My ten and a half hour flight to Fiji went smoothly and at 5:30 in the morning, I stepped off the plane and into my adventure. The sun was already up and local Fijians played the guitar/ukelele and sang in their dialect. I decided to catch a bus from the airport in Nadi (on the Western side of the main island) to Suva (on the South East corner of themain island) The 4 hour bus trip drove along the coral coast through small villages and coconut palm lined beaches. I met a 17 year-old boy on the bus from Nadi, who after communicating in broken English invited me to come back to his village for prawns this Tuesday. I got off the bus and took a cab to my first hostal.. the Raintree Lodge. My taxi driver, Raj, decided he wanted to be my best buddy. When he dropped me off at the hostal, he parked his car and came in to have a local Fiji Bitter beer with me. Before long he realized that I hadn't eaten in a while and invited me to goto the market with him to buy a chicken and he would have his mother cook it for us. We went back to his house and his mother made an amazing chicken curry dish while we watched music videos on his TV.

There are 3 kinds of people in Fiji- Fijians, Indian-Fijians and Pacific Islander-Fijians. Raj is of the Indian breed. His greatgrandparents came to Fiji and his family had lived there ever since.

This is where the story gets good... sorry this is a little scattered but a LONG few days with plenty of stories already.

Raj invites me to go to a picnic with him the next day down at a local beach. I figured, what the hell, and told him to pick me up at 11:30 AM. I had turned him down the night before for beers at his favorite watering hole as the jet lag/marathon had kicked in. I guess I had made a conversation starter that "hey, we'll go find some women." A common joke in America, but to Raj... this was serious.

He shows up at 11:30 as I was playing pool with 2 girls from Australia and a guy from Norway. He drops off this God-awfully ugly Indian girl and says he will be right back to get us. This honey tips the scales at an estimated 190 lbs. She's got a cropped shirt on with her stretch marked belly hanging over some tight blue jeans. I can't pronounce her name and she really doesn't speak English to well.

An hour goes by and I'm just playing pool, trying to avoid this girl who is sitting by herself at a table drinking none other than a Fiji Bitter. I think.. wonderful Punjab is getting hammered and preparing to make the moves on the poor American. The Aussie girls and Norweigan are dying laughing and making up tales how she might just eat me.

Raj finally comes back to the hostal to kick this picnic off. The girl keeps pointing at me and smiling with her curry stained teeth as we drive to get ANOTHER girl. We pick-up Punjab #2 at a little shanty house and she and the fat one go in to "get pretty." I'm freaking out by this point wondering why I have been blessed with this situation. As backpackers from around the world frolick in the warm South Pacific Sea, I am about to be sacrificed to a tribe of Indian girls.

I hadn't eaten all day so I ask Raj if I can get some food. We stop at a curry house and get a quick feed as Raj (we left the beasts in the car) explains to me that now we will go get a hotel room and have some fun. I just about vomit my curry and come back with a "WHAT?!!!" "Yes, we get some beers and go to hotel for maybe (looks at his watch and it is 2PM), maybe 2 hours and have some fun.

The gameplan starts to formulate in my head. The fat girl has brought theother fat girl to be my special something. They kept asking me in broken English if I like Indian girls... and I would respond, "Are you kidding me, I LOVE Indian girls!" Then they would giggle.

I tell Raj that I appreciate his generosity, but that I would like to eat my curry and leave. He can't believe that I don't want to have "good time" with the Punjab. Then he starts to get frustrated and worried and it turns out they had PAID the "other" fat girl to come be my special punjab for the afternoon. And now that I was not going to except the offer, Raj didn't know how he would make up for the money loss.

I told Raj I apologize and I will get out of the car right now. I got out and walked to the local bus station and caught the next bus to a GREAT backpackers resort in the middle of nowhere, white sand, coconut palms, yeah... the whole bit. I went for a trek down the coast for about 2 hours last night before the sun went down and saw all sorts of cool wildlife. Blue starfish, neat fish and creatures. I met some Australians, English and Irish people last night and we stayed up until 2 AM at the cafe/bar right on the beach drinking "stubby's"- Fiji Bitter.

I went for a swim in thecrystal clear water of the South Pacific Sea this morning to rinse off any Raj that might be on my clothing. What a start to the adventure... It can only go up from here!