In the town of Koh Kong, near the border with Thailand, there’s a Buddhist spiritual retreat with a bizarre collection of sculptures by its riverfront.

In the photos below you’ll see sadistic-looking sculptures dressed in KR uniform killing people with the heads of animals. You’ll see a man being sawed in half while being pecked by a garuda, a bird of Buddhist mythology.

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Coming from the country of soccer is wonderful. From Zimbabwe to Vanuatu, you can be sure that your nationality will be instantly recognized – even loved – by the people you talk to. And that admiration will be instantly transferred to you.

Coming from the country of soccer is horrible. Especially if the wounds of defeat are still gushing blood. Or if, like me, you understand piddles about sport.

We asked a local to show us how to chew betel nut, enjoyed and spat out by people everywhere in Papua New Guinea. The experience was little more intense than we expected.

In one of the least-traveled islands of Papua New Guinea, you can find virginal beaches, expert-grade diving and surfing, back-flip into an emerald river, and feed a class of friendly eels.

The Highlands of PNG is the farming heartland of the country, where produce is grown and flown to the coastal zones.

Here’s a quick look at how Highlanders grow and prepare their food.

The buffalo looked calm even though four of his brothers laid bloodied at his feet. It’s as if it knew that his whole life, all the years of pasture and fattening, was meant for this moment.

There was him and another dozen left to go. This was the burial ceremony of a wealthy person, and in Tana Toraja, a region of Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, the size of a funeral has to correspond to the social status of the deceased.

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And so life ordained that our stay in the inhospitable city of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea would be associated (and spiced up) by a host without peer: Rob Sajko.

As a developing country, Papua New Guinea has its share of social problems. But here, no one ever goes hungry.

Street food in PNG is depressingly bland, reminding visitors that the country was colonized by the British. You can find grilled beef sausages whose flavour and texture make you think of unspeakable offals. A popular snack is bread flour: a deep-fried ball of dough with a bread centre.

We were escorted from the car by an entourage of village children who heard two white people would be spending the night in their community.

Understand that this is like learning that your neighbours would receive a visit from Madonna for a live performance in their living room.

One of the most striking sights of a town in the Papua New Guinea Highlands is the sheer number of people who seem to be doing nothing in particular.

They mill around storefronts, wander about street corners, sit clustered in markets or bus stations, either playing cards or chewing betel nut.