This weekend has been just like the others, with the prospect of having to face the daunting task of laundry and ironing clothes and filling in the time with something that hopefully will somehow prove to be amusing. It’s a good thing that Remembrance Day in PNG this year falls on a Monday so we have a three day weekend to enjoy however we like. I slept in Saturday morning and got up at 0900 and really took my time to do my household chores. Today, Sunday, Thomas and I decided to splurge a little bit by going to Airways Hotel for a good and hearty breakfast. The hotel is very posh and Western by all standards, from the pristine white china, to the pure white linen tablecloths and napkins. Even the coffee/tea cups are petite; it sure reminded me of Rose in the Titanic, sipping tea with lemon quite prim and proper and placing the linen napkins on the lap ever so carefully. Meanwhile, I also thought that I was back in Cairns Australia once again as I sat down at the familiar tropical rattan chairs underneath wooden ceiling fans and fixtures. The restaurant is nicely situated with most of the seating arrangement out in the open air facing Jackson International Airport. I asked Tom if we were still in PNG and he just laughed at me. He of course understood that I meant the stark contrast of the environment from where we just came from versus where we were at that moment—it was really, quite frankly, palpably different. 100% of the customers and hotel guests were expatriates busily crunching numbers in their IPhones, Ipads, and Blackberries, or reading the business section of the local niuspepa (newspaper). We both watched as Air Niugini and Airlines PNG domestic and international flights taxied off the runway before lifting for takeoff. There were some Qantas flights as well, probably heading to Brisbane or Cairns. I immediately thought that I will be in one of those flights again soon. September 4th marks the 60th day again of my second entry here and therefore I have to leave the country once again and come back. I am still deciding as to where I will be going this time: Cairns Oz (again), Brisbane or Sydney Oz (though it’s winter in there at this time, and it will be cold), New Zealand (winter also), Nadi, Fiji (hmmm, nice tropicality in here but I only have two to three days to enjoy and I will be spending half of that time in the air), Singapore, Vanuatu, or Solomon Islands. Most likely it will be Cairns again—one and a half hour flight and I will be in the playground once more. We’ll see… Also, there are a couple of days in September when there will be no work because of PNG Independence Day—9/16 to 9/19—and I am also thinking about having a mini getaway once more. Still prematurely thinking of it at this time, not sure yet, but it would be nice to go somewhere to relax and enjoy.
Tom and I, the voracious omnivores that we are, both ordered the Combination Breakfast, which is one order of a hot breakfast meal—usually 2 eggs whichever way, bacon, hashbrown, and grilled tomato—and an open continental breakfast bar—pastries galore, fruit juice, fruit bar, dry cereal, antipasti bar, etc. The traditional egg omelette with onions and tomatoes was dashed gracefully and generously with a little too much salt. There was one leaf of parsley to add and contrast the color, which I thought was a nice touch. The hashbrown was the size of a silver dollar. The grilled tomato was, well, one solitary cherry tomato, which was really cute! In order to restore the balance and equilibrium as well as the Na+/K+ pump, I also feasted on generous servings of papayas, cantaloupes, honeydews, bananas, and grapefruit slices. While I was enjoying the fruits of the season, especially the grapefruit, all of a sudden, the thought of hepatic inhibition/induction through the elaborate and confusing cytochrome P450 system emerged in the firing synapses of my neuronal connections. I thought “Oh my goodness, here goes my fish oil and Diltiazem interactions…” But in the end, I ate the whole plate of fruits anyway, figuring that I should and would be ok since I only had about three wedges of the citrus grande full of furanocoumarin. Overall, Airways Hotel restaurant is Grade B+ for service, B+ for food, and B+ for the price. Like all else in PNG, combination breakfast at Airways Hotel was priced a bit much for what it actually offers. Not that I am complaining, for I really did enjoy the change of scenery and the experience of having to dine in while watching the airplanes fly. I suppose the criticisms are objectively stated.
It was calm and peaceful high noon as Tom drove us back home using the scenic back roads lined with ubiquitous mango trees. It will be mango season soon enough as evidenced by the densely fruitful trees. I remember my Mom dearly because it’s her favorite fruit of all. The mangos that we have in the US I believe are imported from Florida, Costa Rica, or somewhere in South America, and though its good, it absolutely cannot compare to the mangos here in the Pacific. The aroma alone of the fruit stimulates the senses and induces appetite for it. Well, there are no mangos yet in the market, and as soon as it hits, I will be having a bounty, take pictures, and post it here.
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