Buai Smiles -WARNING! The following might gross you out.

Many locals here in Mt Hagen chew ‘Betel nut’. It is harmless on its own, but mixed with lime it becomes ‘buai’. It gives people a high, (not unlike nicotine) and is addictive.

Our PNG cultural notes tell us that ‘betel nut is chewed in some areas to formalise greetings, cement relationships, conclude negotiations, restore peace and appease spirits.’ Any and every occasion calls for buai. You only have to observe the bright red stained smiles around town to know that it is certainly the drug of choice here in Hagen.

Once chewed, the remains are spat out, it is a red as blood and stains everything. Walls and walkways get splattered, and when it rains, the water runs red and pink down the street, washing the buai away. We will be driving along with a mini bus in front of us (taxi - jammed full of people), and out the window comes a stream of red spit. (I wont let the kids wind the car windows down for fear that we will get hit by some ones buai spit).

On top of all this, this delightful drug causes all sorts of cancer of the jaw and tongue.