hello, again. so sorry to have kept my loyal fans waiting for what is going to be an exhilarating post. i decided that it would be best to write about all of fiji at once instead of in nonsensical chunks of time (translation: i really couldnt be bothered with internet and the outside world until today).
january 21: after another great los angeles day with cindy (she and sarah are now in love) we arrive at lax airport. we zig zagged our way through security and made it to our overpacked gate only to learn that the flight was delayed. we were happily surprised to learn that the flight was only 10 hours instead of the dreaded 14 we had assumed. sarah and i had a whole row to ourselves in the upper deck on the plane which was nice. a xanax and a day later, we were in fiji.
january 23: it is amazing to believe that for an entire day sarah and i did not exist in this world. because we crossed the dateline (left on the 21, arrived the 23) we were just two people truly void of spacial existence. bill bryson explains it much better in his book, a sunburned country, but thats all youre going to get from me. we got to our hotel, nomads skylodge and instantly fell into a deep hunger (it was 7 in the morning!) and ate some breakfast only to want to sleep more. a hefty nap later, we awoke to the rain and it pretty much stayed with us all day. after a lovely dinner with our three new british friends (another ruth i might add - i have never met another ruth who was not in my family let alone a ruth the same age as myself) we passed out in order to be well rested for our 8 am departure on the feejee experience (quite a lovely marketing ploy to revert back to the previous name of fiji - refer to sarahs blog for a complete history lesson).
january 24: i awoke after an awful nights sleep (lets just say that my stomach has not yet adjusted to being in fiji, actually it still hasnt and today is our final day) i learned to see that my phone is donezo, so to those who have tried to contact me, im not intentionally being rude, or am i? just kidding. sarah and i were picked up by our minibus with our guide and driver in tow. we picked up a few more along the way to have a nice and cozy little group of 9 which would soon become 5 as people remained at our first nights stop for a few more days of r and r. normally, the bus would have been a large coach with about 35 people but due to the recent floods, many had either canceled or stayed away from the experience altogether. they missed out. we drove to town and picked up some water and fixings for our fijian barbeque lunch. let me tell you, fiji water is cheap. you can buy a huge bottle - 1.5 liters - at the market for about 2 fijian dollars which equates to about a little over one US dollar. we then drove to the seventh most beautiful beach in the world (i personally think they are lying or it was the seventh most beautiful in 1990 because it truly was nothing special) and hung out for a while while our guide and driver made us a fijian lunch (be prepared to hear me talk about food for a good portion of this blog) complete with chicken, sausage, veggies and the most delicious papaya and pineapple.
upon our beach visit we headed off to a town outside of nadi. we were given a brief history of fijian family life and what i believe fiji thinks is its claim to fame: cannibalism. sarah and i had a multitude of questions that seemed preposterous in the eyes of our tour guide. we walked around and spoke to the children who are always managing to sell a variety of trinkets. our final activity for the day was heading to the sand dunes which i obviously wanted zero part of (heights and i dont really get along and even more importantly my contacts and diving head first into a sand hill did not seem very logical). we then arrived at our resort for the night, mango bay, showered, enjoyed happy hour and the sunset and a delicious dinner.
that night we went to the hotels "nightclub" for a few beers and dance party. the other guests and our tourmates did not seem to understand what sarah and i refer to as tripp lake style dancing and music requests. we of course took it upon ourselves to play "cyclone" and to our dismay were the only people who enjoyed it.
january 25: after breakfast at mango bay we were prepared for our 3 hour trek in the fijian jungle. our tour guide had not led us to believe that this trek would be difficult but after the full description sarah and i opted for the other choice of a lazy boat ride down a river. we floated for a while then went in inner tubes the rest of the way and ate lunch while the boys used their testoterone charge to jump off a waterfall. we then drove to our next stop, uprising resort.
uprising was the most gorgeous place of them all and the people were more friendly than i could have imagined. we had arrived early enough to enjoy some more sun soaked fun and then showered before another wonderful happy hour and dinner. sarah and i shared a bottle of wine and romantically drank it on the beach at sunset. we had a great dinner and just sat and chatted for a long while with our guide and the uprising staff while watching a game of rugby.
january 26: once again, my stomach woke me up and the first noise i heard was rain, heavy rain. as if at camp, sarah and i zipped up our ponchos and made a dash for breakfast. we left uprising with a tear and went to the market where we bought some treats for the children at the orphanage where we were next visiting. we bought coloring books, pencils, crayons and of course some sweet treats to munch on. of course we arrived at the orphanage as the children were taking their naps but once we arrived that went to hell. we played and talked with them and got them more riled up than their "house moms" would have liked. after our short time at the orphanage we got back on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to our next stop. because of the floods, we had to back track in order to make it to volivoli beach. volivoli was basically empty - just us and another guest.
again, we had time to sit on the beach and i used my tripp lake kayak award skills to paddle sarah and i around for a bit before another great happy hour which turned into happy night. we drank with the owner of volivoli, steve, and sarah and i introduced the wonderful game of flip cup to our tour mates, steve and australian anthony. well, the game, as i already knew, was a hit. steve even said he was going to teach it to every tour that continued to pass by. we then had crab races and lucky number 3 came in second, winning me a free beer. the night passed and it was time to head back to bed where i read about 80 pages of bill bryson waking up to not have remembered any true detail.
january 27: i believe youve begun to catch on but just in case youre slow, guess what woke me up? luckilly, i was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours because of our late departure from volivoli. sarah and i had a late breakfast and soaked up a few more rays before leaving for another fijian village. we took part in a traditional kava ceremony which is led by the village in which you drink water mixed with dried kava root. i would describe it as dirty, milky water with a grit of mud in it. sarah and i of course drank not one but 6 bowls of the murkiness for fear of being eaten or skinned with a fork. we drank and danced with the locals and said goodbye for we had another 3 hour drive back to nadi. lets just say that the combination of unpaved roads, alcohol sweat, already existing nausea and a stomach full of kava made the car read less than enjoyable. we arrived back at nomads to be greeted full circle by the rain. sarah and i washed the filth and sweat from ourselves and went to town and had our final dinner at a traditional fijian restaurant, nadina. the food was wonderful and even better, so cheap. we each had a drink, full meal and split a dessert for a bill with the grand total of about 25 dollars! being the old ladies that we are, we got into bed, read and were both asleep by 10 pm.
january 28: that takes us to today. we slept, read, ate breakfast and now i am here talking to all of you. we are already late to check out but i am not losing this precious internet time that i (gary) has paid for. youll thank me later when the pictures are up. we leave here around 4 to make our flight to melbourne at 6:30. speak to you all then. bula!!
here is the link to the fiji pictures!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=98091857905.312198393705.1233298516449
january 21: after another great los angeles day with cindy (she and sarah are now in love) we arrive at lax airport. we zig zagged our way through security and made it to our overpacked gate only to learn that the flight was delayed. we were happily surprised to learn that the flight was only 10 hours instead of the dreaded 14 we had assumed. sarah and i had a whole row to ourselves in the upper deck on the plane which was nice. a xanax and a day later, we were in fiji.
january 23: it is amazing to believe that for an entire day sarah and i did not exist in this world. because we crossed the dateline (left on the 21, arrived the 23) we were just two people truly void of spacial existence. bill bryson explains it much better in his book, a sunburned country, but thats all youre going to get from me. we got to our hotel, nomads skylodge and instantly fell into a deep hunger (it was 7 in the morning!) and ate some breakfast only to want to sleep more. a hefty nap later, we awoke to the rain and it pretty much stayed with us all day. after a lovely dinner with our three new british friends (another ruth i might add - i have never met another ruth who was not in my family let alone a ruth the same age as myself) we passed out in order to be well rested for our 8 am departure on the feejee experience (quite a lovely marketing ploy to revert back to the previous name of fiji - refer to sarahs blog for a complete history lesson).
january 24: i awoke after an awful nights sleep (lets just say that my stomach has not yet adjusted to being in fiji, actually it still hasnt and today is our final day) i learned to see that my phone is donezo, so to those who have tried to contact me, im not intentionally being rude, or am i? just kidding. sarah and i were picked up by our minibus with our guide and driver in tow. we picked up a few more along the way to have a nice and cozy little group of 9 which would soon become 5 as people remained at our first nights stop for a few more days of r and r. normally, the bus would have been a large coach with about 35 people but due to the recent floods, many had either canceled or stayed away from the experience altogether. they missed out. we drove to town and picked up some water and fixings for our fijian barbeque lunch. let me tell you, fiji water is cheap. you can buy a huge bottle - 1.5 liters - at the market for about 2 fijian dollars which equates to about a little over one US dollar. we then drove to the seventh most beautiful beach in the world (i personally think they are lying or it was the seventh most beautiful in 1990 because it truly was nothing special) and hung out for a while while our guide and driver made us a fijian lunch (be prepared to hear me talk about food for a good portion of this blog) complete with chicken, sausage, veggies and the most delicious papaya and pineapple.
upon our beach visit we headed off to a town outside of nadi. we were given a brief history of fijian family life and what i believe fiji thinks is its claim to fame: cannibalism. sarah and i had a multitude of questions that seemed preposterous in the eyes of our tour guide. we walked around and spoke to the children who are always managing to sell a variety of trinkets. our final activity for the day was heading to the sand dunes which i obviously wanted zero part of (heights and i dont really get along and even more importantly my contacts and diving head first into a sand hill did not seem very logical). we then arrived at our resort for the night, mango bay, showered, enjoyed happy hour and the sunset and a delicious dinner.
that night we went to the hotels "nightclub" for a few beers and dance party. the other guests and our tourmates did not seem to understand what sarah and i refer to as tripp lake style dancing and music requests. we of course took it upon ourselves to play "cyclone" and to our dismay were the only people who enjoyed it.
january 25: after breakfast at mango bay we were prepared for our 3 hour trek in the fijian jungle. our tour guide had not led us to believe that this trek would be difficult but after the full description sarah and i opted for the other choice of a lazy boat ride down a river. we floated for a while then went in inner tubes the rest of the way and ate lunch while the boys used their testoterone charge to jump off a waterfall. we then drove to our next stop, uprising resort.
uprising was the most gorgeous place of them all and the people were more friendly than i could have imagined. we had arrived early enough to enjoy some more sun soaked fun and then showered before another wonderful happy hour and dinner. sarah and i shared a bottle of wine and romantically drank it on the beach at sunset. we had a great dinner and just sat and chatted for a long while with our guide and the uprising staff while watching a game of rugby.
january 26: once again, my stomach woke me up and the first noise i heard was rain, heavy rain. as if at camp, sarah and i zipped up our ponchos and made a dash for breakfast. we left uprising with a tear and went to the market where we bought some treats for the children at the orphanage where we were next visiting. we bought coloring books, pencils, crayons and of course some sweet treats to munch on. of course we arrived at the orphanage as the children were taking their naps but once we arrived that went to hell. we played and talked with them and got them more riled up than their "house moms" would have liked. after our short time at the orphanage we got back on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to our next stop. because of the floods, we had to back track in order to make it to volivoli beach. volivoli was basically empty - just us and another guest.
again, we had time to sit on the beach and i used my tripp lake kayak award skills to paddle sarah and i around for a bit before another great happy hour which turned into happy night. we drank with the owner of volivoli, steve, and sarah and i introduced the wonderful game of flip cup to our tour mates, steve and australian anthony. well, the game, as i already knew, was a hit. steve even said he was going to teach it to every tour that continued to pass by. we then had crab races and lucky number 3 came in second, winning me a free beer. the night passed and it was time to head back to bed where i read about 80 pages of bill bryson waking up to not have remembered any true detail.
january 27: i believe youve begun to catch on but just in case youre slow, guess what woke me up? luckilly, i was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours because of our late departure from volivoli. sarah and i had a late breakfast and soaked up a few more rays before leaving for another fijian village. we took part in a traditional kava ceremony which is led by the village in which you drink water mixed with dried kava root. i would describe it as dirty, milky water with a grit of mud in it. sarah and i of course drank not one but 6 bowls of the murkiness for fear of being eaten or skinned with a fork. we drank and danced with the locals and said goodbye for we had another 3 hour drive back to nadi. lets just say that the combination of unpaved roads, alcohol sweat, already existing nausea and a stomach full of kava made the car read less than enjoyable. we arrived back at nomads to be greeted full circle by the rain. sarah and i washed the filth and sweat from ourselves and went to town and had our final dinner at a traditional fijian restaurant, nadina. the food was wonderful and even better, so cheap. we each had a drink, full meal and split a dessert for a bill with the grand total of about 25 dollars! being the old ladies that we are, we got into bed, read and were both asleep by 10 pm.
january 28: that takes us to today. we slept, read, ate breakfast and now i am here talking to all of you. we are already late to check out but i am not losing this precious internet time that i (gary) has paid for. youll thank me later when the pictures are up. we leave here around 4 to make our flight to melbourne at 6:30. speak to you all then. bula!!
here is the link to the fiji pictures!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=98091857905.312198393705.1233298516449
