I finally have got round to making a video of Mt Hagen’s main market. There are little markets scattered all around town, but this is the main market for town and for the province. The market is a meeting place for some and traders come from all over the province, even some produce comes all the way from the coast. The market is open normally 7am to 5pm everyday except Sunday. It is a very easy going place, but can be intense due to the noise and crowd of people.
There are a few cultural things to know about shopping at a market in PNG. You pay before you take anything or touch anything. You don’t walk over food on the ground, especially women (this can be considered offensive). You don’t pick up items too many times while trying to chose something good (it can offend the seller). You need to have close to the right change, anything bigger than 2K will be hard to get change. The price of most things is fixed, especially food.
I normally do my shopping Saturday morning. Umm this Saturday morning I was a bit out of it, ummm we had a plan of what we would do, umm but it didn’t really work out, it was noisy as usual. It wasn’t too busy, but hope it gives a little insight into shopping in PNG.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Hey Matt,
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day and an awesome year ahead, looking forward to seeing you again soon!
Jamo
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May 13th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for the video Matt. I grew up in Mt Hagen in the 70s and often went to the market — it looked a bit different in those days! though the profusion of produce hasn’t changed. There used to be a tiny public library nearby, I guess that is long gone.
I really enjoyed the video footage, quite a nostalgia trip, thanks again.
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