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Published: April 21st 2009
Tropical Paradise Or Blackpool?!!
Not quite what I expected for Fiji!!3rd April 2009 - FIJI TIME, COOL PEOPLE & TALENT QUEST NIGHT!!!
I had the best nights sleep since the start of travelling I think. I did not wake up once until my alarm went off at 7am...felt so good!! I got dressed, packed up and went with Nat for breakfast. We tucked into tasty pancakes...mmmm!! The bus was due to pick us up at 8.30am. Another 4 people on the bus with us - Alan and Kirsty (an English couple) and 2 German girls (nice enough). The bus was a little late but apparently that is the norm in Fiji as everyone is on 'Fiji time' whatever that means. When the bus did arrive it took us to Smuggles Cove (a beach front hostel) where we waited for other travellers to be picked up as well. The hostel seemed nice enough itself…nice pool and bar area but oh my word…the beach and the sea…Blackpool sprang to mind!! Not quite the paradise I had expected of Fiji and I hoped that the islands would be nicer and the water clearer at least.
As we waited on the beach and other travellers arrived it became clear that there were too many
of us for the boat we were supposed to travel on. I was pretty skeptical about some of the other travelers too especially 2 American guys who were chatting loudly about Lady Gaga! I gave Nat the eyebrows and we both understood one another…escape from those 2 asap!! The Fijians didn’t seem to be worried by the amount of people and all of our backpacks were unloaded from the bus and carried onto the boat for us. So nice not to have to carry our own bags…felt like royalty! We all stood around on the beach whilst the boat was ready! Once the luggage was loaded on, we all waded through the murky brown water to the boat. I will be honest; I did not like putting my feet in that water…where is the clear sea seen on the postcards?!! We were squashed on the small boat like sardines but everyone seemed nice enough and we got chatting amongst ourselves about anything and everything. Turned out one of the American guys were actually English and he wasn’t as bad as I first thought either! A few people kept quiet as they were feeling pretty seasick and it was a bumpy
ride not helped by the amount of us on board! I personally enjoyed the ride. We passed some islands along the way, the sea seemed to become clearer and the sun poked its head out too. Everyone on the boat seemed sound and I had a good feeling about my time to come on Mana Island.
The boat ride took around 1 hour and we arrived at Mana Island at around 11.30am. Our bags were carried off the boat for us (brilliant) and we all sat down in the kitchen/hall/communal room/bar area whilst the staff performed a welcome song for us. The song was so cool…some of it in Fijian and some of it in English! Brilliant way to welcome people! We were sat at the front table and noticed others from the island hovering around too. We thought they were just there to see/hear the welcome song again but no…they had a hidden agenda! Food!
Food came out shortly after and at Mana, if you don’t get in the queue first you will be left with the worst of the worst! There is no good food at Mana…some of it is just marginally more edible. We didn’t do
too badly with the queue and managed to load our plates with rice, bread, unidentifiable meat on the bone, noodles mixed with tinned spaghetti and baked beans…the list goes on!! You did get juice though which was a big bonus! From that moment on we formed a group on the island and sat on that front table for most meals together. I will talk about people in the group a lot during my time on Mana Island and so below is a quick run down of each person:
Scott from Alabama. He was a fantastic guy who completely changed my opinion of American people. He had so many sides to him and was not the stereotypical American at all. Top lad!!
Rich from England who was kind of travelling with Scott. Nice guy but sang too much in a language no one understood!
Alan and Kirsty from England. Alan was chatty and outgoing whilst Kirsty was a little quieter at first but had hidden depths.
Jorgen form Norway. One of the most intelligent people I had ever met. Quietly funny but would not believe I was from England as I 'look so Scandinavian'.
Orla and Theresa from Ireland. Typical
Irish....such a good crack and great lasses!
Crazy Argentineans William and Torro (real names Guillermo and Ariel). 2 of the craziest people you could ever meet...they were brilliant. William was a big character in our group and was a laugh a minute! Great Guy!!
Following lunch we were shown our rooms. Not exactly 5 star! Nat and I were lucky and escaped the dorm rooms. We were put in a double room with a fan…woo!! It was literally 4 walls and a bed. The door locked from the outside with a bolt…not exactly safe as houses!! The electricity only turned on each day from 6pm to 6am. Our room was pretty dark as the window had shutters over it that we could not open. Suited me fine as you could not see the dirt as much! The showers were basically a tap high on the wall to stand under. Hot water did not feature on Mana Island and I could not wait for that shower experience! In a normal life I would have wanted to get the hell out of there but in the life of a traveller it was quite acceptable!! I wasn’t really off put by any
of it…maybe my standards have lowered!
The island resort puts activities on all through the day and after lunch a 30 minute walk was on the agenda for those who wanted to go. Nat and I decided to go as it was only 30 minutes and we would get to see some of the island. Freddie (who was probably the main staff member at Mana) lead the walk and a group of around 8 of us went on it being myself and Nat, Crazy Argentineans, Orla and Theresa, a German girl and a goofy American guy called Daniel. Daniel was one of a kind and not in a good way. He was a little awkward and did not have very good social skills at all. Still, the rest of the group seemed nice. We soon learned that Fiji time is not the same as English time and a 30 minute walk could actually last for any amount of time. No worries or rushing in Fiji!
We first went to view point at the top of the island before heading to a beautiful beach. Some great views of the crystal clear waters and definitely how I had imagined Fiji
would be…paradise!! Freddie led us around but I am not sure he had a plan and instead just took us where he felt like at the time. At one stage he made us all be quiet as we walked through a garden of his ‘friends place’. We found out later that we were actually trespassing as it wasn’t his friends place at all and had to be quiet so the neighbours didn’t report us! It did turn out to be a short cut though and we arrived at another beach (Sunset Beach) in no time. Really beautiful and a few of us went for a swim whilst Freddie went to sleep on the sand…not a bad job to get paid for eh?!! Whilst at Sunset Beach, Alabama turned up (the American guy who I wanted to avoid so much at the boat). He had gone for a walk and ended up getting lost and so joined us. We got chatting and he was pretty cool and not all like I expected! Lesson learnt Debs…don’t judge before you know people!! We stayed at sunset beach for a while (Fiji Time) and all chatted with one another before Freddie woke up and
decided we ought to get back before tea. The 30 minute walk had actually been around 4 hours though most of it was spent lying on a beach! Love Fiji!!
We arrived back at Mana Lagoon at around 5ish and Nat, Alabama, Jorgen and I played cards for a while before tea. Funny game and as we all got to know one another a little better the banter started. At around 6pm the rest of the group joined us at our front table and waited for tea to be served. Tea was very similar to lunch…rice and bread, unidentifiable meat on the bone, sausages, pineapple and juice. Not really a gourmet meal to enjoy but it got eaten all the same! Such a nice mix of people as well around our table and we started to have some good laughs. I could tell that I was going to enjoy my time on Mana Island very much!
After tea it was time for a quick change and de-sand (I could not face the shower) before heading back to the big communal room for the night events. Tonight was ‘Talent Quest’. We were put into teams according to our nationalities
and were told that we had 30 minutes to prepare a performance. We (Nat, Alan, Kirsty, Rich and I) formed a group but none of us had any talents we could showcase! We realised that there were more English people on the island and instead of going to join their group, we were lazy and just sat back and crossed our fingers that they would perform on behalf of us. Not a good attitude I know but I think it was better than making anyone endure my singing abilities!
The Fijians started the night off. They performed their national anthem and then did a traditional Fijian dance similar to the Hakka. I wish England had a traditional dance…would have been simple then! The Germans followed with a human pyramid and the Irish (Orla and Theresa) did a show stopping Irish jig! Brilliant! Argentina was up next and despite neither of them being able to play guitar they sang the first line of ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ before jumping around as if in a rock band and finishing with a chant of ‘Maradona’!! Crazy people but funny to watch! England followed and our hopes were answered when 3 English
girls got up and performed. Rather them than me that’s for sure though I did show my appreciation and cheered very loudly at the end! Norway performed an old primary school song where they bobbed about like cuckoos and a lone guy from NZ did the Haka. All good to watch!
The star act however came last and was from Alabama and Daniel representing America. Daniel was weird and when he heard that a performance had to be given he said he wanted to do karate moves. Alabama just went with it and totally turned it into a comedy routine. He began by chatting about how Americans invented all forms of Martial Arts and how we in the audience should learn from them and take some skills back to our people. He was of course taking the mick out of the American stereotype and Daniel in the process who didn’t get it! The chat was followed by Daniel performing a move and Alabama copying it in his own way. The whole thing was brilliant and I have never ever laughed so much. From then on Daniel became known as the original karate kid…Daniel San!!
After the talent quest
the drinking continued and Nat and I managed to polish off the whole bottle of vodka that we had bought at duty free and was supposed to last us at least 3 days. Oh dear!! As well as drinking I also joined the Kava table. Kava is the traditional Fijian drink and so I thought it would be rude not to try it. It looks like tea leaves they are put into some sort of mesh net with water and squeezed until you have what looks like a bowl of muddy water!! It is supposed to give you a numb mouth after one bowl and the more you drink the more relaxed you become. It is not illegal mum before you start to think I was taking drugs…I wasn’t!! A Fijian guy sat at the head of the table and passed bowls of kava around to people one by one. We had to clap 3 times after each bowl and followed the whole ritual every time. I must have drank 15 bowls and it was disgusting…tasted like earth!! Nat didn't like it either and we moved away from the table after a while! Not a fan of the kava!!
After the Kava ceremony I mingled some more and drank some more. Everyone went outside and began playing music on the beach with the guitar being passed around. I chatted to William for ages and ages and he taught me some Spanish too as well as having me in stitches! Crazy guy!! I had a brilliant night but left the party at around 1am and took myself off to bed. I didn’t feel so good and bed really was the best place for me. Nat stayed up until around 3am with most of the others. When she came in I was not in the best state and was rather ill to put it mildly!! I had a feeling that I would not feel too good the next morning!!
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