Fiji

It was definitly a good experience going to Fiji, and learning how to travel by myself in a developing country. I wouldn't tell anyone to bother spending any significant time in Nadi, as the small islands off the main land is where the true Fiji culture and lifestyle comes out. Furthermore, its out on the islands where they care more about showing you a good time and revealing the Fijian culture.

Everything is on Fiji time. What does that mean? When they say they'll be ready in 5 minutes, it really means 1 hour as they go do something else first.

The weather was amazing. Lots of sun and very hot. I can't imagine how Dela Pena would deal with the heat, as I was sweating liters of water a day (even when I was just hanging out in the shade!).

The people you meet are amazing. Anything from a professional skydiving instructor from California (with over 8000 jumps!), to Aussies, Kiwi, and Brits.

Next up is New Zealand...

Another day on Bounty Island...

They have a pool table on the island, and after a few games I was titled the Champion, as many of the employees challenged me, but to no success!

Spent most of the day hanging around in the sun. Went for a walk around the island, and the high tide came in forcing me to swim for a while.

Later that night one of the employees (a local Fijian) invited us to drink Kava with him. Kava is not an alochol, and its not a tea. Its something in the middle. Once handed a bowl of Kava, you have to chug it back, while everyone else claps 3 times. We sat around for a few hours drinking Kava and sharing stories from everyone's world travells (a couple people had been travelling for 9 months, so they had many stories). A couple other Fijians joined us, so it was fun to interact with them. They say you haven't really been to Fiji, unless you have drank kava. So now I can say that I've offically been to Fiji. Also, you must be invited by a Fijian to drink Kava.

(sitting around on the deck drinking Kava).

We learned that the tribe leader had put a ban on the consumption of alcohol and drugs for all tribe members born after 1965 because of the recent excessiveness (this is how things work in a Fiji tribe). Needles to say, the younger ones were not happy about it.

Today I headed out to Bounty Island Resort, which is tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific.

My travel documents said I was to catch the 8:00am bus ride from the hotel. Needless to say, when I arrived early (about 7:30), I was informed it had already gone. Crap! This is how things work in Fiji sometimes. I jumped in a taxi and made it to the ferry on time. The cruise over to the Island was cool, with tons of backpackers going to different island.

The island is quite small (takes about 20 minutes to walk around). It has coral reefs just off the white sandy beaches. There is an outside restaurant where everyone eats their meals. They also have a tiny pool which holds a bunch of baby sea turtles. It is so hot on the island, you usually sweat even just sitting in the shade.

(Bounty Island upon arrival)

I spent the day hanging around, playing pool, swimming, and meeting other backpackers. That night we played a bunch of drinking games. I represented Canada well in the commwealth battle (Aussies, Brits, etc)

That night we had an awesome moment where we were watching the sunset, and a bunch of sharks came swimming up to the shore. It was perfect being in the South Pacific on white sandy beach, with an amazing sunset... and sharks.

(Here the sharks were only a couple of feet away).

So I arrived around 6:00am and went straight to the hotel. I ate my first real meal in about 24 hours. I was so 'out of it' from travelling for 24 hours, I had no idea what was going on.

That afternoon I caught a taxi into Nadi to look around. As I was walking down the street, a local Fijian started talking to me (and being really nice and welcoming). Already I sensed something was up. Soon he was taking me to his friend's shop where I could buy authenic Fiji items. In my head, I decided I would continue with him as long I stayed on the main streets. Soon enough, he wanted to take me down a back alley. The sirens went off, and I told him I was going to check out some other local stores and come back later. Typical tourist trap. The same trick was tried on me later. I think I got targeted because I was by myself and clearly an outsider.

That night I passed out at 6:00pm.

Overall the plane rides went well. Obvisouly a couple of problems along the way, but you have to roll with the punches.

LAX was insane. I didn't know what terminal I was in, and I didn't know what terminal to go to. I asked a security guard, who gave me the wrong directions, leading me off the airport grounds. It was chasos trying to get through security, as everyone is yelling and pushing. To complete my experience, I was solisited by a guy on the street to donate to a homeless program. Finally I was asked by a really short guy to reach him a Playboy from the top counter, which he could not reach.

The flight from LAX to Fiji was over 10 hours, covering about 9000km. Luckily no one sat beside me, so I had tons of room to stretch out. Unfortunately there was a baby screaming most the way, which hindered any attempt to sleep. However, as we started to hit the Fiji Islands, the sun rose giving a spectacular view from 20000 feet up... this got me very stoked about what was to come.

Summary of Flights:
Toronto - St. Paul/Minn: 2 hours
St. Paul - LAX: 4 hours
LAX - Nadi: 10 hours