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PNG is on my list to visit. It’s relatively complex to get to. Most flights either leave from Australia or Jakarta, they don’t run frequently enough to where

by itake 11d ago

PNG is on my list to visit. It’s relatively complex to get to. Most flights either leave from Australia or Jakarta, they don’t run frequently enough to where you will probably spend the night in Jakarta or Australia in order to catch the flight the next day. I visited Timor Leste earlier this year and what an interesting country

nephihaha 11d ago
It sounds like it is easy to get to Port Moresby (which is apparently a bit of a dump and very dangerous), but difficult to get anywhere else. PNG has changed very rapidly. Parts of the country were in the Stone Age within living memory and are moving over.
- itake 11d ago
  ChatGPT advised me to not even leave the Port Moresby airport and to fly immediately to one of the small domestic fishing towns for safety reasons.
  - deleted 11d ago
    [deleted]
damidekronik 11d ago
Any cool facts to share about Timor Leste? My usual go to - wikipedia - does paint a rather mundane picture of it.
- sampullman 11d ago
  What's your criteria for mundane? Basically every decent sized island in that part of the world is going to have beautiful beaches, coral reefs, mountains, and jungles.
- FabHK 11d ago
  Crypto scammers have long operated in Cambodia, Philippines, Myanmar after being kicked out of China, and were looking to go to Sri Lanka and Timor Leste next - but Timor Leste's politicians and population got together and fought back successfully, it seems: https://theconversation.com/asias-scamming-gangs-target-timor-leste-as-their-next-frontier-but-they-may-have-misjudged-the-small-island-nation-271776 https://theconversation.com/asias-scamming-gangs-target-timo... (More on those scam factories: https://theconversation.com/it-seemed-like-a-good-job-at-first-how-people-are-trafficked-trapped-and-forced-to-scam-in-southeast-asia-scam-factories-podcast-ep-1-250444 https://theconversation.com/it-seemed-like-a-good-job-at-fir... And from The Economist - lamentably paywalled: https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc)
  - itake 11d ago
    I actually visited abandoned scam centers a couple weeks ago in Bavet, Cambodia. It’s really eery now. All the units had air conditioning units, which I thought was sweet, considering many Cambodians don’t have that. But the prison bars on the windows and barbed wire surrounding the complex was a bit uncomfortable to see.
    - fittingopposite 11d ago
      Wtf. How come you ended up in such a compound?
      - itake 11d ago
        I live in Vietnam. Bavet is a popular border for visa runs for expats. Normally, you don’t actually leave the Cambodia border building or you just take a bus all the way to Phnom Penh to wait for a visa was approved. I was curious about the town, because it’s famous for casinos, scam centers, and Chinese manufacturers.
        thenthenthen 11d ago
        Interesting, did you take pics? Most living quarters (小区）in China have electrical fences and most windows have been barred. Left over from the 80’s when crime was high. Nowadays the bars prevent pets and children from falling out of the window (plus the cage like construction allows for some extra storage space)
- itake 11d ago
  I wish I could share photos. Food is insanely cheap. I had street fried chicken, rice, and I think two sides for literally one US dollar. Their primary currency usd. They have all the child labor problems that other countries in the region have. Everybody seems to know each other. Unlike French colonialized countries, Vietnam, Timor Leste is proudly and vibrantly Portuguese. Similar to Macau but not as wealthy. The public transit system is basically a tiny van that just drives around in loops around the city. You wave the driver down, jump in, and then tap your money against the metal framing when you’re ready to get off (there are no bus stops). I don’t know if you’ve been to Kenya, but it was like very similar to the vans in Kenya, except even smaller.
yreg 11d ago
I tend to fly cheaply with multiple transfers/layovers. What I figured out recently is that it is nice to combine the flights in such a way that one of the layovers is _longer_. When the airport has a good connection to a major city then 12 hours during the day are enough, but I'm happy to bump it to 2-3 days. I have managed to visit some Chinese and Canadian cities this way and it was both more interesting and much cheaper than taking a direct flight.
- itake 11d ago
  Some travel tools allow you to search for 18+ hour connections. I visited Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Hawaii, and Turkey at almost no extra dollar cost. If I like the city I go back.
Sharlin 11d ago
It seems astonishing to me that a "relatively complex" intercontinental trip these days means "have to spend a whole night waiting for the next flight".
- itake 11d ago
  the additional complexity is visas and immigration for that country. I’m American, so I have to pay $35 every time I enter Indonesia and I’m limited to the number times per year I can enter the country. Australia is easier. Just need to fill out ETA for a $20AUD fee. The extra night also eats into your limited vacation time. 18 hours in addition to the 20 hours flying means you’re losing almost 4 days of your trip just transiting. Also, my flights aren’t intercontinental. I did this monkey dance going from tp hcmc to Timor Leste.
  - ozgrakkurt 11d ago
    That is funny. I am Turkish and my government charges me about 30 usd every time I leave the country
- netsharc 11d ago
  I read about a Japanese flying to Indonesia in 1959 (the president of the country was courting her). She flew from Tokyo to Hong Kong, then to Bangkok, then to Singapore before making the last hop to Jakarta.
  - mr_toad 11d ago
    That would have been right around the time that airlines were transitioning to jet aircraft. Back before jet travel it could take a whole week to reach the far east.
mc32 11d ago
It’s not a place for most visitors to go off-piste, unless you’re like MacAffee or that British lad Mike who does a hitch-hikers YT travel channel. They both were/are quite a-tuned to where they are think on their feet and are adept at escaping tough situations. Most people ate not like them.

by itake 11d ago

nephihaha 11d ago

It sounds like it is easy to get to Port Moresby (which is apparently a bit of a dump and very dangerous), but difficult to get anywhere else. PNG has changed very rapidly. Parts of the country were in the Stone Age within living memory and are moving over.

itake 11d ago
ChatGPT advised me to not even leave the Port Moresby airport and to fly immediately to one of the small domestic fishing towns for safety reasons.
- deleted 11d ago
  [deleted]

damidekronik 11d ago

Any cool facts to share about Timor Leste? My usual go to - wikipedia - does paint a rather mundane picture of it.

sampullman 11d ago
What's your criteria for mundane? Basically every decent sized island in that part of the world is going to have beautiful beaches, coral reefs, mountains, and jungles.
FabHK 11d ago
Crypto scammers have long operated in Cambodia, Philippines, Myanmar after being kicked out of China, and were looking to go to Sri Lanka and Timor Leste next - but Timor Leste's politicians and population got together and fought back successfully, it seems: https://theconversation.com/asias-scamming-gangs-target-timor-leste-as-their-next-frontier-but-they-may-have-misjudged-the-small-island-nation-271776 https://theconversation.com/asias-scamming-gangs-target-timo... (More on those scam factories: https://theconversation.com/it-seemed-like-a-good-job-at-first-how-people-are-trafficked-trapped-and-forced-to-scam-in-southeast-asia-scam-factories-podcast-ep-1-250444 https://theconversation.com/it-seemed-like-a-good-job-at-fir... And from The Economist - lamentably paywalled: https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc)
- itake 11d ago
  I actually visited abandoned scam centers a couple weeks ago in Bavet, Cambodia. It’s really eery now. All the units had air conditioning units, which I thought was sweet, considering many Cambodians don’t have that. But the prison bars on the windows and barbed wire surrounding the complex was a bit uncomfortable to see.
  - fittingopposite 11d ago
    Wtf. How come you ended up in such a compound?
    - itake 11d ago
      I live in Vietnam. Bavet is a popular border for visa runs for expats. Normally, you don’t actually leave the Cambodia border building or you just take a bus all the way to Phnom Penh to wait for a visa was approved. I was curious about the town, because it’s famous for casinos, scam centers, and Chinese manufacturers.
      - thenthenthen 11d ago
        Interesting, did you take pics? Most living quarters (小区）in China have electrical fences and most windows have been barred. Left over from the 80’s when crime was high. Nowadays the bars prevent pets and children from falling out of the window (plus the cage like construction allows for some extra storage space)
itake 11d ago
I wish I could share photos. Food is insanely cheap. I had street fried chicken, rice, and I think two sides for literally one US dollar. Their primary currency usd. They have all the child labor problems that other countries in the region have. Everybody seems to know each other. Unlike French colonialized countries, Vietnam, Timor Leste is proudly and vibrantly Portuguese. Similar to Macau but not as wealthy. The public transit system is basically a tiny van that just drives around in loops around the city. You wave the driver down, jump in, and then tap your money against the metal framing when you’re ready to get off (there are no bus stops). I don’t know if you’ve been to Kenya, but it was like very similar to the vans in Kenya, except even smaller.

yreg 11d ago

I tend to fly cheaply with multiple transfers/layovers. What I figured out recently is that it is nice to combine the flights in such a way that one of the layovers is _longer_. When the airport has a good connection to a major city then 12 hours during the day are enough, but I'm happy to bump it to 2-3 days. I have managed to visit some Chinese and Canadian cities this way and it was both more interesting and much cheaper than taking a direct flight.

itake 11d ago
Some travel tools allow you to search for 18+ hour connections. I visited Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Hawaii, and Turkey at almost no extra dollar cost. If I like the city I go back.

Sharlin 11d ago

It seems astonishing to me that a "relatively complex" intercontinental trip these days means "have to spend a whole night waiting for the next flight".

itake 11d ago
the additional complexity is visas and immigration for that country. I’m American, so I have to pay $35 every time I enter Indonesia and I’m limited to the number times per year I can enter the country. Australia is easier. Just need to fill out ETA for a $20AUD fee. The extra night also eats into your limited vacation time. 18 hours in addition to the 20 hours flying means you’re losing almost 4 days of your trip just transiting. Also, my flights aren’t intercontinental. I did this monkey dance going from tp hcmc to Timor Leste.
- ozgrakkurt 11d ago
  That is funny. I am Turkish and my government charges me about 30 usd every time I leave the country
netsharc 11d ago
I read about a Japanese flying to Indonesia in 1959 (the president of the country was courting her). She flew from Tokyo to Hong Kong, then to Bangkok, then to Singapore before making the last hop to Jakarta.
- mr_toad 11d ago
  That would have been right around the time that airlines were transitioning to jet aircraft. Back before jet travel it could take a whole week to reach the far east.

mc32 11d ago

It’s not a place for most visitors to go off-piste, unless you’re like MacAffee or that British lad Mike who does a hitch-hikers YT travel channel. They both were/are quite a-tuned to where they are think on their feet and are adept at escaping tough situations. Most people ate not like them.