Sea and Suva

Another day at sea –

Sleeping and playing games by the pool. I actually got a little sun on my face and neck and my neck is red so it looks very funny against the white of my chest – red rooster neck!

That really was the extent of my day…and watching people dance in their sun chairs to YMCA – I took a video of it and hope I can post it some day….as I am sure everyone wants to see that!

PORT – Suva, Fiji

It doesn’t look like the tropical paradise I was expecting, as it was grey, foggy and overcast with rain! Kind of like London but warmer with a lot of humidity! It’s 25 today and 95% humidity….bad hair day all round!

It looks like it will clear up here in the next 30mins and off we go. No tour today, so we are going to wander the port and market – taking in the sights and sounds of Suva. Plus it’s always nice to get back on land and not be trapped with 2,500 passengers!

Later…..

Day in Suva was non-stop. It is a commercial heaving port capital city. Saturday was market day and I don’t think I have ever seen a larger fruit and veg market ever. It was massive and loads of different fruits, veg and shellfish for sale.

We spent some time wandering the crafts market looking at the local crafts of woodwork, tapa and shell jewellery. Dad purchased a few things but I haven’t found the right bits yet. We wandered down the main road until the end where the ‘president’ lives. I am sure most heard about the coup in the last couple of month. I can’t remember when it happened exactly, but it was a bloodless one and everyone doesn’t appear bothered. In fact, the Fijians are some of the most welcoming and warm people to meet – especially considering they still ate their enemy 150 years ago. I kept picking up these unusual bits of woodworking in the crafts market and wondered what they were. I later found out in the museum that they were forks to eat human flesh. They are most unusual, yet very pretty at the same time.

The museum was housed in the botanical garden. The botanical garden wasn’t as spectacular as Christchurch’s in NZ, but interesting nonetheless. Huge old vine-like trees and spider-like orchids. We have reached the South Pacific in all its humid glory as well – and still in the rainy season as so much of the gardens was flooded.

Under the shadow of a huge government building was a large field with a stand for fans. Cricket, football and rugby matches all taking place at the same time. We watched a while with the locals while the players were getting exceedingly muddy. All their whites were becoming brown with each play. We also passed the Fiji Bowling Club and there on a bright green field were about twelve men playing boles. All dressed in white with caps on. They looked Indian while the other field had mostly Fijian players.

Fiji’s population is half Indian which I was most surprised about and didn’t expect. Most of the traders in the local shops were Indians and curries were offered in every street corner. The city centre is pretty crazy, especially on Saturday as every inch was taken up with shoppers or people working in the shops. It was more crowded than Oxford Street on a Saturday, but it didn’t have the same feel. Everyone was just going about his or her business and with the warmth of the weather, somehow it just felt easier. There were loads of large stereos blaring out of the shops and on the streets advertising the radio station and a band playing in an open stage by the canal with a ferris wheel – walking in Suva on a Saturday definitely invades every sense!

Everyone says ‘Bula’ to you – meaning ’hello’ – from the policeman to the kids watching the games to the shop keepers and port authorities – with a gentleness in their spirit, a smile and warmth in their expression.

There wasn’t enough time to get out in the countryside – maybe next time. We were tired after our day out in Suva and returned to the ship once our Fijian dollars had run out!

It was a lovely way to start our trip touring the islands and I would definitely like to return to see the countryside and see how they live outside the city (the city was more modern than I expected it to be with internet cafes and very sophisticated coffee/pastry shops in the main shopping area in town). It was the first city I have been to in a very long time that didn’t have shops I have seen elsewhere – like the body shop, starbucks, French connection, etc. That to me was a relief….