Rot Bung

We get our food several different ways.  An older gentleman stops by the house a couple times a week with vegetables for sale.  He used to only sell asparagus, but now has a variety of things like carrots, broccoli, onions and tomatoes.

Once a month I travel into Mt. Hagen with Gail Dooley and do a day long shopping trip.  In Hagen we are able to get more Western style foods and meats as well as stop by the market for produce.

Then there is a market just down the road from the hospital at the rot bung.  “Rot” (pronounced with a long o) is road and bung (pronounces with a oo sound) is a meeting, so this is where the roads meet.  There aren’t many roads in PNG, so this rot bung is rare and busy.  Nathan usually goes once every week or two and takes one of the kids.   Recently, though, we made a short trip as a family.

This umbrella market has all kinds of produce available as well as the flip flops we got for the kids.

In the small stores we can get boxes of eggs (we go through about 6 dozen a week) and boxes of milk.  The milk comes in cartons that are stored on the shelf and don’t need to be put in the refrigerator until they’re opened.  There’s a little store where people can pay to have their cell phone charged which is important for the many people who don’t have electricity in their homes.   A little movie theater plays lovely American films like Rambo.

The clothing market is outdoors and has used clothing from Australia for sale.  I’ve found some great things for the kids and me there, but usually pass on the winter snow suits hanging on the line.