Babies! (eagles and wallaby)

Papua New Guinea is a land full of wildlife. Over here, people can have all manners of pets. Through the years, I have had people sell me all sorts of animals from a bandicoot to a cassowary and even a crocodile! I only bought a pet once. I got a baby wallaby and named him Joe. Unfortunately, the baby wallaby got attacked by a rat and died. I was at work when it happened and I was devastated when I got home and found Joe bleeding and half alive. Here are some photos of Joe.

little joe having a feed

you can see how small joe was when i had him.

The other day, a scruffy man walked into our office trying to sell us baby eagles for K100 each! That's roughly US$40. When I declined his offer, he told me I could have them for K50 each! That was a steal! I have learned my lesson though and I do not support these animal poachers who will one day ruin this country's wildlife with their selfishness and greed. I hope one day, these guys get caught and punished for their acts of greed. Here are some photos of the baby eagles. They looked scared. I do not know how old they were but they weren't even fully developed.

baby eagles struggling to stand on a flat smooth surface

you can see how small they are and how their feathers haven't developed yet.

the little guy looked so scared in the basket.

Just earlier, I had someone offer me a baby deer for K100. I can't believe it! Oh well.

Cheesy meatballs

I'm feeling lazy. It is a lazy Sunday here and I've just gotten back from having yum cha with a friend. All I want to do right now is to lie in bed and watch movies. But before I do that, I'll make a very easy recipe to make. You can probably call meatballs comfort food and this is just a variation on a kitchen classic. Mind you, the recipe below can be easily modified to accommodate a number of ingredients and it is really up to you my dear reader how you want to cook your meatballs.

Cheesy Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 500 grams minced pork (can be substituted for beef or chicken and even lamb)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Italian seasoning (I usually add ground oregano too but I couldn't find a bottle)
• Hard cheese (samples of hard cheese are aged cheddar, parmesan, romano)
• 1 egg

You can also use a number of extenders in meatballs such as chopped onions, chopped carrots, and even breadcrumbs. You can also get stale bread, dip it in milk and mix it in with the pork mince. Add some cinnamon for something a bit different.

Procedure:

Slice the cheese into little pieces. Mix the pork mince with the egg, salt, pepper and italian seasoning. (If you can't find italian seasoning, the most important ingredients are rosemary and oregano). Get a tiny wad of the pork mix and ball it up with your hand. Insert the cheese and using both hands, roll it until it is smooth. Make sure it is smooth as you don't want the meatball to fall apart or for the cheese to melt before your meatballs are cooked. Heat the pan and brown the meatballs on its sides. Serve hot so the cheese is gooey inside.

And now for some photos:

the ingredients

mix it all up except for the cheese

slice the cheese into bite size pieces

get some pork mix and put the cheese on it

insert the cheese

close it up and ball the pork mix until it is nice and round

i made 13 meatballs

heat up the pan and brown it on all sides

meatballs brown fast

when you bite into it, the cheese is nice and gooey!

This recipe is so easy, it only took me less than 10 minutes to make the meatballs and another 10 minutes to cook them. Enjoy!

The monthly crafts market

Every last Saturday of the month, Ela Murray school in front of Ela Beach becomes a hub of activity. On these mornings, various artisans from all over Papua New Guinea bring their handicrafts and various works of art to sell to locals and tourists. This is the best venue in Port Moresby to buy that exotic item that would make for an interesting conversation piece on your mantel or coffee table. 

The area is divided into sections where you can buy the artifact that you want be it cut flowers, jewelry, a painting, native weapons or even a freshly baked snack. If you don't have time to come to the monthly market, your only other alternative is the crafts market in Boroko which is there daily. However, Boroko cannot offer you the security and parking that the monthly market has. To enter, you pay a K1.00 fee. In the market, you can haggle for the price of anything. The earlier you go, the more items you can see. Of course, as the hour gets closer to lunch, prices also start going down as the traders start going home and are in a hurry to offload their wares. The only trade-off is that you only have a choice of what's been left behind by the early birds. 

Here are various photos from the crafts market. I hope you enjoy them. 

Weapons:

axes are popular in western highlands province

shields and spears are popular throughout the entirety of the highlands region



bows and arrows are popular in the eastern highlands


Personal items:

head dresses made from real fathers and a pig tusk necklace made from real pig tusks

tapa cloth made from the tree bark originates from Oro province

turtle shell jewelry is a popular item. i feel bad for the turtles.

the ubiquitous bilum bag woven from wool, nylon or nets which are rolled on the thighs of women while weaving. it is extremely popular. a spin-off to this is the larger version which they call a baby-carrier. 

colourful lap-laps which are sarongs worn at the waist by women

There was also a lot of shell jewelry but I didn't bother taking photos of these as I don't think they're that unique. Shell jewelry is quite common all over the world in the tropical coastal countries and territories.

Decorative pieces:

freshly cut flowers

though Papua New Guinea is not known for its pottery, there are a few that do make them here

bowls with in-laid shells

yam houses & walking canes made from ebony from the trobriands

deer antlers are a popular imbellishment on many PMVs (public motor vehicles). deer can be found and are usually hunted in Gulf province.

life-size carvings of tribesmen carrying a pig. pigs are highly coveted and valued in Papua New Guinea. a pig is usually part of the bride price of a girl.

Sepik masks from the Sepik region, the most spiritual region in the country as well as the location of the largest fresh water crocodiles in the world.

kundu drums made with the skin of the Palai, a local lizard.

buka baskets. these are nice and durable. i use them myself.

there are a growing number of painters in Papua New Guinea. the painting section is quite large. i didn't take photos of the usual painted faces. PNG art is more than painted faces.

these large paintings were offered to me for K200 each. i declined though. i think that was a bargain considering the cost of materials and the time and effort put in making these paintings.

the mother and child paintings are quite nice. the usual painted faces are on the floor.

If you live in Port Moresby and buy these paintings, I suggest that you take it overseas to have it framed. The cost of having anything framed in Papua New Guinea is ridiculous. But if you must know, I can recommend a couple of establishments that will do the framing for you. Leave me a comment here and I shall revert to you with the information.

I hope you like what Papua New Guinea has to offer. As you can see, any of these items are really exotic and would look good in any household. Ciao.

Birds of Papua New Guinea

I haven't really gone out often enough to photograph birds in the wild. They are everywhere here though that it's not hard to see them. In fact, birds nest in the trees where I live. I also don't know how to identify them properly. I can only tell if it's a toucan or a parrot or an eagle. Once again, I'll post the photos here and if you know what they are, feel free to leave a comment. Sorry for the low quality photos. I don't always have a good camera with me.

here's looking at you!

why're you looking at me?

overblown highlights make this photo look like a chinese painting

i wonder what's for brekkie? (parrot)



oh no... my beak is so heavy! (toucan)



why is he following me with that camera? (bird of paradise)

i say! do you like escargo?

zoom! zoom! i want to fly like air niugini!

now where is that worm from yesterday?

i see everyone's up and about!

i got to be careful! i can't swim! 

nothing like a morning romp in the lake!

koki kai kai! (these cockatoos are everywhere and they like stealing mangoes from trees)

my favourite shot - a cassowary

I hope you guys liked these shots!

Sir John Guise Stadium

From time to time, I find the four walls of the gym constricting and I yearn for running in a field. Of course, just running around everywhere in a city such as Port Moresby can be diffucult. I run around my neighbourhood every so often since my neihgbours know me but I won't recommend it for everyone. For times when I just want to run, I go to Sir John Guise Stadium.

So who is Sir John Guise? Well, though he had a foreign sounding last name, he was a native Papua New Guinean who served as the first Governor General when Papua New Guinea first gained independence in 1975. He was a appointed as a Knight in 1975 which is why his title is Sir. When he died in 1991, the sport stadium was named after him.

The Sir John Guise stadium is actually a complex. There is an indoor stadium as well as an outdoor stadium. The outdoor stadium is where we normally hold our large concerts where we would have well over 100,000 people in attendance which usually happens in September which is just around the corner. The indoor stadium can hold a few thousand people and is air-conditioned. It can fit a large stage inside and has a wooden plank floor which is normally used for basketball and volleyball games. There are also other sports fields there such as those used for football. Parking is generous. Accommodation is available in the area through Sports Inn which also houses a bar.

Now where I run is the outdoor stadium where rubber has been laid on the track. This is where they hold track and field games. The rubber has dried but well suits my purposes. I usually have the stadium all to myself when I go there. It is open early in the morning to around 9pm. It is safe and has secure parking. You pay a K2 entrance fee to run in it. If you bring a friend, he/she will pay K1 additional.

Here are some photos of the outdoor stadium where I run. Go there at dusk or at dawn.

I'm sure you noticed that the stadium was devoid of people. I don't know how you like it when you run but I find it nice to have a bit of solitude when running.