Trying to stay cool in Fiji
I left San Francisco on Saturday. My flight to Los Angeles was uneventful, but late. I then got to LAX which has to be one of the worse marked airports in the world. There are absolutely no signs whatsoever to tell you how to get anywhere. After lots of questions I finally made it to the right gate. At 23:15, I boarded a 767-300 for Nadi. These planes are designed to hold about 250 people, but there were only about 30 or 40 of us on the plane. I actually manged to get a “decent” night’s sleep as I could spread out on the three seats in the center row. Upon arriving in Nadi I found out, as I expected, that my checked bag was lost. I usually have the worst luck with baggage. My bag went all the way to New Zealand but will hopefully be delivered to my lodge today.
After dealing with the lost baggage people, I found and boarded a bus for Suva. I was actually escorted to the bus office by a very happy looking woman. I get the suspicion that I may have taken the expensive bus. The bus was air conditioned and stopped at various resorts on the way. It took a while to get out of Nadi as the bus was leaving as soon as school was starting for the day. Traffic snarled by an endless parade of children in the streets. Once in the countryside, we passed through many small villages and past mountains that were pratically smothered in vegetation.
Upon arrival in Suva, I was dropped off at the main bus station. The bus station was a madhouse or so it appeared to me. People were running everywhere. Buses honking horns, belching diesel fumes, and barely avoiding hitting other buses. It was everything I ever dreamed a developing world bus station would be. I saw a sign for the main bus office but there were no windows from which to get help, so I went at random to one of buses that appeared to be parked at a safe location. I spoke with the driver and he said that his bus was the one I should take to get to my lodge. At least the bus had “Lonely Planet”, where I am staying, printed on the side. I got on the bus and off we went belching diesel fumes, barely missing a pedestrian who seemed oblivious to the bus’ presence, and listening to the sounds of Nickelback. I made it to the lodge in one piece.
At the lodge, I found out I was staying in a large dormitory. As this is the low season in Fiji (its very hot and wet), I had the entire dorm to myself along with virtually the entire staff. I started speaking with one of the chefs (Roy) at the restaurant. I mentioned that I needed a hair cut soon and that I needed to buy some shampoo as mine was with my bag. He said, “what a coincidence, so do I”. He could show me where to get a hair cut. Once he got off of work, we caught the bus back into town. I spent the afternoon with Roy. We went from store to store price comparing shampoos. Where I would have just bought the first bottle I saw, he was certain that he could find it cheaper somewhere else. I must say I never saw so much effort go into buying shampoo in my life. He introduced me to his very nice uncle who ran a store near the harbor. He also helped me find the shipping office, to arrange for a boat to Levuka, and showed me where to buy some very good, but cheap (so far so good on the food poisoning front) tuna and curry tortillas which I ate for supper. After all of this was accomplished, I took the bus (this time gangsta rap was featured) back to the lodge. I spent the evening visiting people at the lodge and watching the last part of “White Chicks”
Today I went hiking in the national park (Coli-i-Suva) right outside of the lodge. It had been raining buckets all morning so the air and forest were very damp. The hike was along a stream that was laced with waterfalls. The forest was full of ferns and mahogany trees steaming in the heat. The hike, while very hot, was very nice as the plant life was very different from what I have seen before. When I got back to the lodge, Roy wanted to know if I wanted to go to town to watch a movie when he got off of work at 2:00. We got on our way, but were sidetracked. I mentioned in passing that I saw a tattoo parlor from the bus. Roy had been looking to get some more tattoo work done. The next thing I know, I was off the bus and in a Fijian tattoo parlor. I really can’t compare it to an American tattoo parlor as I haven’t been in many, but it looked like the ones you see on TV. We skipped the movie and here I am updating the blog. Tommorrow I plan to spend some time exploring more of Suva, which is Fiji’s capital.
On a side note, Fiji has a very interesting mix of people. The population is a mixture of Indian and Melanisian people. Though English is not the first language of anyone here, all signs and stores are in English. It is a good practice destination for my travels in the developing world later.
Tags: Fiji, Travel
cjun
March 20th, 2007 at 3:51 am
Glad to hear you made it to Figi. Sounds like you’re meeting some interesting people. Just keep your guard up! (Yes, I’m the sister.) Keep the updates coming. We check your blog every day for news. We’re finding your entries very entertaining! Love you!
March 20th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Rain and more interesting people – The adventures continue in Fiji.
Keep that luggage on a leash or it may journey without you to other parts of the world.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:37 am
Have you thought about trying to write for a blog or travel agency and sell your story? It could subliment your income. Just a thought.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Hey Barry! Man, you move fast! You’ve covered some serious longitude! I hear the sailing in Fiji is awesome. You ought to try and get out on that water. Where are the pictures! Be safe and have fun!
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Hi Barry…Joe just shared with me what you are up to and I’m so jealous! This is awesome. I’ll be checking your blog often to hear about your interesting travels. Have fun and be safe!
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Wow, another Barry in Fiji! I have been working in Suva almost a year now. If you come back to Suva send me an email and we can get a drinkl.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Sadly the Indians and native Fijians don’t always get along too well. Say, “Sitiveni Rabuka” among a bunch of Indians and see what happens … he engineered a coup (two?) in 1987 after an Indian dominated government came to power. The constitution was later amended to ensure that Indians could never dominate … Rabuka went on to become Prime Minister. However, things are a little better now, I gather — and the constitution is not as discriminatory as it used to be.
There’s your political/historical lesson for the day.
You’re taking photos, right? 🙂
September 19th, 2007 at 3:37 am
Hey… I was wondering if you could tell me where the tattoo shop you went to was, or what it was called? Are you happy with the tattoo they did? Were the conditions sanitary? Looking forward to your answer as I would love to be tattooed in Fiji!
September 19th, 2007 at 4:30 am
I actually didn’t get a tattoo in Fiji. I was just tagging along with a cook from the hostel I was staying at. Unfortunately, I don’t know where the tattoo parlor is exactly. I know it was in Suva. I was staying at the Raintree Lodge outside of Suva near the Coli-i-Suva park. If you stay there ask if an Indian chef named Roy is still working there. He can tell you where he got it done.
Sorry I couldn’t help more,
Barry