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| Friendly villagers in Abaca, Levuka, sun, sea and Scandinavian drinking... | Our first impression of Fiji was confusing. It seemed bigger, dirtier and more chaotic than the Cook Islands, and the locals look different (sombody shout Melanesia and Polynesia). Fiji has 3 main religions: Cristianity, Hinduism and Islam, and the people make a colourful mixture.
Our photos you can see here
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 | friendly villagers and hosts
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Abaca, a way of life we thought lost or impossible
We first stayed in Lautoka Hotel (a very grungy, uncomfortable place!) and catched up on movies there, but left soon to see the small village called Abaca in the highlands! When we arrived we brought our luggage at the chiefs house (where we will be staying) and headed straight to trek up the big hill with American guy Scott! He told us stories from his travels (he's been around the world 3 times already) and we spend a nice afternoon together. When we returned to the village, our dinner is waiting and we presented our 10 small bags of kava, our "sevusevu" - a gift of appreciation, to the chief. Drinking kava (mildly narcotic, dried root mixed with water) is a very deep local habit, practised all day long in some places (like we learn in Melbravo resort later) and gives you a numb feeling to your mouth for few minutes, but it really depends on you to open to this  . We went to bed early and tried to catch some sleep (in a room with 8 other people, who were all of the chiefs family) through all the noise. one grandma had a terrible cough 
Next morning we went on a hike to the waterfall and in the afternoon watched the local men play rugby and enjoyed the attention of the kids (who loved our digital camera and were always pulling on my lip piercing). When chatting with our host, we asked her if she's ever bored by her life and don't know what to do, and the answer makes us smile: "Bored? What's bored? Whats restless? How dont you know what to do?".
The village itself is less than 100 years old, completely rebuild by 5 survivors of a landslide where the old village was destroyed. The whole place is made of wood and bark cloth (masi or tapa locally, waved into pandanu mats). We had a lovely time here and got some great time thanks to the villagers! | |  | Yasawa impression
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Yasawas, Fiji for gap kids
Our next plan was to go to see the western islands and we headed to Yasawas group. The yasawas are the place to go if youre on a tight schedule, pristine waters, barely any civilization rubbish, caves and unspoiled inhabitants. "blue lagoon" was filmed there and it surely looks like in the movies there! Sadly the only way to get around seems to be the big ferries packed with gap kids and such. If we would have known, wed have organized our own transport. There is even the "fiji experience", similar to the oz and kiwi one, which only suits 18-22 year old singles. So pick your place carefully or you end up in a puddle of hormonal turbulences, since Fiji is massively popular as a stopover.
One sad fact we realized was the growing influence of westerners, which comes with the popularity of fiji island properties as an investment. 2 resorts on Nacula and one exclusive island, now called turtle island, are property of an american investor, who is some "sales guru" on the wellness scheme. We accidentily walked onto the restricted island and were dismissed instantly. The villagers arent allowed there either. This is particularily clashing with the traditional ways of fijians sharing most posessions. It all gets westernized in these places too. My opinion - In one way its protected and conserved. But whom for? Elites who wont cherish it... | |  | an evening run
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Melbravo resort, who needs food or electricity anyway!
We went to an island called Nacula a bit more isolated as the last stop of the ferry and its "Melbravo Resort". It turned out to be a bit disapointing... We only got 3 meals a day, at 8am, at 12 and at 7pm. Lunch beeing very small we were starving few hours after!! I'm sure we were the fastest eaters ever at dinner; everyone is finished by 7.15! There is no place to get food on the island in a range of a 2 hours walk, except the village itself. This was the most amazing thing to do - organizing food where each hut in the village has one product to sell, like eggs or milk, and trying to negotiate with some very tired people, will stay in my mind for a while. on one of the islands nearby is a cafe, selling only coffee and chocolate cake, run by villagers - imagine our delight discovering this place.
Furtheron the family running the Melbravo place was heavily "on kava", so activities and requests were not really welcome. The "activity guy" was the only exception, probably because not originating from the island, who I hope makes his way to Australia, like he planned to do! He organized some fine trips to "blue lagoon" and a cave which was astonishing, still had some wildlife of ticks and spiders, the girls certainly didnt appreciate.
At Melbravo we met 2 "smelly Norwegian backpackers yodelling in restaurant booths" (reference taken from P.J. O'Rourke: "Holidays in hell") called Johannes and Solve, who are on holidays from their studies in Australia and spend the next 3 evenings drinking vodka (like good Scandinavians!) and chatting! We also take part in the local dancing, when beeing dragged to do the "snake dance" with the dancegroup. The local men performed the war dance (cibi) with spears n stuff to the cheers and laughs of the village youth and the women invited us to dance. Its been rather embarassing for the whiteys | |  | Welcome to Casablanca
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Casablanca, kid!
After one week we returned to the main island again and got to know Nadi a bit, which is not a town to mention any further. Next step coral coast on the biggest island Viti Levu. Travelling around this island is quite easy. Choices are the old busses stuffed with people and a vcd entertaining or minibus-taxis with up to 12 people crammed into, which go whenever full. Its bearable comfort though, except you go the northern route or Suva-Levuka. But about that later. First stop was Sigatoka, a small market town on the southern seaside. There are some accomodation options, which are bit faded. Still some package tourists are lured there :) We stayed at the Casablanca Hotel, which lost a bit of colour through the years, a romantic place with seaview and a bargain aswell. If there wouldnt have been the couple fighting upstairs at night for hours including a constantly screaming child. Forget about the beaches or swimming though - there we could see the influences of global warming and missing garbage systems. There is a tiny sort-of-zoo closeby which where we saw and touched some of the local species. It seems to be an interesting conservation project. Few days off the tourist track was enough though... | |  | Levuka is truly laid back
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Howdy Levuka and Suva
Off to Suva, the capital, where at the time the pacific summer games were held. It was packed and bustling with citizens of whole Oceania and a wonderful place to see these nationalities without island hopping. There is a fascinating mix of churches, Hindu temples and mosques aswell. one background info we got was about the putsch (coup attempt) and we saw some of the sites where these events took place just a few years back.
Sadly it was raining (the region with the most rainfall in Fiji) and there were powercuts constantly due to the games, so we just visited the Fiji museum, Albert park and the Republic of Cappuccino, a travellers delight - aaah resting! But not for long ...
The trip to Levuka on Ovalau is just a few kilometers away from Suva by air. Still if you want to reach it by bus, ferry and bus it takes a day of most incredible "roads", a trip on a rusty ferry and a night arrival by even worse roads. Colourful anyway and you get to talk with the locals travelling this way every week to visit home or get supplies. The small town of Levuka looks like an American wild west town sort of way way back and is massively charming. Except (there always is one exception) the Pafco fishing company, giving direct and indirect jobs to half the population, right in the centre sea side smelling like, well, fish depending on the direction of the wind from the sea. The Royal hotel, where we stayed, was just like its promoted, a sweet place with a colonial architecture more than a 100 years old and a bargain! The town itself was the capital until the 1880s and the first settlement of European traders. Some influences in the locals are therefore visible and you can listen to stories about the sailors and whalers from the past, like - who could guess, at the Whales tale restaurant. There are lovely ruins and restored colonial buildings all around with just picture perfect photo opportunities. We didnt go to the Lovoni village in an extinct volcano crater and the offshore tropic islands, since the weather didnt improve very much, but its on the ToDo list. | |  | first encounter! ;)
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Links to go
Since we had to return soon to catch the flight to the next destination, Samoa, and were looking forward to some sun again. We would have never expected this though! Links
and a commercial guide oneLonely Planet Fiji mapNo link to fiji "experience", since its crap  |
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Updated 08.09.03 Written by Riikka and Daniel 58812 reads |
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sunset again... getting bored already?
Album: Fiji |
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Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.
-- Benjamin Disraeli |
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