1.25.2009

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea lies on the eastern coast of the island, New Guinea, split in half with a territory owned by Indonesia in the South Pacific.  Papua is one of the rawest, most rugged spots on Earth, with thousands of indigenous people making up villages all over the country.  The majority of the people live in traditional societies and practice subsistence-based agriculture.  I was most excited about my trip here and scheduled it for my last stop on the survey.  The city of Port Moresby is quite small and the airport consists basically of a landing strip on a flat bit of land.  However, as you approach, you get a sense of the dense jungle and rugged mountainous terrain that makes up the country.  This has caused it to be difficult for any type of transportation infrastructure to exist.  To get anywhere, or even out of Port Moresby, you have to fly to one of the other small cities.  

Crowne Plaza Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea has a big expat population due to oil companies and shipping yards scattered around Port Moresby.  The country may be best known for its indigenous and tribal people living outside of the city, who most famously wear bones and other items pierced in their faces and some are still cannibalistic.  A common response to "I'm going to Papua New Guinea" was met with "Don't get eaten."  Port Moresby is also known as one of the most dangerous cities in the entire world; run by a gang of hoodlums known as 'Raskols' who carjack, rob and rape.  In fact, Port Moresby has had the most rapes per capita of any country in the world, several years in a row.  This is amazing to think about once you spend time there, as the general population appears to be the friendliest, gentlest people I have ever met.  Everything moves extremely slowly (you sometimes have to ask your waitress for your drink or check repeatedly before you might actually obtain it) and everyone seems quite happy; a true south pacific island.  

Port Moresby Homes

I had heard of some epic surf breaks off the coast of Papua, mostly on the north side, but I was desperate to find my way out to the ocean.  I made friends with some locals at a pub in town, and they pointed me towards the local surf club, which was made up of a bunch of guys on some rundown old boards (a couple with donations from some Aussies and South Africans who visited on surf trips) who frequented the islands around the mainland to take in some surf.  There wasn't much break, but I got to spend a day paddling around in the south Pacific with a bunch of Papua locals, quite the experience.  We finished the day with snorkeling around the neighboring islands which captivates the south side of the Great Barrier Reef, a natural wonder.

Loloatu Island

Islands of Papua




Singapore


Singapore was a great stop on my 3rd world country tour of Southern Asia, as it is developed as any city in the US or Europe and boasts wonderful hotels, cuisine, nightlife, etc.  I was able to recouperate here for a few days and hang out with an old roommate from Los Angeles before heading back out to the developing world of Asia. I ended up getting sick this week, possibly from eating too many dumplings and noodle bowls from 'hawker' carts around the city...but it was definitely worth it

Singapore is an island microstate, located on the tip of Malaysia, in southern Asia.  What was originally a tiny fishing village has now expanded into one of the top economic and business hubs in the world.  Singapore boasts a population of almost 5 million people, with a very diverse mix of people.  Chinese Malay is the most common, with Indian, Japanese, American , British and many other cultures making up the rest of the state.  

Clark Quay and Merlion

Singapore is an extremely powerful economic hub, and the world's 4th largest foreign exchange trading centre behind New York, Tokyo and London.  There are thousands of expatriates working in hundreds of multinational corporations, making it an extremely business-friendly economy.  Singapore is very much tied into the American markets, more so than the nearby Hong Kong, which has caused for it to weaken in the past year, similarly with our domestic US market.  Less companies are moving and expanding, and this shows in the global recession and especially Singapore.

Singapore is well known for its criminal law, which is of the strictest in the world.  Singapore still retains corporal (caning) and capital (hanging) punishment.  Many things which would seem normal in our culture (such as chewing gum on the bus or smoking in public) are major offences in Singapore and can be punishable to fines of thousands of dollars.  Drugs are also highly illegal in Singapore; possession of a small amount of marijuana will be punishable by death.  Due to all this, it is one of the safest cities in the world with an extremely low crime rate.  However, one way that Singapore law differs in the opposite way, is it's legalization of prositution.  Licensed brothels exist in designated areas where health checks are mandated, much like Amsterdam.  Street prostitution is not legal, but it is rampant all over the city and in bars.  Orchard Towers is a famous "shopping mall" of sex worker bars and massage parlours that exist with an extreme in-your-face sex market.  Being a tall, white man in Singapore is quite an invitation to get chased down the street in this city, but it is a rather interesting experience.

MRT sign

South India


Things got really busy on this last trip but I wanted to at least throw up a few photos to check out...

India was fantastic! Beautiful country, Beautiful people, Beautiful food.  One of the best places I've ever seen.  Spirituality and Religion mixed with overpopulation and crowding in a 3rd world country..doesn't get any better for me!

I spent 2 weeks in Bangalore and Chennai, which included sidetrips to Pondicherry and Mysore; a nice little tour of Southern India.   India is the 7th largest country by geographical area, the 2nd most populous country after China and the largest democracy in the world.  It is made up of 28 states, all of them being totally unique and different in their own way.  India holds an estimated 1.15 billion people, making up for 17% of the world's population.

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka, a much developed city with an infrastructure based on IT and outsourcing.  Many tech companies are set up here and there is a huge business center. With this comes restaurants, hotels, bars, tourism, etc.  There are tons of expats living here and a lot of beautiful housing exists in the city and neighboring suburbs.

About a 2 hour train ride outside of the city is the town of Mysore.  Mysore is best known for it's palace which is luminescent with 100s of thousands of lights every Sunday.  


Entrance to Mysore Palace

Mysore Palace

Chennai is the 4th largest city in India and the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu.  This area of India is much more traditional than other parts of the country that have steadfastly developed.  Alcohol is almost non-existent and traditional values are noticeably more important here.  Chennai lies on the south-eastern corner of India.  I travelled down the coast to many of the smaller towns and the effects of the tsunami that ravaged these areas of southern Asia is still quite visual and apparent.  Many of the villages and beachside areas are still destroyed or in the process of being cleaned up.

Bangalore Bus Station

Further down the coast from Chennai is the former French colony, Puducherry, a beautiful seaside community with major French influence.  Many of the signs remain "Rue de..." and most of the people speak both languages.  The town is constructed with the same French influence and grouped into neat sectors and perpendicular streets.  Not far from Puducherry is the unique community of Auroville , which is definitely worth reading into.

 Chennai church