Mr Beem's Asian Journal
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Beginnings |
October 22nd 2002
And so it begins…
November is nearly here and it is almost time to start the great adventure, but before I take my first step forward let's take a quick look backwards.
I have lived in Papua New Guinea for the last sixteen years. This country is generally regarded as the last real frontier for adventure. PNG today is what Africa was in the 1800's, the 'dark continent', the place where you can go off into the wild interior and pit your wits against nature, the elements, and marauding tribesmen. A place where you can cram three lifetimes into one.
I came to Papua New Guinea from Australia in 1986. The big attraction for me was the unspoilt reefs and undiscovered wrecks that lay in the countries tropical waters. I got here at just the right time; there was still plenty to do. The dive industry was still in its infancy run by people who loved to dive, who ran their business in the hope that one day they would make money… but if they didn't well at least they were doing something that they loved to do. I was glad to be one of them.
P.N.G. seems to attract people who are a little on the adventurous side. The common adage that all expatriates here are either Missionaries, Mercenaries or Misfits begs the questions, which am I? I guess a hint of each. Either way, I've developed a great fondness for the place and will no doubt return.
Most people are daunted by the thought of travelling to Papua New Guinea…starting from here though, I'm equally apprehensive about the prospect of riding my bike around the streets New York city. I look forward to bringing you the latest stories.
Some thoughts before setting out (October 2002)
This journal will start to operate in earnest at the end of January 2003, and after that I hope to update it on a weekly basis. Until then I will be busy organising all the little things that make a trip like this possible, you know, money and the like. I will be writing to embassies, contacting sponsors, selling all my worldly possessions. There is money transfers to think about. How best to keep this web site up to date, and on and on it goes. I hope that you find this site interesting and that we can have a few laughs together as this adventure unfolds. Stay with me it might be fun.
Now that I am finally getting ready to leave on the big adventure, the focus is starting to shift. Way back, when I first started to dream and scheme about just heading off on a motorcycle, I was always looking ahead. Where am I going to go ? What will I see ? Who will I meet ? All those kind of things. At that time I never thought about the things that I would be leaving behind but as I get closer to going, as I start to feel that that is the last time I’ll see him for awhile or the last time I will go there they start to take on a new significance. It’s that old saying “you never miss them till they are gone.”
To embark on major travel adventure is considered its own reward by those driven in pursuit of that kind of life style. But as with most undertakings there is the upside and of course the downside.
The upside involves mental images of vast open desserts, rolling green alpine meadows, lapping waves on coconut fringed tropical beaches. Standing at the base of the pyramids canoeing with Amazonian Indians, hot air ballooning across the African plains. White water rafting on the Zambezi River, Heli-skiing in the New Zealand Alps, 4 wheel driving at sunset in the Australian outback, or getting shit faced with the Swedish Olympic women’s netball team.
The downside by comparison seems quite trivial, but is never the less very real. When you are travailing, particularly travelling alone you get a lot off time for introspective thought. It’s only then that you remember and start to miss the little things. Things like not having to give a background in order to explain why you just said the thing that you just said. When you are with old friends most of the conversations are continuations of previous conversations, so you can just assume that you both know what you are talking about and nothing will be lost or misconstrued. With someone you have just met you don’t have that luxury.
Its like the guy I buy my newspaper from, I say good morning he smiles gives me the Post Courier I give him the money. It happens just like that, I don’t have to ask him how much; he doesn’t have to ask me which paper, it’s all just taken for granted. My hairdresser knows my name, she knows that I have a one, two, three, and she knows that I jump if she puts cold water on the back off my neck. She also tells me if I have put on weight and all the latest gossip around town. I could go on and mention the lady at the bank, the guy at the service station, the girls at the check-out at the supermarket, and it brings a tear to my eye to think about the various bar staff around town. But you get my point don’t you; all these little things that make your life at home so intimate and comfortable are the things that you will miss on the road. So if you are sitting at home reading this I want you to spare a thought for the traveller, the constant stranger, the new kid on the block. It’s not all sunrises on the Serengeti or hot tubs in the snowy mountain.
Travel really is a two way street.
