Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Trip feedback 2016 Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Papua New Guinea
fabiocaoscorpio 17:24 UTC 30 Dec 2016 | I crossed to PNG from Jayapura,a taxi taking you to the border and back will set you back 600000 rupees,that's what i've paid for, when i've arrived the border was shut,i was told the officer packed up and left cause he didn't get his christmas allowance, and the border was shut on 25th and 26th as well! Most people from PNG just use the road around the border post that goes through the forest,they go buy cheap goods on the indonesian side and then head back. After talking to the soldier at customs on the PNG side,one of them was convinced to let me through at the condition i leave my passport with them and i would get it back when i get back from Vanimo and i agreed with that. Once on the PNG side i got one of these minivans leaving to Vanimo,i've paid 10 kuna for the ride that takes 1 hr, once in Vanimo the bus pulls out in front of the beach by the market. the town is supersmall with really not much to see,i spent a couple of hours wondering around the 2/3 streets there,talking to the locals,taking pictures and videos with them,everyone was supernice,foreigners are still a rare sight......there was a football tournament so i went in the middle of the locals watching football matches sitting down on the grass for a little while....after visiting the onlysupermarket which was very undersupply compared to stores in indonesia i decided to get on the bus taking me back to the border post. the ride from jayapura is 2hrs to indonesian border post,then another hour to vanimo,so it's a 6hrs roundtrip,it can be done on a daytrip since i think 2/3 hrs in vanimo are plenty unless you like to surf and on the outskirt of the city you have a couple of surf camps. |
Eavkin 12:50 UTC 03 Jan 2017 | Vanimo is pretty much a transit place, not somewhere to visit if you wanted a feel of PNG. | 1
Carm90 10:38 UTC 07 Feb 2017 | Where would be? I am heading there in a few days and am a little nervous to say the least. | 2
fabiocaoscorpio 10:50 UTC 07 Feb 2017 | Where would be what ? | 3
Thorn Tree 01:00 UTC 08 Feb 2018 | This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you. | 4