Rain. Rain. Rain. Repeat.

So much for experiencing the great scuba and snorkeling opportunities that are present in Madang. The past few days have been completely shit as far as the weather goes. Every day it has rained, putting us under guest house arrest for the time being. The other day we attempted to check out an old Japanese air base north of here, apparently an easy bus ride away. We boarded a bus where four of the staff told us they were headed there, only for us to pay them right outside of town and be informed ten minutes later that they're not going that way, and we had to pay to go back into town. While it only ended up being less than two Kina, it was still annoying to be blatantly ripped off. And to add insult to injury they even had the audacity to ask us if we wanted to charter the bus for one hundred Kina. The good part of it all was we met an old lady, Mary, who tried to help us find another bus to the airfield (which we gave up on after an hour). She offered us to stay at her place if we make it to Vanimo; another example of how friendly Papua New Guineans can be.

And tomorrow, the birthday boat to Wewak! Yes, that's right, it's my birthday in PNG tomorrow. South Pacific beers on the South Pacific sounds like a right way to spend the anniversary of your birth...