Is Papua New Guinea really as dangerous as everyone says it is?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Is Papua New Guinea really as dangerous as everyone says it is?

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

I'm planning on continuing my travel efforts as soon as this coronavirus stuff dies down. My goal is visiting every continent/regional area, which leaves South America and Australia/Oceania. I typically choose two countries in each visit on each trip.

I obviously had to go to Australia since it is a continent, but I was wondering what should be the other country that I should visit. New Zealand seems like a given, but I prefer to visit more "developing"/hidden gem nations. So I saw Papua New Guinea and it peaked my interest. Doing research, nearly everyone treats the country like Mad Max. People state that it is one of, if not the, most dangerous countries in the world. Homicide wise it doesn't seem THAT high. However it all makes me curious just how dangerous the country is.

Does anyone have any experience visiting/living there?

# ¿ Apr 6, 2020 03:10

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 02:19

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

freeasinbeer posted:

Its uhhhhhh not developed and is a legit shithole. Think less undiscovered beauty and more trash filled beaches and expensive lovely accommodation/transport.

Just visit Thailand/Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam like other westerners and call it a day.

I already visited SE Asia. Where in Oceania would you recommend?

Also I was wondering if it was that dangerous. People on Tourist Reddit made it seem like Caracas.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2020 01:45

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Saladman posted:

E: Out of curiosity OP, where have you been that you consider a hidden gem?

I guess "hidden gem" is the wrong word to use, but rather places people rarely go but have a unique and interesting culture and/or geography.

The countries I've so far visited have been: Cambodia, Japan, Kenya, and Uganda.

Japan is a popular tourist spot so I won't expand on it.

Cambodia was great. I went during Songkran on accident and it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the cheap everything and Angkor Wat. I also unironically enjoyed traveling in the tuk-tuk and seeing how there were zero rules of the road and having my driver driving on the wrong side of the road against traffic while I didn't even have a seatbelt on.

Kenya was so-so. I went there primary for the safari but was in the city most days. While I enjoyed Nairobi it began wearing really thin at the end as I got tired getting harassed in the city all the time with people trying to scam me.

Uganda was better than I expected. Lots of interesting stories from me just walking around and meeting people. Interesting scenery. Didn't do too many "touristy" things but it was well worth it.

Nam Taf posted:

This is good adivce. Listen to this. Flights from Australia to the Pacific Islands are cheap and you can go live like an emperor slamming back kava and drinking out of coconuts on really nice beaches.

But also NZ's south island is one of the most picturesque places in the world so don't write it off. It's also even cheaper again to get to from Australia than the islands are.

So what would be some places you would list besides NZ south island?

# ¿ Apr 9, 2020 04:40

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Saladman posted:

Yeah, I don't think anyone would ever consider Angor Wat or Nairobi "hidden gems". Anything that's on the "top 10 what to do in X" Dorling Kindersley guidebook or Rick Steves itinerary or whatever is pretty much the definition of what is not a hidden gem.

But to be fair to OP, this is a travel forum, so I'm guessing that the regular posters here are all in the top like <1% worldwide in terms of international travel experience and in terms of being personally responsible for murdering glaciers. Outside of travel forums, Kenya Cambodia, and Uganda are not super commonly gone to, in the way that many of your friends from HS have probably been to France (or I guess for you as an Aussie, maybe Thailand would be the closer equivalent), while probably only a handful of people you personally know have been to Kenya.

Pretty much.

Most people I know either go take a Eurotrip, go to Mexico, or Thailand. That's about it. Maybe add in in Dubai.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2020 23:31

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Are there any Oceania countries that are relatively cheap and are still paradise?

# ¿ Apr 11, 2020 07:21

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Davincie posted:

you don�t seem to have that many specific needs and knowledge of the area so why not just do bali ? yeah every other aussie goes there, but japan has millions of tourists every year too. and if you want something more obscure pick one of the many other indonesian islands

Because it is technically not part of Oceania.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2020 01:25

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Saladman posted:

New Zealand is on his list of arbitrarily-accepted places anyway.

Yeah I think I'll go with New Zealand. So, South Island is far better than North Island correct? Is there a reason to visit the North Island?

# ¿ Apr 13, 2020 21:01

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

HookShot posted:

There are a lot of things to visit on the North Island too, but the South is prettier.

Really this is the point where you need to start doing a Google search.

But I trust goon opinions above all else.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2020 21:26

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Nam Taf posted:

We’ve given you our opinions. We’re not planning your holiday for you. We have no idea what you like to do on it. It’s up to you to decide what sort of holiday you like and plan it

I'm not having you all plan my holiday, in just asking what your experiences were like.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2020 00:07

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Saladman posted:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3842929

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3805041

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3730298

And apparently archives only go back 6 years? I don't see any threads older than May 2014. Not that any of those threads have more than a handful of posts on them, T&T seems to really only be geared towards Disney, East Asia, and Europe, every other thread topic on here in the past 10 years I've been following is nearly a ghost town.

I see. Thank you.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2020 17:37

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Yeah I'll definitely consider the Soloman Islands and Fiji.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2020 03:12

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 02:19

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Thesaurus posted:

many thanks to this thread for prompting me to start learning about papua new guinea.

A lot of the info you find is just

The place sounds truly off the rails

I read on Reddit about stories how the country has people robbing tourists cellphones with machetes. Like they'll demand their cell phones or they'll just chop their heads off.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2020 01:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Is Papua New Guinea really as dangerous as everyone says it is?