Bula! Bula!

---

01/03/07 - 10/03/07

After our whistle-stop adventure tour of New Zealand, we were looking forward to some serious relaxing in Fiji - most of our time was spent relaxing by the pool, looking out over the beach, or playing table tennis or volleyball. Unfortunately this plan was partly scuppered by it being the rainy season, so occasionally we had to abandon the sun deck and run for cover as the torrential rains hit us.

We took a local bus into Nadi Town and another into the village of Sigatoka to see the real Fiji outside of the resort complex. As usual we had to dodge the raindrops and waited at the bus station for the rain to subside before heading out round the market and shops. In the market we bought some fruit - mini bananas at bargain prices. The local bus between Denerrau island and Nandi town detoured off the main route, through local villages with houses set in grounds surrounded by banana trees, mangos and bread fruit as well as Joseph coat of many colours bushes. Chickens often ran loose around the grounds. We also spotted graves in the corners of the grounds, where loved ones are obviously buried. Something we had never seen before, but then spotted in other Pacific island countries. We wandered what happens if properties are sold. Maybe they never are, just passed on down from generation to generation.

The up market tourist shops all contain black pearl jewelry and beautiful wood turned vases, often made from Rainbow tree or Tamarind wood. I would have loved to have bought one but couldn’t carry it half way round the world - and the shipping was as much as the vase, effectively doubling the price

Some of the events laid on by the hotel were fun. We attended the charity snail racing and bid for the English named Johnny Wilkinson snail that we won in the auction. Alas when the race started he came from second from last!!

We tried the traditional ‘kava’ drink of Fiji. Although not alcoholic, the drink has similar properties for people drinking too much of it. It is made from the pepper tree/bush (?) root and has hallucinagenic properties. The muddy looking liquid is mixed drunk from coconut bowl cups. To stick with tradition, we had to clap and say ‘Bula’ on receiving the cup, then drink the murky liquid down in one go, and finally clap 3 times after handing the empty bowl back. We each went through this ritual 3 or 4 times. The taste was quite bland and not particularly pleasant or unpleasant and it felt like the drink numbed the back of your throat slightly as you swallowed.

The storyteller ‘chief’ recounted some tales of the days of cannibalistic Fiji and how all the people are split into various tribes with various skills and duties, even today. The manager’s cocktail party provided an opportunity to sample some of the local rum cocktails made from the sugarcane grown on the island and some sunset photos by the coconut trees on one of the only days where the sunset colours were visible and not obscured by a wall of grey cloud. We waved goodbye to Christine and Jerry, heading onto LA and back to the UK and wondered what our next tropical island destination would be like - the Cook Islands.

To fly there, we would be crossing the international date line and hence putting our watches back 22 hours. Considering the flight was only 3 hours, this left us the fortunate situation of having virtually 2 whole Saturdays and rather unfortunate situation of paying for Friday night twice in 2 different hotels in 2 different countries!

---

Comments

[Mr KK]

Photos
Really good pictures, you must be using an excellent camera