The road was good (still needing to be ever watchful for potholes and people) as we approached Madang on Friday, June 20. Charlie and Amie couldn’t remember how to get there, so we pulled over on the side where a crowd of men were waiting (may have been a PMV stop) and asked out the window for directions to Jais Aben, the oceanfront resort where we were staying the next five nights. One red-toothed gentleman came over to the car. “Jais Aben? Back this way and right. Go all the way. Big sign.” We smiled and thanked him and got the big red smile in return.
The route to Jais Aben passed a tuna packing plant and I think another factory, as well as the Wycliffe POC where they do the training of teams before they go into the remote villages. After several miles we found the Jais Aben sign, and drove a mile or so down the sandy dirt road, past several groups of houses, to the Jais Aben resort. We checked in without a problem, verifying that they take Visa. The proprietress asked if these were my grandchildren, and when I affirmed, if Charlie was my son. I explained that he was my son-in-law, and she pointed toward where Amie had gone (taking kids to the bathroom) and said “Your daughter.”
Jais Aben is situated on a bay on the ocean – the Bismarck Sea, with the row of duplex cabins – with air conditioning – lined up about 30’ back from the ocean. There isn’t a beach in front of the cabins, the ocean just breaks against the shore, with about an 8’ drop down to the coral-sourced rocks and water. There is a reef extending from shore (with small outcrops of living coral immediately offshore) for 50 to 75 yards, where it drops off steeply into fairly deep water. This coral reef is great snorkeling, with all the tropical fish and various corals and anemones you could want. Visibility was a bit muted by some storms that had come through, but still it was probably 25.’
There are two restaurants on site, one in the reception building serving breakfast and dinner, and one down near the dive shop and beach, serving lunch. Our service was “laid back,” which seems to be typical of PNG restaurants, and the food just so-so (by our spoiled U.S. standards anyway, and they cater to Australian tastes rather than American tastes,) but the location is great and the facilities are good. The rooms are large, with an adjoining porch in the duplexes. Furnishing is basic, with built-in benches between the two queen beds (adequate, but not great mattresses) and along the wall opposite the beds. This latter bench had an electric tea pot and a small refrigerator; nice touches. Coffee in the room was instant Nescafe, same as what is included with the continental breakfast (PGK12.50.) Nice sliding doors onto the porch. Bathroom is tiled, and hot water is from a solar heater on the roof of each duplex. The tank apparently isn’t insulated, because the hot water goes away quickly after dark, and there is none on rainy/cloudy days. The lack of hot water wasn’t a real problem for us, though, since in the warm temperatures the tepid cold water was just the right temperature for showers. Maid service seems sporadic, although maybe we’re just missing how to get fresh towels. The day after we arrived they came and took our old towels the fairly early in the day, and returned with new ones late in the afternoon. The second day (I’m writing this on the 3rd day) there were no fresh towels.
When we checked out, Jais Aben took my Visa car for the bill, the first place in PNG that has taken it. We’ve tried twice at Madang Lodge (dinner) and once at Oceans Club. Both Madang Lodge and Oceans Club seemed unable to get the machine to make the phone call for card verification, but the equipment didn’t seem to get much use either. At neither Oceans nor Madang Lodge were we provided with an invoice (their term for “receipt”) for our meals, and they had handwritten notes and a calculator to figure the bill. Jais Aben provided a computer-printed receipt for our lodging and all our meals, and they had no problem with the Visa verification call.
There was a continental breakfast available in the main building at Jais Aben, and a breakfast menu including fried eggs, bacon, scrambled eggs, and French toast. The bacon was “interesting” – with the fat barely cooked, and a strange flavor on the “cured” edge. The fried eggs were a toss-up as to how you’d get them, ranging from runny on top to a hard-cooked yoke and burned on the bottom. The eggs were served on a piece of toast. The French toast was quite good, and I enjoyed the scrambled eggs and bacon. A plunger of coffee (coffee press) with two cups of coffee is 3K, and Nescafe was included with both. It seems strange to us, but Nescafe is considered something of a delicacy in PNG.
We had dinner several nights at Jais Aben, with a children’s menu for about PGK11, and the main meals for K25 to K33. I don’t recall what I had, but I enjoyed my meals. Cindy wasn’t quite as enamored with hers, and preferred the items from the children’s menu.
Lunch over by the dive shop (operated separately by an Australian couple) had several sandwich items which were generally good, and a ‘featured item’ each day. One day I had a T-Bone steak with salad bar; the next day I had the steak sandwich. I must say I preferred the steak sandwich.
Many people come to Jais Aben for the day, have lunch, and use the small beach next to the lunch veranda. There is a large tree nearby which is used to climb into and jump off into the deep water over which it hangs. Just beyond the tree the reef starts, so this is also a favorite starting point for snorkeling.
The second night we had dinner at the Oceans Club, a Chinese restaurant. Membership is required for parking inside the fence, but we parked near the gate, where the guard had a view of our vehicle. The meal was good, but more expensive than Charlie expected at K209. The Chinese proprietor didn’t speak English, but the young PNG national lady who served us did. She tried diligently to get the Visa verification done, but without success. I didn’t have enough cash to pay the bill, but Charlie came back in after a few minutes and we squared the bill.
Cindy and I kept the kids one night and ate at Jais Aben while Charlie and Amie had a dinner date at Madang Lodge. They thoroughly enjoyed it, so the entire crew went there the next night. There was a storm offshore, so the wind and waves were both pretty high, but the waiters tied down the tablecloth and we ate outside. Cindy and I both ordered from their new Chinese menu, and after about 30 minutes the waiter came out and told Cindy they didn’t have prawns, so she ordered something else. The Browns children had pizza, and Charlie and Amie had seafood chowder and spring rolls. The food was slow coming, but good. When we paid the tab, we unsuccessfully tried Visa, then paid the K147 tab with cash and met the rest of the folks at the haus wind at the end of the lovely garden. We got in the car, but as we started out, the guard came over and spoke to Charlie, indicating that the cashier needed to speak to us. He had apparently forgotten to include the pizza in the total, so we owed him an additional K37. No invoice, so we weren’t able to verify, or to catch the error before we left. We also ate at Madang Lodge a second time, again with slow, confused service, but good food
On one of the trips to Madang Lodge, which is in downtown Madang, we went to Papindo’s. Papindo’s is, as Charlie puts it, the closest thing to Walmart in PNG. It’s a lot closer to Dollar General than to Walmart. Cindy and I purchased a couple of Eastern Highlands coffee mugs as souvenirs, and the kids each got something. It’s interesting that as you leave stores in PNG, the guards at the exits feel the bilums of the nationals as they leave to store to ensure they aren’t leaving with something for which they didn’t pay, but as we leave they just nod and open the door for us.
Another interesting point in Madang are the “flying foxes.” These are large bats that live by the hundreds in the large trees around Madang. You see them hanging there in the trees, and flying around all over the place. The bats have a wingspan of probably 2 to 3 feet, and are amazing to watch. Some of the translator’s kids who have stayed in Dorelo with Charlie and Amie have told them that they have eaten them while living in the villages with their parents, and that they are quite tasty.