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December 17, 2004

Feejee Experience

Ok, straight from the plane onto the tour I've booked. All over the place cos I was 8 hours behind the UK and now I'm 12 hours ahead of them. I lost a day flying from LA to Fiji - I've had no Sunday this week!

Anyway, Feejee Experience was brilliant - so glad I did it. We did so much. Day 1 we went to Natadola Beach wich was stunning, couple of hours sunbathing and swimming, then lunch on the beach and a game of volleyball. Next we went to a local village where all the kids were waiting to meet us and gave us all a frangipan (flower) to put in our hair. They were so cute - all grabbing our hands and so excited to show us around. The villages here are very basic and they have loads of customs. Each one has a chief and it is disrespectful to touch a Fijian on the head - someone has died for it! Back on the bus, a big green, air conditioned bus, heaven in this heat, the heat is so humid - it's like a big furnace! We went to some sand dunes which was much steeper than I expected - this is where we sandboard - SHIT! Had second thoughts but I'd been looking forward to it so forced myself - the walk up the hill was bloody hard enough - when I got to the top, I felt sick but threw myself down the hill on my boogie board. God, it goes fast, thought I might die! Banged my chin off my board when I reached the bottom, bruised for 2 days! There was a prize for whoever went the furthest and although I didn't win, I wasn't far off the winner. Wasn't sure I'd do it a second time but my competitive streak got the better of me and off I went. Totally fell off at the bottom this time, face covered in sand! Hostel we stayed at tonight was nice, started raining whilst we were there though - someone said there's a cyclone on the way, oops! I had a white snapper for dinner - bit unexpected, they brought the whole fish - eyes, teeth, the lot! Bit offputting but it was delicious.

Day 2 - Jungle Trek! What am I doing? 3 hour trek through the rainforest - first 20 mins killed me - too humid and we weren't quite in the jungle then. Got a bit easier after that although it wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done. Started raining as soon as we entered the rainforest - proper jungle rain - massive drops. We were totally soaked through but after a while you got used to it. Rained on and off the whole trek after that. We walked through a stream for about 20 mins as well. It was hard work but I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. After the trek we tubed down the river, basically we all sat in inflatable tyres and floated down - bit slow but we went through a few rapids which was great. There's a waterfall where you can swing out from a rope and jump in but the current was too strong for us to do it. Went to Suve tonight, the capital city of Fiji. All out for dinner at a restaurant where I drank lots of sangria with Clodagh, an irish girl on the bus. We went to a local club afterwards but I couldn't stay long - don't know wether it's the heat or jetlag but can't stay awake longer then 10pm! Bloody dogs that belonged to the Hostel kept me awake half the night howling and barking at 3am - not amused!

Day 3 - Cultural Day today. The trip normally includes a visit to a local school but it's the holidays just now so we went to an orphange instead. It wsa heart breaking - they were all so cute. Ages ranged from 2 to 19 and there were 38 children living there. They all gathered round and sang songs for us which brought a tear to my eye! Then every one of them came round each person and said 'Bula' and shook our hands. Bula is the Fiji greeting - it means good life I think. We all split up into groups and the bigger girls showed us round the orphanage - it was very basic but quite big and all of them seemed very happy. The girl who showed me round was 19 but looked 12, she said she would leave when she goes to University and moves into dorms. Beacuse the orphamage is run by Nuns, they don't have very much money so we each took them some stationary and a few other things like beach balls which they loved! Next stop was a Fijian village - this time we were part of a traditional kava ceremony. Everyone who enters the village must wear a sulu (sarong), even the men and the women must cover their shoulders - you must also remove your shoes, hats and sunglasses. The chief invited us in and we all sat in a circle in a large room - the chief blessed the kava which is Fijian national drink - it is made from the kava plant and is supposed to be very potent like alcohol. They drink it every day in the villages but not like you drink in a bar - there is a certain way to drink it and a routine beforehand which they adhere to every time. After the chief had stopped speaking in Fijian, some of the boys from the village brought us round the kave - it is an insult to refuse it. It looks and tastes like dishwater! You have to clap once before accepting it, say Bula, drink it all in one go and then clap three times before saying Vinaka (thank you). The kava went round about 4 times - they just kept making more which is a ritual in itself - they put the ground up kava in a muslin cloth and then strain water through it - the end result is what you drink. After the ceremony, all of us including the Chief and the male villagers went down to the river for billi billi rafting - this is basically about 5 large sticks of bamboo tied together to make a raft. Each raft had a Fijian 'poler' pushing the raft along with a stick and about 4 people on each raft - then we all lay down and paddled and had a big race! My raft didn't win but there was definite cheating! Day 3 ended on one of the islands - total paradise. We stayed on Nananu-i-ra Island. It was actually like someting from the movie 'The Beach'. White sand beaches, snorkelling, diving, hammocks on the beach - total heaven. You can cook for yourself on the island or you can eat from the big buffet which is what I did. The food was delicious. At night some of the backpackers who were staying there put on a show with a Fijian guy - they did a warrior dance and some of them did firethrowing for the first time ever! Totally amazing. Eaten alive by Mozzies though and they'd run out of repellent on the island! Nightmare. Kept awake all night scratching and then turned my head to the side and saw a HUGE rat running along the beam in the dorm - they can't really stop them cos people keep taking food into the dorm - how glad was I to be staying in the middle of the room nowhere near the walls! Very sad to leave here the next day, it's so chilled out and relaxing but I have 3 days on another island to look forward to.

Spent the next 2 nights at Nadi Bay Hotel - Nadi is th town nearest the airport. The hostel is really nice - has a swimming pool, 2 restaurants/bars, travel centre and I had a lovely air conditioned room. Went shopping the next day with Clodagh, an irish girl I met on the Feejee Experience. We got persuaded into a shop by some locals who convinced us to buy our souveniers from them as the money would stay in Fiji and not go to India or whatever. They gave us some kava to drink and then wouldn't tell us the price of anything - just kept telling us they would do us a deal when we'd picked everything we wanted. They asked for a ridiculous amount of money but we played the skint backpacker card and bartered them right down. Bought some lovely things that will remind me of Fiji when I get back home.

The next 3 days I spent on Beachcomber Island which is supposed to be the party island. It was very nice but very small - you could walk round the whole island in about 5 mins, although I think most of the islands here are like that. They don't have cooking facilities here so the accommodation rate includes 3 meals a day - food was delicious but pretty much the same every day. I didn;t really do that much on the island - there was a few people I knew from the Feejee Experience and I met up with some other people as well. It is the biggest party island out of all the islands but still pretty chilled out. Spent most of my time playing cards in the bar! I did attempt a dive one day though - paid for an intro dive and watched the video, got into my wetsuit and rest of my gear and then we went into the dive pool to practice - I totally freaked out as soon as I got underwater and I couldn't go through with it in the end -should probaly have tried snorkelling first! Spent my last day sunbathing and now have a lovely tan which I'm very proud of -bit sunburned as well right enough - even with factor 30 on. Last night I spent in Nadi Bay Hotel again as I leave early the next day for my flight to New Zealand - looking forward to being able to settle in one place for a while and unpack!

Posted by Trish on December 17, 2004 08:28 AM
Category: Fiji
Comments

Trish,
Sounds like you're having a lovely time! Fiji sounds wonderful. Keep on enjoying yourself! Can't wait to read about New Zealand.
My friends from NY have asked for you, want to make sure you're having fun...so don't disappoint them ;)
Cheers...
*Liz

Posted by: Liz on December 22, 2004 05:52 PM

Thanks Liz - Fiji was awesome. Tell all your friends I said HI and thanks for making sure I had an excellent time in NY.

Posted by: Trish on December 23, 2004 05:49 AM

Merry Christmas!!
sounds like your having a great time, i'm glad all is going well!
We've got a lovely white christmas here,can't believe it!
looking forward to hearing about NZ
Take care
Aila x

Posted by: Aila on December 25, 2004 05:35 PM

Hiya Darling, are u ok after recent events after earthquake? We're a bit worried about you and your plans now. Let us know.
oodles of love
Sue & Andrew xxxxxxxxxxx

Posted by: Sue & Andy on December 28, 2004 10:56 PM

God I'm speechless! Hope you had great xmas and have brill new year. Fiji sounded so unbelievable. Hope you ok after all the recent goings ons hope they didn't effect you.Keep us posted love kirsteen & colin xxx

Posted by: kirsteen on December 29, 2004 03:04 PM
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