The Enchanted Jungle

by Simone Wong (Singapore)

A leap into the unknown Papua New Guinea

“Would you do it all over again?” my friends would ask. “I couldn’t tell you!” would be my reply. The enchanted jungle has its allure and mystery and is not for the faint-hearted. Every time I look back, I would wonder what propelled me to dive into the unknown. “Is this a jungle?” was a question I kept asking each time we went to a new village. To me, a city dweller, each new village we went to seemed like a jungle - up in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, tribal people, no cell service, and complete darkness when the night falls. Yet, time again and again I was told that that was not it. I had begun to wonder if it was the language barrier that prevented me from getting the answers I wanted. Then came the day where our translator declared “we will be going to live in the jungle for the next couple of days!” and I could not help but bubble with excitement. As we drove up the mountains in the night, I got to see one of the most magical views in my life. Picture the mysterious Halloween Town where Jack Wellington lived, mixed with the night sky in Harry Potter where Harry first got to Hogwarts. The drive up offered the silence of the night, apart from the rumbles from the truck, you would presume that it was a tranquil ride up the mountains and into the jungles. How wrong would that thought be! The slippery, winding roads of the mountain made for a good rollercoaster track. There was the thrill of sitting on one of the deathtraps without any safety measures. We were driving right on the mountain face where you could see the foot of the mountain if you looked out of the truck bed. At one point, the turn was so sharp that I thought we were going to be sent flying down the mountain. In that moment, shrill screams broke the tranquility of the night, and everyone grabbed on to one another for dear life (thinking back, what could that have done for us?). It was right then where I experienced one of those “my life flashed before me” moments. After recovering from the thrilling night drive, the sight that greeted me the next morning was astounding! Lush green foliage, bamboo huts with straw roofs, and chickens coupled with piglets who looked like they came straight out of a children’s picture book; everything looked surreal. We were greeted by the villagers decked out in their kaleidoscopic tribal outfits, vibrant feather crowns from birds-of-paradise. It was quite a sight to behold, one that I would never forget. The villagers decided that they would take us down to the river for a quick pick-me-up bath. As we took the short hike down, I noticed that the river was glistening, yet nothing like what I had ever seen. However, by the time we got to the river, my body was crying for a dip in the water and investigating the glistening river was pushed to the back of my mind. As I finished up the bath, I started noticing specks what seemingly appeared to be glitter all around the river. I approached one of the locals to ask what that was. Nonchalantly, she pointed to a speck of glitter and said “gold”. “Gold?” I exclaimed. Our translator noticed the commotion and came over to explain that what made the river glisten was indeed gold dust. For a couple of seconds, my mind wondered if I was daydreaming. The world of enchantment did not end there. As we got to chatting more with the villagers, we learnt that they would have eaten us if we arrived twenty years earlier, how they believed that exiled villagers were cursed to be eaten by snakes in the jungle, and how mermaids were sighted in other villages by the shores. In that moment, all I could muster up was nervous chuckles. Before this, the closest I got to hearing about such matters were from fantasy novels. Yet, this was the reality of these villagers. There was so much conviction in each story they told.