Sega na Lenqa!
Bula again, my friends, from the beautiful Fiji Islands!
I'm still alive and well, still having an awesome time. Since my last mass mail, I have:
- spent a sleepy couple of days on Ovalau, checking out the old capital at Levuka. This included the shortest flight for which I have had to have an airline ticket (I think we were in the air for 12 minutes...). It also involved getting very used to the smell of fish, as the chief employer on the island is a tuna-processing plant. And I got to at least glimpse the spectacle of pretty much the entire population of the island turning up for the Ovalau vs Suva rugby game on the day I left.
- had a mildly crazy (and exceedingly damp) Saturday night out in Suva, Fiji's capital (watching the Tri-Nations rugby and then drinking with some Fijians). They have this crazy drinking custom that beer is bought for the whole group, with a single small glass. This glass is then filled, the first individual in turn shouts "Bula!" and necks it, then passes on to the next person. This is repeated until collapse...
- visited a Fijian school and village, going through a formal ceremony (involving the consumption of sevusevuyanqona or kava, a mild narcotic which looks and tastes somewhat like muddy water) at the latter. Kava is definitely an acquired taste. I think you only properly get to acquire it once the mild numbing sensation it causes in your mouth spreads to the tastebuds. The ceremony is quite impressive, though, even if you do have to wear a sulu/sarong for it.
- went bilibili rafting (a bit like punting, but with a vessel made of lashed together bamboo poles that moves around under your feet a lot). My years of punting in Cambridge came in handy at this, but the level of balance required is significantly higher! I nearly ended up in the drink several times.
- did the best SCUBA dive of my life so far (okay, there's only been 3, but this one was fantastic - big canyons of coral, at a site where National Geographic went for coral pics), which was cheaper thanks to my single-handedly winning the pub quiz at a hostel. Yes, the Quiz Geek is alive and well.
- and drunk enough Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold to float a small warship. There's not much difference in taste between them, but Fiji Gold is a trifle smoother. In the course of doing this, I've partaken in several bouts of organised drinking games, featuring the usual crab-racing, limbo-dancing and various other antics that aren't perhaps quite as wholesome.
So it's all good fun. I'm off up into the Yasawa Islands tomorrow morning, for another week lounging around under coconut trees in hammocks, snorkelling and generally enjoying the beach life.
Hope all's well with all of you! Always good to hear tales from home or from your own travels.
Take care and have fun,
Pat
I'm still alive and well, still having an awesome time. Since my last mass mail, I have:
- spent a sleepy couple of days on Ovalau, checking out the old capital at Levuka. This included the shortest flight for which I have had to have an airline ticket (I think we were in the air for 12 minutes...). It also involved getting very used to the smell of fish, as the chief employer on the island is a tuna-processing plant. And I got to at least glimpse the spectacle of pretty much the entire population of the island turning up for the Ovalau vs Suva rugby game on the day I left.
- had a mildly crazy (and exceedingly damp) Saturday night out in Suva, Fiji's capital (watching the Tri-Nations rugby and then drinking with some Fijians). They have this crazy drinking custom that beer is bought for the whole group, with a single small glass. This glass is then filled, the first individual in turn shouts "Bula!" and necks it, then passes on to the next person. This is repeated until collapse...
- visited a Fijian school and village, going through a formal ceremony (involving the consumption of sevusevuyanqona or kava, a mild narcotic which looks and tastes somewhat like muddy water) at the latter. Kava is definitely an acquired taste. I think you only properly get to acquire it once the mild numbing sensation it causes in your mouth spreads to the tastebuds. The ceremony is quite impressive, though, even if you do have to wear a sulu/sarong for it.
- went bilibili rafting (a bit like punting, but with a vessel made of lashed together bamboo poles that moves around under your feet a lot). My years of punting in Cambridge came in handy at this, but the level of balance required is significantly higher! I nearly ended up in the drink several times.
- did the best SCUBA dive of my life so far (okay, there's only been 3, but this one was fantastic - big canyons of coral, at a site where National Geographic went for coral pics), which was cheaper thanks to my single-handedly winning the pub quiz at a hostel. Yes, the Quiz Geek is alive and well.
- and drunk enough Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold to float a small warship. There's not much difference in taste between them, but Fiji Gold is a trifle smoother. In the course of doing this, I've partaken in several bouts of organised drinking games, featuring the usual crab-racing, limbo-dancing and various other antics that aren't perhaps quite as wholesome.
So it's all good fun. I'm off up into the Yasawa Islands tomorrow morning, for another week lounging around under coconut trees in hammocks, snorkelling and generally enjoying the beach life.
Hope all's well with all of you! Always good to hear tales from home or from your own travels.
Take care and have fun,
Pat
Labels: Fiji
posted by Pat at 12:46 pm
<< Home