Brisbane in a Day

The travel agent in PNG accidentally booked me on the 6am flight to Brisbane instead of the 3pm giving me over 14 hours layover. The airport no longer provides baggage storage for “security concerns” which is a huge pain in the butt but fortunately the train stations in town do (because they don’t need to be secure, clearly). Unlike for Tokyo, I really didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I had considered surfing lessons on the Gold Coast but they are earlier than I could get there. So I was left with the Koala Sanctuary and wanting to be physical, knowing that I had 20+ hours of sitting after that. So I wandered around and got the necessary cup of coffee and after meandering eventually headed to play with Koalas. I wasn’t sure how much fun it would be to go alone, and it would have been more fun with others but koalas are cute. Little sleepy things. And the Kangaroos (they had several types) were really tame so you could just go up and pet them. They expected you to feed them but I didn’t bother with that! And it was fun to take pictures as they are in none-caged environments. After that I decided to rent a bike and follow these bike paths they have all up and down the river that runs through Brisbane. That was really fun. It’s so nice to have bike paths! And I will be really sore! I felt like I should have steak but I just wasn’t that hungry (wanted salad and a beer) and I did eat a lot of beef in PNG. Had my beer on the wharf, which felt just like sitting in Georgetown down by that river. Really thought I was there a few times.

All in all Brisbane wasn’t all that impressive. It has all the lovely things nice cities do, comfortable bars and cafés, bike and walking paths, parks, and live music. But the city was just a city. Tall non-descript buildings. Not the charm of Sydney anyhow. But again, what a nice way to spend a day in transit – instead of sitting in an airport, seeing a new city!

Papua New Guinea

I’ve been in Papua New Guinea for 6 days and no one has ever been able to understand anything about a culture in 6 days but I feel like I understand less of this place and its people than most places I’ve been. I maybe have some understanding of the terrain of Port Moresby – the pictures show the mountains from the sea and the sea from the mountains. I barely understand the expat world, never mind that of Papua New Guineans. It’s been said to me many times as I was heading out here, that PNG is the most dangerous place on earth. I think that’s an overstatement but there are security concerns – maybe even valid ones – so I stayed with our new country rep here -a 50-something woman. But we’re not allowed to be out after dark, really. And they let out guard dogs at the office at 5:30 so you must leave the office and then go home. Most shops close by 5 as well. So you go home.

PNG was colonized by Australians and many, many still live here – the upside of which is the food options. Great beef, pork, fish (ok, that’s probably b/c of PNG not Australians). The supermarket is heaven. Chocolate chips and Cadbury Easter eggs! I begged for local cuisine to see what it was like, so we ended up at a Holiday Inn buffet – and the sweet potato and pumpkin dishes were really nice! Way more satisfying to me than India.

The people are ethnically more African than asian – Melanesians technically, related to Polynesians, and other pacific islanders. But even just here, there are tons of different ethnicities apparent. They have over 700 languages in this tiny group of islands. There are very few roads so not much travel and exposure to outsiders. Obviously those who come to the cities (I think they consider 3 places cities) interact with each other and us foreigners. There are continuing land disputes which is reportedly why more roads don’t exist. And while crime is rampant (60% of women report being raped and about the same % of men reported raping! The most common crime though is car jacking, which happened to our previous Country Rep) people are so friendly and polite. Drivers yield! Waitresses smile and kindly ask if they can get you anything. It’s like the exact opposite of India.

The only touristy thing I did was went diving. Due to missionaries PNG is VERY Christian. Scarily so when it comes to AIDS prevention (condoms are the devil). So Good Friday was a national holiday. Therefore I had a chance to go diving in the morning. I haven’t been diving in 7 years (!) and truly didn’t remember how. I did tell them this though and they assured me the instructors on board would refresh me. They gave me a 10 second reminder (“this is your backup oxygen for when your diving partner takes your regular one”) and then I partnered up with the instructor. There were like 20 people on the boat we went out on, which is too much. A bunch of young things who live the bizarre life at the yacht club and seem totally disconnected with the actual country and then older retired couples who keep coming back. For Australians, it’s a really easy trip (3 hour flight from Brisbane). Anyways, on the dive I remembered how and saw a little shark and some gorgeous little and medium sized fish. The coral was stunning. It’s just up from the great barrier reef. The second dive was a wreck which had the most amazing fish, huge starfish, the fish that blend with the sand, the colors were stunning.

It has definitely whet my appetite for coming back, although I can’t imagine when I will. I amazingly did not take any pictures really. I have a few of the ocean from land (our guesthouse) and a few of the land from the ocean (diving) but none of people. Like I said, I just didn’t have that experience.

How I spent 12 hours in Tokyo

So apparently not many people go from New Delhi to Papua New Guinea because the best connection had a 12 hour layover in Tokyo. I decided to spend the day seeing the city (which I never have) and did a little research beforehand and determined I'd take the train to the Imperial Palace and just walk around the gardens. I figured I'd be less likely to get lost that way. At first everything went according to plan. The visa was so easy I didn't even know I got it (and free). I exchanged money, found a locker for my bag, and bought the train ticket. The train didn't leave until 9:18 and my watch said 8:10 so I figured that I'd kill an hour by getting starbucks (the $3 small - and they mean small - still was so overcaffeinated that it made me jittery) and looking for a cheap jacket as it was colder out than I expected. All the sweatshirts in the airport were $70 so I passed and then saw an airport clock and realized it said 9:25. I guess I had set my watch an hour too slow when I got off the plane.... oops. Thankfully they just changed the train time for me at no charge. So on the hour ride into Tokyo the first thing that struck me was how not Japanese it looked. It could have been any city suburb in the US. And it was like 10am and there was NO ONE out. A few runners on paths but truly empty.

Got to the gardens and started walking around but aparently they don't let strangers just walk into the palace. Suddenly after empty streets I was surrounded by runners and was thinking to myself how fit everyone looked until I realized that a man was yelling over a speaker something that was probably numbers and I had walked into a marathon! To detour around the marathon I thought I might as well get lunch and something I read had recommended Akasaka so I meandered that way. After having to ask for directions once or twice I found my first McDonald's (outside of the airport) and walked into what I expected Tokyo to look like. Tons of neon and Hello Kitty and sushi joints. Honestly, it was as if I had walked into "little Tokyo". I found myself a sushi place and sat at the counter and pointed to the menu as no one spoke english. What I ended up with was almost edible (a few egg products I had to avoid) but the sushi was excellent! Was pretty proud of myself for navigating the whole, "what's in this cup" scenario and I think I only drank things meant for drinking. I watched others. Slurping soup seemed popular. Then I went next door for chocolate banana Hagen daaz ice cream. Nice!

I went back to the gardens (happening onto a temple on the way back). Ok, they were beautiful and the scary part is I JUST missed full bloom. A few japanese shaped buildings but mostly just landscaping, some sad remains of an old castle. I blame india for making me totally blase about things built after 1600. Then walked over to the arts and crafts museum for which i totally needed an audio tour because I clearly missed the point. After 6 hours of walking my feet were killing me and I returned to the train - got a ticket after some confusion. Went to Dean and Delucca to fulfil my craving for baked goods but decided that was boring so got the green tea and white chocolate muffin (bright green) - which was surprisingly good. Fell asleep on the train back to the airport but awoke in time for my stop. Had a big mac and was on my way.

Random observations about Tokyo

• So organized! Everyone stopped at cross walks even when no traffic is coming! I love orderly societies!
• Very clean but no garbage cans. I carried coffee cups all over the city trying to find them. And yet people are meticulous about recycling - I saw several people go out of their way to recycle rather than throw in a regular bin.
• Crows are really big - they go up to my thigh, they scare me.
• I apparently can't hear the word "arigato" without singing mr. Roboto.
  
• It's fun to walk around Tokyo with "turning japenese" playing on your ipod.
• After a birthday weekend outing to Delhi's toilet museum I got to try out one of the featured hi-tech toilets which had all different sprays with varying water temps, seat temps and sounds. i liked the "peeing sound" - seemed a waste for a public restroom tho as who wants to sit there for 20 minutes testing all the buttons?
  

Pictures are 1) part of the imperial gardens; I liked the contrast between old and new, 2) some of the flowers in bloom, 3) a monkey statue guarding a shrine, 4) a couple getting married at the shrine