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Published: August 13th 2007
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Luggae carousel at Suva Airport
It's just so cute. Kinda funny when they insist on using it even if there's only about 4 bags coming off a plane.... After returning to the main island, we headed back to Colo-i-Suva to stay at Raintree lodge again. Although I'd liked it here heaps the first time, I now consider it to be pretty average. Tovutovu Resort has just raised my standards so much ;-) It's funny, the cleaning/maintenance staff here are so much friendlier than the service staff (some of whom are very disinterested).
The next day we bused to downtown Suva to do some of the things we missed first time. I wanted to do some souvenir shopping, so we headed for the curio and handicraft market. It was so awful here. Firstly the goods weren't that great quality. Secondly I suspect they were mainly made in Indonesia and all the shop keepers were Indian, so it wasn't supporting local Fijians. Thirdly, I really hate haggling. I would prefer to just pay a nice fair set price and not have to bother with all the hassle of them being like "It's $50 for tourists, but you're my first customer! I'll give you a really good deal, what you want to pay??" at every single stall.... In the end I just bought a few cheap little wooden turtles.
Second
Grand Pacific Hotel
It's hard to tell from this photo, but it's not so grand anymore... I would have liked to take closer photos, but it seems to be infested with squatters. stop was the museum, which wasn't bad. The gallery about Fijian history was the most interesting, displaying war clubs and giant seafaring canoes (well, replicas).
Next we headed for the university so Israel could visit the book store. It was interesting observing the people here, as it was just like being at an NZ university - everyone is dressed trendily, with some a bit on the skanky side. Quite a contrast to the villages and even main streets in Suva! The students seemed to be mainly Indians, who tend to have more money than Fijians so maybe this was why.
Next door to the university is the National Stadium, where Israel wanted to look for some birds. There was also something here to entertain me - Mimosa plants!!! And a baby cane toad, who ended up falling into a ditch.
We then walked to the bottom of Suva point and walked along the seaside. Israel didn't find any boobies (the bird type) but we sighted something even better... Crab seller man... He had a couple of strings of bound crabs which he would dunk in the ocean occasionally. Quite a number of cars stopped to inspect the
Eel shaped club
At Suva Museum. Photo by Israel. crabs, but most declined to purchase any. From a distance they did look a bit manky. Anyway, I covertly took some photos of him. Awesome. I really wish I knew how his sales pitch went... "Fancy some crabs guv'ner? Tuppence for one, string for a pound. Guaranteed wet!" (said in cockney accent)
Before returning to Raintree Lodge, I checked out a big commercial souvenir store, Jack's Handicrafts. It was awful here too. Really overpriced and the sales people followed you around in a very annoying way. It felt more like they were watching for shoplifting than being on hand for helping you. When we came back the next day, a staff member didn't even pretend he was there to help, he just followed us really closely, just staring the whole time. We ended up buying a cane toad keyring each here. So cool.
That night at Raintree Lodge, the Feejee Experience bus was visiting. It's like the green Kiwi Experience ones, but in Fiji. The passengers were all morons and wearing the skimpiest clothes ever. The next day in Suva, they were still dressed like skanks! Don't these people read anything about the country before coming here? I
Crab seller man...
Crab seller man, does whatever a crab seller man does... really hate tourists who do things or dress in ways that are offensive to the local people. In Fiji, bare shoulders and short skirts/shorts on women are not appropriate clothes. Israel even overheard their tourguide advising some girls that they should wear proper tops when they did their village visit....
So the next day we returned to Suva to see The Simpsons Movie, which exceeded my (low) expectations. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we headed back to Suva point which was sadly missing crab man today. I tried a bit more souvenir shopping too. The Government Handicraft Centre seems to be the best place to go. The items are reasonably priced, of good quality and made by Fijians. Unfortunately the selection wasn't very wide, so I didn't buy anything. The Flea market near the bus station was also good as the prices were much cheaper (items still not very well made though, and you had to haggle...)
Contrary to popular belief, Fiji and Suva are safe places for tourists to visit despite the political action last year. The coup don't really affect daily life in the outer islands and even in Suva, we were never worried about our
Can he swing from a web?
No he can't he's just a man. Look out! He's the crab seller maaaaaaan. safety. However, it's not that fun being a foreigner in Suva. Souvenir shopping was stressful, taxi drivers would try and take us on indirect routes to get more money, a couple of people asked us for food/money and we got a couple of sword sellers try their tricks on us. (Israel had fun messing about with one, I'll leave him to tell the story) It's an ok place, just a pity that some of the people here try to take advantage of tourists.
That night was our last in Fiji, so one more entry to go...
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