May 30 Sabbath: Manila Manila. This is an amazing place that I'll have to come back to some time. The contrasts, the choking exhaust fumes, the people eking out an existence amidst the filth, the universal friendliness of children etc etc. I slept in a bit and then the hostel owners said that the shower would be down for 45 minutes while they repaired something in their water system. That meant I would not have a chance to be on time for Sabbath school, but could get there in time for church. Well it took longer than 45 minutes and I made it just barely. The church is a large one in a three block area that houses many SDA entities, including a school, the union headquarters, and a medical center. Quite easy to find. Since I only had a limited amount of time, as soon as church was over, I set out walking. And walking and walking. I do not know how far I walked, but it was definitely enough to get a flavor of the city and to see a wide range of interesting things. Driving to the hostel last night in the dark, I did not get a very good sense of my surroundings, only that the taxi driver and all the other drivers out there are basically crazy. The traffic was thinner in the early afternoon, but steadily got heavier. I passed the Gobernador's offices and thought of Arnold in CA. I passed several catholic cathedrals and even though it was Sabbath, almost all of them had masses going on. I managed to walk through a flea market that was half flooded from mid day rains. There were pallets to walk along for those who preferred staying dry, but many people simply churned through the water. There seem to be an innumerable army of pedi cabs, vendors selling gum, fruit stands and ubiquitous piles of trash. I walked along a waterway that was marred by floating debris and then realized that there was a shanty town half floating/half on shore all along it. And worse the children swimming around their homes. It all smells of raw sewage. Later in the afternoon, while taking a taxi back to the hostel, my driver pointed out that the waterway is basically a moat around one of the Catholic shrines. So it stands as a shining example of that faiths work to help its adherents. That taxi ride ended up costing me more than it should, but the driver was a good one and he took me on a back way (not a ripe off 'shortcut') where we drove through a fish market and down some tiny back alleys with people jumping out of the way, just like an action movie. I enjoyed seeing that and would never have seen those sections of the city otherwise.

I arrived at the airport 3 and a half hours early, since I had been really conservative on the time I could wander around. The Air Nuigini counter was not even open yet. At 7pm they began processing people and that was a tremendously slow ordeal. The line stretched halfway across the terminal and I felt sorry for the people at the end. I got a little scare about the weight of my bags. Twice out of the four flights I had with Continental I had to pay a $35 fee for going over my allowed check in luggage weight. I wasn't changing what I had either, so it appeared to be random, although I knew I was going to be on the heavy side. This time I had shifted the weight around so my carry on was heavier and the main bag slide by going from Guam to Manila. Well for Manila to Port Moresby, we had to get our bags weighed as a preliminary to getting in the check in line and the guy said I was over, but did not know what Air Nuigini would charge for that. They go off of combined weight of check in and carry on luggage and because I had shifted more weight to the carry on and their limit for carry on is 7 kilos, I was over by 15 kilos. At the counter it took a round of discussions to determine that they would charge, $16.40 per kilo over the limit and I would get a $240 something charge added. Kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place at that point. I need everything I have, so I can't just dump 15 kilos of stuff. Anyway, they ended up saying that because my previous flight was less than twenty four hours earlier there was no issue and I was in the clear. But they warned me that I could get charged when I leave PNG for Cairns. Something to look forward to I guess, maybe throw out some clothes or get rid of a few more books (that I can do). The flight was quite turbulent, but I still was able to sleep through most of it and we arrived slightly late this morning. I got some money changed and paid for my visa to enter PNG.

May 31 Sunday: PNG has gotten off to an awkward start. First during the flight apparently my phone decided it would run out of battery, so I could not call either of my two contacts in Port Moresby. (I found out later that the phone would have had issues calling local numbers anyway, another 'feature' of Verizon). The airport had courtesy phones for a couple hotels I had seen while researching places to stay and had avoided because of their exorbitant rates. Only one car rental place was open, but I did not really want to rent a car with left hand drive in a theoretically 'dangerous' city. Most web reviews I had seen said to avoid the taxis if at all possible. And there were armed guards watching the doors to go out where the taxis were anyway. So my first light at the end of the tunnel was a pair of girls holding a sign for Airways Hotel. That name was familiar from the Lonely Planet website as a safe secure place to go. They called a shuttle for me and it was only minutes to the hotel location on a hillside overlooking the runways. BUT this is a NICE hotel, seriously nice and that means $$$$. I did not see many options at that moment, so I bit the bullet and took a room for one night. That would set me back $200 and that was the cheapest room they had.

In the room I immediately got the phone recharging, took a much needed shower (what a wonderful shower it was), read through the hotel offerings, then went to the front desk to figure out internet access. That was simple enough and I soon had the wireless working in the room, but I was limited to a total of 20 mb of bandwidth, so I tried to use it judiciously and made backup plans for lodging (elsewhere). I left enough bandwidth so I could check email the next morning and went to walk the grounds of the resort. There are only a few dive shops in PNG that offer lessons and one happens to be in this hotel. So I went up to the pool, but they were already closed early on Sunday. I noted the time they opened in the morning and went back to the room. I updated some notes on the computer and labeled my pics from the Philippines. I watched some CNN, had a room service pizza, and read a little before going to bed.