Tag Archives: PNG

Restaurants, Bars and Eateries in Port Moresby

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So the not quite exhaustive list, I know I have left a lot of places off the list, some intentional, others because I have accidentally forgotten them, and more that I have never been too. It’s worth also mentioning that there is great coffee PNG side of Jacksons International Airport, and plenty of options inside past immigration (including Duffy’s). If you have any to add, please leave a note 🙂

CLUBS

RPYC; THE YACHTY
– MACDHUI RESTAURANT
– SAILS CAFE
– THE BOATSHED
AVIAT
– AVIAT RESTAURANT
– AVIAT FISH & CHIPS
CAR CLUB
KOITAKI COUNTRY CLUB

RESTAURANTS

SOGNO – ITALIAN
ASIA AROMA’S – ASIAN
TANDOOR – INDIAN
NAKED FISH – WESTERN
DAIKOKU – JAPANESE
FUSION – ASIAN
FUSION 2 – ASIAN
SEOUL HOUSE – KOREAN
ANG’S – ASIAN
IMPERIAL – ASIAN
FU GUI – ASIAN
DYNASTY – ASIAN – LOCATED IN VISION CITY MALL
KOPITIAM – ASIAN
TASTY BITE – INDIAN
BLUFF INN – WESTERN
MAGI SEAFOOD – ASIAN
HOGSBREATH – WESTERN STEAKHOUSE/BAR – LOCATED IN VISION CITY MALL
TEN RESTAURANT – JAPANESE – LOCATED IN VISION CITY MALL
SAVANNAH BISTRO – ASIAN (OPPOSITE VISION CITY, STRATOS AVE)

HOTELS

ELA BEACH HOTEL
– BEACHSIDE BRASSERIE
CROWNE PLAZA
– RAPALA RESTAURANT
– THE CAFE
GRAND PAPUA
– GRAND BRASSERIE
AIRWAYS HOTEL
– BACCHUS
– VUE RESTAURANT
THE STANLEY
– GREENHAUS
– SILVERLEAF
LAMANA
– SPICES RESTAURANT
– THE ITALIAN RESTAURANT
– RIO’S BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE
GATEWAY HOTEL
– JACKSONS RESTAURANT
– WILD ORCHID RESTAURANT
– SIZZLERS RESTAURANT
– ENZO’S TAKEAWAY (PIZZA)
HOLIDAY INN
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS
LAGUNA HOTEL
– LA’CAFE
DREAM INN
SHADY REST HOTEL
– THE CELLAR RESTAURANT

CAFÉ’S

ESPRESSO CAFÉ
BONCAFE
CAFÉ ON THE EDGE
DUFFY’S
DUFFY’S HARBOURSIDE
GRAND CAFE – GRAND PAPUA
DELI KC – AIRWAYS
SEVEN C’S – AIRWAYS
CAFE PALAZZO – LAMANA
NATURE PARK CAFE

BARS

MOJO’S
OZZIE’S – ELA BEACH HOTEL
NAKED FISH
GRAND BAR – GRAND PAPUA
JACKSONS BAR – GATEWAY
HAVANABA BAR – AIRWAYS
MONSOON BAR – THE STANLEY
THE HERITAGE BAR – CROWNE PLAZA
PONDO TAVERN – CROWNE PLAZA
SANDS POKIES AND BAR – LAGUNA
POOLSIDE BAR – LAGUNA
THE TEMPLE LOUNGE BAR – LAMANA
THE GOLD CLUB – LAMANA
THE COSMOPOLITAN
CLUB ILLUSIONS

TAKEAWAY/SPECIALTY

MEAT HAUS – BURGERS
MR MIKES – PIZZA
FOODSTATION – PIZZA, FISH & CHIPS
BIG ROOSTER – FRIED CHICKEN
KMC – FRIED CHICKEN

SHOPPING MALLS

VISION CITY
WATERFRONT

Driving in Port Moresby

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Thanks to the raskols and attempted carjacking in August, I didn’t really have the mojo to write for a while.  Got it off my chest – then stewed for a long time.  My head wasn’t in the right space over the last part of the year, and I needed to completely relax over the Christmas period in order to get focus for another year.  (Not sure that I relaxed but…)

I was sitting there the other night thinking about what PNG does, that makes you better at something…  And the first thing I thought about was …. driving.

So how does being in PNG make you a better driver?

1. Your reactions are so much better!  Ever had a car on the outside of a roundabout go right around it and in front of you?  yup, that’s “surfing” the roundabout…  How about being in the line of traffic, so you are driving and go to overtake when you realise there is a [insert vehicle here – truck, bus, van, car, 2 cars, truck and trailer, etc] parked in your lane, with rocks placed behind the tyres (presumably because the handbrake doesn’t work – nah – just cause you can) completely immobilised, and you have to instantly check to make sure you aren’t going to hit a car traveling at 120km/hr from behind you (yes the speed limit is 60km/hr) and “dodge” around the car on the road.

2. You can dodge potholes at any speed, including at night, after a couple beers, with someone driving towards you with highbeams on.

3. You know how to work your Hazard lights, that you sometimes have to use when there is a crowd of people walking on the road, or a car broken down (see #1)

4. You can now drive through torrential monsoon rain where you can barely still see your car, let alone the car in front of you.

5. You can ford fast flowing rivers and creeks – as that is what happens to the roads when it rains…

6. You don’t go anywhere without your license!

7. You have reminder checks on your vehicles safety sticker and registration, and make sure you get new ones well in advance of them expiring

8. Every time you jump in your car, you check that all your lights are working (instant traffic fine – no matter what)

9. You learn how to stop without a stop sign, all you need is a policeman with a machine gun standing there

10. You make sure you have every excuse, address, wantoks name under the sun dialed into memory just in case you get stopped at a roadblock

11. You never leave home without your phone – just in case #10

12. You can ring and drive (yes we know it’s dangerous!), whilst dodging potholes and random abandoned cars.  Sometimes text and drive, and on the old occasion email and drive (shock horror!).

13. You identify approaching hazards well before you get to them…  The dog on the road (he will just cross it), the pig in the village (heaven forbid you hit one of those), the pikinini playing by the side of the road (omg – lukautim pikinini lo yu!), the people waiting to cross – running directly in front of you…

14. You know how to use a horn, whilst dodging potholes, texting, dodging abandoned cars, and avoiding stray dogs that someone, somewhere will claim ownership of.

15. You know how to yell at the taxi or PMV driver so that he knows that you aren’t some dim dim with no idea.  KKK isn’t a white supremist here – is abbreviation for the swear words that you yell in tok pisin at the taxi/pmv driver

16. You can line up the coke cans on the road to crush them using your tyres for the locals (lotsa Kina in crushed cans)

17. You always have a few Kina on you to pay someone to change your tyre

18. You know exactly how to change your tyre (see #17) so someone else can do it for you 🙂 (it’s no fun doing this in 30+ degree heat!)

19. You routinely run carjacking exercises, where everyone in the car ducks and you can still drive 500 metres up the road without looking at the road, driving by feel – hehehe

20. You learn to love the AC, leaving your windows up and your limbs inside the car

21. You know exactly how to jump into your car and lock the doors in under .23 of a second

22. You learn how to change oil, water, check tyre pressures etc – all because you actually have too

23. You can reverse (super fast) back down a road, in the middle of the night without crashing

24. Who needs 3 point turns, you’ve now mastered the handbrakey turn

25. You can park exactly in the middle of a carpark (actually, excludes those with DC plates – they can’t park)

26. You have no issue sliding from lane to lane, at speed, whilst talking to someone on the phone and yelling at the kids to shaddup..

27. You don’t need a GPS – you know exactly where you are going, and if you get lost you just keep driving whilst ringing the person to where you are going to and see #26

28. You can identify a police car, not because is says police on it – you just know

29. You learn how to travel in Convoy following a madman who does #26 #14 and #19 routinely

30. You recognise all your friends car’s, and know all of their number plates (so you can tell the guards to let them into your compound), you remember all their phone numbers too.

31. You see dead dogs on the road and you don’t flinch, waver or cause an accident.  You slide the car past as if it wasn’t even in the way – without taking a breath.

32. Bonus: Your kids learn how to count (How many dogs were dead on the freeway today?  2 Dad!) and learn the alphabet by playing I Spy (I Spy with my little eye, something beginning with D D…   Dead Dog!)

33. Riding shotgun takes on a whole new meaning in Moresby…  You strategically place your passengers in the car, intimidation sometimes is best 🙂

34. You figure out who to wave to, and you can spot a roadside fruit seller 300 metres away

35. You learn the international signs for:  I don’t want any; piss off; come here; I’m watching you buddy; I’ll see you later; yes, its me, I live here; look at my sticker!

36. You figure out what #35 means

37. You know where to get air for tyres, and what fuel station doesn’t have water in the fuel problems.

38. You can shift house with someone standing on the back of your ute holding on to everything

38. And just for my mate Andrew – you can reverse a boat up 400 metres of winding narrow road, through a security gate, up a hill and into a garage – without a permit or anyone getting pissed off

love it 🙂

The wages paradox here in Port Moresby

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the wages situation here in PNG, lots of us talk about the same issues….

The big issue for our National staff is family commitments, with no social welfare, and very little in the way of significant employment, our teams by default start being the caregiver for their whole families. Where we in NZ get plenty of government assistance, Papua New Guineans are reliant on family or the village in order to live.

And here lies the paradox – the wage trap, the skill trap, the sole earner trap.

As soon as someone starts earning more, there is a lot more pressure to ensure that they are looking after everyone else. As income rises, so does the expectation. And don’t get me wrong, I think it’s amazing that this happens, and maybe it’s a blueprint for crowd sourced social welfare. But the impact is significant, and as the expectation grows, the employee may start slipping in those standards that got them there in the first place. All of a sudden, they are the taxi driver, or the funeral director, or the university funder. So often I watch young Papua New Guineans drift from being the person at work first in the morning, to now not getting in on time due to having to drop off cousins, brothers, sisters etc, or ensuring that the family is OK. I worry that this will then turn into performance issues, then disciplinary action, then all of a sudden – the rising star with the big ideas and great opportunities ends up with no job, no money, and having to create a new start.

It is also amazing watching those that earn the least, being the ones getting themselves into work early, working hard, and doing their absolute best. They really need to keep their jobs, and having less money means a lessened impact on family commitments….

So today, I coined the phrase with Jono (one of my team) “the minimum for the maximum”

In other words, we need to get people to live the minimum way of life, to maximize their income, to maximize their opportunities, and to maximize their future. To work like they are just starting out, to live comfortably, and maximize the growth that they have by ensuring a future that exists for all.

Can it be done? I don’t know, but unless we do something for our young men and women, they may not be the future of this country, they may be those that just get chewed up…

3 years on, our PNG adventure continues

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I began this journey well over 3 years ago, but arrived here in Port Moresby on the 18th August 2011, 3 very short years ago.

Over the past 3 years, I think I have answered a few thousand emails from people wanting to move to PNG, met lots of people via my blog, and I think it’s fair to say, generally given people a balanced viewpoint on living and working here in Port Moresby.

Some people that have contacted me through my blog have become our lifelong friends, our family. Moving here with a young family has meant that we have watched our children and our friends children all grow up together, and as some of our friends depart these shores to parts and places all around the world, we know that in the future we will meet again. Our children will always have wantok’s no matter where they go, and the world becomes a much smaller place.

When we arrived here, my little one was 1 year old. She doesn’t remember living in NZ and Papua New Guinea is her home. We go “on holiday” to New Zealand, which must be amazing for a little girl. She doesn’t “see” race, or skin colour, and she is happy with the little things she has. My big kids need more, but they are now more in tune with the effects of poverty and hardship than they ever could be back in NZ, and I hope that when they grow up they will take a lot of the life skills they have learned here in PNG and turn them to do good in the future.

And although this might be the end of our 3 year contract, it isn’t the end of our journey here in Port Moresby. My company has extended my contract for another 3 years, which really sounds like a lifetime away now. As the older children transition into High School, we may have to reassess if things don’t work out, but we are still here, still trying to make a difference, and still helping new people and families with the information and tools that they need when they move here to PNG.

Sadly though, we have watched many of our friends depart. Some have finished contracts, some have had other opportunities, a lot are finishing up this year. It is sad knowing that your support group is leaving, but I am sure that those voids will be filled by other families, and our close bonds will get closer.

We have experienced amazing things; just 2 weeks ago, Xanthe (our eldest) had a week long school camp at Tufi Dive Resort. Last year it was Kokopo and Rabaul… Awesome memories! We have had some real highs, (Kokopo was a high) and some real lows (being stuck in the middle of a bush knife fight), but we have never really regretted the decision to come here.

We have watched Port Moresby grow into a very modern city at such a fast rate, and have watched as my staff have gone from
a young team, to one that could easily perform on the world stage.

We are onto our 3rd High Commissioner (maybe there is a job there for me one day – not!), and back home in NZ we are about to have another general election (the 2nd since leaving). Our home back in Dunedin is onto its 2nd lot of tenants, and the place might needed to be painted this year – it is hard having a rental back in NZ, and if I did it all over again, I would have sold the property so that would be one less thing to worry about.

We’ve also had some fantastic holidays, not just back to New Zealand, but also here in PNG, to Singapore, Australia, and Vanuatu. Next year we may go a little further and take the children to Disneyland whilst we are all together.

We never bought a boat here, and for some reason don’t get invited out that much, however – with 3 kids, it can be hard for others to invite such a big family… If I was to move up again, I would have thrown a couple of jetski’s into the container – much cheaper back home than here. But we are Ok with the time we get to go out, and of course are very grateful when we do.

I have some pretty cool ideas to take the next step with my blog, and have been doing some video’s that I intend to upload to YouTube so hopefully I can get that going soon.

But until that happens, there is plenty of work, Bedisloe Cup watching with the Kiwi Club, and the bi-annual Kiwi Club ball is coming up in October. There’s always plenty of parties – sometimes too many, we’d love to catch them all, but it can be hard. And there is the annual trip back to NZ for Christmas coming up soon. Jacinta and the kids get out for the entire school holidays as it is a little boring, but also damn hot here in Moresby.

As I turn another chapter over, I would like to thank everyone for commenting on my blog, and making it into the resource it is. There was nothing like this when I moved up here, and I trust that the information and insight into PNG and Port Moresby really does help.

Again, if you see us out and about, please stop us for a quick Hi! We really appreciate knowing that we helped in your decision to make a difference here in Papua New Guinea.

Aaron

Violence and Tragedy here in PNG

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As you would have found out, Port Moresby is classified as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. And yes, POM does have its issues, and simple things like the banning of buai sellers may just increase crime in the city (that’s a post for another day).

I have always tried to keep a balanced viewpoint on PNG, and it would be remiss of me to not blog about some of the bad shit that does happen here, just as it happens everywhere else in the world.

What I am about to blog about are true stories that have affected me, or that I have been involved in. You do need to take into account that I am pretty happy living here, and that what is fine for me, may not be for you. It is also important to remember, that acts of violence can be significantly attributed to poverty, lack of social welfare, poor wages, lack of education, and of course the tribal nature that is PNG. Most acts of violence do not affect expatriates, unless you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I have removed some of the detail out, as I don’t want some of this to adversely affect people’s viewpoints, nor endanger Papua New Guineas tourism, or locations.

On Violence:

Unfortunately, myself and my family were in a very safe area, when a group of 20 plus men ran into the area chasing another man. They were picking up bricks, rocks, sticks and were carrying bush knives (machetes), and were attacking the man that they were chasing. They ran between myself and my 2 older children, and my wife with the youngest. I shielded the older kids, whilst my wife was able to move away to a safer spot as they proceeded to butcher the man they were chasing. During the attack, they grabbed a random young 11 year old boy who was an innocent, and proceeded to bash him. Grown men beating a young boy, it was horrific.
The attack lasted mere minutes, and they raced off (now a group of 30 odd) dragging the man and slicing him with the bush knives.
Whilst the attack was happening, I assessed, made sure my family was safe, and didn’t get involved. Then, once it had finished, I helped the other expat that was there and “muscled” up to try and intimidate them not to come back. We assisted the boy who had been beaten, who was then taken off to get help.

It was a pretty horrible thing to witness, and at one stage my wife was less than 2 meters away from a local guy yelling “kill him, kill him” and we were basically right amongst the violence.

It is important to understand, that the violence was a payback, and the man getting butchered had tried to cut off the arm of another man the night before. And surprisingly, he actually survived the attack, although I haven’t heard if he still lives now. The child being attacked was something I will never forget, not only was it cowardly, but as he had nothing to do with the other man, it was completely unnecessary.

I will never forget the sight of those men cutting and slicing the other man – it will stay with me forever. I will never forget the sight of grown men bashing an innocent child – it will stay with me forever.

This is not the Papua New Guinea that I love.

On Tragedy:

On Saturday, I was driving here in Port Moresby. I had been following a ute (single cab truck) that had 2 children in the tray. This is a common sight in PNG and is actually legal… The kids in the ute were tossing things like buai husks off the back of the ute, so I decided to pass them. After passing them, the ute driver decided that he was going to pass me back, and at about 110 km/hr and right beside me (I wasn’t going that fast) he realized that some stupid idiot had stopped in their lane. The driver locked his brakes up and started fish tailing, Missing me by centimeters, the ute then flipped on to its roof throwing the children off the back…

I slowed down, but seeing the crowd and knowing I was going to be in big shit (even though I did nothing) I decided to keep traveling… I rang one of my team to try and get hold of emergency services, which he couldn’t get through to.

There is nothing I could do, but I feel responsible. I could have helped, but if I had stopped, the crowd could have easily turned on me.

The sight of that ute and those children getting thrown out of it, is just cutting me up. I can’t sleep without seeing those kids. I’m frustrated, and angry. It’s just bloody tragic, and so wrong. I suspect that the children could never survive the accident, and I am racked with guilt and sadness…

Don’t let things like this stop you from coming here, just remember that this can happen anywhere. And although what we have seen was horrific, we are still here, we are still making a difference, and we will still speak highly of PNG and its people.

To our families – you may get stressed about us living here. I get stressed in an airplane 🙂 We understand the risks living in a developing country, and they haven’t changed since we’ve been here. We don’t do stupid things, and we don’t take unnecessary risks, but we won’t be locked in a compound like some people live.

To my readers, and people wanting to live and work here in PNG. Check your local papers, there is always bad shit happening….

Aaron