Leave Your Shoes At The Door & Watch The Dogs

Overcast, 35c

Remember those two things when you come to Samoa and you’ll be right! The dogs are mostly friendly but you've got to be careful and it's rude to wear your shoes inside (I forgot a few times and felt bad!). Apart from that I’m really unsure what to say about Samoa. Not because it’s terrible, it’s just not terribly exciting. Very very conservative too. Da Vinci Code banned, church bells ringing every afternoon and you go outside to pray and Sundays.. well… there is absolutely nothing to do. Everything shuts and leisure activities are discouraged. Fair enough. It's kind of relaxing I guess! It's just very different to the rest of the South Pacific but that's not a bad thing.

Comedian Dave Hughes once said that when a guy walks into a bar we mentally think ‘how many of these guys could I take if I had too in a fight’. In Samoa you won’t be thinking anything, us ‘manaos’ (Samoan slang for white boy) would be down for the count. At Sliding Rock Pools (more on that later) I met Alana, who is an aussie working for the government in Samoa for a year. Her insight into Polynesian people is especially true - they are generally seem untrusting at first and very distant until you build up their trust. But are very very friendly people underneath it all! At first I thought Samoans were very rude and seemingly arrogant people but it’s not until you understand the background, it all comes together. It's the furthest thing from the truth. If you’re a female don’t go out to nightclubs here alone, in fact even walking back from the beach with Alana was an ‘experience’ - Samoans yelling obscenities out of cars, looking her up & down etc.. I’d have been horrified if I was with Marg and that was happening!
It's all harmless underneath it all I'm totally sure. I just wasn't used to it!!

But don't let all that sway you against Samoa. My first few days in Samoa were a little tainted, so excuse the negative stuff straight up! I arrived in Apia with sore feet. Blisters in Vanuatu, infection in Fiji which I ignored and it got even worse in Samoa. I had pins and needles and was afraid my legs were going to drop off. A trip to the chemist in Apia went like this - “ahhh your feet look very infected. Do you have medicine?” me - “no, that’s why I’m here”, “okay.. you should prescribe yourself something”. Yes, that’s right! Here in Samoa you prescribe YOURSELF what you want. Luckily I knew that penicillin does the trick, so I got some of that - so far so good. I wish you could do that in Australia.

Feet all better and I started to do some exploring. Samoa does a damn good waterfall that’s for sure! The main tourist attraction is The Sliding Rock, which funnily enough you slide down into a crystal clear pool. I caught one of the cool buses up into the hills to escape muggy Apia for the day, and yes I did slide. I was the only tourist there that gave it a go and I felt very tough. Okay.. well there was only a British girl and a Kiwi there apart from me… but I really was the only one!
I needed another adrenaline rush the next day and found it at Piula Caves, a 45 minute bus ride east of the city. They are two freshwater caves separated by rock, so to get into the other one you’ve got to swim down 3 metres thru a 1 metre wide tunnel for 2 metres (you got that?). It’s dark until you start swimming towards the other side and than you see light. I was scared shitless and wasn’t going to do it, but eventually I built up the courage and I felt like James Bond afterwards!
Apart from caves and waterfalls my days have been spent getting sun burnt or snorkeling. The fish here are massive, lots of angelfish and gropers to look it. Very colourful and the fish will come up and rub against you (kinda scary at first!).
Food in Samoa is a little bit more expensive than Fiji and communicating is sometimes difficult. I’d say it’s harder here than in French speaking New Caledonia. The majority of the population speaks English very poorly and in day-to-day life all you’ll hear is Samoan being spoken (I obviously understand nothing… except ‘Talofa!’ that means hello / thank you.. wish I knew more and had a phrase book). Amazing considering no one understands it outside of Samoa, you'd think I could track down a guide. Still.. Samoa is a pretty good place to visit, especially if you get outside of the capital Apia. Names like Coathanger Point & Rusty’s Beach are legendary within the surfing world and you’ll find reef breaks everywhere. Pity I don’t surf and mis-juding a reef break would be a hard way to learn. I’ll give it a go in Maui or the North Shore next week if the waves aren’t too big.
I would have explored the other large Samoan Island of Savaii, but as it happens some stupid military commander in Fiji ruined that! So instead my last two days have been spent doing fun stuff like visiting the Australian High Commission, Airlines, Banks etc.. My next stop was going to be the ideal Fijian Yas-a-wa’s Islands, taking in island paradises like Blue Lagoon Beach (where the film was), Castaway Island (ditto) and Beachcomber Resort. I was looking forward to seeing the real Fiji and enjoying some downtime. But no, the possibility of a coup pulled those plans from underneath me.
Fijians are lovely people and I’m sure tourists will not be targeted; it’s just the lack of vital infrastructure and concern of people back home that worries me. But damn it!!! I wanted to explore Fiji again!! Instead I have re-arranged my flights and will be connecting straight to Hawaii after a hellish 18 hour layover in Nadi tomorrow. I’ll be spending close to 30 hours on planes or in airports. Not looking forward to that! But better than riots and looting everywhere if that eventuates. And to think.. I was in Suva less than a week ago wandering around late at night…
There are several people at the hostel in the same situation and all of them have cancelled their flights. Jonah (my German backpacker friend for Samoa) was extremely annoyed about skipping Fiji and going straight to New Zealand. I mean, who wouldn’t be!! Give me sunshine and tropical islands any day (sorry Leigh-Anne but you must know Auckland is a hell hole!). I think all my good talk of Vanuatu rubbed off on Jonah because last night he said “Matt.. this Vanuatu, if it’s as good as you say than I go there”. Off to the internet café we trotted and I helped him book 2 weeks worth of flights and accommodation. Geee I wish I got commission for that!!
I’ll be trying to track down some form of TAB in Hawaii for the Melbourne Cup next week, but don’t let that stop you from putting $100 on a random horse for me! Feel free to keep sending junk emails as well - any form of entertainment would be welcome during my 18 hour stop over. If you happen to see Marg ask her about the expensive handbag her kind and loving boyfriend bought for her! hahaha
Talofa and farewell!!

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