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march 04 2004 - niu gini on my mind I WAS EXPECTING THIS YEAR TO BE A REAL BUMMER YEAR TRAVELWISE, AFTER THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF LAST YEAR, WHICH SAW ME MAKE LANDFALL ON THE VOLCANIC SOILS OF ICELAND, AND CROSS DENMARK OFF MY LIST OF "HAVEN'T YET BEEN TO" COUNTRIES. That trip exhausted me financially, to the extent that I was living off a piece of chocolate and a cup of green tea per day in the final stages, and sleeping at the airport to save costs. A miserable experience at the time, but it did strengthen me emotionally, and it is useful to know that I can always sleep at the airport again if I am having cashflow (as in no-flow) problems in the future. It is good to push the envelope a little! But after enjoying the allures of Denmark and Iceland last year, I wasn't expecting to do much this year. However, I have proved myself wrong -- again!
I have just decided to stop over in Papua New Guinea on the way to Australia in December. If all goes well and the fare is not too expensive, I hope to regularly visit this mysterious island when I am travelling between Japan and Australia, my two "principal axes" at the moment. South-East Asia is so passe -- I have realised that lately, too contaminated by the backpacker vice. I want to go somewhere new! And going to Papua New Guinea would be an introduction into an entirely new world -- a tribal, Aboriginal world, a Polynesian islander world, an Australasian world. It would be like seeing how Australia could have turned out, if it hadn't been invaded by white folk like me. That would be the coolest thing about travelling to Papua New Guinea -- seeing a real life functioning tribal society, of the kind which once existed across Australia. And it would be cool to tick off another name of my "must visit before I die" list, and take a host of photos on my digital camera for web publication. So, as this week ends in frigid Tokyo, "Niu Gini" is definitely on my mind.
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++Great Beaches++
