Ruth Chen’s Blog

My Journey So Far

And so, I’m finally here in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.

The flight from Singapore to Brisbane was uneventful, and fortunately, I was able to catch quite alot of sleep on the plane. At Brisbane international, I managed to clear customs (thankfully - I had to gobble my Bengawan Solo munchie just before landing) and by about 9, I was out. It took me awhile to find the tourist information centre. Given that it was a Sunday night, I was very relieved that the info counter was actually operating. I got transport to my accommodation, and ventured out to look for food at Chinatown after settling in. Grace met up with me at the apartment just before midnight, and it was nice to see a familiar face again. A familiar face in foreign land is very comforting.

I couldnt really sleep that night, perhaps due to the fact that I had a flight to catch early next morning. The manager at our accom got us a taxi, and we arrived the airport early, which was a good thing cos we had to do the whole packing-unpacking business to make sure we weren’t overlimit with our baggage.

As we flew into PNG, I saw the vast amount of jungle and the blue sea, all so beautifully untouched, isolated and kept away from the world. It was truly a sight to behold. The flight was rather empty as well, it was nice to stretch out my feet and to catch a good 40 winks.

We arrived into Jackson Airport and as we exited the airport, we were greeted by Mr Browne, who in his hands had a poster bearing both our names. He is originally from London, and has been in PNG since the 1970s. I’ve been truly blessed by his kindness as he waited so patiently while we sorted out our flights for our onward journeys, took us for a drive around Port Moresby, and shared stories of himself and his family with the both of us. Coincidentally, his wife used to work with OM, and they are friends with Uncle Kenny, my sunday school teacher’s husband and a family friend of ours!

Bob brought us to our accommodation at Mapang, and it has been good so far. We have been staying in mainly, only venturing out briefly earlier this morning to get some food from Boroko Food Worlds. Things here are quite costly(!), mainly cos most things are imported I guess. Apart from that, I’ve been kept entertained by the piano, a couple of episodes of Gossip Girl, and conversations with different people here at Mapang. Last night, we had dinner with the other guests, and met this lady, Debbie Petterson. She’s from NZ, and is working here as a translator. She was so kind as to offer us stories and tips of Kapuna, and even showed us a couple of pictures! We’ll be seeing her again this Thursday when we finally get there (by air, then by boat).

Tomorrow, we’ll be getting the plane to Baimuru, and I really hope the flight goes according to schedule. After that, it will be an hour or so of river meandering before finally reaching Kapuna. They say PNG is the land of unexpected. Well, we see. In such a short span of time, I’ve seen the hand of God work in so many ways. So amazing, so blessed!

Alritey, for now, I think I shall retreat to my room and enjoy the air-con while I still have it here at Mapang.