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Published: April 18th 2007
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Me and Ashley, L.A.
Please note my lovely sunglasses Bonhams people! Goodbye USA
So where did I last leave you? Boston? Well had lots of family bonding time before I left there which was really nice. Did a bit more sightseeing, ate a lot and then said my farewells. God talk about emotional, I only cried all the way to the bus station and half way to New York - (your fault Rebecca, you started it!) So had a few more days to hang in NYC, hit the shops and thought I better do something educational so did the Natural History Museum, I had just seen the film 'night at the museum' so I have to say I was highly disappointed when the dinosaur didn't come to life. Rubbish! Kim took me to the coolest place in Greenwich Village called Cafe Wah. They have a live house band who were amazing and were doing covers of anything from Radiohead to Outkast to Gloria Gaynor. Was such a good night! So flew to sunny L.A. and met my other cousin Ashley for the day before flying out at night. Hadn't seen her since I was about 9 so it was great to catch up and rather a few margaritas were consumed at
the beach! She insisted that I couldn't come to LA without jumping in the sea, so we did.
No Sun but lots of FUN!!
So I arrived in Fiji with visions of crystal clear water and perfect blue sky. Well this wasn't quite how it turned out but it was still a blast. I think the sun came out once for about 5 mins but other than that there was cloud, some more clouds,a spot of rain, a massive downpour, a thunder storm etc, etc! Slightly unlucky! Was still so humid though and I got absolutely bitten to bits by mozzies! Current count is 27 bites, my favourite one is in the middle of my forehead.
So got off the plane at 5am to be greeted by a line of guys playing guitars and singing, this is the general way of the Fijians - they smile, dance and sing, friendliest people ever! Stayed in Nadi, on the mainland for a bit but there wasn't much to do there. I was freaking out at first cos it was the first time I was properly on my own and I was like 'oh my god, what the hell am I
doing? I want to come home and sit and watch hollyoaks with a cuppa'. Didn't last long though. Two really nice English guys took me under their wing and took me for dinner and beers which calmed me down a lot! Might meet up with them in New Zealand which is cool. Went through a Fijian village which was interesting but sad because a the people there are pretty poor. Everyone still smiled and waved and shouted Bula! when we went past but it was a completely different world.
So despite the never improving weather I headed off to 'Robinson Crusoe' island for most of the time. It is only tiny, you can walk around the whole thing in 25 mins but it was so much fun! Kinda like being at summer camp, there was no running water and a shower was a bucket of cold water but that made it more of an adventure! Met a really nice girl called Ros and a group of guys on the way there so we basically spent the next few days with them doing activities and getting pissed! Staff on the island were brilliant, they put on shows every night with
fire-dancing and machete displays. Was pretty impressive and they were all really friendly too.
It was here on Robinson Crusoe that I sampled the delicacy that is Kava (not the champagne!) It is a traditional narcotic drink made from some ground up pepper plant roots. It looks like mud and tastes like, well mud... Its made by kneading the powder into water in a big bowl then there is a big ceremony and everyone drinks some out a coconut shell. Everyone on the island got to try one shell but somehow me and this mad Irish guy called Eric got invited to go into the staff part of the island and drank it all night with the local guys. It was certainly a cultural experience! It makes your tongue go completely numb and you just feel really relaxed and mellow then everyone tells stories. I felt more yellow (or possibly green) than mellow in the morning though! Ugghh, it was not pretty! So apart from that there was a lot of silly dancing and games, bonfires on the beach and great banter! (Oh Cat, I taught some people how to play spit, it spread like wild fire!) It was
a shame about the weather but I had such a good time on the island it didn't really matter!
Until next time folks, lots of love xxxxx
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anonymous
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Love the photos Lisa. Do you think it's the Kava that makes the people so friendly. Maybe should import it to Scotland!! Your dancing style seems to have gone down hill though! Fijian version of the Slosh? Enjoy New Zealand and seeing the sun again. Love u. Mumsie xxx