It’s 2017, A New Beginning

This coming first of April, I will mark my 6^th year anniversary in Port Moresby. It’s still a long way to go but I kind of observe that time flies so fast in Papua New Guinea. Right now, I may be thinking that I’m still young but the next time I bring a topic similar to this; I might be in my 50’s.

Anyway, it’s 2017. So many years have come to pass and with the new contract that I’ve signed on, I’m looking at another three years of endeavor which I am hoping to be, if not as fruitful, as joyful at least. Despite the wonderful experiences, I’m still pondering on the thought that everything here is just temporary and that life back home will pick up again once I decided to go back for good.

But until then, I’ll try and live life to the fullest but as decent as possible and with hopes to continue sharing the experiences that I’m having in this country.

Here’s a PABX system that I installed in my bedroom, with PABX being a Personal Alarm w/ Blinking Xmas-like-lights.

Just kidding.

PABX means Private Automatic Branch Exchange. The purpose of which, for example, is to allow people living or taking office in the same house or building to be able to make calls to each other without the need of a telephone company service.

But on top of that, I actually use it as my alarm clock with the help of someone whom I put my trust to ring me in the morning for breakfast.

My PABX can accept three external lines and can have 8 extension numbers. The router-like device at the back is a GSM-modem from Digicel which you can get from any of their offices here in POM. Basically, it can allow an analog phone to make calls if connected to its telephone auxiliary port.

The antenna in the front is for the GSM-modem that's using a BMOBILE SIM. It too, can allow calls under the same idea. Both of these modems and a Telikom landline are connected to the PABX’s three CO lines so we can also receive and make outgoing calls aside from it being just an intercom device.

The area in which I needed to run the UTP cables is with several buildings built next to each other. In PNG, the sun can get really hot and even a limited exposure to the sun may cause minor sunburns. It’s a good thing that I have arranged for the warehouse staffs to come and help.

They say that two heads are better than one; I say that eight arms are more effective than two.

As soon as the telephone cables were laid down, I went on to do the connection. The endpoint to which all of the connections should meet must be in some type of enclosure for protection. Luckily, I found an unused power socket attached to a wall and placed all the convening wires there and had it covered for neatness sake.

And here’s the fruit of labour.  I asked one of the company drivers to get us cold drinks and some bread after. That set me back about K50 kina but it’s worth it.  We finished the job before noon.

While going in one of the busy roads in Port Moresby, we drove past this commotion that was happening on the roadside. I was not able to get a clearer photo but it looked like there was a minor road mishap involving this car.

I believe the problem was quickly settled down and did not cause too much for concern, but I still find it amazing how pedestrians could quickly amass into a big crowd when incidents like this happen in Papua New Guinea.

Last week, a power box belonging to a power company has short-circuited and caused a few shops in the area to lose power for a day. The reason for which is believed to have largely been due to the continuous rainfall this city has received during the last few days. Here, workers from the power company came to clean the box and prepared it for restoration.  The next day, it was all done and the power was restored to the shops around.

Thumbs up for the good work guys.

During our off days, it was nice to go around the city and visit places. If you’re fine with it, you can visit second hand shops and get lucky with finding branded clothing being sold for a fraction of whatever its original price were. This particular shop is called Labels and they got a lot of pretty decent hand-me-down clothing.

Second hand shops also sell almost anything you may ever want. Well, not really everything, but most of the relevant to it. For example, you can find from them branded bags, books, toys and bed covers.

Although I’m not a fan of second hand shops, we do come here whenever there’s a window of opportunity. A few of my bags are bought from here. 

The tall building behind the welcome billboard is the Stanley Hotel. This is one of the newest hotels in Port Moresby. It’s just standing next to RH Vision City and people can actually walk back and forth the two buildings through a special area.

Oh by the way, the gentlemen on the welcome banner are, the Minister for Sports, Hon. Justin Tkatchenko,  the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and the Governor of NCD, Hon. Powes Parkop.

Here’s what the Stanley Hotel looks like in the night. I’m guessing that the rooms with the lights on are the only ones occupied by the guests.

We came here by way of this small, but pretty neat company car. The parking space in Stanley Hotel is enough to accommodate more than twenty cars on this area alone. I saw some curved entrance near the parking area that led to a basement which was probably another space devoted to the same purpose.

This hotel is really nice in the inside. It sure felt like we were in those big and expensive hotels back in Philippines. They also have these escalators that go up to the second level. Last year, Port Moresby was the chosen location to hold the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Most of the international players from other countries have checked in to this hotel.

I can only imagine how busy these escalators were throughout their stay.

For some reason, I love going to hotels even though I can only count in my fingers the number of times I had actually booked in one. Here’s the hallway after the entrance. There are quite a number of things that are nice to see in Stanley Hotel.

Two of which are a shiny floor and the intricate designs on the walls.

The pillars that stood in the restaurant are gigantic and they seem to dwarf the chairs around.  The restaurant offers a buffet for about K90 but if you're not up for it, you can order your own choice of meal 

The reason being that we went here was just to have a look at the place. Being a practical man that I am, we just ordered this beef burger with ground black beans and chips for less than K60. The potato chips are sliced thinly and when foods are sliced this way, it is for the fact that thin slices get cooked in just a short while.

I don’t really declare things much but I can honestly say that this beef burger is the finest beef burger that I've had in Port Moresby thus far.  In General, beef burgers have a distinctive aromatic scent and to discern whether it's a factor for inducing hunger is up to everyone's personal preference. 

I like it when the scent is not too strong.

And here, once again, is our friendly co-worker, kuya Levi , who gave out a Monaliza smile when I said “cheese!”