Fiji

Friday 5 November 2010

We got our breakfast. It was poi, but that is what they called a piece of toast. Sneaky sneaky. We also had tea, guava, and a banana. Then we went back to the room to pack up. Our stuff just seems to grow! We checked out and sat. My legs are still splotchy, so I didn't move until the taxi arrived. He was an hour early. We told him we only had $50 tala. He said that was fine. He was friendly and talkative, but there is only so much you can say on an hour drive. I saw several people carrying baskets on their hip, or a basket on either side of a stick and carried by the shoulders. We got to the airport, and the taxi driver demanded $55. We finally just gave it to him. We also found out that we had a $40 Tala exit fee we didn't know about. We paid AUD instead. In security, both my bags had to be searched.

In the air conditioned and dry airport, my legs went back to normal. Hallelujah! Our flight was delayed quite a bit. We went on the plane and immediately went to the next day. Fiji, here we come!

Saturday 6 November 2010

We got to eat food on this plane! It was the only flight that had free food on. We actually got lunch! None of the other flights provided so much as a snack. We went through customs and asked about our hostel (it had free pick-up). We asked around and they told us to wait for them. They didn't show up, so I tried calling. Nothing worked, so I asked again, and they told us to take a taxi. We did, but fortunately, the hostel reimbursed us. There was another lady in our taxi who told the driver to find a hostel that was cheap and by the bus stop. She had no idea what the name of the hostel was or exactly where it was. I thought that was interesting. The driver did think of a place, and it happened to be the hostel she was thinking of.

Our hostel was the nicest room of our entire trip! It was amazing and had air conditioning! We were so happy. We decided to walk into town. We walked for a really long time, and couldn't find town. It was starting to get dark, and I was getting attacked by mosquitoes, so we just went back to the hostel. Even though we were disappointed, the walk was really nice. Although, the clouds were looking ominous. We got to see an amazing sunset, though. There were so many dogs at the resort. Samoan dogs would leave you alone. These dogs came up to you. I did not care for it.

Sunday 7 November 2010

The alarm went off WAY too early. The town closes at 12:00 on Sundays, so we needed to go into town early. We got a continental breakfast (toast and tea) and took a taxi into town. We looked around Nadi. The biggest tourist attraction is the Buddhist Temple and shopping. It didn't take long to complete the town. We went to a market area, but the guys were jerks.

We went back to the hostel and went on the hammock and relaxed for a while. It took me a good 5 minutes to get on the stupid thing. It was high, and I was falling over a lot. It was quite windy. The ocean was beautiful and peaceful. I stayed there a while, but started getting really hot. So I went under the hut. A couple guys arrived and were setting up for a concert. I did not care for the band. I thought the music was annoying, and the singer was...less than perfect. It wasn't like it was local music either, so it wasn't a cultural experience.

While we were reading, a guy was calling out to us. We just ignored him, but he came up to us anyway. He was kind of disturbing us, and we really didn't want him there. He went to his buddies and said, "Don't worry, I will come back to talk to you girls." He left, and we had no intention of talking to him again. We went to another location, and he came back over to us again! He made us really uncomfortable, but he didn't stay long. He, again, said he would come back. So, this time, we got up and left. He creeped us out.

We took pictures of the sunset. It was amazing! I know these pictures I took will make you think Fiji is so much prettier than Samoa, but it wasn't. Samoa was my favourite of the two. The water was a lot prettier. Fiji definitely had an amazing sunset, but we couldn't see the sunset in Fiji. We were not facing West. Fiji is beautiful, but Samoa is way prettier.

These are all pictures of our first sunset.

Attempting to go into Nadi. On the left are the ominous clouds. Toward the right (even more than the pictures shows), was a cloudless blue sky.

There were chickens and dogs everywhere, and people had their washing out.

The Buddhist Temple,

Those dogs! The one closest here had scary eyes and would always come over to us. I tripped over him several times.

Also at our hostel.

On leaving, we saw the Fijian Police Academy play.

Another sunset in Fiji.

Proof of some of the tea I got. If you put enough sugar in it, it doesn't taste as revolting. I used every bit of my jam and butter. I was so hungry. In case any of you are worried about my Fiji bottle, we bought juice. I put some in there.

Last day in Fiji.