On Thursday I caught the very early morning flight to Lae. I had been avoiding the place for 2 years, but had to suck it up and go over for 2 days for work, and you know what?

Lae ain’t too bad!

Yes, it isn’t somewhere where I could see myself living, but certainly not the dump that I was imagining, in fact – Lae is a very pretty place with lots of greenery and plenty of traditional haus.

Lae is definitely dirty, and buildings are rundown, but if the likes of Nambawan Super continue to invest in new buildings within Lae then I can certainly see the potential.

I took plenty of photos, but will have to upload them in another post when I have time to sort them out…

Some pretty cool things about Lae:

Cheap fruit
Cheap coconuts
Best Taro in PNG

One of the cool things I figured out. The difference between Economy Class & Business Class on Air Niugini can be as little as K45 each way. You may or may not get a business class seat, but you will get a little something to eat, sit at the pointy end, get 2x carry-on bags, and 20kg of luggage to bring back all that Taro. However, the most significant thing is entry to the Paradise Lounge in POM and Lae, which is normally reserved for executive club members, which does cost a few pennies. As my bounce flight Manus – Lae – Moresby was 1.5 hours late, I spent the time in the lounge, which is not “that” nice, but better than a kick in the pants, and has air conditioning…

But please don’t tell everyone – lets just keep it our little secret 😉