On the afternoon of Monday, December 22nd my bus arrived in Pacific Harbour. It was only four dollars for the hour and a half bus ride and there was a decent amount of room on the bus as far as Fijian public transport goes. The bus dropped me off in what looked like the middle of nowhere but after a half hour walk down the road with my pack I eventually found Uprising Resort where I would be staying for the next week or so. It was only $30 a night and was one of the nicest places I have stayed while traveling. It was located right on the beach and had a free breakfast every morning, $2.50 pints of Fiji Gold Draft at happy hour, extremely friendly staff, and cheap Hawaiian pizzas. I was in heaven.
My first night there was one of the best. I was hanging out at the bar with this African guy from Zambia when I noticed the abundance of females in the bar. I decided to go over to one of the tables and have a chat. I ended up meeting a great group of girls who informed me that it was actually ladies night, which would explain the abundance of females. I guess I missed the signs everywhere including the one at the door. I told these girls that I had no plans for Christmas and they were nice enough to invite me over to their place for Christmas dinner. I said I would be in for sure but didn’t really take it seriously at the time because of the state everybody was in. Sure enough though on Christmas morning I was hanging out with some Irish friends that I met at the resort when Alfie, the manager at Uprising, came up and informed me that the girls had called and I was to be at their place for three o’clock that afternoon. They ended up picking me up and brought me over to their parent’s place, which was a beautiful home right on the river. I met the whole gang and one of the girls showed me their dad’s giant collection of palms. They had a four-acre property with a botanical garden on it containing one of the largest collections of palms in the pacific. Apparently they had well over 400 species of palms on the property. It was awesome. The meal was amazing too. They had cooked three stuffed chickens, a big ham, mashed potatoes, and all kinds of other things were going around as well. It was a great time and I got to meet a lot of the locals that night too. There must have been about twenty people there at one point. It was one of the highlights of my Fiji experience.
I also got to know one of their friends, Talei, quite well. A few of us went over to her place for dinner one night and I helped her make us all some classic spaghetti. The next day the same crew all took a trip to one of the villages nearby where we got to go out in a boat with the chief of the village and go for a swim on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. We stayed out there for hours playing around and talking. We even brought a lunch. Then after we went back to the village to drink some karva that we had brought from the store in town. We also brought some sweets for the children. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the porch with the chief and a bunch of the other villagers drinking karva. It was a beauty of a day and another one of my most memorable days in Fiji.
Pacific Harbour was by far my favorite place that I stayed in Fiji. Mainly because of the way the locals embraced me and brought me into their circle of friends right away. It was really nice to know and be able to hang out with the locals like that. It really made Pacific Harbour feel like home for me. I hope to go back there as soon as possible and maybe even buy a piece of land there someday if I can find the spare cash haha. I have to go back either way to do my shark dive and experience one of the great rafting trips through the forest. On Monday, December 29th I headed back to Nadi on the bus to stay one more night at Nadi Bay Backpackers before heading down to Sydney to bring in the New Year.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A Taste of Fijian Hospitality
Kam lived in a suburb of Suva called Sambula (actually pronounced Samambula) and on the morning of Saturday, December 20th I took a fifteen-minute taxi ride to meet him at the corner store near his place. When the taxi pulled up Kam was waiting there with his little nephew who was about 8 or 9 years old I would say. Kam’s home was a cozy one with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen/living area. It was a pretty nice place and had it electricity and potable water as well, which was a real bonus. He lived there with his girlfriend, sister, and nephew. His girlfriend’s brother was also there for the weekend. I’m guessing he was roughly around 14 years old or so. They were all very good people.
I took a bus into town a little later on that day to go on the Internet and browse around a few of the shops. The bus only cost seventy cents so it was dirt-cheap and a good way to get a glimpse of the real Fijian lifestyle. The pace the Fijians moved at was priceless. It is just so hot and humid there that everybody seems to move at the speed of snails. When the bus pulled up nobody at the stop seemed to move so I assumed this must be the wrong bus and I waited as well. Then after about a minute and a half people started to filter onto the bus. I joined the group and found the bus driver sitting there reading the paper in no rush to go anywhere. After a few more minutes was began our journey into the city center making plenty of stops along the way.
Once in town I just walked around and got a few things done then I made sure to catch the last bus back into Sambula so I would be back in time for dinner. I bought us some chicken to use for the curry that night. It was a great meal. Just about every meal is some form of curry (even breakfast) so they are curry masters. Later we went over to his brother’s place and met the rest of the family. This was the house were Kam was born and where he had spent the majority of his life. His brother gave us all some freshly squeezed mango, passion fruit, pineapple, and mango juices that he had squeezed himself from the fruit found around his home. I can honestly say it was the best and most pure juice that I have ever had in my life. I wish I could wake up to a glass of that every morning. After that we just went back to Kam’s place and watched a movie then went to bed. They pulled out a mattress for me to sleep on in the living area and I had a decent sleep.
The next day was Sunday and all the shops were closed so there was no point in going into town. Kam asked me what I felt like doing and I just wanted to do whatever he would normally do. At around noon that day we went down the hill to his neighbor’s place where around ten Fijian-Indian men were sitting in a circle on their porch playing cards around a big bowl of karva. Karva is a Fijian classic. It is basically a tea that is made from crushed up karva root. It all starts by harvesting the karva root and then drying it out for a fairly long period of time. The potency and quality of the karva depends on its age, kind of like fine whiskey. Most karva has aged at least three years but very fine karva can be as old as ten years or more. You can buy the dried up root down at the market at a fairly inexpensive price. Kam’s neighbors had a large amount of this root and they gave me some to crush up for the next batch. I put it in a large steel bowl and basically just pounded the schnitzel out of it until it turned into a fine powder. I then took the powder large bowl of powder and divided it up into small tea bag sized paper bags, with each small bag being enough for one big bowl of karva. I then went into the kitchen with one of the men and he had a rag tied to his kitchen tap. We poured the karva powder into this rag then ran water through it until the bowl was full and we had strained all of the good stuff from the powder into to karva bowl. Then that was it, a few stirs with the half coconut karva cups and we were good to go. From then on anytime somebody says “taki” that means drink up, and the person closest to the bowl serves up one half coconut full of karva to each person around the circle one at a time. You are meant to down the whole thing at once, it is not a casual sipping drink. I don’t think you would really want to casually sip on a cup of karva anyways because it basically looks and tastes like muddy water with a bit of a kick at the end. The Fijians don’t even like the taste but they drink it because of its relaxing effect. The first time you drink karva you will probably just end up with a numb tongue but after a few nights of drinking it your tolerance seems to go down and it has a much greater effect. By this point I had already drank karva about 6 or 7 times so after a few cups with these guys my brain was at ease. We continued drinking karva and playing card games down on their porch until around 5 o’clock or so then Kam and I left to go try and get some dinner sorted.
Kam picked up a couple grapefruits on the way back up the hill to his place that we would boil for dinner. They weren’t the sour grapefruits that we are used to back home. They were big giant fruits about the size of small watermelons and the inside was kind of similar to a potato only sweeter. Kam also had some small fish that he had caught earlier in the week as well as some coconuts and this leafy vegetable that I forget the name of now. I was in charge of shaving the coconuts so I sat down on the shaving board which had a serrated edge at the front and began to carve out the inside of the coconuts until they were bare and I was left with a big pile of white coconut shavings. We then wrapped the coconut shavings in a cloth, put it in a bowl of water, and squeezed out all the white coconut milk until we had a big bowl of coconut milk ready to cook with. We put the coconut milk in a big pot along with the fish, onions, and herbs then brought it just to a boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so until the fish was cooked. We also boiled that leafy veggie that is apparently poisonous if no cooked properly. Luckily they had plenty of experience cooking this and I didn’t die at the dinner table.
After dinner we went back down to his neighbor’s place to drink some more karva for a bit then eventually called it a night. The next morning I decided it was probably time for me to move on because I wanted to be settled somewhere for Christmas Day which was only three days away. I said my goodbyes and thanked them for their hospitality then I went into town and caught the next bus the Pacific Harbour.
I took a bus into town a little later on that day to go on the Internet and browse around a few of the shops. The bus only cost seventy cents so it was dirt-cheap and a good way to get a glimpse of the real Fijian lifestyle. The pace the Fijians moved at was priceless. It is just so hot and humid there that everybody seems to move at the speed of snails. When the bus pulled up nobody at the stop seemed to move so I assumed this must be the wrong bus and I waited as well. Then after about a minute and a half people started to filter onto the bus. I joined the group and found the bus driver sitting there reading the paper in no rush to go anywhere. After a few more minutes was began our journey into the city center making plenty of stops along the way.
Once in town I just walked around and got a few things done then I made sure to catch the last bus back into Sambula so I would be back in time for dinner. I bought us some chicken to use for the curry that night. It was a great meal. Just about every meal is some form of curry (even breakfast) so they are curry masters. Later we went over to his brother’s place and met the rest of the family. This was the house were Kam was born and where he had spent the majority of his life. His brother gave us all some freshly squeezed mango, passion fruit, pineapple, and mango juices that he had squeezed himself from the fruit found around his home. I can honestly say it was the best and most pure juice that I have ever had in my life. I wish I could wake up to a glass of that every morning. After that we just went back to Kam’s place and watched a movie then went to bed. They pulled out a mattress for me to sleep on in the living area and I had a decent sleep.
The next day was Sunday and all the shops were closed so there was no point in going into town. Kam asked me what I felt like doing and I just wanted to do whatever he would normally do. At around noon that day we went down the hill to his neighbor’s place where around ten Fijian-Indian men were sitting in a circle on their porch playing cards around a big bowl of karva. Karva is a Fijian classic. It is basically a tea that is made from crushed up karva root. It all starts by harvesting the karva root and then drying it out for a fairly long period of time. The potency and quality of the karva depends on its age, kind of like fine whiskey. Most karva has aged at least three years but very fine karva can be as old as ten years or more. You can buy the dried up root down at the market at a fairly inexpensive price. Kam’s neighbors had a large amount of this root and they gave me some to crush up for the next batch. I put it in a large steel bowl and basically just pounded the schnitzel out of it until it turned into a fine powder. I then took the powder large bowl of powder and divided it up into small tea bag sized paper bags, with each small bag being enough for one big bowl of karva. I then went into the kitchen with one of the men and he had a rag tied to his kitchen tap. We poured the karva powder into this rag then ran water through it until the bowl was full and we had strained all of the good stuff from the powder into to karva bowl. Then that was it, a few stirs with the half coconut karva cups and we were good to go. From then on anytime somebody says “taki” that means drink up, and the person closest to the bowl serves up one half coconut full of karva to each person around the circle one at a time. You are meant to down the whole thing at once, it is not a casual sipping drink. I don’t think you would really want to casually sip on a cup of karva anyways because it basically looks and tastes like muddy water with a bit of a kick at the end. The Fijians don’t even like the taste but they drink it because of its relaxing effect. The first time you drink karva you will probably just end up with a numb tongue but after a few nights of drinking it your tolerance seems to go down and it has a much greater effect. By this point I had already drank karva about 6 or 7 times so after a few cups with these guys my brain was at ease. We continued drinking karva and playing card games down on their porch until around 5 o’clock or so then Kam and I left to go try and get some dinner sorted.
Kam picked up a couple grapefruits on the way back up the hill to his place that we would boil for dinner. They weren’t the sour grapefruits that we are used to back home. They were big giant fruits about the size of small watermelons and the inside was kind of similar to a potato only sweeter. Kam also had some small fish that he had caught earlier in the week as well as some coconuts and this leafy vegetable that I forget the name of now. I was in charge of shaving the coconuts so I sat down on the shaving board which had a serrated edge at the front and began to carve out the inside of the coconuts until they were bare and I was left with a big pile of white coconut shavings. We then wrapped the coconut shavings in a cloth, put it in a bowl of water, and squeezed out all the white coconut milk until we had a big bowl of coconut milk ready to cook with. We put the coconut milk in a big pot along with the fish, onions, and herbs then brought it just to a boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so until the fish was cooked. We also boiled that leafy veggie that is apparently poisonous if no cooked properly. Luckily they had plenty of experience cooking this and I didn’t die at the dinner table.
After dinner we went back down to his neighbor’s place to drink some more karva for a bit then eventually called it a night. The next morning I decided it was probably time for me to move on because I wanted to be settled somewhere for Christmas Day which was only three days away. I said my goodbyes and thanked them for their hospitality then I went into town and caught the next bus the Pacific Harbour.
First Night in Fiji's Capital
When we pulled into Suva I was amazed at the amount of people clustered around the bus station. It was a smoggy, noisy, mess of people like I had never seen before. I quickly got myself away from this area and the population seemed to disperse quite a bit and I became much more comfortable. Once I got quite a bit further up the street a man approached me and wanted to know my story. I gave him a vague idea of what I had up to and didn’t tell him too much about my plans for the future then he pulled a Fijian hustler classic. He said had a gift for me. He whipped out a wooden tribal mask asked me my name. I knew better then to answer this question. Luckily a man on the plane ride over had warned me about this kind of thing. People on the street will come up to you and pretend to be your friend, then they will ask you your name and when you tell them they immediately begin to carve your name into one of these masks. They then try to force you to buy the mask that now has your name engraved into it. These guys are harmless though, and they seem to bugger off fairly quickly once you shut them down. After checking out a few hostels in the area I realized that all the ones in my price range were pretty much garbage so I just accepted it and checked into the South Sea Hostel near the Museum. I through my stuff into the steamy room and got right back out of here as soon as possible. I walked around downtown Suva for a bit then I noticed one bar called the Big Dirty Dog or something like that had a Happy Hour on at the moment. I was parched and thought I might as well swing in for a beer. Inside it was a nice enough place with friendly customers and staff too. I sat up at the bar and began talking to this Fijian-Indian guy named Kam. He told me he knew the owner of this place and would be able to get us Happy Hour prices for the rest for the night. I had nothing else to do at this point and I was in no rush to get back to my crappy dorm room so I said, “Lets do it.” He was a jeweler and souvenir salesman all around Viti Levu. We eventually went over to the very popular bar O’Reiley’s and met a few randoms in there. After a great night in there Kam gave me his number and said I was welcome to come stay with him and his family if I wanted. Many Fijians had offered to let me stay with their families up to this point but I was always a little skeptical. I just got a good vibe off of this guy and so the next morning when I woke up I gave him a call and the first words out of his mouth were, “So, are you ready to come home.”
Journey to Suva
On the morning of Friday, December 19th I jumped on a local bus for $.70 which took me down to the bus station where I purchased a bus ticket to take me from Nadi over to Suva, which is the capitol city of Fiji. I thought this big city would be an interesting place to spend the weekend. Nadi was an interesting spot as well but I found it to be quite dirty and there wasn’t a whole lot going on that I wanted to be a part of to be honest. The bus ticket for the four and a half hour bus ride only cost me $8 Fijian, which is around $5 Canadian. It was ridiculously cheap but also incredibly cramped. They sat three people to a seat that looked like it would be a squeeze to fit two people on. It was a sweaty, uncomfortable mess for the first couple of hours but I got talking to one of the locals sitting beside me on the bus. He was a nurse on his way home to visit his family. I was the only white guy on the bus so naturally everybody wanted to talk to me and find out my story. Most tourists traveling around Fiji ride on another bus called the Coral Sun but it was more expensive and I wanted a more authentic Fijian experience. I am glad I made the decision to ride the local bus. Halfway through we stopped in a small town ride at the market so I went in and bought half a pineapple from one of the vendors for $2. It was very delicious and refreshing. I felt reenergized and ready to ride out the rest of the journey to Suva. When I got back on the bus I realized that this was the final stop for a lot of people so there was much more room on the bus and it was down to just two people per seat, which made the trip much more enjoyable. The Fijian countryside was something like I had never seen before. Little villages seemed to pop out of nowhere. A decent amount of the people living in and around Suva are squatters, which means they just toss a tin roof over their heads and they live off the land for the most part. They were everywhere. At some point in the late afternoon we finally rolled into Suva.
A Sad Return to the Mainland
On Wednesday, December 17th I attempted to catch the 11:00 am ferry from Beachcomber Island back to the mainland but once on the boat I was told that I still needed to pay my bar tab and that I would have to go back to do so. I had given them my credit card number and at most of the other islands that is all you need to do then everything would be taken off of that. I guess I misunderstood and ended up missing the morning ferry. When coming off the boat a Fijian guy was carrying my bag for my as they normally do, and I went to follow the man carrying my bag but he told me to follow some other women into reception instead. I thought that was fair enough and that he would take my bag back to the luggage shack for the afternoon boat where it would be safe. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I caught the afternoon boat later that day and eventually found my way to Nadi Bay Backpackers hostel where I would be staying the night. I hung out with a few people from my room that night and had a decent meal with a couple beers to wash it down. Then when I went to go to bed I thought I would fall asleep listening to my iPod. I looked in the top pocket of my bag where I had left it and whoops, no iPod. That was rough enough but after looking a little deeper I found that not only was the iPod missing but also there was no camera and I was about $60 short as well. I went to sleep in a mix of sadness and anger that night. The next day I went to the police station at the airport and got them to write up a report for me. Other than that there was not a whole lot I could do so I just had to let it go. I spent one more night at Nadi Bay Backpackers and decided to head east the next morning.
Beachcomber Island
On December 16th I arrived on Beachcomber Island to find a larger mass of people than any of the other islands I had visited. They showed me to my dorm room, which had about 150 beds in it at least. Luckily nobody spends too much time in their room anyways so it didn’t really matter. I went for a walk around the island to eat up some time before dinner but found that it only takes about 5 minutes to walk around the entire thing. Later I went down and had a decent buffet style meal and then headed over to the bar where I met up with a big group of people from Norway. I made friends with these two guys Maximus and Olav and shared a few jugs with them. There was a big round of limbo going on that night which was very entertaining to watch. I stayed clear because I didn’t want to crack my spine in half. We all had a great time that night but the next morning I was ready to move back to the mainland and get back to a somewhat normal lifestyle.
Sunset Waya Resort
On December 15th while traveling on the southbound boat I met up with three Irish girls who I had met before on Bounty Island so I decided to follow them to Sunset Waya Resort on Waya Island. Apparently this resort was also known as Twin Bays because of a sand bar that stretches from Waya Island to another Island (possibly Waya Lailai Island). At low tide this sand bar is exposed separating the ocean into two bays and allowing you to walk from one island to the other. You can also see both the sunrise and the sunset from this sandbar. It is really cool. This resort however had a total of about 10 people staying there. It was a really quiet place to stay and they had next to nothing for food. Breakfast was just dirty juice and bread, lunch was rice and something chewy, and I honestly have no idea what dinner was because it was dark and I really couldn’t tell. We all had a really good time here though actually. At night they put on a really good show for us with the craziest fire dancing I’ve seen and then we all sat around and drank karva before retiring out to a massive bonfire on the beach. I only had one night left on the Yasawas after this though so I thought I should go out in a blaze of glory and the best place to do that is Beachcomber Island.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)