fiji and its people

I love taking pictures of people, especially when they're not posing. I also feel like a creep sneaking up on people and taking their picture, and a lot of the pictures I take are of children... I hope people don't think I'm some kind of perv or pedophile... Sometimes though, I do succeed in taking pictures of people without making them mad or uncomfortable, and I, when looking back at pictures, think that these kinds of pictures set the mood of a country and its people. Especially in a country like Fiji, where everything is so different from what I am used to back home, it's nice to set the mood with not only landscape pictures, but also the people who are as big of a part of the experience as the country and scenery itself.

So, presenting Fiji; an island country with happy people, where men wear skirts and flowers in their hair, where big legs are pretty and women have afros shaved like mushrooms, and everybody's a pro in Volleyball.

My favorite picture is the one of the bus full of kids, and one just happen to turn and look straight at me.

exploring the fruit at Namaka fruit market

The other day I spent in Nadi, I went to the Namaka Fruit Market. It is funny to see how divided the sections are between the Indian-Fijien and the native-Fijien people. They stay in their groups and don't really mingle with each other. This time I enjoyed the back half of the market more, which was clearly the native Fijien area, and I got a proper lecture on the coconut, how it's picked and the different stages. I bought a coconut (1$) and they showed me how to properly open it. It was delicious. But I ate the same coconut for 3 days, so to say there is a lot to eat in a coconut! I also had a conversation with the coconut people about Denmark and the crown princess Mary, they knew their royalty better than me!
I spent a total of 3,5$ in the market, and got; a coconut, a banana, a papaya, a spondeous (??), and a fruit I have no clue what is called. It looked like a lemon, but was red like a fig inside and tasted very sweet and nice.
The fruit market is definitely worth a visit, and especially if you have a chat with the locals!

nadi city, and the biggest hindu temple in the southern hemisphere

After the Yasawa island hopping, I spent 4 whole days on the mainland, or rather, on the main island - Vanua Levu. I had booked (Kilroy did that is) my accommodatin at Toa Skylodge, which was very nice. A pool, sunbathing chairs, a bar, a restaurant, and clean nice rooms with aircon. Win. Butt still there's only so much to do around Nadi, and therefore 4 days is waaaay to long. I'd rather have spent two more days in the Yasawas, or on beachcomber island.
But to practice my mega tourist skills, I got my camera bag and camera, and went out to explore the city and the temple. I walked down the city, which consists of basically one main street with some in my opinion lousy and uninteresting shops, I visited the Handicraft market, where I got a lot of 'special price for you my friend where are you from?', and walked down to the temple at the end of the street. The temple was very colorful and beautiful, but that's pretty much it... It didn't quite hit my wow-button, and I left Nadi city with a empty feeling... The city is absolutely nothing to be too excited about, but yeah, now I've seen it. The most interesting parts was talking to the Fiji-indian lady at the handicraft market, who made my first henna tattoo. A REAL henna, made out of pressed henna leaves. Indian style. She made my hand pretty.
The other interesting thing was taking the local bus. People staring at me and me smiling at them, and on the streets the kids got out of school with their uniforms, and me, ready with my camera trying to capture a good image from the moving bus.

beachcomber island

The last stop in the Yasawas, or this is down south of the Yasawas, and belongs to the Mamanuca Islands, was Beachcomber Island. Oh how I wished I could have stayed longer, but since I already had pre-booked everything, including my accommodation in Nadi, I didn't have the money to stay. Pitty, coz I really loved it. It wasn't as fantastically beautiful as the more northern islands, but it was smaller and cute, and had more people. And they have more activities, so some decent partying is promised on beachcomber. The partying didn't fail me, even though I came on a Sunday, and I had a blast, I met some awesome people, and was therefore I was that more bummed I had to leave the next day. I do hope I'll meet up with the people I've met at some point, and since it is no secret that I dream of moving to Australia, I might actually get to see them again. But enough with sentimentality. Here are some pics.