A Land Intoxicated under the Pen of Maugham

by LI LI (China)

A leap into the unknown Papua New Guinea

The trembling of a leaf, written by Maugham who is the most welcomed writer after Dickens, tells seven stories happening in the southern pacific ocean. It is at the very time that I have been here in Papua New Guinea for half a month, I put the book into my valise thinking in mind to have a visit in the country under the guidance of the book. I want to look for the glaring lagoon hidden described between lines of the book, I want to look for the exuberant green on the mountain brought by the trade winds and I also want to experience the customs at the last station of world travelers. Papua New Guinea it is not easy to be visited compared to Palau and Fiji. Port Moresby, once dubbed as the world’s most dangerous capital, possesses wonderful landscape of mountain and sea. However, the amount of five-star hotel in the city is not more than the number of fingers of one palm. My flight took off from Beijing and stopped once in Manila , it was in the early morning when the flight arrived in Port Moresby. I looked out through the window from the cabin when the plane was landing, I bet that the scenery around the city was different from that of any other capitals in the rest of the world.The densely green rain forests are everywhere on the land with white cooking smoke rising from few points inside from time to time. A big river seems to be very obedient wriggling on the land. Maugham writes a lot about lagoons and coastal areas. When I was in port moresby, my local friends urged me to have a tree-day and two-night’s trans-island traveling during my work break. As a result, I boarded the Fokker 100 plane on the next day, and my destination is Rabual, a city on the East British island. With the help of my friend working in the national tourism administration of Papua New Guinea, I successfully booked a ticket of RAPOPO Plantation resort. As soon as my flight flew over a volcano and then landed at a small airport, the female tour guide who came to meet me told me that the place we were at then was about one hour away from the old downtown area of Rabual by car. However, serious volcano eruption in 1994 brought the prosperity away from the old town, most people were relocated at a new site to the southwest. After twenty minutes walking in the dense forest, we arrived . The broad stoep at the reception is in the original color of wood, while the ceiling is painted white with a ceiling fan in the same color hung there. Rooms are built in the typical island style.Viewed from the outside, it is an improved modern wooden house built upon several steps over the ground, and each room has its own balcony. Inside the room, it is equipped with bathtub, air conditioning and even a television that I have never used during my stay there. Every day at dining time, customers of the resort begin to gather at the table before the stoep, but most of them prefer having their meal at the end of a trestle stretching to the sea. Soon after my arrival, it is getting dark. The violet-like sunset glow soon covers the volcano in the far. The gulf, like a half embraced lagoon, shows a different color. It was only two hours ago that the water was still clear and transparent viewed from the wooden window of my room. But now, it looks like a tanzanite and it will be getting as dark as ink soon. It is clear in my mind that the water is very shallow, but it looks like a lake without bottom. The surface of the water silhouettes the quarter moon and shinny stars of the southern hemisphere. The dinner is very unique, People put thick fillet and fresh lobster on a heated stone which will be ready for eating soon because of the hot stone. Matched with Mojito or local bears of Papua New Guinea, you will have the feeling of living in the garden of Eden.