Getting there is half the fun

Picture Diary: Stopover in Fiji

Here's what Instead of writing heaps and heaps of boring passages on what I've been up to over here I'll post some pictures for your viewing/stalkig pleasure.

New Years Eve in the Vancouver Airport. I won't see a Timmy's for a while so got to get my last possible fix!


I arrived in Fiji at 5am January 2nd and was greeted island style by these guys serenating us weary travellers with some island music. It was cool.

I met an Aussie couple on the plane who despite returning from their honeymoon were nice enough to spend some time with me during the 34 hour journey. But it was their suggestion that we stand in the wrong line up for an hour where we got to listen to the guys above, so it was worth it (I guess).

I don't think anyone got any sleep on the 2 flights to Fiji so we were all knackered. The couple decided to get a hotel to sleep the day away. I on the other hand decided to tour Fiji on one hour of sleep! So I took a taxi into the town of Nadi and proceede to walk around and oogle at things.

They speak English in Fiji. Really.


By 7:30am it was alredy WAY TOO HOT and MUGGY out for my Canadianness, so I splurged on a budget half day tour. It was fun and got me out of the sun, but next time I'd rather not spend 4 hours in a van with some old folks (but they were Canadian and pretty cool).

Taken from the minibus. Sugar cane being transported on Fiji's cute miniature railway:


The first stop was a orchid garden and jungle walk where we saw some funky looking jungle plants. Check out this massive fern!


Postcard photo:


Next we went to an "authentic" Fijian village and saw how they live in clans with a chief and everything. All the little kids are cool and run up to you and say "bula" as a greeting then run off scared! Here's our village guide showing us this wooden drum thing they use to call village meetings:


Then we went to a fruit orchard and got to eat some really tasty tropical fruit with a view. To the right we could see the island where they filmed "Castaway".


There was a nice picture of me at a viewpoint looking over the island, but since I spilt Papaya all over my white shirt it's not going to be posted. (FYI papaya juice stains!)

And what's a trip without a good 'ol rip off. Here I got suckered into going into this guys shop where he was super nice and offered me a "gift" as a token for next time when I return. Then he asked me for a small "donation" to help him pay for his "bread 'n butter" cause he is a "poor man". Bastard. Well I felt bad cause he already engraved my name on this supposed "Fijian Boomerang" pos thing so I gave him a few bucks. Another guy tried to get me on the same thing later in the day too, so it's apparently a popular method.


The rest of the day was spent in an internet cafe to escape the extreme heat and then chewing the fat with a guy from Kamloops who also got ripped off in Nadi, and worse than me. He had a good laugh at the sticks crap and took the picture for me just before we chucked them in the trash.

I must admit I know absolutely nothing about Fiji before going there. It is a lot poorer than I thought and people seem to make almost nothing yet the prices are on par with Canada/US/western world. Talking to a few people it seems like the millions of dollars go to only the people lucky enough to own land with a resort, whereas the majority sees to benefit from tourism. Also, the people are extremely friendly there and come up and talk to you lots, especially in the early morning before the tourists are out. The exception is the touts in the tourist parts, and the asshole scammers who try to get you to drink this dopy drink called kava and supposedly rip you off. But that's just my view of the place.

Time to get back on the plane to Melbourne!...

Posted by Evan at 1:17 AM