BULA FROM FIJI!
Sorry it has taken us so long to find internet here, we have been busy on our adventures and hindered by the recent flooding that has caused many things to close...here in fiji they work on 'fiji' time so things arent fixed quite as soon as they might be back home! I was suprised when I changed my money at the airport to see the queen staring back at me on their notes and coins that resembled ours very closely. It seems fiji became a colony originally after being sold to England to pay off debts. The debts were actually concurred by an American family who sued them after their house was burnt down and they were chased out of town for starting an enterprise the Fijians were not so happy with..! And I guess that is how I get to see the queen on the notes while I am here!
Despite the recent flooding however we were extremely lucky with the weather, apart from the first day when it rained quite a bit, we have stayed dry and mostly in the sunshine. With that of course comes extreme heat and I think I have sweated out most of any alcohol I have consumed over the past few days.We were picked up last Saturday for our 'FEEJEE experience', it is called feejee, as that is how captain cook famously misspelt the island of 'viti' (its original name) in his journal. Im not sure how it became fiji from feejee, maybe it has something to do with the water here, which is proportianely expensive-targeting us westerners too afraid to drink the tap water!
Our experience was great, we learnt so much about fiji life and everyone was so friendly, from the locals to the people in our bus. We travelled as a group of 8 in a minibus, originally it was a group of 35 in a large coach but many cancellations came after the flooding so we were lucky to have a much more personal trip. We visited local villages, went sandboarding, tubed, went on a boat ride and spent time reading on beaches and by pools as we journeyed from beach resort-cum-hostels along the way. We were given many interesting factoids too-which I always love to hear and regurgitate to annoy people-most prominent has to be the history of cannibalism, which fijians seem to speak of quite proudly, and frequently, making Ruthie and I feel a wee bit uncomfortable at times! Also part of the traditional way of life is the mysterious drink 'Kava', drunk at a ceremony round a large wooden bowl this drink consists basically of mud water. Not sounding too appealing we were nonetheless forced to try some at a local ceremony in the village for fear of being eaten alive if we did not comply. The last person to be eaten alive was an English priest just over a hundred years ago for disgracing himself in this same type of ceremony. So we forced ourselves to down a good 6 bowls of this mud water, and as un-appealing as it sounds it does not taste any better-especially the morning after many beers and in 90 degrees of sticky heat!
Thankfully we survived the ordeal and are now back in Nadi to enjoy our final day of sunshine before we leave this evening for Melbourne!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
My trip so far: THIS IS AMERICA....
NEW YORK:
I left London on the 9th of January for New York complete with backpack, ready for my five month trip. Of course I have been to New York several times but its always so good to see my friends out there and I was so excited to see them and see Liz's new apartment! I managed to navigate my way across New York on the Subway, taking Es and Ns downtown, finally arriving at her apartment. As soon as I got there we went to a "hip hop" concert to see mosdef-which was great, I am now so ghetto haha! It snowed while we were there and the park looked so pretty, I also managed to get to the guggenheim with scary and sit on the steps of the met as if I was in gossip girl!
MIAMI/ORLANDO:
On Wednesday 14th I took and early flight to Miami and was greeted by Lizzy, Becca and Scott and enjoyed some beverages in the amazing sunshine! Miami was so fun, it was great to be in the warm weather and experience a very different student lifestyle to that in Scotland! On Friday we embarked on our supposedly four hour road trip to Orlando for CCR (camp counselor reunion!) but having stopped multiple times along the way ....including a 45 minute game of guitar hero in Best Buy...and forgetting to equate in the time difference..we arrived a bit later than anticipated..
The CCR photos speak for themselves but it was so great to see everyone and embarass ourselves in crazy teamclothes all over orlando and in Universal studios! Liz and I read like old times and Becca and Lizzy were as crazy as ever, and Scary and I of course made the best crazy golfing duo! It was so sad to leave everyone on Monday but time to embark on the next stage of my trip...LA!
LA:
I arrived in LA early Monday morning, confused due to lack of sleep during CCR madness and very early flight! Galit picked me up and I was welcomed to the 78 degree heat! I am now with Ruthie, staying with her cousin, and we are enjoying our luxuries of American living before heading to Fiji tomorrow evening! It is so good to finally be together and make some more concrete plans for the trip...aaah!
I left London on the 9th of January for New York complete with backpack, ready for my five month trip. Of course I have been to New York several times but its always so good to see my friends out there and I was so excited to see them and see Liz's new apartment! I managed to navigate my way across New York on the Subway, taking Es and Ns downtown, finally arriving at her apartment. As soon as I got there we went to a "hip hop" concert to see mosdef-which was great, I am now so ghetto haha! It snowed while we were there and the park looked so pretty, I also managed to get to the guggenheim with scary and sit on the steps of the met as if I was in gossip girl!
MIAMI/ORLANDO:
On Wednesday 14th I took and early flight to Miami and was greeted by Lizzy, Becca and Scott and enjoyed some beverages in the amazing sunshine! Miami was so fun, it was great to be in the warm weather and experience a very different student lifestyle to that in Scotland! On Friday we embarked on our supposedly four hour road trip to Orlando for CCR (camp counselor reunion!) but having stopped multiple times along the way ....including a 45 minute game of guitar hero in Best Buy...and forgetting to equate in the time difference..we arrived a bit later than anticipated..
The CCR photos speak for themselves but it was so great to see everyone and embarass ourselves in crazy teamclothes all over orlando and in Universal studios! Liz and I read like old times and Becca and Lizzy were as crazy as ever, and Scary and I of course made the best crazy golfing duo! It was so sad to leave everyone on Monday but time to embark on the next stage of my trip...LA!
LA:
I arrived in LA early Monday morning, confused due to lack of sleep during CCR madness and very early flight! Galit picked me up and I was welcomed to the 78 degree heat! I am now with Ruthie, staying with her cousin, and we are enjoying our luxuries of American living before heading to Fiji tomorrow evening! It is so good to finally be together and make some more concrete plans for the trip...aaah!
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