Village life

28th September 2010

MP3 track of the day – Village People - YMCA

Weather: Hot with a cool breeze

This morning the sun burst through my window and straight into my eyes at around 6:30am, meaning I was up and about by 7am. I took the opportunity (while the weather was cool and most people were still asleep) to take some photos of the resort.

At 8am I went for breakfast and again it didn't disappoint; pancakes, french toast, toast, fruit and chocolate cake to name just a few things on offer … I went back for seconds. Whilst eating breakfast an activity guy came around to ask who wanted to go to the village today and so I put my name down. There needed to be a minimum of four people, which concerned me a little as most people here seemed to want to just lie on a beach, however we managed to get six in the end.

I went back to my dorm to apply suncream and get my camera and a bottle of water before heading out to catch the water taxi to the village. Learning from my last water taxi trip I left my passport, phone and MP3 player in my bag at the resort and only took my wallet and my camera (which had a water proof cover over the bag). As it turned out though it didn't matter as this boat was a little bigger than yesterdays and so I hardly got wet at all.

On the way over I chatted to the other five people, four Kiwi's and an Australian, about my travels and Fiji and New Zealand. All was good and the 20 minute ride flew by and we reached the village in no time. We were met by our guide, a local lady from the village, and we were first taken to the school.

On the way to the school we went past a few houses which are predominately made out of concrete and timber. Also along the way we met some locals just casually sitting around and a friendly 'bula' was exchanged between us. Once at the school our tour lady just wanted to show us the buildings, however the Kiwi's wanted to see the children (and secretly I did too) and so she took us into the classroom which held years 7 and 8.

The children's teacher was ill today so they had to occupy themselves; they seem to have been getting on with some work ... before we arrived. As soon as we entered the door they greeted us and wanted to show us there classroom, there work and they all wanted their picture taken. To me this was the best experience of Fiji so far (I though that my mum and dad, being teachers, would have loved this too) and we spent twenty minutes with them. The amount of photos I took was incredible as they all wanted their photo taken.

On child gave me their village address so that I can write to them when I get home. This was quite touching and I thought not only will I write and send them a few photos of our visit, but I think I will try to send some books, pens oh and a rugby ball as they don't seem to have a lot in the village. If anyone else wishes to donate things to the village school there address is:

Ratu Apenisa Memorial School,

P.O. Box 1409,

Lautoka,

Fiji

I'm sure they will be more than great full for anything (apparently sunglasses are needed).

After this the lady took us to where some of the female members of the village were selling goods. I usually don't like it when you are taken to a place where goods are sold because you end up feeling that you have to buy something. However here I felt like I wanted to buy something as the money went straight to the village. I had a look around and I bought myself a necklace (which I think upgrades my looks from stunningly handsome to stud … watch out ladies) made from coconut and a sharks backbone and tooth. I realized that this was my first souvenir from Fiji

After this we didn't have long left and so we walked to their church for a quick look around before getting back on the boat and back to the resort. The village trip was amazing and I was certainly glad I did it; all the people were friendly but the children were just brilliant (even the ones too young for school were following us, wondering what we were doing).

By the time we got back to the resort I had just enough time for a quick freshen up before lunch. Again Manta-ray didn't disappoint with a lunch menu larger than most restaurants. I decided to go for the mackerel as a few of my friends had it last night and it looked good.

At lunch I said goodbye to most of my friends as they were off to another island; I however was glad that I was staying here another night. It was now the hottest part of the day and, considering I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, I headed back to my dorm to chill.

Hours went past and it was soon time for tea. I sat with a group of young English people who were in Fiji for a holiday; we chatted a little through the meal until, after eating, it was announced that some members of the village were on the beach. They had come to show us some traditional Fijian dancers.

I headed straight down to the beach; on my way I met our guide from the village today and we had a quick chat. All the residents of the resort sat on some wooden benches facing the sea, the village sat on the beach in front of us, also facing the sea (so they had their backs to us).

An employee at the resort welcomed us and introduced each dance throughout the evening. Once a dance was announced the people involved would stand up, turn to face us and perform, whilst the rest of the group would remain seating and sing and play instruments. It was fantastic; my highlight was a 'Meka', a traditional Fijian warrior dance with the men dressed in grass skirts and armed with clubs. There was also a good dance from three women with fans. The night was a cultural feast and time flew.

After about six or seven dancers the night ended with each villager meeting each resort tenant and we said thank you ('Vinaka' in Fijian) before they headed back to the village.

Village life and traditional dancers, it had been a cultural day.

Toodle Pip!

Moving on

27th September 2010

MP3 track of the day: Free to love again - Katie Perry

Weather: Hot but with a very cool breeze

Getting up early I checked out, packed my stuff, had breakfast, and then contemplated what I should do for the next four hours before the catamaran came to pick me up. The 'reading a book under a palm tree' was favorite but just as I was about to settle down a nice Kiwi lady asked if I wanted to go to the caves (an activity that was on today). She was holidaying in Fiji with her two sons and had already got tickets as part of her holiday package (which she won in a Marathon … nice that) but one of her sons didn't want to go (instead he wanted to walk around the island) and so, instead of wasting the ticket, she asked if I wanted to go.

Yes was my answer, but I only had 5 minutes to get ready for it … no problem. I dumped my book back into my bag and picked up my suncream, sorted …

… Well not quite. The first problem was that we had a 45 minute ride in a small, engine powered, boat to the caves. I got completely soaked and I had my wallet, my phone, MP3 player and passport with me (as I thought, at the beginning of the day, I was getting ready for my trip to the next island). When we reached the caves I took my shirt off, rung it out and then put it back on. I then checked all my stuff and, to my amazement, it was all fine. The second problem was that the caves were flooded and I had no swimming stuff, I therefore took a couple of photos from the edge and then headed back outside to the beach where others, from my boat, were hanging out.

It wasn't long before the rest of my group came out of the caves and we got back on the boat. Speaking to some of the others on my boat they said the caves were okay, but its normally $50.00 and if it hadn't been included within their package, they would have been a bit gutted to spend that amount of money on the experience they got.

We arrived back at the resort a little late (but a lot dryer) and so I had to rush. Again I met my Australian friends and we had lunch before leaving Coral View for the catamaran. Overall I had a very good time at Coral View but I was ready to move on.

Once on the boat I stocked up on biscuits for my next destination, Manta-ray resort (wasn't going to get caught out on the food thing again). After 2 hours my Aussie mates next island was called and so I said goodbye; my resort was only fifteen minutes after theirs.

Once off the catamaran (again being transferred between boats and having to walk a little way through the water … it was okay though, this time I was prepared by wearing sandals and shorts ) I tagged along with some other people who had just left Coral View.

Manta-ray resort greeted us with a cool welcome drink as a lady talked to us about the resort. Two things stuck in my brain; that at meal times there was a choice (At the last resort you had whatever was being cooked) and that there was a village tour tomorrow. Both things sounded great and so I went to the dorm, unpacked my stuff, then hit the shower (with me getting soaked earlier, I had a lot of salt all over me) before getting changed into some new clothes.

6pm came around all to quickly and so I headed to the sunset beach to, funnily enough, watch the sunset. Just like every other time I've seen the sun set over here it was beautiful and it still surprises me how quickly, after sunset, Fiji gets dark.

After this I headed towards the restaurant to meet my friends for tea and to have a look at the restaurant menu. Food wise Manta-ray is the complete opposite to Coral View, the food was simply stunning. For the first starter I had Pumpkin soup, followed by my second starter of onion bargies (or something similar) finishing of with the beef (with mash potato, carrots and green beans drizzled in a lovely sauce); all were simply stunning and mouth watering … I was certainly looking forward to meal times here.

After this we all had a quiet drink, whilst a group of rowdy American teenagers played games in the other half of the restaurant, before heading to bed at the very civilized time of 9:30pm. At 1:00am the following morning most of the dorm were awoken by the said group of Americans as they turned the lights on and decided to chat or 45 minutes before eventually going to sleep. Beautiful location, great food and noisy neighbors … I guess you can't have it all!

Toodle Pip!