Where to live in the PI for what I'm looking for.

[hk blues]

17 hours ago, jimeve said:

Are they cannibals?

 

6 hours ago, Mike J said:

Sounding better and more adventurous all the time.   Peter wants to know how to sign up.  

 

6 hours ago, BrettGC said:

They used to be, as well as head shrinkers and cargo cultists - look it up 

I heard one of them went on a self-catering holiday a while back and on the 1st day he ate his own leg! 

[Tommy T.]

7 hours ago, BrettGC said:

They used to be, as well as head shrinkers and cargo cultists - look it up 

Interesting you mentioned cargo cultists...

When visiting a remote island in Vanuatu several years ago, I encountered and befriended, - a "tribe" I will call it - called "Jon Frum."

The story, as I was told, was that during WWII, some members of USA military visited or were stationed in their area. Apparently someone named "John" promised that he (they) would deliver goods to these people. Ever since then, they have waited for and prepared to receive whatever goodies "Jon Frum," might air drop or deliver to them...  Eventually they developed a "cult" that virtually worshipped this forthcoming "Jon Frum." This is a true history, not made up... The native islanders in Vanuatu speak a"pig-English" language to American or English speaking foreigners... So words and phrases are altered from the original yet are sometimes understandable... I could start an entire new topic about this and them...

There is a tribe in remote Vanuatu (which is fairly close to New Guinea geographically) where the locals did eat foreigners...mostly missionaries, who ventured into their lands. I don't think the Papuan's were much different from that, 100 years ago? 

Edited January 24, 2023 by Tommy T.

[BrettGC]

5 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Interesting you mentioned cargo cultists...

When visiting a remote island in Vanuatu several years ago, I encountered and befriended, - a "tribe" I will call it - called "Jon Frum."

The story, as I was told, was that during WWII, some members of USA military visited or were stationed in their area. Apparently someone named "John" promised that he (they) would deliver goods to these people. Ever since then, they have waited for and prepared to receive whatever goodies "Jon Frum," might air drop or deliver to them...  Eventually they developed a "cult" that virtually worshipped this forthcoming "Jon Frum." This is a true history, not made up... The native islanders in Vanuatu speak a"pig-English" language to American or English speaking foreigners... So words and phrases are altered from the original yet are sometimes understandable... I could start an entire new topic about this and them...

There is a tribe in remote Vanuatu (which is fairly close to New Guinea geographically) where the locals did eat foreigners...mostly missionaries, who ventured into their lands. I don't think the Papuan's were much different from that, 100 years ago? 

Bislama is the language you're thinking of in Vanuatu I think (it's an English-based creole), it's sort of a pidgin but more fleshed out than say a true pidgin language like Tok Pisin in PNG or Pidgin Fijian. Aussie military linguists are sometimes trained in pidgin and creole languages in addition to their main primary language.  Pidgin and Bislama course 6 and 12 weeks respectively; primary language is a 12 month intensive course. Yep, an entire topic by itself.

1964 was the last official known instance of cannibalism where a village raided another village in PNG.  PNG was an Australian territory up until 1975 so local Australian police caught and prosecuted the offenders. I've been to East Sepik province where this occurred, it's beautiful.  

There's a tribe in the highlands that had no previous contact with the outside world until the 1970's (an anthropologists dream come true).  Up until then, they believed they were the only people on earth.  They openly practised cannibalism.  They believed that the only way to rid the village of an evil spirit possessing one of its members was the kill and eat the possessed.  There's reports it still occurs but the authorities believe this is just a good story to play up to the foreigners.  

We had a PNG exchange officer on one of the patrol boats I served on in the 1990's, he said his grandparents were still waiting for the planes to drop the cargo. 

 

 

[Tommy T.]

14 hours ago, BrettGC said:

Bislama is the language you're thinking of in Vanuatu I think (it's an English-based creole), it's sort of a pidgin but more fleshed out than say a true pidgin language like Tok Pisin in PNG or Pidgin Fijian.

Yeah... One of my favourites is, "Mi lukim yu bak agin." In other words...., "See you later..." Another is, "Ples blong blo pis pis..." In other words, "Urinal." I loved it... Another was, "Tank u tu mas blong long tok tok yu mi." Again... in other words, thanks for the chat!

Edited January 25, 2023 by Tommy T.

[Peter Magnolia]

Strike that! I draw the line at cannibals.