Fiji

After being inundated with the war on the news in Sydney, I was happy to escape to Fiji. I flew into Suva, Fiji's capital and largest city. Suva inhabits about 170,000 people. The city bustles with traffic and pedestrians. Several of the busses and taxis leave behind a trail of thick black smoke making the air very thick with smog sometimes. Despite the unpleasant pollutants clogging the air, the people have big smiles and causally stroll about their day.


View from the business district in Suva.

Since my plane landed at 7:30 p.m., I stayed in Suva that night at a nice, but economical, hotel near the city center. After wandering around the downtown area, I decided to see a movie. After the movie, I went to one of the local bars to see if I could find the Oscars being shown. Apparently they were airing that night, but I couldn't get the channel in my hotel room and thought maybe one of the bars would be showing it. They weren't. After a couple of drinks and chatting with the bartender, I headed to bed.

The next morning, I rented a car and decided to drive to Nadi. The drive takes about 3 hours if you are aggressive (It took me 5 with periodic stops along the way). The roads in Fiji as a whole are not very good. This particular road was supposedly one the best ones, but it still posed a challenge. Fiji drivers are aggressive. They pass constantly whether traffic allows or not. Several times, I had to slam on my breaks to avoid an oncoming car passing someone on the opposite side. But after a short while, I became accustomed to the driving and quite enjoyed it.

On the trip, I stopped off a couple of times to enjoy the views of the island. The place is really beautiful. Lush forests cover small mountains on the interior and beautiful white sand beaches line the shores. Occasionally, I would pass through a small village where most of the houses were small structures made of wood and corregated steel. While the houses were primitive by American standards, they looked comfortable. With the weather being so perfect, shelter does not take on such an important role.

When I arrived in Nadi, I rented a room at a hotel in the town. That night, I explored the town by walking around the "downtown" a bit, which was very small and dead during the early evening. I later learned that most of the people during the evening were busy frequenting restaurants and bars out on the "strip"--the road to the airport. I decided to check out the Sheraton Resort which sat on its own island and boasted some of the best restaurants and bars. There, I spoke with a couple of tourists. After a short time, however, I was pretty bored as the tourists were mostly families and married couples from Australia. From the bartender and very friendly waitress, I discovered most people don't go to the Sheraton during the week, only on weekends. I was told to go to Ed's Bar on the "strip" instead.

I never realized Fiji is populated by many Fiji Indians, that is immigrants from India. Apparently, during the British colonization the British brought several Indians to work the sugar cane fields. I believe the arrangement was like indentured servitude. Today, Fiji is composed of approximately 50% Fijians and 50% Fiji Indians. Despite most denials of such by the locals, I found there to be heavy tension between the two groups. For example, the government requires each person to identify their ethnicity on its forms and allocates resources such as scholarships accordingly. The recent coup in Fiji occurred after a Fiji Indian was elected as Prime Minister. Many other examples support my observation as well.

At Ed's Bar I met many local Fijians. In particular, I met a guy named Wise who would become a good friend throughout my time in Fiji. That night, we ended up going to another local club where there was dancing. Of the locals that I met and were hanging with, two were Fijian and two were Fiji Indians. When one of the Fijians suggested we go to After Dark, a local club, the Fiji Indians had to be assured that it was ok to go there. Normally on a weekend they would not feel as welcome, but since it was a weekday night their presence should not be a problem (another example of the tension). At After Dark, I met several more Fijians and had a great time chatting, drinking and dancing. One guy, with whom I was chatting, invited me to stay at his house with him and his wife while I was in Nadi. Since I was going out to take a diving course for the next 3 days out by the ocean, I had to decline, but was honored with the offer. I soon learned that Fiji is a very hospitable place.

The next morning, I woke up very early to catch a ride to the location of my scuba diving course. Fortunately, I was living on "Fiji time" and the fact that I was running over a half hour late was not only not a problem, but on the contrary, completely acceptable.

My diving instructor was a Fijian woman who was very friendly with a great sense of humor. When I arrived, I found out that I was the only one to be going that day. One of the instructors gave me my gear and we headed down to the boat. After some informal chit-chat while cruising along in the boat, we arrived at a sand bank out about 500 yards from the nearest island. Here, the instructor quickly showed me how to be on my gear (as I was putting it on) and we jumped in the water. The boat then sped away to deposit the other diver doing a dive, but not taking lessons. We then went through a couple exercises that instructed me how to breath into the regulator. Within 20 minutes, I was under water scuba diving. After swimming around a bit, we were met by the boat to pick us up again. Back at the school, the instructor gave me a book and worksheet and said, "read this by Friday and we will have a written test on it" (it was Wednesday afternoon at this time and the book was pretty thick...argh studying.)


Scuba instructor in the boat

If you ever want to learn to scuba dive, I strongly suggest doing it in a beautiful place. No need to go to a pool somewhere to learn to dive, jump right in the ocean on a sand bar!

After the dive, I went to my room at a hostel next to the diving school and slept, since I got little sleep the night before.

After getting up from my much needed nap, I went out to join the backpackers. I quickly found that I was not a backpacker, nor did I enjoy being one. Although, I must admit it is nice to be at a hostel because everyone there is traveling from all around the world and are very willing to chat me up. I prefer to meet local people rather than travelers on an extreme budget (that's just me).

This hostel fortunately had a room with air conditioning and en suite bathrooms, so it was like staying in a hotel with privacy and most importantly somewhere to store my belongings without threat of theft. The hostel was close to my diving school, which was convenient with the early morning dives, but it was far away from everything else except other backpacker hostels. For the most part, the hostel does not produce good food. But typically, it is cheap.

The fact that the hostel produces bad food led met to meet Matt from New Zealand. Trying to escape the really bad food at his hostel, he came to the one in which I was staying for reprieve. I am not sure if he really achieved it though. We hit it off quite well as he was traveling in a similar manner to me, with the air conditioned private room. He too was sick of the hostel so we ventured into town and went to Ed's bar. We had a great time. Although Matt left that next day, I met up with him when I came to New Zealand.

The next day, I had two dives and just relaxed back at the hostel, read, wrote and slept. On Friday, I had two more dives, including my skills test, and then went to take my written test. To my surprise, I passed (by skimming the book the night before and getting assistance from my instructor). After my graduation, I took a taxi into town and boarded a mini bus for Suva. The mini-bus is an illegal taxi van that picks up passengers along the way. Although skeptical at first, the ride was very entertaining. I met several Fijians who hopped on and off of the mini-bus as it went from town to town. The mini-bus driver drove with the typical Fijian aggressiveness so the trip was much quicker than taking a regular bus or driving myself. And the trip only cost $12 FD ($6 US) whereas the car rental was $120 FD.

When I arrived in Suva, I met up with Wise and he took me to a friend's place for a house party that included watching rugby, drinking rum and eating a fabulous meal prepared by the host. Rugby is king in Fiji. It is on the TV 24-7 and everyone watches it. I have now become pretty familiar with the game and quite enjoy it. After the games (yes more than one), we headed out on the town. I had a great time meeting many locals and learning to drink Taki--Fijian style. Taki is performed with one glass, a pitcher of whatever you're drinking (usually beer, rum and coke, or Kava) and one person fills the glass and hands it to you, you drink it, give it back, the person then fills it for the next in the group, and so on. It took me a while to get used to it, but after a while, it was quite fun...and very intoxicating!


Hanging out at the house party The next day, I decided to catch a local bus and went out to a park called Covo-i-Suva and hiked around exploring the waterfalls and beautiful rain forest. On the bus out to the park, I was the only non-local person traveling. Although English is the official language of the country and spoken by all, Fijians speak Fiji (their native tongue) and Fijian Indians speak Hindi. Therefore, much of the time I could not understand what people were saying because all Fijians usually only speak english to foreigners such as myself or when speaking across ethnicity barriers (as I learned very few Fijians speak Hindi and very few Fiji Indians speak Fijian).

I soon arrived at the park entrance having debarked the open-aired bus (there are no windows on the regular buses in Fiji). Throughout the park, there were several pools formed by natural damns in the streams. Around these pools, many locals had picnics and swam. I did not encounter any tourists in the park, but happened upon many what looked like school or church sponsored youth picnics of local kids at the pools.


One of the many waterfalls throughout the park The park trail exited into the village about a half a mile from the entrance on the main road at the outskirts of the village. As I strolled through the village, I felt completely relaxed and joyful. Everyone seemed to have a huge smile on their face and appeared very content and happy. Children were playing in and around the rugby field and many adults were gathered around a large speaker where a man spoke in Fijian (I could not understand what was being said, but it appeared to be somewhat religious or political in scope as everyone was dressed in brightly colored, formal dress).


The view as I was leaving the village and heading back to the road to catch the bus

That night, some of the friends I had met the night before had invited me to a Fiji wedding. Gladly, I agreed. The couple getting married were Mormon. Therefore, the wedding was a combination of Fijian and western customs. Since it was a Mormon wedding, there was no drinking or dancing (which is not typically Fijian I was informed). (I have to admit, I am disgusted by the locust-type manner western religion has infected other cultures, but that is for another discussion altogether.) The very tasty and abundant food spread across long tables that lined the hall filled with people. The children were running around in typical wedding fashion. Everyone was very friendly and inclusive. The aunties came around refilling plates of food and making sure we had enough refreshments. The experience was very genuine and I was fortunate to have the opportunity.

After the wedding, we walked to another house party and join up with more friends. On the way, I was shown "the bronx" of Suva (as it is locally called). I would call this area "the projects" if I were to put an American name to the section of the city because government housing occupies the section. The apartments, if you would call them that, are a 12 by 12 foot room, and from what I could see, the only doors or windows consisted of some hanging cloth. Needless to say, they were not very nice. Apparently, sometimes up to 15 people will share this space as their home. I also learned that Fiji does not have a welfare system. If you do not work, you do not have an income. From what I can tell, Fijians rely extensively on family (including the extended family) for support during hard times.


Hangin out at the local bar drinking Taki style

The next day, Sunday, one of the friends I met, Joseph, was relegated to entertain me by Wise, who was working that day. We spent the day exploring Suva including visiting the Pacific Island University where Joseph studied law. Later that day, Joseph and I headed back to Nadi. Joseph had family back in Nadi and decided to take the journey with me and visit them. When we arrived in Nadi, we went to visit Joseph's cousin and her husband and newborn. They lived in a very warm, cozy and inviting one-room apartment near the city.

The next day, I headed out to the Yasawa islands. Fiji is made up of many (like 100) islands. Since I had spent all my time up to now on the biggest island, I wanted to explore what the smaller islands were like. I boarded a ferry which cruised past many islands en route to my destination. After a couple stops at other islands, the ferry slowed to a halt in between two islands, about a mile out from land. Then two small fishing boats filled with tourists and their luggage came whizzing up to the ferry. After they boarded the ferry, I was instructed to grab my luggage and climb down on to the fishing boat. Here, we sat on the floor of the boat and headed to one of the islands.




view of the island

Other islands

When the boat reached the island we were greeted by a band of five Fijians singing a welcome song and playing the guitar. We were then escorted to the resort which sat next to one of the two villages on the island. The resort was a backpacker style resort where there were three meals prepared a day (breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 6:00). Everyone ate the same meal and if you missed the meal, there were no more. You were were left with snacks from the bar. For accommodation, we were given the choice of your own Bure (a hut), a private room with a single bed (and nothing else--smaller than any typical US college dorm room I have ever seen) or a bed in a dormitory (large room filled with bunkbeds). I chose the single bed room in a large Bure.


The resort

The resort was very rustic. Bathrooms were in a Bure all to itself and were without hot water (although to be honest you would never need a hot shower with the weather being as it is).

The first day, I played a little volleyball in the village with some of the locals and then played my first game of touch rugby. All the young men of the village play touch rugby every night before dinner. I was lucky to have gotten to play with them. It was great fun.


Playing rugby

After drinking Kava with the locals into the wee hours of the morning, I slept like a log. Kava is a traditional drink consumed by Fijians. I am not sure what drug is in the drink, but it makes your lips and tongue numb and makes you euphoric and relaxed. The morning after (and all the next day), I was very tired and did not feel well, not like a hangover, but just not well. Needless to say, I was done with the Kava. That morning, I hiked to the top of the island which provided beautiful views.



The rest of the day I just laid on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful island weather. While on the island, I met some really nice travelers from the UK, Norway, Canada (taking leave from teaching in South Korea) and the US.

On the last day, I went snorkeling around the island and headed back to Nadi that afternoon. I had an early flight the next morning so I had a nice dinner and a couple of drinks at Ed's before retiring for a early evening.

Fiji is a beautiful place occupied with great people. I highly recommend it, but would suggest avoiding the backpacker places.