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The Wigmen

The Wigmen

(Alex) The Huli wigmen are the fiercest, most warlike tribe in all of Papua New Guinea. Ironically, the main goal of the Huli wigmen is to look and act like the beautiful endemic Bird of Paradise. The men do their best to “be” the beautiful birds. First, the men cover themselves in a shiny oil […]

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Cannibal Sleepover

Cannibal Sleepover

(Andrew) I was not looking forward to this village stay even though Papua New Guinean people are very friendly. We left our lodge on the Karawari River and boarded a very long motorized dug out canoe. We passed many small villages and I hoped that none were ours because I was looking for the 5-star […]

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Wig School Diploma

Wig School Diploma

(Reis) We pulled into a muddy lot in the Middle of Nowhere in the Papua New Guinean Highlands. We climbed out of our private Public Motorized Vehicle (ironic, huh?), and nimbly stepped through the mud to a set of rundown grass/mud/stone stairs. We climbed with great care, not wanting to slip and fall. We entered […]

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Land, Women and Pigs

Land, Women and Pigs

(Greg) We have been on the road for almost a year, putting ourselves into the middle of some of the wildest, most untouched places on Earth. We are pretty salty veterans, so I thought it unlikely that we would be wide-mouthed and pie-eyed by anyplace or any people again. Then we came to the Sepik […]

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A Father’s Grumblings

A Father’s Grumblings

My daughters are looking at pictures they just took of young kids in a river village. While laughing proudly at their work, they sing a song they made up about Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup, sung to the tune of Shoshaloza, a popular South African song. I am writhing on a small bed in that […]

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Birthday Star Galactica

Birthday Star Galactica

(Andrew) Our flight landed in Singapore airport at 10:00 pm from Jakarta, Indonesia. It left the next day at 11:00 pm to Port Moresby, PNG. A full 24 hours in Singapore! As a compromise for having a longhouse birthday (see Reis’ post), Dad agreed to take us to Universal Studios Singapore, even though it was […]

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My Inner Hornbill

My Inner Hornbill

(Reis) As we boarded the boat in Pangkalan Bun, Borneo, the smell of oil filled the air, and we were off. Along the Aruk River, passing by village upon village and boat upon boat, we raced. We sped by outhouse after outhouse with holes directly into the river. Passing by many logging stations, with gigantic […]

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Orangutan Adventures

Orangutan Adventures

(Emma) Out of the 25,000 orangutans in the world 5,000 of them live in Tanjung Puting National Park on the island of Borneo. We were fortunate enough to interact and see many of them. We have 4 days at the park; a really long time for a visitor. So that gave us lots of time! […]

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He’d Be Bawling

He’d Be Bawling

(Dana) In the 1970s, littering was an epidemic in the US. Discarded food wrappers everywhere. Automobile passangers routinely tossed garbage onto anonymous forests and fields as they zipped past. Those who tossed didn’t see it land, so it didn’t exist anymore. Right? Then came what must have been one of the most influential public service […]

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Birthday in Bhutan

Birthday in Bhutan

(Dana) By definition, travelling for a full year means that we each get to celebrate one birthday on the road: Emma celebrated with her “birthday elephant” as he crashed through the campsite in Purros, Namibia, Alex became a “peasant for a day” in Vietnam, learning how to grow vegetables and fish using age-old methods, and […]

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