The Yasawas

The Yasawa and Mananuca Islands are where most of the tourists go in Fiji.  They're a four hour bus ride + 1/2 to 4.5 hour boat ride away from Suva.  With white sand, exceptionally turquoise water, and many resorts, they're exactly what you think of when you imagine a summer in Fiji.  For my last weekend, I took off an extra day and spent two nights on Nacula Island at The Blue Lagoon Resort.  It's currently the highest rated resort in Fiji on Trip Advisor, with good reason--the food is incredible, even the dorms are immaculate, and they have some of the best beach I've seen. I loved my weekend there--it was perfectly relaxing, if I hadn't been thinking about all of the extra work I needed to do when I returned for my shortened last week.

Here are a few photos from the boat ride out.  Nacula Island is one of the last stops, so I napped for much of the ride.  The Yasawa Flyer stops every thirty minutes or so in deep water, and the resort boats come out to meet it, dropping off guests who have checked out, and picking up guests who have checked in.  It's a neat system.

CoIntern had already been to Blue Lagoon, and told me that it was everything you imagine when you think of Fiji.  He said the water was turquoise and clear, but I really had no idea until the boat stopped just how turquoise it was:

Look at that!

This is the beach in front of the resort at low tide.  At high tide, the water comes up close to the chairs.  The beach is fairly sloped right before the tide line, so during high tide there is a large, chest-high pool of crystal clear, warm water to swim in.  It's pretty amazing.  And the perfect anecdote to too much laying in the sun.

As the water runs through the sand towards the ocean it makes a very pretty pattern.

This village dog adopted the resort.  I think his name was Charlie, and he loves playing on the coral at low tide.  It's super cute.  He also likes to play with crabs, jumping and leaping while trying to flip them over.

This is how I spent most of my days at the resort--the sun was very hot, but the hammock was perfect!  I did go kayaking a bit, but the current was incredibly strong, so it wasn't as fun as it could have been.

Charlie liked to come hang out with us by the hammocks.

CoIntern however, liked to do work on his last day in paradise.  Why?!  Because he is very, very dedicated.

Farewell Fiji photoshoot.

CoIntern left one day before me, so I had an extra day to lay about.

The resort next to us had a small boat called Dr. Phil Forever.  I hate Dr. Phil, and I am very sad that he has made it to Fiji.

At Port Denarau near Nadi, after leaving the Yasawas.  Why is there an Ugg story in Fiji?  This makes no sense.

Shopping in Fiji

Shopping in Fiji was wonderful, since the Fijian dollar was worth about 50 cents in US currency.  I mostly bought salwar kameez (tunics that usually come with pants and scarves) from the Indian sections of the department stores, but I also stopped by the fabric shop to buy some authentic bula fabric to wear as a sulu (like a sarong).

This is me in the midst of the fabric store.  Corinne and I decided to go during lunch one day, and had a fabulous time.  I bought a ridiculous amount of fabric, some for clothing, some for decoration, and some because it was so incredible I couldn't leave it behind.

I love how different the patterns look from a distance compared to up close.

Lots of offices had official bula shirts (shirts made out of bula fabric) or entire uniforms that are all made out of an identical bright tropical print.  It makes for fairly show stopping office luncheons.

The store had some gorgeous dresses pinned on mannequins--beautiful draping and shapes.  I kept having to remind myself that back in the US walking down the street in a matching bula print purple skirt and top would draw me way more attention than I might want.

Then there was Tappoo, Farzeen's favorite store for buying Indian clothes.  I went three times, first buying presents for my mother, than for me, than a few more inexpensive pieces on my last day... clearly, I am in love with the clothing here.

These pieces cost quite a bit of money, but I managed to find a few that weren't too exorbitant.

If this one hadn't been too large I would have bought it.  Farzeen told me that if I wore these outfits Indian men would follow me down the street--I'm not sure that's the kind of thing I want, but it's a funny image.

My muscular calves do not fit in some of the very stylish narrow pants that come with the kameez, so the shop assistant tried to find me an alternate pair.  These are some of the different kameez I tried on that day.

This top is a cousin to the one that I bought. Isn't the pattern gorgeous?

I don't quite have the gumption to wear a sari, but man are they stunning!

Volivoli

Volivoli Beach is exceptional.  The dorms were not terribly impressive, nor the food, but the landscaping, pool, and kayaking totally make up for that.  I ended up kayaking in front of a rainbow, kayaking at sunset, and kayaking through perfectly turquoise waters--amazing!

A few shots of the area around Volivoli and Rakiraki (the nearest city with a bus station):

As soon as you arrive in the north, even after the fairly frightening drive, the view immediately relaxes your muscles.  Maybe the air is just more soothing.

How amazing is this resort?  After a rough week at work, this was such a relaxing experience.

Highly recommended--napping by the pool after a delicious salad with homemade dressing.

CoIntern and I went out kayaking for the Saturday night sunset.  The current was super rough outside of the bay, but the view was well worth it.

The mangroves at high tide in the morning.

That island in the distance is Nananui-Ra.  It's supposed to be amazing, but I was pretty happy just staying at Volivoli.

Pre-sunset view of the mountains across the lagoon.  The lagoon had much calmer waters which made for easier kayaking.

In front of the dive shop.  How fabulous is this?

What I really want to do is sail around the world on one of these boats.  Who's with me?

This is where we kayaked out to watch the sunset--the strong current made returning back to shore very easy, but getting out involved turning in circles against the wind and waves.

Good bye picturesque relaxing!  Goodbye Volivoli!

The Interior of Fiji

So Fiji is a developing country (GDP per capita=$4,252.98 at current prices).  It's the most affluent country in the South Pacific, which along with Suva's deep port contributes to Suva being a fairly bustling small city. 

The interior on the other hand, is a different story.  During the last weekend of July CoIntern and I went to the northernmost part of Viti Levu (the main island), riding along King's Road.  King's Road is fairly rickety, the worst part being the mud track carve into the hill.  Along the way we passed small settlements and villages.  Here are some photos from that trip.

This is the roof of some traditional housing--the bus moves at a fairly breakneck pace over flat land, to make up for the slow going up hills, so it took some practice to time my shots properly.

It was something of a grey day, which added to the drama of the ride.  Here you can see some farmland and a few animals.

Standard village housing--bright colors, open windows, elevated in case of flooding.

More of the same village.  Bright and pretty, but decidedly not a high standard of living.

Traditional transportation in the interior--bamboo rafts.

More crops.  Sugar cane is the biggest crop in Fiji, but palm and coconut oils are also harvested, along with food crops like taro and cassava. 

This was a much smaller village, more run down but that may have been a factor of its remoteness and size rather than poverty level, though of course the two are related.

Speeding by another village, where the laundry is all getting wet from the rain.

Watch out for the cows!  About an hour from Suva (on the return trip) the bus was delayed while a shepherd finished herding his cattle across King's Road. 

This is for you little sister

When I told my sister I was going to Fiji, and asked if she wanted anything, she repeatedly mentioned that I had to check out Noni Juice, because Miranda Kerr swears by it.  So when I saw a bottle at the market, I thought "why not?" despite its exorbitantly high price.  Well, I probably should have realized something was up when the vendor asked me "you can drink that stuff?!" with a look of horror on his face. 

Below is a short photo-mentary of my experience with noni juice.

This stuff is dark brown/purple, and oddly fizzy for a "juice."  Also, it tastes like garlic teriyaki sauce mixed with salt and soda water.  As you can see from the first taste, it's gross.

Initial reaction.  The recommended daily dose is 45 mL, so I tried to approximate 1/10 of the 500 mL bottle.  Let's see if I look like Miranda Kerr after 10 days... unlikely.

Final verdict: while I will dutifully try to remember to drink 45 mL of this stuff in the morning in order to do a legit test of it does anything, I lack faith.  Little Sister, this stuff is crap, just take vitamins.