Arriving anywhere at 5 am is difficult and much more so after having flown to Los Angeles, waited in the airport for 4 hours to board Air Pacific, and then flown for another 10 hours. So, we were very glad to get to Fiji, our first destination. We took a taxi to our resort, threw our bags down and took a short nap. We wanted to get our schedule in sync with the local time, so we vowed not to go to bed until at least 8:00 pm. We walked around Denarau Island (the area slightly offshore of the town of Nadi that houses several resorts) and looked at some of the other resorts, ate dinner at the Sofitel Resort, watched their native dancing and then walked back along the beach to our home away from home. It was still very warm at 9 pm, so we decided to take a swim and kept ourselves awake until 10.
On Wed we took the public bus to town where we visited the fruit and vegetable market and participated in a kava ceremony. Kava is a root which is considered sacred and seems to require a ceremony when it’s consumed (although we witnessed many Fijian men drinking it leisurely). Village chiefs oversee the kava ceremony when entertaining visitors, although ours was a small affair with just a few people. It was interesting and allowed me to pose quite a few questions. Lunch at the Curry House finished us and the heat sent us packing for the pool.
It’s very warm here at this time of year. We thought we’d take the public bus to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant where Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame housed thousands of orchids. Instead, we hired a taxi to take us there along with showing us where the first inhabitants of Fiji came ashore and where they settled, and taking us to the Hindu temple in town where we walked around with a guide who explained the paintings. The site included several very colorful buildings with offerings to many gods. The guide claimed that he had met us many years ago in California, but we are pretty sure that was part of his spiel. We played along, however, and parted with the expectation that we’d meet again sooner than we did this time. On to the garden which was filled with beautiful orchids, surrounded by natural forested jungle. We hiked through the edge of it, stopping now and then to admire the different and exotic palms. After perusing many brochures for snorkeling trips and not finding what we wanted, we decided to go to the port and see what was there. We found a trip for Saturday that was on a smaller boat that went to a nice island and offered snorkeling gear and lunch. So, we booked that one and got a 20% discount to boot. Then, after dinner and a long walk, admiring the flame trees, it was back to the pool to cool off. It’s amazingly hot!
On Wed we took the public bus to town where we visited the fruit and vegetable market and participated in a kava ceremony. Kava is a root which is considered sacred and seems to require a ceremony when it’s consumed (although we witnessed many Fijian men drinking it leisurely). Village chiefs oversee the kava ceremony when entertaining visitors, although ours was a small affair with just a few people. It was interesting and allowed me to pose quite a few questions. Lunch at the Curry House finished us and the heat sent us packing for the pool.
It’s very warm here at this time of year. We thought we’d take the public bus to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant where Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame housed thousands of orchids. Instead, we hired a taxi to take us there along with showing us where the first inhabitants of Fiji came ashore and where they settled, and taking us to the Hindu temple in town where we walked around with a guide who explained the paintings. The site included several very colorful buildings with offerings to many gods. The guide claimed that he had met us many years ago in California, but we are pretty sure that was part of his spiel. We played along, however, and parted with the expectation that we’d meet again sooner than we did this time. On to the garden which was filled with beautiful orchids, surrounded by natural forested jungle. We hiked through the edge of it, stopping now and then to admire the different and exotic palms. After perusing many brochures for snorkeling trips and not finding what we wanted, we decided to go to the port and see what was there. We found a trip for Saturday that was on a smaller boat that went to a nice island and offered snorkeling gear and lunch. So, we booked that one and got a 20% discount to boot. Then, after dinner and a long walk, admiring the flame trees, it was back to the pool to cool off. It’s amazingly hot!
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