What a finish to the year! In this issue of Paradise we have stories about both of PNG’s big sporting wins, as well as a feature piece about rugby league, which has become a national obsession.
Papua New Guinea has excelled on the sporting field, in both rugby league and AFL football.
The PNG Hunters, sponsored by Air Niugini, won the Queensland Rugby League’s Intrust Super Cup premiership after just four years in the competition and the country’s AFL team, the PNG Mosquitoes, won the AFL International Cup.
From the sporting field to the fashion field, we take a look at how traditional bilum bags are now catching on as a ‘must have’ accessory for fashionistas around the world. There are even moves being made to sell the bags in stores in New York, Los Angeles and London.
Still talking bilums, we report on the colourful bilum dresses being created by Florence Jaukae Kamel. She says people thought she was crazy when she first wore one into town, but now they are catching on.
Travellers will enjoy our story about Madang. Marisa Howden travelled there for Paradise, discovering superb tropical diving and snorkelling. She writes that the north coast is also rich in culture and that there are cultural and sightseeing tours so you can see the best of Madang.
We also take intrepid travellers to the annual Mask Festival in Kokopo, where sacred rituals, elaborate costumes and fire dancing are part of the spectacle.
Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Bali and Japan are among the other destinations visited in our November/December pages.
Japan is only a short Air Niugini flight away, but it provides a stark contrast to PNG as our writer goes skiing in fluffy powder snow and visits natural hot springs in the mountains that are full of monkeys warming themselves in the thermal water. It’s quite a sight!
We’ve introduced a new restaurant page in the magazine, this time featuring an extremely popular Bougainville pizza inn that our writer says is a ‘culinary miracle’.
Port Moresby’s food scene is taking off and in future issues we’ll do more reviews of POM restaurants, alongside reviews of great places to eat on the Air Niugini route network, from Sydney to Hong Kong.
Happy reading and flying,
Robert Upe, Editor
Paradise Magazine, November/December 2017