Bougainville: Coast Around Kieta
I don’t do visiting countries just for a checkmark (like some other pseudo-travelers), but rather go deeper and explore as much as possible. So it was a four hour brutal ride on gravel road to the town of Arawa and beyond to Kieta to see the country. As far as the ride goes – it’s not particularly interesting, very bumpy and washboardy and the driver goes 80-90km/hr over brutal rocks without any seatbelts (chewing the betel nuts nonstop and spitting the beyond disgusting red liquid out of the window in 3-4 minute intervals). More on betel nuts later… Once at Kieta – it’s a beautiful tropical coastline with offshore islands and black sand beaches (Bougainville is volcanic). Palm trees swaying, lush vegetation everywhere, and tropical paradise landscape everywhere. Zero tourism.
