Relaxing Madang!

After the exhilarating Highlands the three musketeers took the PMV to Madang via Goroka. The trip was , how to say it properly, NOT nice. The driver drove to quickly and the mountains and its drops came too close by...If you know what I mean. Femke and I have taught Sjoerd a new trick how to avoid to get scared: just put your head down, pretend to be asleep and what you do not see is not there...Yes, we are just like an emu, but it works for us...

Madang is nothing like the highlands: it's warm (bloody, sweaty warm!), tropical, nice sea and very mellow. Well, you have to with this warmth. We decided to go mellow as well, so we went to an island to do some swimming and snorkeling and 2 days we hired kayaks to go on the sea. Very relaxing. Again, we met some of Sjoerds friends who are all very lovely.

Of course we met Elina as well, Sjoerds girlfriend. She is very nice and she kicks Sjoerds ass, so Femke and I are very happy with her. It means that someone is taking care of Sjoerds manners when Femke and I are not around!
Elina took us to her village as well, or actually: her mothers village. It was really nice to see a sea village as well compared to the Highlands villages we've seen before. Elina's aunt has got the clear blue sea in her back garden...how cool is that!
Elina's mother helped me to try 'buai': it's a beetle nut PNG people chew. You chew on the nut, add some white stuff with it on a green stick and you get an aw full looking red mouth. While chewing, you spit it out. Sjoerd chews it a lot, and for me it was a one time experience...it was quite strong and I was sort of high for 5 minutes. Imagine that, even small kids chew it here...

In the meantime we did some more swimming, played tennis with some of Sjoerds friends, had nice meals and yesterday Sjoerd and I went diving! I hadn't dived in 4 years so being in the water like a fish was GREAT! We even saw a shark, but of course I did not see it. But everyone else did...

Anyway, Femke has left the country: we had the best holiday ever! Sjoerd and I are heading to Goroka this weekend for the Goroka show: all sorts of tribes will be there in their traditional dress. Should be good.
I just tried to put up some pictures but it does not work. Check out Sjoerds website for the visuals...