As a developing country, Papua New Guinea has its share of social problems. But here, no one ever goes hungry.

Street food in PNG is depressingly bland, reminding visitors that the country was colonized by the British. You can find grilled beef sausages whose flavour and texture make you think of unspeakable offals. A popular snack is bread flour: a deep-fried ball of dough with a bread centre.

Wherever we went in PNG, we were the only backpackers there and the first ones that locals ever saw. And for a good reason. There is no infrastructure to accommodate budget travelers.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. You can stay several weeks in the country without spending a lot of money. You just have to work a little harder for it.

The road had ceased being a road and it was now Mars after a bombing. Even when it was a road it still didn’t deserve being called one. It was as if the local authority had cleared the bush, dumped loads of rocks on it and said, “There, deal with it.”

Whatever holes were there, the morning rain enlarged them so they could, in theory, support a small reservoir for the nearby villages.

We were escorted from the car by an entourage of village children who heard two white people would be spending the night in their community.

Understand that this is like learning that your neighbours would receive a visit from Madonna for a live performance in their living room.

One of the most striking sights of a town in the Papua New Guinea Highlands is the sheer number of people who seem to be doing nothing in particular.

They mill around storefronts, wander about street corners, sit clustered in markets or bus stations, either playing cards or chewing betel nut.

One of the hardest parts of traveling to the Papua New Guinea highlands is knowing what to do when surrounded by forty people who behold you in utter rapture.

Stroll into any market in the Mt. Hagen region and you’ll soon have a captive audience that sees a white person every two or so years.

While we visited the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, a journalist from one of the national newspapers interviewed us. They don’t see many foreigners in that area.

And they really don’t see many backpackers. A lot of locals said we were the first they ever heard of.

The article, reproduced in a blog, talks about our experience in the country, and what needs to change for more budget travellers to see PNG as a viable destination.

When someone dies Highlands of PNG, the village gathers for days in collective mourning, called a haus krai. To attend a funeral, where the bereaved wail loudly and publicly, is a journey that tries one’s body and emotions. That’s what we learned when we were invited to grieve for a man that was recently beheaded. Listen to the report.

Ask different residents of Hanuabada how long they’ve been building their houses on the sea and the answer will be the same: since the beginning.

Just a hop away from the posh yacht club in Port Moresby you’ll find this village built on gumtree stilts. Each house is supported by roughly 20 trunks. Several have balconies and outdoor bathing areas and a few boast semi-detached pig pens.

We added PNG to our travel itinerary on a whim. After meeting two charming ladies in Fiji, and reading the few scraps of travel info on the country, we had to see it for ourselves.

PNG is known for its incredible diving, surfing, and tribal diversity. But that’s not what attracted us.