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

Continuation of Port Moresby

Another wonderful day in the neighborhood. Not much going on today. Had to observe a crane pick to move a 7 ton auto sandblasting machine. We had to pick it up and drop it in a hole 4 and a half feet deep. The sand blaster is used for cleaning pipes before being painted. Most of the pipes are 8 inches to 24 inches in diameter and about 12 to 15 feet long. Our job was to just place the unit for this other company. The process didn't take long to move it but the permits and inspection before moving the machine took a while. The company we were doing this for didn't have all the permits ready. After a few phone calls and a couple of hours later we were ready to move the machine which took only 20 minutes. It's quite a process to do things here because of safety issues. Some time at the end of the week or next week I will be going to a 2 day seminar on crane safety and theory. There all day long and should be quite interesting. The rest of the day was spent working on a new training manual I'm writing. I didn't mind working in the office today. The temperature rose to 90 degrees with a "feel like" temperature of 106. Tomorrow will be the same.

Here are the rest of the pictures around Port Moresby.

 Across the street from the beach were these apartment being built. The roads getting to the apartments looked like the streets in San Fransisco. They were narrow and wound straight up the hill.

 After the beach excursion we went to PNG Art Store. It was set back off the main road and tough to find. The whole shop was filled with tribal artifacts for sale. All the works in there are authentic and made by local tribes.

 When you first walk into the store your greeted by these three figures.

 There was a side room inside the store with the walls lined with these shields and masks.

 Outside the shop was an area that had local birds in cages. The birds are caught by the local people. The cages were dirty and lots of wire on the front which made it hard to get a good picture.
 

 Another one of the birds. they are really beautiful up close.

This is hard to see, but, this is called a house plaque. The plaque would be place above the door on the outside. It depicts the heritage of the family and what they are known for. This is a small plaque. There was one that was about 6 feet across and 3 feet tall. This one shows people in a boat with birds, fish, and boars. The background depicts the forest and palms. Each one was different and holds a story of the family.

 Here is a shot of the main part of the store.

 These were really beautiful flower in a pot. They were for sale by a street vendor

And the final picture is a sunrise the other morning when I got to work. The sunrises and sunsets are unbelievable here in PNG. Pictures just can't capture the depth of color you see with the naked eye.

That's it for now. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I have finally caught up to all the pictures I've taken so it will be a few days before I have more. The rest of the week is going to be real busy for me so I probably won't write on the blog for a bit. Keep checkin in for updated.

Take care,
ken

A trip to Port Moresby

Hi all,


Today was an interesting day. Todd and I when to get our PNG drivers license and were unable to get it. We had our passport, papers, letter of recommendation and drivers licenses ready to go. Went to the window and got the paper to fill out. The guy behind the counter photocopied everything and came back to tell us our visa stay was not long enough to get a license. Our visas are for only 30 days and we needed to have our work permits saying we were going to be here longer than 60 days. I tried everything I could think of to talk them into it and failed. Todd and I had already paid 120 kina each for our license, which, they refunded. So we both walked away without our licenses. The one thing I forgot to bring was Asi, my field safety guy. He know most of the people at the licensing center. He talks with them and we pay an extra 80 Kina as a tip for them to over look the rules. So tomorrow Todd, myself, and Asi are going to get our licenses. It's nice to have friends that have higher tribal standings than others.

Sunday Dan, Todd and I went to town from some shopping and lunch. Here are some pictures of our outing.

 This is the city of Port Moresby, PNG from across the bay.

A small community outside the city. All the house are built on stilts here. The reason is to keep animals and snakes from entering the house. Most people use under the house as a cool shaded area to sit and eat. The houses stay cooler with the ocean breeze blowing around the house.

Here is one under construction. The posts are made of tree trunks and the frame is 2x4 timber or metal stud. Most of the roofs are corrugated metal. There is no insulation since the temperature doesn't vary much between day and night. This is one of the nicer ones I've seen. Inside the houses are very few walls and the floors are usually made of plank wood. The people don't have much furniture and most sleep on the floor and sit in home made chairs or benches.

OK... so let go to the vendors in town and the beach area.

The first stop was Baroko Market place. Dan wanted to buy some carvings a street vendor had.

 This was the street vendor. All the carvings are handmade by him and other locals. Dan is in the blue shirt in the back on the left.

 This guy was selling blue crabs he had caught off the beach.

Here are the crabs he sells. the bunch in the fore picture go for 15 kina. the one behind was 10 kina.

 Across the street from the vendors was the SP beer brewery. They make some great beer and sold everywhere.

 This is for Kris. It was the only hair salon I could see on this outing around town. Had one lady and 2 men doing hair design.

 Here is Dan and Todd. Todd is in the foreground. Todd arrived last week from Montana. He'll be replacing Dan when he goes home for leave.

The beach was crowded with kids playing in the water.

 All along the walkway along the beach were vendors. This lady is selling Betel nut. Betel nut comes from a tree in the mountains. The locals open the fruit and chew the nut inside to a fibrous mash. then they take a leaf - roll it - dip it in powered lime and mustard. They snip off the dipped end with their teeth and chew it into the nut mash. The chemical reaction of the mixture turns their teeth and gums deep red and the juice acts as a drug. They say it give you a high similar to marijuana. In most of the cities and on the project it is illegal to chew betel nut because of the red staining on the ground once spit out. Almost all adults chew betel nut. This lady sells the nut, leaf, and a dip for 1 kina.

These next three pictures are of the local flowers that grow wild here. They can be seen throughout the city and in the villages.

Well it's getting late. I will continue tomorrow. I hope everyone is enjoying the pictures. It's been fun writing this blog and will continue until it's time to come home. Hopefully soon I can get to a village and talk with the locals. The people I work with have invited me to come and see they're home life.

Take Care,
ken

A little fun at work....

Hello everyone

This last week was real interesting at work. There were two incendents that happened with heavy equipment. I thought I would share with you some of the fun things I deal with.

First let me introduce my field safety manager - Asi. He takes care of all the safety issues at the job sites.

Asi and me at the office.

Here is our vehicle to run around the job sites in. Asi and I share the Gator. Thats Jodan in the drivers seat learning how to drive it.

Now for the fun pictures...........

 On Wednesday one of the contractors was trying to swap out the tracks on this crane. The idea is to use the outrigger jack to raise the cab and put the new tracks under each side. The outriggers are narrowly space so the cab was suppose to be swung over  them to balance the weight. The operator swung the cap into this position which put the heavy part outside the balance zone causing the crane to tip as your see it know. There was a person near the back of the crane when it came down and fortunately he was not hurt. This incedint was caused by an inexperienced crane operator not knowing proper procedures.

 On Friday this accident happened in our yard area. The driver had the bucket loaded with asphalt chunks raised high up. When he moved forward and went over some potholes it bounced the rig throwing it out of balance and falling forward. The driver was not injured, just scared.

 This is how the loader was set back on the wheels.

This is the setup used to rig the loaded for setting it on its wheels. We were involved because our crane was in the yard and ready for use.

Have a good day everyone.
ken

G'day Mates........

What a week this has been. I've been so busy and too tired to write in the blog. We've been getting back to camp around 7pm. By the time i have dinner and get cleaned up it's time for bed. All week the weather has been in the low 30's Celsius (90 degrees F) with high humidity. It's frustrating to go outside and have my glasses fog up because of the humidity. It's been cloudy during the morning but by 10am it's somewhat clear and 29 Celsius (85 degrees F). Except for today. The temperature rose to 46.1 Celsius (115 degrees F) with 45% humidity. Right now it is 7:15pm and it's 32 Celsius (90 degrees F). It was real difficult to work in the heat today. Thank god for all the meetings I had this week allowing me to stay in cool places.
 
Next week is going to be fun. I get my PNG drivers license on Monday. From what I understand, I go in to the license bureau and pay 60 Kina. They take my picture, my letter of recommendation, a copy of my drivers license plus passport and I will have a class 7 drivers license. A class 7 is a commercial license to drive anything from a scooter to a crane. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes and no written or driving test. I have to have a drivers license to get a driving pass on the job site. And, before I get my driving pass I have to take a driving awareness course for 2 hours. I also have to get my permit to work from the embassy. Currently I am an illegal working here. I have to get my permit to work so I can get my proper identification card to access the work site. I have a temporary pass right now. If the embassy works on PNG time (whenever they get around to it) I should be legal by the time I'm ready to come home.

Let's look at some pictures. I have a couple more from the mall I wanted to show you first.

There is a large market very similar to Walmart at the mall. It has everything from groceries to furniture. Here is the produce section of the market.

This is looking down one of the isles from the front to the back of the store.

In the fish department there are whole fish for sale and in the case were these squid. They're huge compared to ours at home.

Well that's it for the Mall Now on to some sights.
 

 

This is the rugby field in town. All the people enjoy playing rugby here. 

 Driving into town we pulled up along side a local bus. For those that like to take local transportation, here's what you ride in.

 This is a shopping center for the local people. This is a place tourists or expats do not go. Very dangerous here for non-locals.

 Along the main road was a small shack and these crops. The trees on the left are banana trees and the plants on the right are Casaba. They'll grow this small crop to sell at the local market.

 In the Village just outside of camp were these school boys on their way home. Most people I came across loved to have there picture taken.

 At the top of the hill past the city dump we stopped to shoot this picture of the bay and ships.

 We drove through the dump area again. These women are rummaging through the bags for food. They live across the street from the dump.

 This is the front of a house across from the dump.

 This is a man that just came out from the hill. I think he lives here at the dump also.

  Just past the dump was this ranch style house and land. This was one of the nicer places there.

This is the local meeting place for the village of Baruni.

Well I'll leave you with this one last picture. The sun was going down and lit up the clouds over the job site area. I wish I had my other camera to get better pictures. The sunsets are fantastic here. 

Take care,

ken