar. All wood construction and trim.

For those that like pool, this is the Billiard room off the main bar area.

After lunch I made my way to the Mall. It is Huge. This is a 2 story mall that is twice as large as the South Center Mall in Washington or Loyd Center in Portland. This is the entry to the mall. All the Christmas decoration are up and the stores are decorated too. It really seams funny to be close to Christmas and it's 90 degrees outside.

I got this picture for Kristin. This is a big supply company of hair products in the mall.

Across the street was a pharmacy. You could find any kind of drug or pharmacy product in this place.

I worked my way back to the beach and came across this childerns park It streached along the walk way for about a quarter mile. There were paths, play areas, a gathering place for kids activities. It is designed for infants to toddlers to play on all kinds of stuff.

In the middle of the Children park was this water play area for the kids. Teenagers were not allowed to play here. Only the kids up to 12 years of age.


Well that's it for today. I will be posting my night time romp around the town tomorrow. I have to eat, talk with the bosses and get some sleep for work tomorrow.

Have a great day.
ken

A trip to Bora Village

Hello everyone,

Well it's been an interesting week since the last blog. We had another crane accident that almost killed a person. This person was crouched behind a crane inspecting something at the undercarriage and the crane backed up over him. The crane operator did not know he was there and did not have a banksmen (spotter) for the crane. It broke his hip, leg and he was dragged for about 50 feet before the crane stopped. Really nasty accident.

The temperature is getting hotter here. With the heat index it averages 106 degrees before noon and cools to to 90 degrees at night. The humidity is a the hardest to deal with here in PNG.

Since this is Sunday, we have a half work day. We went in early so we could get out before noon to go see some sites. Dan wanted to meet a local - Sei-Sei - at his village to pick up some shells. So Dan, Todd, Ellis, and I went to Bora village on the water. Here are some pictures:

 The road to the village is a washboard dirt road with ruts. Right after the bend you see in the picture the grade gets real steep down the hill. We had to put our Trooper into 4 wheel drive to get back up the road when we came out.They tell me, when it rains the road turns to mud and 4 wheel vehicles have a hard time getting down this road.

 This is the village we went to. It's a fishing village in a bay on the coral sea.

 As we entered the village the childern came out and wanted there picture taken. All the people love to have their picture taken. This was at the entry of the main part of the village. Entering these village is dangerous for an expat unless you have a local in the car with you and walking around with you. We picked up Sei-Sei on the outskirts of the village. He invited us to his house so he rode in with us.

 These two little girls were trying to get down the stair quickly for a picture.

This is Sei-Sei's family. We go there about a half hour before they go to church. I met them all and felt welcome at their home. All the people hang out under there houses where it's cooler.

 This is Sei-Sei. The kids brought back some fresh coconuts and he offered us a drink. Here is is cutting the top so we could have a fresh coconut juice. The coconut juice is sweet but really good. It was suprizingly cool being inside the shell.

 As we were walking to the beach we past their church in the village.

This little boy was really shy but curious. Had to get a picture of him at the tree.

 When we got to the beach area, this house was at the end of the village way out in the water. The water is real shallow and kids can walk out 50 to 60 yard before it became deep.

 This is more of the village on the water. This area is their boat launch area for the fishing boats.

This was interesting. There is one power pole and all the lines go to different parts of the village. Most of the power was to the houses on the water. The majority of the houses do not have power or running water.

 The kids were all gathering around wanting their picture taken. I have a bundh of pictures of the kids here. This is a group shot that was hard to get. They all kept pushing one another to be in the front. What happened was they were moving forward toward the camera and at one point they were about 12 inches away. I had to explain to them stay in one place. Finally they gathered as you see and made signs for the camera.

 Here is one of the shots as they were moving forward trying to be the first in line. I had a crowd of kids around me wanting there picture taken. Once I took the picture they had to come and look at it on the camera. It was a fun time.

 This is a fisherman just coming in from being out most of the day. They make about 20 Kina for 5 or 6 fish they sell to the local markets. The local markets are upset with the big project I work at because all the fisherman work there now instead of fishing. Last I heard over 70 percent of the local fishermen are working on the project. So the fish markets are running short of products.

Here is a nice bungalow in the trees just up from the beach.

As we were leaving town this truck went by heading somewhere. All the kids ride in the back, as you see, even on the main roads. They saw my camera and want there pictures taken also. They have this thing about making tough faces and signs when photographed.

Well that's it for the day. The trip to Bora village was fun. Finally get to see how and where they live. I am trying to get to another town next weekend called Portabata. It's a bigger village on the water. One of the issues I have to overcome is the rules with the project of no expats allowed to associate with locals except at work. So all the trips I want to take will be on the sly. I have the locals helping me with getting out to some of these villages.

Take care all. Have a safe week. Keep checking in to the blog for updates.

ken