Editor’s Note: This is the second of the two-part series Traveling Road Show 1986. Emerging from three years in the Pacific as a volunteer with the YMCAs of Western Samoa and Fiji, the adventure spark was lit. Hoisting his backpack, Jim Mielke set off for Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia:

Traveling Road Show 1986 (Part Two) 

The excitement escalated daily in Papua New Guinea. From the capital Port Morseby, my brother Dave and I flew north to Madang for some world class wreck diving – descending to 100 foot depths to explore the eerie sunken remains of wartime relics from WWII.

Then, arriving at dusk in the Highlands town of Goroka, we were accosted by three “rascals” – the generic name for the many young criminals rampaging around the country. Fortunately, a local girl came to our rescue and invited us to stay in her village – a freezing night in a tiny house perched high in a tree, and the next night in another village nearly suffocating packed like sardines with about thirteen others in a fire-heated round house.

We joined the massive Highlands Sing Sing Festival where song and dance groups from all over the country gather each year in outrageous form and traditional outfits for an amazing spectacle of unbelievable variety and colors. Singing, chanting, whistle-blowing, drumming, wild-looking dudes with bones through noses and tongues, and women with painted faces and breasts.

Sharing the back of a pickup with folks who looked as though they would have eaten our livers for lunch, we barreled into the cold rainy night through rugged terrain over an 8,100 foot pass into the remote Southern Highlands, which had only recently been opened to visitors. Blowing out one tire after another, we used all of the spares and arrived safely in the provincial capital Mendi.

Arranging for a day hike to a nearby cave, nine guys toting axes led us across rickety bridges half used for firewood, past serious pig-bartering sessions of colorful highlanders with bows, arrows and turkey-tail loincloths. We went straight up a sheer cliff and along a narrow slippery ledge. One slip and certain death. Then into a pitch-black limestone cave with stalactites, stalagmites, bats flying everywhere, pools of ice cold water.

Crawling and moving deeper into the cave, our way was lit with just one lantern. Reaching a huge cavern deep in the mountain, our guides suddenly demanded a substantial sum of money to lead us out. Bargaining for our release, we finally settled on a reasonable price. We later learned that this unsavory treatment of tourists is not uncommon there.

On the way out, the grim-faced highlanders guided us past skeletons slung in hammocks along the cave walls. We declined their gracious offer to take us to another cave where the skeletons of tortured enemies were supposedly kept. After paying off the ‘big man’, we headed north for a few days on the Sepik River watching canoeists silhouetted against the morning glow, moving out onto the river. Standing balanced – paddling their long dugouts through the silent, flat empty wilderness.

Indonesia greeted us with the sweet smell of clove cigarettes, pretty girls, good food, and cheap prices. On the beach in Bali, the wet wash of sand lit up bright orange as the sun set.  Small streams of water met the sea with the tide running out and shone like mirrors.

Silhouetted figures of lovers and children moved among the outriggers. A girl dashed across the sand with youthful exuberance to bathe in the luxurious brine and balmy night. Standing erect, she pulled back her hair to let the seawater run out.  Moving silently through the evening glow she dashed back to the village – so alive, so innocent, naturally beautiful in pure simplicity.

Dave returned to Los Angeles and I continued to explore the vast archipelago – climbing smoky volcanoes on Bali, Java and Sumatra – bathing in naturally heated pools by crater lakes. I visited YMCAs in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, then island hopped through southern Thailand, with endless fun, adventure and wonderful people all along the way –

 

And getting better all the time!

 

 

Editor’s Note: Over the past 35 years, Jim Mielke has had the privilege of living and working in some of the poorest, most remote and under-served countries in the Asia-Pacific region, assisting governments, international aid agencies and communities for improved health and development.  Jim also enjoys speaking to students, members of voluntary organizations and other interested groups about international travel, study, and overseas volunteer and professional opportunities – just as someone spoke to him when he was working a summer job at Silver Bay YMCA of the Adirondacks. Many people are keen for an overseas experience, and searching for direction, but for various reasons never get there. Each year Jim sends a Christmas letter to family and friends to share some of his experiences. In June 1986, having completed his assignment with the YMCA of Western Samoa, Jim set off for some adventure travel through the Pacific and Southeast Asia:

Traveling Road Show 1986      (Part One)

It was like leaving two and a half years of summer camp.  Blowing the clouds away, the winds of the tropical winter signaled a change in season – excited and a bit nervous as I prepared to leave Western Samoa following my years at the YMCA – to be on the road for an indefinite period.

Smoke from Sunday umus (rock ovens) drifted through the coconut grove, the morning sunlight filtering through, softly lighting up the leaves and tall trunks, as I waited to take the final trip to the airport. After two years, the funding from my YMCA sponsors in the USA was exhausted, but the Samoan YMCA had continued its support for the final six months of my assignment, providing housing, along with some taro, bananas and coconuts.

We drove up to Lanato’o Crater Lake trail head and hiked in for our final outing – it was the clearest day ever. Barefoot all the way through the cool, green bush, up and over the rim, sliding down and once again hitting the water – we breathed it all in.

It was so incredibly hard to leave, but apparently the time had come to make a move. I was comforted a bit knowing that the place and the people are so much a part of me. Friends are forever and the memories live on. With so much of life to live and wonderful friends to love, I wouldn’t stay away for long.  Fa’fatai le Atua (Thanks be to God).

It was thrilling to think of the adventures that lay ahead.  Camped on the deck of a tiny Fijian freighter with five other passengers and crew during its monthly supply run to the Tokelau Atolls, we voyaged three days from Western Samoa into the vast remoteness of the Pacific, finally reaching three groups of tiny, low-lying islands. The lagoons were coconut-fringed and windswept. Our tiny freighter stood off-shore like the old clipper ships.

Lowering a dingy over the side, we counted the waves and surfed safely over the surrounding barrier reef and into the lagoon.  500 people live on each of the three atolls – healthy, happy and peaceful. There are not many untouched and unspoiled places like this left in the world. When I swam across the lagoon to a distant islet, I found only coral sand, coconuts, crabs, sea birds, and utter peace.

Two island girls hustled me off to their fale (Polynesian house) and fed me coconuts and pandanus fruits – eager to play “touch” with this bewildered papalagi. (the Polynesian name for white people). It literally means “burst from the heavens” as it seemed when the first European explorers arrived, their tall sailing ships appeared to emerge or burst from the clouds as they materialized on the distant horizon.

On to Fiji, I volunteered with the local YMCA for six months before continuing on to Vanuatu and Australia. Culture shocked in Australia’s big cities, I was not used to the tall buildings, fast cars, quick service and cold winter air.

Traveling up the east coast of Australia, I stayed with our cousins in the cool, scenic mountains of Queensland and dove on the Great Barrier Reef. On to Papua New Guinea, I joined my brother Dave for a month of adventuring through Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, Sulewesi and Bali, Indonesia.