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17/07/06 - 21/07/06 - FIJI TIME
As soon as I landed in Fiji I got a feel for the laidback lifestyle here. In the airport, on the way to customs, there were four guys with guitars singing songs to greet the travellers. In America they have forty guys - with guns.
It was great being in hot weather again. Upon arriving at the hostel on the beach, I checked in then lay in a hammock watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Nice.
I only had 5 days in Fiji, so I booked a 4 day/3 night package through Awesome Adventures that takes me to two of the Yasawa Islands: Kuata and Naviti. All your meals and accommodation are included and they have a big catamaran that goes round the islands dropping people off. Of course they can't park right on the beaches, which means when you arrive at your island you have to step off the catamaran with all your luggage into a tiny little boat that takes you to shore.
Once we arrived on the beach I met a group of Irish people (Liam, Bernard, Keith, Jack and Helen) who were doing the same package is me. I hung out with them for the next few days and we had a really good laugh together.
We arrived on the island just in time for lunch. All of the food was excellent. I spent the afternoon sunbathing and snorkelling. The snorkelling was amazing. I swam about 10 metres out from the beach and was met by the most amazing coral reefs. It was easily just as good as the Great Barrier Reef; there was a lot more colour because the water was only a couple of metres deep (if that). There were SO many fish of all different colours, shapes and sizes. I also saw a blue star fish that was bigger than my hand span. It was all simply amazing.
Inevitably when you're hanging out with a bunch of Irish people you're going to be drinking - A LOT. So by late afternoon we were getting beers down us before watching the sunset from the beach.
After that we played what has become my legendary movie theme game. I have a playlist on my Ipod of about 60 different themes from films, TV shows or songs used in films. My Ipod's obviously hooked up to my speakers, and you have 2 teams playing against each other, and all they have to do is guess which film/TV show the theme is from. Whichever team shouts it out first gets a point, and the other has to have a swig of their drink. I've played it with loads of different groups of people and they've all loved it.
So when I started playing it this time, it was originally just with the Irish guys (and girl). The game can last a good half hour and as it progressed, more and more people heard what we were doing and joined in. By the end of it we had about 10-15 people on each team, all screaming and cheering as the game was neck and neck. It was quality.
Afterwards we had dinner, which was accompanied by music from four of the locals with their guitars. Music is obviously a major part of their culture here, and following dinner the local tribe did a half hour performance of different pieces of music and dance routines which was really special to watch.
That evening we all stayed up drinking beer and trying the kava. I had my guitar out for a good ol' sing song, which went down well with the tourists and the locals. It was great taking turns with the local Fiji guys playing songs on my guitar, because they were just as interested in hearing me play as I was hearing them. The power went off at midnight but after lighting a few lanterns we stayed up until the early hours of the morning. All in all it was an absolutely fantastic night.
The next day we got back on the catamaran to take us to the Kovorou Resort on Naviti Island. As we arrived on the beach the locals played a welcome song for us. Even though they do it every day for the new people who arrive, it still made us feel really special and welcome. The weather was cloudy today so I didn't get any sunbathing in. The highlight of the day was having a big game of beach volleyball in the late afternoon. I figured it was appropriate to get my Ipod speakers out and put on the Top Gun soundtrack as we played. It may have given the game a slight 80's homoerotic undertone, but it went down well nonetheless.
That evening the locals did the Bula Dance for us ('bula' meaning hello/welcome), and then got all of us on the dance floor and taught us how to do the dance. It was great fun, but I ended up going to bed early because I was so knackered from the night before.
Thursday began with chilling by the pool and bar area. Moses (one of the locals) asked if he could hook my Ipod to the sound system. I of course jumped at the chance and put on the (very appropriate) Beach soundtrack. Moses also had his guitar out, so I went and got mine and we jammed some Bob Marley tunes as well as the legendary "Love Generation".
Later in the morning the barman browsed through my Ipod to put some other music on. I was expecting him to choose some more chilled out electronic music, or Bob Marley, or whatever. But the first song he put on was Bryan Adams' "All For Love". I was like "What the - !?!" Playing it cool, I went up to the barman asking what he put on and he said, "Bryan Adams - he is very good!" He proceeded to play a few BA songs and all the locals were singing along! Now, if I was travelling with my friends, I would have thought this was a set up to take the piss, but since I was travelling on my own and no one knew I was a BA fan, I just had to laugh. Of course they were all amazed when I picked up my guitar and played along to any song they put on.
The afternoon was filled with more snorkelling (which again was amazing) and another great game of volleyball.
That evening we had a party on the beach. The locals certainly knew how to get a fire going. You could see every star in the sky which was great to see again. Music was provided by my Ipod as well as my guitar again (the BA tunes went down VERY well with the locals). A guy called Tom from Oz had a harmonica with him so we had a really good jam too. We all stayed up until about 2:30am drinking beer and loads of kava, it was another fantastic night.
Friday I lay in all morning, and then got the catamaran back to mainland in the afternoon. Saturday I just chilled out at the hostel on the beach all day, waiting for my flight to LA at 10pm. Overall my time in Fiji was really short, but sweet. I loved the friendly and laidback lifestyle - ask someone what time it is, they'd say "It's Fiji time!".
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