Papua New Guinea Travel Guide - Going Out

Hotel dining rooms cater for most visitors and menus in main centres are fairly extensive. The more remote the area, the more likely it is that the menus will be basic. However, increasing use is made of fresh local meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. The number of European, Chinese and Indonesian restaurants is rising.

Things to know: Waiter service is usual. Bills include a 10% sales tax.

National specialities:
• Traditional cuisine of Papua New Guinea is based on root crops such as taro, kaukau and yams, sago and pig (cooked in the earth on traditional feasts).
• Mumu is a traditional dish combining roast pork, sweet potatoes, rice and greens.
• Local fruits include pineapples, pawpaws, mangoes, passion fruit and bananas.

National drinks:
• Alcohol is readily available and includes Australian and Filipino beers.

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: Not customary and discouraged.

Several hotels in Port Moresby have dancing in the evenings and some organise live entertainment. The Arts Theatre stages regular performances. The local newspaper advertises programmes. Sing-sings, tribal events on a smaller scale than the biannual festival, are sometimes held.

A wide range of crafts is available in shops; alternatively, visitors can buy directly from villagers. Favourite buys include local carvings of ceremonial masks and statuettes from Angoram and the Sepik, Buka basketry, arrows, bows and decorated axes, crocodile carvings from the Trobriands, pottery and local art.

Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700, Sat 0900-1300 (some open longer and/or Sunday).