A cruise through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea on Ponant's Le Soleal

By Michael Gebicki
August 13 2016 - 12:15am
Ponant ship Le Soleal on its Magic of Maluku and Melanesia cruise. Photo: Nathalie Michel
Ponant ship Le Soleal on its Magic of Maluku and Melanesia cruise. Photo: Nathalie Michel
Your cruise ship is pictured, thankfully, in the background. Photo: Nathalie Michel
Your cruise ship is pictured, thankfully, in the background. Photo: Nathalie Michel

The villagers at Tufi are declining to dance. They're supposed to put on a sing-sing, a traditional dance performance that goes by the same name throughout Papua New Guinea but with infinite variations. It's spotting rain, and rain will spoil their headdresses, hugely inflated bonnets with fanned cockatoo feathers trimmed with beads and shells. "And our face paint runs in the rain," another dancer confides, thereby sealing the no-show. It's disappointing but already we've been entertained beyond our wildest imaginings.

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