We boarded the plane at 5:30 am on Saturday morning in Apia. We arrived at 7:45 am on Sunday morning in Nadi, Fiji two hours later. At the airport the shuttle took us to our swanky hotel, Tanoa International, which was the location of Ephraim's training.
So why did we go to Fiji? Ephraim attended a training on Online Ocean Data Collection. He can tell you more about it. Just ask.
While he was in meetings during the day, I got to explore town.
Some of my first impressions of Fiji:
There were so many things about this place that reminded me and Ephraim of South America: the dusty streets, the smoke chugging busses, the houses with cement and re-bar walls... and this guy pushing around "me and my ice cream" at the bus station.
One of my first stops was the market. It had three huge halls with produce, kava, fish and meat. They had an amazing variety of fruits and vegetables! All the normal produce we have in American Samoa, plus dozens of other things, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, corn, jackfruit, eggplant, lettuce, etc. Some I had never seen before, like rockfruit.
Because of the large Indian population, Hindi and English are the main languages spoken besides Fijian. It's very curious how Fijian and Indian cultures exist side by side and mix in some ways. For example, there is a strong traditional Fijian village system. The Counsel of Chiefs make up part of the government. But also you see Hindi soap operas on TV with all the Bolleywood glitz, and stores sell gorgeous shimmery saris for Diwali. And you can get divine curry, dhal soup, and roti.
Here's a typical city bus we rode on, "fully air conditioned" ha ha.
We enjoyed British influence in Fiji. Like the funky outlet plugs, the brilliantly efficient dual flushing toilets (you push the little button for little things and big button for big things), Queen Elizabeth on all currency, and of course driving on the left side of the road. This really threw us off at first. Trying to cross the street was tricky. Ephraim got into the drivers seat of taxis on accident. And we were appalled to see little kids driving cars, until we realized they were really on the passengers side. Have you ever experienced this?
This shows the Sleeping Giant mountain between Nadi and Lautoka. Many people are employed by the Sugar Mill in Lautoka, and there were miles of sugar cane fields being harvested and burned, as well as a railway loaded with cane.
I apologize that my photography stinks, but I'm usually shy about appearing the tourist with my camera. And I don't take good pictures.By the way, their greeting is BULA! or Bula Vinaka! They use Vinaka for Thank you and You're welcome. So when you go, you'll be in the know.
4 comments:
I love hearing about your trip. Sounds like you had an awesome time. You are so amazing to remember such facts and names of things. I wish I could recall stuff and remember the names of fruits, dresses, etc....
I actually, strangely, do want to hear about Ephraim's training. It sounds interesting. I had a realization a couple of days ago that I missed the boat on the scientist in the wild thing. Can I go back and unmajor?
i'm glad you asked mariko. ephraim said no one would care about the training, but i assured him plenty people would. so stay tuned.
Ah, so many familiar sites from my 4 days spent in Nadi. I'm so glad you got to go and that you had a local person to take you around and teach you things. I got to go on splits with a Fijian girl, and also with a girl from my home stake who was serving there--go figure! Anyhoo, did you get to hear really loud techno/Hindi music playing in the town outside the shops? Did you have any of that dessert that looks like a deep fried hot pink pretzel? It's gross.
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