7th International Orchid Show 2010

The 7th International Orchid Show 2010 was held at the PNG National Parliament ground over the 1st weekend of October 2020. It is situated less than a kilometre away from RH Vision City.

This is also my first visit to Parliament. So my visit to the Orchid Show on the afternoon of 3rd October 2010 was killing two birds with one stone. The entrance fee was K2.00/ person.

The exhibition ground was very much smaller than I thought. The orchid was displayed on the balcony of Parliament and in the garden on the ground floor. There was a small crowd consisting of both locals and expatriates. There were a number of keen photographers clicking away on their expensive DSLR cameras and I was shooting with my cheap point-and-shoot camera.

Anyway, the photos turned out alright.

 

Malaoro Market, Port Moresby

It has been fortunate that I decided to take the risk of going out to Ela Beach. It was Independence Day and the newspaper reported that security would be beefed up at the centre of celebrations, i.e. at Ela Beach and John Guise Stadium. If there has not been no such assurance, I would have stayed at home.

After Ela Beach, we drove quite a distant out of town to reach Malaoro Market. It has always been interesting to visit markets because these are the places where you find strange things. Malaoro Market is only a small market. It is just like any markets in Malaysia and I guess that is the reason I did not find  anything strange here.

Visiting Tubusereia Village

They have been talking about how much they missed Pan Mee. After failing twice for two Sundays, because we arrived past 10:10 am the first time and 9:30 am the second time, we decided to go by 8:30 am this Sunday to Ang's Restaurant. This time, we were early enough.

By 10:00 am, we were done with Ang's Restaurant. Lunch will be at City Point Restaurant, run by Chinese, which we were told has the best dumpling and fieriest chilli sauce in Port Moresby by a Sichuanese Chinese friend.

In the meantime, we have too much time to kill. We were cruising around the town, taking in the scenery from the hills when my friend, at the helm of my car, asked me whether I wanted to visit the home of one of his employees. I was hesitant, thinking of the imminent danger at the settlement where most of the "raskols"  (robbery gangs) are mostly based. He kept driving to God-knows-where and telling me how friendly the villagers were at his employee's village. Since he did not turn back but kept driving towards the destination, I kept quiet and let him had his way. The drive seemed endless, passing the junction to Loloata. Forty minutes later, we were at Tubusereia Village.

We had given the excuse that we would like to have fresh coconut juice for coming, and so on arrival, we were greeted by the employee, his pop and mum and his brother. We were offered the fresh coconut drink. We chatted for over an hour before deciding to take our leave. Unfortunately, while chatting with the family members of the employee, I totally forgot about taking photos of his family and the scenery at the village.

These were what I learnt:

Village
- this is a Hiri Motu village, built along the coast. Hiri Motu is a Melanesian people
- this village has been in existence for hundreds of years.
- in the past, the people build their homes on stilts along the sea shore.
- with the expanding population, the people are now building their homes further inland
- the son will build his own house, if he can afford it, once he marry and move out from the family home.
- from the jetty of Loloata Resort, you can see the lights at the village at night
(The village inland is very much like a Malay kampung. The house is build on stilts, with coconut and fruit trees planted around the house.)

Economic Activity
- the main economic activities are subsistence farming (and fishing for those living on the shore). The main crops are yam, banana, coconut and this family does not sell what they gather
- coconut is still given away as bride price
- no cash crops are planted. You can't buy anything from them. They give you what they plant ... and they gave us some yam and coconut to be taken home.
- the family farm is about ten kilometres away, and they either take four-wheel drive or walk to the farm
- family members take turn going to the farm. In this family, the father goes on Sunday and the son on Tuesday and Thursday.
- children nowadays are "long long" (crazy), stealing from others who plant and nurture the crops.

- There is electricity but no piped water. In the past, there was a water pump to pump underground water to the village but since three years ago, it has broken down. Now, the people has to buy fresh water.

  

SVS Foodland Harbour City

SVS Foodland Harbour City housed a restaurant on the first floor, serving Malaysian and Western food. It is said to serve the best kolok mee in Port Moresby. I tried it once and it was indeed good. However, friends told me that the texture of the noodle is inconsistent at different times. Sometimes, it is is firm and at other times, it is soggy.

Today, I tried the Singapore Laksa, and it was good.

The roti canai (spelt rotti chanai here) is very expensive, at K16.95 for a piece. The roti itself was dry and not oily, and it came in a rectagular shape instead of being round. The accompanying dip was curry chicken with three solid pieces of meat.

RH Hypermarket, Vision City Megamall

RH Vision City Megamall finally opened. The first tenant to open for business was RH Hypermarket, which opened on 13th September 2010, with a soft launch.

RH Vision City Megamall is going to be the largest shopping complex in Port Moresby. On the ground floor, it will house the largest supermarket in PNG, RH Hypermarket. In addition, it will also house a foodcourt and a number of retail businesses, including a home appliance store, CHM, owned by an ethnic Chinese Papua New Guinean. On the first floor, it will house a  Malaysian restaurant and retail businesses and on the second floor, there will be a cineplex, the first of its kind in Port Moresby.

Unfortunately, aside from RH Hypermarket and CHM, other businessess will not be opening that soon. They are only expected to start business towards the end of the year and early next year.

View of Vision City Megamall seen from Waigani Drive

Rows upon rows of wine and spirit not seen in Sibu

Port Moresby Ela Beach

It is 16th September, Independence Day. Papua New Guineans are out in droves to enjoy themselves on this public holiday. My friends and I are out in search of susu, known among Chineses Malaysians as nen nen, or in English, breast.

Yes, this is PNG. We have known that bare-breasted women will be around during this celebration. The reason for being bare-breasted is because many women will be clad in  their tribal costume, which of course means nothing covering their breasts.

We are at Ela Beach because we are told that Independence Day activities are being carried out there. On an ordinary day, we would not be here because we have been reminded many times that this place is risky for Asians. Just last week, there were looting of Chinese operated shops in two other towns. We read that security would be beefed up at Ela Beach.

The newspapers reported that Hiri Moale activities will commence on 17th September and end on 19th September. True to what is stated in the papers, there are no official activities today. We are disappointed, but nevertheless, we did see a pair of breast in the sea of people.