Diari de PNG, 5, Mad World

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Encara m’estic adaptant al país,  em costa de comprendre com funciona en una mentalitat de civilització…

El més que puc fer-me a la idea és un món postapocalíyic, em serveis molt limitats i molta sensació d’inseguretat.

 

M’alcen encara de nit i els del pickup se’n van a Aitape altre cop, que no dormen mai? em deixen en un altre barqueta però no vaig a agafar altra, en tot cas estic cansat i dorc a un banc per dormir dins que el sol ja s’ha alçat un poc.

Vaig al mercat on he de pagar per anar al bany, un poc agadable. vaig a menjar a un lloc per menjar (no pot tindre cap nom, com restaurant, o bar, o cantina, o … res, no hi ha paraula per descriure-ho). Tots són iguals, és una caixa, sense finestres, xicoteta porta en un guàrdia de seguretat i la gent reballant darrere de barres. Menjar servit per un forat en les barres, taules fixes al terra.

 

Menge llengua de cabra i creilles. Em costa 7€, molt simple, molt car.

 

El mercat a fora és més viu, però poc divers. Cap peix fresc tot i estar vora mar i molt limitat en recursos. El mercat també està rodejat de balles i protegit per guàrdies de seguretat.

 

Torne a preguntar pel movil i em diuen que simplement algúns movils asiatics no poden conectarar en PNG, ganial, pense en comprar un mòbil, els meus pares voldran matar-me a aquest punt. No m’importa molt per en tot cas necessite la info. Tot i que a la web no dia res prove el mateix mètode de fer funcionar el mòbil que havia fet a Laos i va! sort que m’enrrevcordava de que fer. Bon estalvi 😀

Faig autoestop i un polític em deixa a fora del poble. Em diu qu estan fent tramits en Jayapura per dur vaixells turistics fins allà. Seria molt millor dur vaixells només de passangers i càrrega per millorar les condicions de viatge dels locals (en compte de turistes només) i abaratir costos, oh, que sé jo…

Agafe una serie de cotxes i un camió de càrega que em deixa a una intersecció.

Espere agafar el següent vehicle que passe, però no passa cap. Un en direcció contrària em pregunta on vaig i em diu que eixe és el camí, que en 5min caminant hi ha un mercadet. Bé sense res millor a fer i tot i la calor vaig cap allà.

Un arbre gegant proveïx d’ombra a un grupet de dones en mantes a terra que venen verdures i cocos.

Una em convida a 2 platans, i en Raimon em convida a un coco.

Quan dic els meus plans em convida a passar la nit allà al poble. M’ho pense un poc però seguint la 1a llei i considerant que estic dèbil del mal dormir anit, doncs accepte.

Serà una decisió molt encertada, editant açò després de deixar PNG és el millor record que tinc de tot el viatge.

El poble és super fotogràfic, merda que la càmera estiga en la ja habitual parada de mig dia.

Cases rectangulars i ovalades totes de fusta i palmes, seguint la muntanya.

Lentament em menge el coco. Fa calor.

Em diuen que no hi ha aigua però que baixant un poc hi ha una font i més avall un riu.

Faig mig diada i després ajude a pelar el taro per al sopar.

Vuic explorar però em pose a cavar una tomba.

New achievement unlocked, grave digger!

Un cop feta part de la feina, els locals mirant, anem vaig al riu.

Repleguem una dotzena de cocos, un que s’enfila els tira des de dalt, les cocoters son prou alts i a diferencia dels indonesis que no utilitzen res, ací es lliguen unes “cordes” (plantes entrelligades, als peus, per ajudar a pujar.

Ací als horts els diuen jardins, i realment no es poden dir horts, és més una mescla de bosc en plantes i arbres plantats ací i allà. Hi ha tanta terra que l’explotació diligent d’ella no és necessària.

Hi ha una dutxa feta en canonades de fusta que permet aprofitar l’aigua d’una cascada. Molt agradable

Em mostren unes llacunes de peix, riu avall també proveïdes per més canonades de fusta des del riuet. La germana de Raimon ha copiat la idea de fer-les, és bona idea, dona peix fres a comunitats que viuen a les muntanyes.

Torne, sopem i nit.
Vore en el mateix cel, enfrontades, la osa major, que indica el nord, i la creu del sud, bonic cel equatorial .

forma de passar les nits, juntar-se al voltant del foc i mastegar bitlle nut, una cosa que els deixa la boca roja i se se suposa que té efectes excitants, com una droga blana. Conten histories i molta gent de pobles a kilòmetres enllà venen a vore’m perquè no es creuen que un vlanc estiga allà per passar la nit.

Parlen llengua Duo, però insistien que aprenga Pigean, la llengua creola que tenen.

Ser invitat a viure a un poble de papua és molt agradable, l’atmosfera és encisadora i la gent molt amicable i encantada qeu estiga allà. Però açò serà només l’osasis, el que seria fa 50 anys fa,  i que ara està sent ràpidament destruït. es bonic però trist vore el que serà destuit abans que completament desaparega. Fa valorar més el que s’està perdent i es perdrà.

Inclús ací tenen llum artificial, la tecnologia  de l’electricitat i llum encara em meravella després de 100 de la seua invenció i estar escrivint açò en un telèfon …
Però la seua simplicitat contrastada amb la gran innovació conceptual que significa a la societat humana no deixa de ser inspirador tan de temps després.

Sulawesi 26-29, 1, 2, 3 Tolitoli, Treasures Paradise

More, much more!

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I live on the assumption that the world’s is never boring. If I find it boring is that I’m doing something wrong..

Toli-toli. If Biduk-Biduk (about 100km away across the sea) was a hidden paradise, Toli-Toli is a treasure paradise.

How to start writing down my experiences there in a way that would simply make a bit of justice of what it really is?

Well all starts with contacting the CouchSurfing community of Toli-Toli. It’s still small but the amazing multi employed starter of it (tourist official, university teacher and photographer and something else!) Hendra, together with my host, Alvin,  and his friends and family, offered me one incredible and unimaginable experience.

I’ll go with a intense summary to give a taste, but there is more, much more!
1- One.

  • Sunrise sea market.
Sunrise market.
Sunrise sea market.
  • Royal house.
Royal house.
Royal house.
  • Mythology, with the story of how 3 founders of Toli-Toli transformed on the 3 main tree crops.
  • Visit to the local university full of young energetic students 😀

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  • Street deer.
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  • Coconuts harvest and eating.

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  • Fast river channel swimming.
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  • Village at night.

2- Two.

  • Village school visit

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  • Small boat trip.

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  • Navigating through mangroves.
  • Hanging bridge to a postcard village.

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  • Colourful bridge.

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  • Snorkelling through coral fish nurseries.

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  • Realizing how noisy some fish are. Exploring shipwrecks.
  • Rest.

3- Three.

  • Holding piton snakes.

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  • Local smith knife and swords shop!

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  • Boarding 2nd fishing small boat to diminute islands

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  • Diving to another coral reef.
  • Hunting moontail fish.
  • Dancing with a fish for 15 min.

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  • Amazing dinner where you pick strange fish to eat, from the day catch.

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Interview with the head of a village to see the Malu bird (a small penguin like) that’s supposed to be their ancestors and that buries on the sand 1m deep, eggs that are half the size of their body.

4- More much more.

  • Early rising to a red sunrise.
  • Interview with the only guard of the endemic maleo birds, who gets paid only 1milion rupies (150€) a month for his salary and all the expenses of the park.

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  • Beach.
  • Boat ride with all the colours of blue.

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  • Beach walking with the white waves breaking the shore.

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  • Crossing the beach forest, with sea sound on the background, giant spiders!

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  • Maleo bird burring its eggs.
  • Lizard unburring them.
  • Humans unburring them.

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  • Blue ride back.

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  • All this marvellous world. All the wonderful people.

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Continues on:
21st century explorers, 21st century way openers.

Borneo diaries Days 24 & 25, Biduk-Biduk, BidukBiduk, Biduk Biduk, beach hidden paradise, east Kalimantan, not in lonlyplanet :D

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I’ll indulge and write this in English because it has to be shared with the world! Catalans are not enough to conquer this :P.

There is no way in which I can overstate how perfectly beach paradise Biduk-Biduk is, and I been in Majorca, Menorca, Guadaloupe, Tenerife, Nicaragua pacific coast, Phu Quok island, Vietnam coast. The fact that I just met it without expecting it might bias me, but still there is no way I can exaggerate using mere words and photos.

Where to start? lone trees hundreds of meters inside the sea? that’s a peculiar image, but it is just part of the turquoise cristal waters touching long white coral beaches, that at low tide are hundreds of meters wide (thus explaining the trees). Around 40km of tall coconut trees beach road. Villagers fantastically smiling, helpful, eager to interact, living in beach houses with grass lawns perfectly trimmed by the cows and goats that wander around. Beach cows. Evening mixed gender volleyball.

That’s the general 40kms image, broken only by some mangroves forests that extend on the beach, specially on the coast facing east. That makes it even more interesting on high tide as you have unique forested beaches with fresh/salt water mix, and walking tree climbing fish that jump over the water! yes, you entered a nature documentary.

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If that’s not good enough there are beauty spots, local attractions and 3 small islands (from Teluk Sulaiman to Sugeindin pulau; a group of 7 Indonesians paid 150k rupiah per person 3h excursion), this would keep you entertained!

These spots include 2 or 3 medium sized rivers with complete transparent cool fresh water (the first wide river with clear waters that I see get to the sea!). One of which, Labuan Cermin (pronounced labuan jambir) has a boat service (quite expensive I heard) that drives you to a turquoise lake that has a top layer of fresh cool water and a bottom layer of salt warm water. That’s supposed to be the main attraction here, but I saw no tourist there 🙂

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Other attractions include what can be seen on the map. Accessible are the rocks beach (pantai batu dua), literary 2 rocks beach, and Labuan Cermin harbour, full of delightful fishing vessels and cristal waters. You can do long walks, get a bicycle or moto (I still don’t know how, my host simply offered me a motorbike but I took the bicycle :D) or hitch a ride, really easy to do with the locals eager to help you.

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The roads are well paved and virtually flat! And the tidal beach has so fine sand and so compact that you can ride your bicycle in there (but still becomes tiring after few kms). Seeing the fast running crabs moving fast as you pas has no price 😀

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For the southern spots there is need of transport because the road is not paved, but mostly because of the lack of transport to hitchhike and long distances to walk. I guess there are no villages, or only few on that road. The road is not signaled at all. The coordinates of the entrance are:
1.173659 118.76805

I didn’t have the time to explore the waterfalls and cave, but I figure it would be close to impossible to find without a guide as there is no signaling… Something fun discovering 😉
This area is surrounded by sizeable mountains, 400m tall at least, so there is also a hike to be done!

There are at least 5 or 6 accommodations that I could see, stretched for few kms (hotels, losmen, guesthouses, homestays). I don’t know the prices as I planed to camp but was invited to a policeman house :). It shall be local price as the only tourism that I seen seems Indonesian (all the tourism in I’ve seen 3 days amounts to just one lone traveler, the 7 people group and 2 girls taking pictures). The info and signs are only in Indonesian, except for few “welcome”.

If still the accommodation is over budget you can hang your hammock in between 2 coconut trees, or if it rains, camp anywhere, or pick an empty or in construction house. Or just like me, law of solo travelers, let things happen and you might get hosted by a local 😀

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But not all is perfection in paradise, few things missing:

Hammocks! There are non, a beach paradise without hammocks is not complete, but that has easy solution (specially when I’m carrying one :D).

Backpackers community. That might seem like a good thing but there is plenty of room to be alone if you wish, so having someone interesting to talk with (backpackers usually are) would be a good distraction. Also backpackers means books! and books are the best company in this environment.

-There are not many activities. The most engaging that I did involve peeling one or two dozens of coconuts, teaching kids English, climbing sea trees, teaching kids how to swim, selecting and unloading landsat fruit from cargo ships, fishing with a hook and swimming with kids in between the cargo boats. Last but not least, hitchhiking a boat to Sulawesi (the reason I came here, more on that on the next post 🙂

Despite these, and being aware that they are not everyday activities for many, extra distractions by fellow travelers are welcomed, specially for long stays. That’s why I’m writing this, this place could easily be a backpacker paradise 😀

Internet. On the no distractions side, there is no internet connection trough 3G, although there might be some internet cafe, ask around but don’t expect high speed… I did get 1G in certain areas for a working instant message (text only) communication.

English . Don’t expect anybody to speak more than few words in English if at all 🙂

Trash collection. The trash on the floor is not widespread luckily, but you do spot it here and there.

Transport. As far as I’ aware there is nothing like a bus, and the road connecting here to Tanjung Redeb (the closest city) is not even in google maps (but it is on openstreetmaps for most of the track). It is quite bad for the first 100kms or so. I Hitchhiked here the 250kms in 6 or 7h. If you have your own transport this is an ideal destination. And it might be that there are some boats to Tarakan, but I’m not sure.

-No easy swimming at the afternoon. In the equinoxes the tide is maximum and minimum in the equator, specially in new moon.That means that for low tide (afternoon to evening) the water is hundreds of meters from the shore. It’s a nice walk with plenty of sea life (fish, running and burring crabs, sea stars), but the hard noon equatorial sun reflected on the white sand has no clemency. Still the morning and evening swims are amazing, and you can get yourself in one of the rivers for noon, or simply nap on a coconut tree shadow.

Known future. I don’t see risk of any big development threatening this parts, but nature might. I seen plenty of spots where is clear that storms are eating the coast, therefore some stones and concrete barriers are being build affecting the beauty but protecting the road and houses. I don’t know how fast the destruction is but at some point this is meant to look different.

All in all it’s so amazing that I could not stop greening for hours realizing how luckily I was to be there.