FIJI

shoe store

Fijian weavers

Christine (doesn't that name seem odd for this lady?)

busy street

government building

rugby dudes

big ben?

bus with roll-up shades

tropical gardens

cool tree

the rudder from the Bounty

see? I wasn't making that up!

Photo in the background is Fletcher Christian and other mutineers sending Capt. Bligh (in his jammies/undies) along with his cronies, off in their launch. Both sides of the story are truly amazing!

river canoe that delivers goods

some BIG oars

three different outrigger canoes

some crazy carved SOMETHINGS

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

a plethora of pineapples

wow! look at all the bright colors!

this guy was way better than the taxi drivers I met

thatch roofed hut in front of the port of Suva building, I think it's just for show...

listening to the police band

these cops like TK, she likes the skirt uniforms













The image I have in my mind of Fiji happens to be one of far flung islands with white sand beaches surrounded by the best didving anywhere. I really hoped to see this part of Fiji, but since I was going to be docked in the big port city of Suva, I knew I better put that out of my mind. Instead, I decided I would concentrate on historical stuff and the feel of the city.

A little bit of background (I will skirt around the cannibalism issue) on the islands. First of all, there is a large population of Indians (as in people from India) living in Fiji. As a matter of fact, the comprise more than half of the population. They were brought to the islands years ago to help with the sugar cane plantations. I don't blame them for wanting to stay.

Poor Fiji, though. They've had their share of cultural and governmental problems. Things seemed okay, but I got a bad 'vibe' from these Indians. I'm sure most of them are generations removed from their actual heritage, but the demeanor between the Indians and the indiginous Fijians was quite noticable.

Let me 'splain...I had already decided I was going to take a walking tour of Suva, with the help of my trusty 'Frommers' guidebook. There was a map and descriptions and it was all very accessable from the ship. I was by myself (mom having been sick for DAYS at this point and hanging out in the cabin) and I was wearing my walking shoes.

I, of course, expected the usual peddlers, taxi drivers, ect, however, considering that this is an English speaking country, no one really knew the meaning of the word 'NO'. I must have been asked no less than three hundred times if I wanted a taxi. There was even one guy who drove by me and pulled over to ask if I wanted a taxi (he was actually going in the opposite direction), my reply being a firm,'no, thank you'. Then the guy turns around and pulls up beside me and asks me AGAIN. I give the same response. After the FOURTH time, I guess he finally learned what the word 'no' meant. I have to say it was quite annoying.

As I breezed into some of the handicraft marketplaces, I found the shopkeepers were pretty much the same. Many of them had carved stuff I have no interest in even LOOKING at, but man, they were SO pushy!

There were some Fijians, and I tended to gravitate toward their booths. They were nicer and I even had some of the ladies pose for a picture with Tiny Kona. They were busy weaving something...I did enjoy the tapa cloth that was dispayed everywhere, and some of the kava bowls were cool. By the way, I didn't try kava - and neither did TK.

After walking past the governemnt buildings and other buildings, I eventually got to a botanical garden called Thurston park. It was covered in lush trees and plants, but seemed pretty deserted and a bit neglected. I took some pictures though. After winding my way through, I ended up at the museum I had planned to see all along. It has lots of history located within it's small area, namely part of the rudder from the Bounty! There were also historic sailing canoes of different sizes and shapes.

I would have to say the creepiest items dispayed in the museum would have to be the human meat 'forks'. I just couldn't bring myself to take a photo of an eating utensil made for the sole purpose of eating human flesh! Yikes! (TK was hiding her eyes as I read some of the exhibits about some poor unfortunate missionaries and explorers that made up some native Fijians feast back in the 1800s -and later!) A quick description of the carved wooden 'fork' - about ten or eleven inches long, with four tines in a square configuration with a bigger/longer tine in the middle. TK is saying 'ENOUGH, ALREADY!".

As I walked back to the ship I came across a local rugby team practicing. I didn't have a good angle to take a picture, but maybe you can see that there was a line of guys, each with a teammate on his shoulders. They did some ritualized movements, then swithced places. The guys all seemed pretty skinny, so TK and I were pretty impressed. It was also fun to listen to their chants while they were doing their thing.

I meandered through the busy downtown area for a bit. I did a little shopping (I even found some fabric) and took a few more photos, including one of a tiny little hole-in-the-wall shoe store - I know it's hard to see in the picture. I also had to capture a picture of a city bus - it has no windows, but rather, roll up 'shades'. It was really busy on the streets with lots of cars and people, so I was energised somewhat, plus I didn't have the tourist chasers when I was with the 'Suva-ites'.

Right across the road from the ship was a huge produce market. The proper name is Suva Municipal Market. Virtually everyone shops there during the week some time. I was quite the beehive of activity and the pictures truly don't show the colors and excitement. The bundles of coconuts were priced at two, three, four, five and six dollars, depending on how big the pile was. They were all strung together in these awesome arrays. Oh, and the little pineapples - there muct have been THOUSANDS of them! And I kid you not when I tell you that the celery stalks were 24 inches long! The colors, textures, smells and vareties of fruits and vegetables were amazing!

One thing I want to mention is something my tablemate Jim told me at dinner that night. He and his wife had gone on an excursion that took them away from the city, to more idyllic jungle-type areas. As far as he was concerned, he thought it was a true taste of polynesia. He was able to go to a waterfall and saw lots of the more 'removed' life of the locals. I was really glad to hear his take on what he got to see.

Anyway, getting back to the ship, I met a couple of local policemen, who were kind enough to let me take a picture of them with TK. (Wouldn't it be awesome to see some U.S. motorcycle cops wearing jagged cut skirts?!)

I dropped all my goodies off in the cabin and headed to the gym for a workout. I heard music coming from outside, so I went out on the deck and saw that the police band was playing for us. The photos were taken from the eighth deck, so it's hard to see, but they looked and sounded great!

Forty-five minutes later we had pulled away from the wharf and were swinging out of the harbor, on our way to Vanuatu.

TINY KONA'S TRUISM of the Day...Be careful when you are invited 'for' dinner