No place like Lae

It was good to be back home again in Lae the previous weekend, from Dec 2-4 and boy, did I enjoy it.
For me, there's no place like Lae, a town where I was born and bred.
I talked a walk through my old stomping grounds in Top Town  and caught up with old friends.
Here is my visit in pictures:

The first person I bumped into was an old schoolmate of my brother David at Lae International High School in the 1980s, Chris Davies,  and he thought I was David...another Mangi Lae from the glory days of our town has returned home...Chris is a born and bred Lae boy who did all his primary and high school here...and sad to see it going backwards...

I stayed at Lae City Hotel along 3rd Street, where the food and service was absolutely tops, not to mention the free Wi-Fi.

Brian Bell Plaza behind Lae Main Market...Lae's version of Vision City in Port Moresby..not bad...such developments are long overdue...

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Lae Post Office

3rd Street, Lae, with what used to be the IPI Building in the background.

The new Bank of PNG branch under construction, 3rd Street.

Sign at The City Cafe, Lae City Hotel

Good morning from Lae

Melanesian Hotel along 2nd Street, Lae, is closed for construction of a New look "Melo"

Santa Claus at Food Mart, 7th Street.

7th Street, Lae, where a new shopping complex owned by Papindo is going up where Lae Fish Supply - the most popular fish n chips joint until it burned down in 1995 - used to be.

Bus stop at 8th Street.

Legend of Lae...the Wan Jin Wah shop along 7th Street is still standing...

7th Street Lae, where in the 1980s, all the high school girls and boys would hang around on a Saturday morning.

Lae Police Station along Coronation Drive.

6th Street

The Telikom Building, once the Empire State Building of Lae.

Crowd outside the old Burns Philp store along 4th Street.

Coronation Drive

4th Street, Lae, where Theatre Lae used to be.

The "New  IPI Building" along 2nd Street.

Bumped into rugby league legend, Steve Malum of Siassi, outside Food Mart. He's 63 now but looking fit as ever.

This was once-upon-a-time, before mobile phones and Internet came along, one of the busiest spots in Lae where people lined for miles. The public phone booth outside the Lae Post Office is now closed and deserted...a relic of a bygone era...I'm thinking it should become a museum for those who come after us...

These potholes along 3rd Street, Lae, are an eyesore amidst all the concrete roads...just when I thought the infamous "Pothole City" tag was a thing of the past...from past experience, these will grow and spread like a cancer, if unattended to...we don't want to go back to the bad old "Pothole City" days...

Visiting the Lae WWII Memorial at 2nd Street. It was on Sept 16, 1943, that Australia took back Lae from the Japanese. A town with no past has no future. Our history must never be forgotten.

Lest we forget

Looking out to the Huon Gulf from 2nd Street

Niall Community Centre along 2nd Street. What used to be the Town Hall of Lae is now a rundown building.

With longtime Lae resident Fred Cook, who's now 84.

With my old mate Sir Bob Sinclair...owner of Lae International Hotel..builder of Lae and PNG over the last 50 years...

Merry Christmas from Lae, our fair home...this is the big Christmas tree at the foyer of Lae International Hotel...

Crystal Rapids is the perfect escape from Port Moresby

Crystal Rapids is indeed the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of Port Moresby.
All former and current students of Sogeri National High School know about that, however, my elder brother David and I are both ex Aiyura National High School.

The magic of Crystal Rapids

Today, Sunday, Dec 11, my niece Zarin, eldest daughter of David, had her 14th birthday, and invited my kids and I to a day out at this beautiful part of Papua New Guinea.

David pointing out Crystal Rapids to me

David and family picked my tribe at our 8-Mile home, in two Toyota Landcruisers to our rendezvous, along the Sogeri Road past the rolling Laloki River and magnificent mountain grandeur.

Magnificent scenery At Crystal Rapids

The Sogeri Road is a busy stretch with new developments and houses all along what was once a quiet country track.
We drove past the breathtaking Rouna Falls and up to Sogeri, past the road leading to the iconic WWII icon of Owers' Corner, the start of the famous Kokoda Trail.

Peace and tranquility at Crystal Rapids

Rain started falling lightly as we made our way to Crystal Rapids, stopping at a roadside market along the way, for some fresh bananas and water cress.

The market at Crystal Rapids

Wows all around as we drove into our destination, took out the steaks and chicken for a barbecue, as the kids and some of us took a plunge or just sat along the riverside enjoying the views.

I wish you were here with me

The park-like settings of Crystal Rapids are kept in tip-top condition by rangers from the local Koiari villages, who also maintain  good security.

It only costs K20 per vehicle entry fee.

The park-like settings of Crystal Rapids.

Oure Keigen, from the local Auberi clan of Koiari, was keeping a vigil over children in the rapids when I had a chat with him.

Crystal Rapids' ranger Oure Keigen.

"Every weekend, we have so many visitors from all over the worlds, from Europeans to Indians to Filipinos to Papua New Guineans," he tells me.

"We look after our visitors and advise them where and where not to swim (because of the fast-flowing rapids).

In the rapids

" We look after the place very well and clean it up on Fridays before the weekend.

"We have haus wins (rest houses) with barbecues and firewood.

One of the haus win at Crystal Rapids.

" You just come and chosen whichever haus win you prefer.

"We also have tourists who come to walk the Kokoda Trail or who are staying at the Kokoda Lodge, visit here to relax and have a swim."

See you at Crystal Rapids