saaamoa

After Fiji, my next destination was Samoa, or rather Western Samoa. I arrived at something close to 1 AM, and luckily I had pre booked something for the first night. So at the airport, between all the screaming 'hey lady, hey white girl, taxi taxi taxi???', I saw a boy holding a sign with (an attempt to spell) my name. So after a 45minute drive through pitch dark terrain filled with kamikaze cows and pigs, we arrived at Virgin Coves. This was my first experience with the Samoan Fale, and I was surprised to see what I was going to spend the night in.
A Fale is basically a 'hut' on poles, with braided walls, that you can lift up all the way around. The door is a braided wall as well, so the placement of the entrance is entirely up to oneself. It might be a good idea to have the entrance opening where they put the stairs...but...yeah you learn fast. You can forget everything about security or privacy for that matter, cos the walls are somewhat see through and, well, not at all soundproof. The interior of a Fale is very basic. Normally a carpet, a bed, as in a mattress on the floor, and a mosquito net is what is provided. A lamp if you're lucky. But with all that aside, a Fale is the coziest thing I've ever spent a night in. It's like a tent with a breeze, and most often the fales are located right by the beach, so what you wake up to in the morning is the sound of waves and a stunning beach view.
The Fale at Virgin Cove was not my favorite, and there's many reasons for that. So the next day at breakfast, as I was reading my first info about Samoa in a free guide brochure I found that morning, I met a guy who said he was leaving for Savai'i, the other main island of Samoa. Great I said, I'm coming too! Thomas, the norwegian musician/physicist (?!?), and I took a cab to the ferry terminal, got on the ferry, missed the bus on Savai'i, hustled our way with another cab, all the way up north to a village called Manase. We checked in at Regina's, and spent the next 4 nights there. Superior serenity and paradise. Period.

The pictures in this post are from Virgin Cove and the ride to Regina's. Samoa is not a rich country, nor has it any fancy buildings. But the people are friendly and welcome you with open arms. Most of them at least.

reading at the moment

Hardcore love story.

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.