It's good to be back and blogging again. The PNG trip was a success. The hotel/apartment at Gateway was far better then Lamana with one exception. Take a look at the picture below.

What is wrong with this? 

No, this picture isn't upside down. According to the labels on the knobs, the cold water is on the left and the hot water on the right. So for two days in this apartment I'd turn the hot water on with no luck. I am a hot shower person, so you can imagine how hard it would have been in the mornings for me. I called the hotel reception and arranged for someone to have a look as to why the hot water wouldn't come out when I turned the hot water on to the maximum. Apparently (I was out most of the day) they did and I set about testing it out in the evening. Of course they didn't leave a message for me on whether they had fixed the problem. No Luck. I was convinced they had fixed it, so why as it still not working?

Then I remembered that at home, the hot water knob was on the left! Eureka! After having discovered the answer to my problems, I obviously didn't run out without any clothes on. Instead I tested the cold water knob and sure enough, there it was! Hot water at last! No thanks to the Gateway Hotels staff, I discovered their mistake and set about enjoying my hot showers for the remainder of my stay.

I maybe wrong, but I figured from my experience, that the standard for hot water knobs, is that, it is to be placed on the left. Please confirm.

Without my camera! What a bummer.

So no pictures this time unfortunately. I'll see how my phone camera behaves. I can tell you one thing; Port Moresby appears green. Unlike my other trips here when all the hilsides seemed bare or covered with brown dry grass, this time I see mostly green. That's all because (I've been told), it had rained constantly for the previous two weeks, resulting in floods and landslides and pot-holes.

The hotel I am in, the Gateway Hotels and Apartments, is great. Much bigger then Lamana, with more facilities. They have a gym and a tennis court. I am told a pool as well. I've seen two pubs and one pizzeria. Will review the place properly towards the end of my stay.

Again!

Since the middle of last year, I have travelled to PNG 3 times spending close to 3 months in total. It's always been work related, so I haven't had much in the way of tourist experience. On the first trip we travelled out of Port Moresby to the start of Kokoda Trail in the Sogeri.

Most of my time was spent in the Datec PNG office, the Royal Papua Yacht Club and the Lamana Hotel. As great as these places are, it can get extremely boring on long trips lasting over a couple of weeks.

Lamana Hotel is where I stayed on all my trips and it's a great little hotel. It has no recreation related facilities like a swimming pool or even a gym. The Double Deluxe rooms are clean and neat (at least those facing the car park away from the resturant and lobby section). If you prefer a quite, good night's sleep on Friday and Saturday nights, make sure you ask for the rooms away from the resturant and the Gold Club section. The parties here can go on loud and all night. The food at Lamana is ok, especially the buffet lunch on weekdays.

The Royal Papua Yacht Club was my usual Friday night hangout, because work colleagues at Datec PNG were members and it's the only place they'd go on weekends. The first thing you'll notice about the place is the lack of locals in the crowd. Maybe the locals aren't very interested in yachting. Most of the crowd are either expats or new migrants from Australia or NZ.

The club though is a very good place for a few drinks and dinner if you can get in. I am not sure if you can simply walk in, because I was always accompanied by my Datec PNG work mates. They were members and I understood that you had to be a guest of a member to be allowed in.

I am due to leave for PNG again sometime this weekend for another 2 week stint.  

PS: For more pictures from my PNG trips, check my flickr page here: http://flickr.com/photos/ssp/sets/103887/