What I learned today is the roads in PNG are in total disrepair. It looks like the rain and the trucks have beaten the funding available by government. All roads are potholed, there are no kerbs and channeling in the city and no streetlights, but there is light as all properties have security lighting.
The mountain roads have numerous slips both on to the roads and also with part of the roads missing
. They have partially removed some of the slips to make the roads passable again. Most of the bridges have had the hand rails removed in part or fully over the years. The bridges mostly look like temporary metal army bridges and have sheets of metal over a metal framework. There are occasional road signs, normally when some roadworks are happening. Roadworks are rare and are very basic.
In a number of places the tribes have chosen to fill in some of the potholes and they then stop the vehicles in front of their villages and ask for a donation for their efforts. Unfortunately their efforts are in vain as the potholes will be unfilled very quickly and their hole is just one in a million.
Villages are built on the edge of the highway along every road and every village, if not every house has a market stall selling instant noodles, coke, beetle nut, garden vegetables, and everything else one may need to live in PNG.
The road is very important to life in PNG
. It is easier to walk than the forest obviously and the road always has people walking on it and thousands of kids and adults are on the road and must be avoided as the traffic swerves and turns through the potholes. You become road savvy at an early age here. The pmvs do not move for you as they go from left to right to left weaving amongst the potholes and washouts and using their horns to tell you they are coming, passing and going. The horn is a courtesy to pedestrians to help avoid them being run over.
The trip from Mt Hagen was delayed due to some issues with the bus and the journey should have been 3 to 4 hours.
As we were getting close to Kandiawa, a man on the side of the road was signalling us to turn around. Our driver said he was telling us that a wide load was on the way and to be careful. We ended up stopping on the hill just before Kandiawa at some markets as many of the other vehicles were turning around and going back up the hill
. We were told there was a problem in town.
As we looked down the hill and across to the next hill we could see groups of people running through the bush away from the road and then a few minutes later running back towards the road. Our drivers found out that there was a tribal fight between Chimbus over territory at the markets. This all went on for a while, with the police and many of the security vehicles sitting up on the hill with us waiting for reinforcements.
We also heard different runours that the fighting was election related and was between two groups of druggies. This was incorrect from what we were told.
We then heard a couple of gunshots and then a few minutes more gunshots. The drivers seemed comfortable that we were the only vehicle facing down the hill even though all of the others had moved up the hill and were facing in the other direction. All of a sudden large numbers of the market stall holders were packing shop and many started running up the hill
. I wanted to move but we still stayed where we were. Many of those standing on the road stayed where they were.
Honestly I don't think we could have moved as the traffic was jammed up behind us. I guess there were 5 semi trailers and 20 or 30 buses and PMVs above us. After a little wait longer, we turned around and headed up the hill 500m. Not long after the semi trailers started bolting down the hill at full speed and headed through the fight zone. They had cages on the windows so were protected to some degree.
The police had received reinforcements and were holding the two sides of fighters away from each other. The PMVs then started moving down the hill quickly to make their way through the crowd. There were three tourist buses and we all moved after the PMVs to go through the town. We had no window protection and the police told us to go fast and not to stop. This was the only time I wish I had chosen to sit down the back of the bus rather than in the front seat! As we drove through town as fast as we could, around potholes and through wash outs, we saw hundreds of people on both sides of the road
. As we went through a group of young guys pulled knives out and pretended to stab the bus! We did not relax for quite a while after getting through the town. The driver had heard that two people died from the fighting which was carried out with guns, knives, stones and probably arrows. That was a very cultural two hour experience!
Two days later we read in the paper that 2000 people were involved, it was about territory and people were injured. They did not mention much more. It must be a regular occurrence because if 2000 people had a war like that in Australia, it would have made more than a paragraph in the newspaper!
We drove straight through to Goroka through the Wahgi Valley,past tea and coffee plantations. We missed the stop at the famous Asaro Mudmen Village as we had seen the mudmen in Hagen and the trip ended up being 7 hours long and we DID NOT want to be driving after dark.
When we finally arrived at Goroka we went to the Bird of Paradise Hotel and they had lost our bookings so we waited while everyone else in the world checked in. Finally they found a room for me, then a room for others and we were all accommodated, albeit not in the rooms we had paid for. But we had rooms and that was great!
Mt Hagen to Goroka
Monday, August 13, 2012
Goroka, Papua New Guinea
Other Entries
-
1A trip to PNG to visit family history
Aug 103 days priorBrisbane, Australiaphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 1 -
2Get Me Out Of Here!
Aug 103 days priorPort Moresby, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera2videocam 0comment 0 -
3First Impressions of Hagen
Aug 103 days priorMt Hagen , Papua New Guineaphoto_camera4videocam 0comment 0 -
4Mt Hagen Show 2012
Aug 112 days priorMt Hagen, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera28videocam 1comment 0 -
5Mt Hagen Sightseeing
Aug 121 day priorMt Hagen, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera37videocam 0comment 0 -
6Mt Hagen to Goroka
Aug 13Goroka, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera32videocam 0comment 0 -
7Goroka to Madang
Aug 141 day laterGoroka, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera47videocam 0comment 0 -
8Day 1 in Madang
Aug 152 days laterMadang, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera42videocam 0comment 0 -
9Madang Day 2
Aug 163 days laterBrisbane, Australiaphoto_camera34videocam 0comment 0 -
10Last Day in Madang
Aug 174 days laterBrisbane, Australiaphoto_camera30videocam 0comment 0 -
11Eight hours in Port Moresby
Aug 185 days laterPort Moresby, Papua New Guineaphoto_camera11videocam 0comment 0 -
12A fantastic trip, but glad to be home......
Aug 185 days laterBrisbane, Australiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0
2025-02-07