Another Look Into The Past - Madang, Papua New Guinea
Most of the women have bare breasts, grass skirts, and shells for decoration.
February 21, 2014
Madang, Papua New Guinea
The morning was beautiful and the sun was shining. I ran outside as usual, to check if we were getting close to our exotic destination- Madang, Papua New Guinea. From the ships railing, we looked down expectantly, and then right before our eyes was the tropical lush forest with the occasional houses on stilts. There was a dark green timberline, and above that were puffy white clouds against an extremely blue sky. What greeted me next were several outriggers circling our ship as we got closer to the harbor. I waved back at the people and they got even more excited and started shouting their greetings. “Mala tom tom dewa dewa!” they said, which means good morning in one of their many dialects.
Madang Harbor itself is right out of a holiday brochure with its manicured lawns, palm trees and thatched bungalows. In front of one waterfront home sits a helicopter. In contrast, once we reached the harbor, we were greeted by several topless women doing a “singsing," an exhibition of traditional songs and dances. The women, are in their native grass skirts made from the highly functional sago palm. The men wore their traditional penis covers under their tiny garment. Men and women have shiny naked bodies adorned with necklaces of huge wild boars teeth and shells. From the time our cruise ship arrived, the port gates became alive with locals clustering like bees. A small group of village vendors spontaneously appeared on the port gates. They laid their inexpensive handicraft on the ground. Among the most popular are wooden masks and totems, bone and shell jewelry, traditional penis covers and bilums, their woven string bags. We created a stir when we got close to some of the vendors and I requested to take their pictures. A throng of men and children gathered around and swarmed around me like bees. They were curious to see the result of the picture taking.
Meanwhile, the road was black with locals walking back and forth most of them with their bilums hanging around their foreheads. Visiting PNG, as we found out, is like a step back in time. Roads are a rare thing and tourist guides do not come in handy. About 60 percent of Papua New Guineans are unemployed and nearly half are illiterate. Access across the thickly forested country is typically by boat or by air. It is also well defined by tribes, remote mountain communities who live in stilt villages and deep sea fishermen from the coastal islands. Apart from being famously known as the spot Amelia Earhart took off from in 1937 before her plane's mysterious disappearance, it is known for its lush yet rugged beauty. There are 38 kinds of Birds of Paradise, for example, along with tropical rain forests, lagoons with a rich underwater life and plummeting waterfalls. If you hear screeching, look up. Fruit bats, or "flying foxes" as they are called, are common inhabitants of the trees, even in town.
People live in raised thatched homes made from the sago palm. Many still cook outdoors over fires as evident when we went to the handicraft market. There was a park nearby where women vendors sat in small wooden stools. They cooked bananas, fish and rice wrapped in palm leaves in a small wood stove. Just like in Alotau, of great notice from the villagers, including children, have teeth and tongues stained red from chewing betel nut, which has narcotic qualities. They were very friendly and accommodating for pictures and were not ashamed to flash a smile showing their stained teeth. Seeing and taking picture after picture of people chewing betel nuts, made me wonder if the truth about Papua New Guinea's life is hidden in the betel nuts!
After several hours of walking on the dusty roads of the town of Madang, Willsz, a local who escorted us the whole day asked his brother -in-law to give us a lift back to the ship. It turned out that his brother -in-law, Alphonse knew the people we met at the Supermarket in town. Alphonse's sister is married to Amit, (Manager) and he also knew Myoko (Asst. manager) and the Filipino guy, Patrick (Supervisor).
In Madang, it seemed like everybody knew everybody or related to somebody. We were very happy to have met Amit, Myoko and Patrick, Willz and Alphonse. At the port gates, it was a happy and touching scene when we thanked and said goodbye to Willz and Alphonse. Madang was quite an experience!