Where on earth..?

Bula! Fiji

Setting out for the South Pacific, we half expected to find island nations quite similar to each other. Instead we found that the cultures differ more than we could imagine. Before arriving in Fiji I was sure it was gonna be the most "spoilt" and super touristic of our three Pacific destinations. In some ways it is, with Fiji attracting many many times more visitors than Tonga or even the Cook Islands. The images people have of Fiji with styled pools at super styled resorts certainly exist here, and do a good job at keeping hordes of tourists away from other places. But the more budget variety we have to stick to at equally nice beaches often come closer to local villages, and almost nowhere else have we seen life as traditional as in them. The custom of visiting the chief when entering a village is not created for tourists, but reality here and the traditional village with no shops and no money being transfered holds little to entertain the tourist for a long time.

Bula! We travel around the islands on a bulapass and I had my coffee at bulaccino. Bula, bula, we hear a hundred times a day, eventually you get sick of it even when meant well.

Fiji is an island hoppers paradise. After recent accidents with small boats going under, they have made a huge facelift and invested in modern vessles that do a daily route between the different islands of the Yasawas and the Mamanucas. With our pass we could travel as many legs as we wanted and accomodation could be booked on board! With waters as stunning as in the brochures it's easy to see why it has become a playground for backpackers and other tourists. Fast, easy and fun! Elsewhere people tend to stay at least a week at each island, here you can do a new island every day. We chose to see 3 islands in a week, with the last and most expensive Bounty island for only one night. How could I resist a tiny styled coral island with the name of a chocolate bar???

50% of the population is Fiji Indians, so the cities serve great curries and the shops sell traditional Indian attire that would do well in any Bollywood film! The native Fijians are darker than the people in Tonga and the Cooks with wild afro-curly hair and are apparently of Melanesian, not Polynesian origin. The coups of Suva remain very distant in the islands, and as most tourists travel in and out from Nadi, there really is no reason to avoid Fiji at the time. The main island of Viti Levu is very crowded with more than 500 000 people, compare that to the average island village of 500!

Now we are shabby brown-faced creatures with clothes practically unwearable, flying straight to LA tomorrow... I'm sure they will regard us as a different spieces altogether. First thing we do will have to be getting some new clothes before going star gazing! And I'm so definitely not gonna reveal who I hope to spot in West Hollywood... ;-)

posted by Carina @ 4:25 AM