Advertisement
Published: December 2nd 2007
Edit Blog Post
Nadi, Fiji From Sun 11th 2007
Arrived in Fiji. Lost a full day as crossed the internation time line / zone thing! (i didnt feel a day older???). Was greetedat the airport arrivals terminal by a group of big smily fijians dressed traditionally playing the guitar and singing us a fijian welcome song. Was really really nice.
Went through into arrival halls and there were about 8 people (tour operaters). I went to the first 1 and shed pass me to the 2nd one and the 2nd would be pass me to the 3rd and so on and so on. Not sure why the first one couldnt just say walk down in that direction for 10 yards and sit on the bench until everyone gets here??
Met 2 english girls (Clare and amanda) at Nadi Airport who id noticed in Honolulu. They were on my same flight & in my shuttle bus and were just happening to be staying at same hostel.
Only a short trip to the hostel / hotel from airport and what i saw of fiji wasnt really what i was expecting. It look really scruffy and disorganised not the idelyic paradise i had
in mind. However i had been told that the main island was like that and to get off as soon as i could and move to the islands.
Arrived at Nadi bay resort hotel at about 7.30am. Got settled in and wondered what the hell to do as it was apparent there was F all to do around the resort (very very quiet). In the end Clare, Amanda and myself took the apparent 20min walk into Nadi Town - surely much more to do here? Firstly the 20min walk was actually about 45min and in 30deg heat that isnt good (especially when you can get a taxi for about $5 or a bus for less than $1 - women know best...my arse!!!!), secondly Nadi has got F all and nothing really much more to do than the motuary like hotel we were staying at. On the positive side though we met some really nice people. And what struck me instantly was how friendly everyone was to us. Everyone even the children said or even shouted across the road "Bula" (Hello). O nearly forgot we saw a cow in the road and we found a mcdonalds...hurrrayyyyyyyy!
I really did
wonder what the hell i was going to do until kat and Alex arrived from Maui in a weeks time! Good chance to start or catch up on my blog.
Clare and amanda moved on the next day on a tour thay had pre-booked (nothing like been organised). I reckon a quiet few days will do me good.
On a good note too, I had soon gathered a big fan club - luckily for me all fijian ladies....and i didnt even need to chat any of them up. it was all in my name (so big thank you mum and dad). Apparently the biggest thing on fijian TV and nearly every south pacific islands TV is a love series with an actor call Carldin. Trust me when a fijian says them they sound virtually identical. Anyway the series is about Carldin, Luisa (from poor family), Mimi, and Carldins Evil Mum. Carldin and luisa are childhood sweetheats and carldin has to move far away. However when older Caldin returns and starts his search to find his true love Luisa. However Mimi who is from rich family want Carldin too (Lucky man...in demand!) but Carldin finds luisa and wants to be with her and she with hima nd there madly in love. Carldins evel mum does everything to keep them apart as she wants his son to be with Mimi and with the rich family. in the end love prevails and Cardin and Luisa live happily every after. Anyway, in summary and the moral of the story all the fijians wanted to be my Luisa. Any they were even arguing (in a friendly way) between themselves saying they werent luisa but Mimi. All very funny and a good ice breaker and it made me very popular wherever i went in fiji lol.
Nightlife was none existent in hotel and it was literally dead by 10pm so Yeah so basically from there all i did for the next 3 days was Sunbath at the pool, Go on internet..and thats it i think.
I did hire a motorbike so i could explore but i soon found out there was nothing on this main island worth exploring or safe to explore. Roads were a nightmare, youd be going along at about 40mph then a pot hole would appear from nowhere - had a few too many near misses with them so i thought id use it just for nipping to the shops down the road. I dropped the motorbike and damaged the side of it but a stategically drove it back into the lot and they didnt see the damaged and it appears ive got away with it.
I then moved on to Robinson Crusoe Island
Advertisement
Tot: 0.129s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 14; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0755s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Steve Eastwood
non-member comment
If caught in a strong current
When caught in a strong current -- Try to keep a level head, i.e., don't panic! Wave one or both hands in the air, and scream or call for help. Swim diagonally across the current, not against it.