What should have been a simple two day exit route became a stretched out Jail sentence of two weeks. No matter how hard we tried we could not get transport to leave the country. We took a PMV to Madang and even on the way there, a simple taxi ride, the driver got stuck in a river and we had to help to get unstuck and outta the river. T
hen once we arrived in Madang, we booked our boat tickets to go to Vanamo. But then outta nowhere the day we planned to leave on the boat, there was a tsunami warning and everything was shut down. The boats were delayed, everyone had abandoned the city. People were left waiting for food in restaurants and everyone was running down the streets in a panicked state. So then we had to figure out how to get a refund for our boat tickets and get another way outta Madang. We found a plane ticket but it only went half way, so we took it. 
That flight brought us to Wewak, from there all the boats and flights were cancelled because of the tsunami, so we spent some time there trying to get away. Finally a guy gave us a ride to the next town and said that there would be boats from there. So we took the ride and went to Adepai where we ended up having to wait again for a little banana boat to take us to Vanamo. After watching heaps of boats leave with out us, a local man helped us to get on board one of these little vessels. From there it was a five-hour ride filled with big waves, water splashing and really sore bums. But we were excited because we had made it to Vanamo, and therefore we were just a short one-hour drive from the border and freedom! 
But then as soon as we got our hopes up the famous PNG saying, "Expect the unexpected" happened yet again. Because of the Easter holiday everything was closed down for the next five days. The consulate was closed, the borders were closed, all of the stores were closed, and even the banks were not open. So during that time we lived off of crackers and noodles. Once our money ran out we started a tab with a little snack shop so we could still get noodles to eat. 
It was a complete ruckus, and we were not impressed by the whole scenario. But after a short five-day wait there we finally got a visa to enter Indonesia and we caught the first PMV that we could get and made our escape from PNG! I am really hoping that the movie about this part of our trip is released soon. Although I am not so sure if it will be a suspense movie or a comedy! Either way we escaped and we are now on our journey to meet our parents in Thailand! Lehmann
hen once we arrived in Madang, we booked our boat tickets to go to Vanamo. But then outta nowhere the day we planned to leave on the boat, there was a tsunami warning and everything was shut down. The boats were delayed, everyone had abandoned the city. People were left waiting for food in restaurants and everyone was running down the streets in a panicked state. So then we had to figure out how to get a refund for our boat tickets and get another way outta Madang. We found a plane ticket but it only went half way, so we took it. 
That flight brought us to Wewak, from there all the boats and flights were cancelled because of the tsunami, so we spent some time there trying to get away. Finally a guy gave us a ride to the next town and said that there would be boats from there. So we took the ride and went to Adepai where we ended up having to wait again for a little banana boat to take us to Vanamo. After watching heaps of boats leave with out us, a local man helped us to get on board one of these little vessels. From there it was a five-hour ride filled with big waves, water splashing and really sore bums. But we were excited because we had made it to Vanamo, and therefore we were just a short one-hour drive from the border and freedom! 
But then as soon as we got our hopes up the famous PNG saying, "Expect the unexpected" happened yet again. Because of the Easter holiday everything was closed down for the next five days. The consulate was closed, the borders were closed, all of the stores were closed, and even the banks were not open. So during that time we lived off of crackers and noodles. Once our money ran out we started a tab with a little snack shop so we could still get noodles to eat. 
It was a complete ruckus, and we were not impressed by the whole scenario. But after a short five-day wait there we finally got a visa to enter Indonesia and we caught the first PMV that we could get and made our escape from PNG! I am really hoping that the movie about this part of our trip is released soon. Although I am not so sure if it will be a suspense movie or a comedy! Either way we escaped and we are now on our journey to meet our parents in Thailand! Lehmann
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