Dancing in Madang

We arrived at Madang to the wonderful welcome of local dancers who had come into town to celebrate  Independence Day in New Guinea.

The large troupe of dancers was really excellent and provided a stunning visual impact.

We watched them from our balcony before going down onto the dock to watch the performance up close.  The sort of event that in the “old days” you would have run out of film.

  As we entered the port, we passed the coastwatchers’ memorial.  This lighthouse commemorates the work of coastwatchers reporting on Japanese movements in WW2.

                                              The warriors in their elaborate costumes.

                                                    The ladies in their spectacular outfits.

                           

                                        Both the men and women wore elaborate headdresses.

                                             Rob with a young dancer and her mother.

We walked around to the Women’s Market where there was an array of wood carvings, basketwork and much more.  We made our purchases from a stall supporting a preschool.

  Gail with some of the stallholders. After we took their photo, they whipped out their mobile phones and took our photos!

                                              There were more dancers performing here as well.

                Masks and carvings.  Australian Customs would not have allowed us to bring back the                                                painting of Jesus on the turtle shell.

We walked around to the resort hotel where there was a special dance festival.  We also spent time here struggling with the vagaries of 3^rd world internet.

                                  Some of the male dancers at the festival.

                                     A cassowary chick that was wandering through the resort.

We were surprised how small the city of Madang is and how cut off it remains.  We were the first cruise ship to visit this year and we were surprised that just as many people came to take photos of us as we did of them.