After a few nervous moments, we finally picked up our car. Why nervous, because the rental company wanted to deceive us very much on the date of renting a car and rob us of a few hours. In short, watch out for companies that operate a 12-hour clock when booking using the abbreviations A.M or P.M. and for this particular company from Latvia economybooking.com (I do not put a link in order not to advertise them). Scammers !!!
But luckily the local rental car owner turned out to be a native, lovable Fijian and we got on well with him. Not only did he extend the rental time, but we also got a better car than we booked!
It is a pity that we started our tour with a flat tire! 😀
Happens.
We started to look for a vulcanization plant a bit full of anxiety. If someone somewhere in a destination rented a car, he knows what costs can be associated with even a small and innocent car damage. Rental companies love to rip off customers in these situations.
We wandered around Nadi for a while and chose a modest little tire store. After a short conversation, the owner informed us that they only sell and replace the tires with new ones, they do not repair them, but they will repair our. Just like that. Because they were just nice people. And they also put out chairs for us, so that we could sit in the shade while we waited. And they took some funny money for it, where we were focused on super costs!
How I love these people ❤️
Before we left for the islands, we thought about sleeping in a hammock on the beach for one night. Really! I just took one main luggage to pack two hammocks and sleeping bags.
In large Fiji, there are two main roads that can be used to drive around the island. Queens Road runs from Lautoka in the east through Nadi to the capital Suva in the west of the island. On the other hand, King's Road leads from Suva to the west and then north and back to Lautoka.
On the first day we chose the south of the island, so we set off on Queens Road along the coast towards the capital of the republic, Suva.
Still unaware of the actual condition of the island's roads, we chose the wildest and most distant places on the Google map, where we thought we could spend a romantic night on a wild beach. At first we were deceived by the good condition of the main road, but as soon as we drove down any first side lane towards the ocean, we found gravel paths winding between the dense jungle.
It quickly turned out that if we saw a magnificent beach on the map, it was "occupied" by the exclusive resorts already built there. A local told us that anyone can enter and use the beach in any hotel, as all beaches in Fiji are public. But these hotels really are luxurious. In my life I have seen a lot of hotels in several countries with different standards, but those here, especially in the south of the island, were... well, of a high standard. And frankly speaking, it made us very intimidating. We - such wild boars from Europe, taught that you cannot enter the hotel or beach area without being a guest, (let's agree, in most European countries it is so) - it was beyond our minds. We just felt very uncomfortable entering the area of these resorts. One of the waiter, we've become a friends told us if we talked to the hotel staff, gave them a few bucks, they would let us sleep on the beach near the hotel, but that wansmn't what we looked for.
On the other hand, where there were no hotel facilities by the beach, there was always a village of residents at the end of the road. We would probably get along with them, but here we felt as if we were walking into someone's house with shoes.
These villages are tiny, poor houses next to each other, made of junk, covered with corrugated sheets or leaves of sugar cane or palm trees. I happened to look into one or the other hut by accident, because literally the road led under the door ... actually, there are no doors in these houses, sometimes there are curtains so I saw what people have inside. And they don't have much. Beds made of some blankets on compacted soil, sometimes a table and chairs, a cooking corner and basically nothing else. It is a poor country. Fiji's GDP is USD 4.4 billion, for comparison, New Zealand's GDP is USD 212 billion, and Poland is almost USD 600 billion (data for 2020). The country lives mainly from tourism. Usually, next to these large resorts, small villages of just anything are built at a rapid pace and it looks like that on one side of the street you have a beautiful gate and an entrance to an exclusive resort, and on the other there are several houses where the service lives. The national minimum is about 950 FJD (625 AUD), which is about 2,000. zloty. The minimum rate per hour is 2.32 FJD - (PLN 4.88). This is AUD 1.53, and Australia's lowest hourly wage is AUD 25. Now imagine what money tourists from Australia, the States or Europe can leave here. For them, it is a real paradise on earth. In addition, Fiji is referred to as a middle-income country and one of the more developed island economies in the Pacific.
But I watched these people and asked myself this question: "What does it mean to be poor?" From our point of view, that is people living in developed countries are they poor - yes. But did they feel poor from their point of view ?! Probably not. They just don't need anything more to live there. They have their land and that is the most important thing. A roof over your head may be just any, but when the hurricane comes, it's not a shame and the new one will be rebuilt in a moment. The ocean will feed them. They are people absolutely connected with the ocean. The soil will feed them, there are coconut palms on the street, sugarcane is everywhere, everyone grows a cassava field there, they have some cattle and poultry. If you have to make extra money, they will go to the hotel, to the construction site, to the shop, trade handicrafts, show tourists around and somehow live their lives. Without this rat race. Maybe they have less, but they are definitely happier. Much, much more than we are...
Coming back to our trip.
Residents sat on the ground in front of the houses and watched us with undisguised surprise at what two whites were doing in the car in their village. I didn't even take my camera out, because I was ashamed to shine the camera on their faces. I heard that there is such a tradition on the island that in order to be admitted to the village, the elders must agree and the guests should bring a gift - most often it is kava root. More ignorant tourists unfortunately bring sweets for children, which is complete stupidity. Never do this in third world countries. These children have virtually zero access to dental services, you just hurt them.
Some tourists bring clothes or school supplies for them, and that makes more sense.
We felt even more embarrassed in these villages than in these resorts. Well, like wild boars from the forest. When the local people approached us with curiosity, we pretended to be dumb tourists and asked for directions. 😀
Now I am convinced that if we told us what we mean, that we only want to stay overnight on the beach, they would welcome us and host us as their own family and probably would not let us sleep in the open air, but invite us to their homes. But we ran out of courage...
That day, we almost reached the capital of Suva, but because visiting all the remote villages on hard-to-reach roads took us a lot of time, we had to go back to our hostel after the night.
Summarizing the south of the island, I can say that this area is very touristic. The coast is very nice with wide beaches, with the largest number of hotels in the entire island, including the flagship hotels: InterContinental, Hilton, Sheraton, Raddison. In fact, all the tourist life is bustling along the southern coast. From here you will get to magical waterfalls hidden in the jungle or you will go on a hike to the highest peak of the island, i.e. Tomanivi - Mount Victoria (only with a guide, because you will get lost). Nadi and Port Denarau are the heart of the outflow. Most tourists decide to do so-called "island hopping". I sincerely recommend this form of sightseeing, but it takes at least two weeks, because it would be appropriate to spend at least three days on individual islands, because each is different and offers a different experience. Fiji is one of the best places in the world for island jumping. Hundreds of tropical Fijian islands in the South Pacific boast spectacular scenery, turquoise waters, traditional Fijian culture, pristine white beaches, and vibrant marine coral life to explore. In particular, the string of islands along the west coast of Viti Levu (mainland Fiji), known as the Yasawa and Mamanuca Islands, offer travelers the best of Fiji.
When we are going to Fiji again, it will probably take three weeks to see it all. And the best thing is to take a boat there and we will literally sail around each of these islands and islets! 😀
The next day we moved in the opposite direction, i.e. north. We drove around the coast of Mount Victoria and, in fact, we stopped in traffic jams all day, because every now and then we had some road repairs. The north is definitely more industrial, there are a lot of arable fields, plants, schools, also more solid, brick and quite substantial houses. It is definitely the richer part of the island. Unfortunately, we still couldn't find our place to stay on the beach. From this side there was practically nowhere to go down to the beach, but there were very nice views from the cliffs.
And bananas grew in the street like this:
And so we kept going until suddenly it was quite late and it was no longer profitable to come back to our hostel. And there is still no beach for accommodation, so we started looking for accommodation. There are literally maybe 10 small motels on this part of the island, but I found out about a different way of spending the night. Well, very often residents offer to sleep in their homes. They do not announce themselves officially, sometimes you can find a telephone number for them on the Internet, often there are simply signs hanging on the street with information about "private accommodation".
And apparently it is a very interesting experience, because you can actually see what the life of such a family looks like on the island of Fiji. You spend time with them, you do exactly what they do every day, you can try the most original cuisine, you sleep on bedding in such houses and you are often invited to traditional kava drinking, dancing and singing. From what I read the reviews, people who spent a few days in such villages highly recommend this experience. We even called one such family, but the price for one night cut us off a bit, so we chose a small but very nice hotel on the way for twice the money. Before checking in, we went to a nearby town to do some shopping, specifically to the Supermarket connected with the Night Club - a very interesting place. When we were leaving, the lady parked next to us and asked if we were leaving, because her window in the car does not close, and she is afraid to enter the store for 5 minutes and leave the car. You know, there are places like that. But everyone was very nice to us there. The most important thing in these situations is to be confident, pretend a little stupid and joke a little. 🤭
Compared to our hostel, we slept that night in luxury! You know - a bathroom only for us, cabinets, lamps, the Internet! We used the swimming pool, lay on the sun loungers, ate delicious Ika-Vukulolo in the evening and wrote postcards for you with a beer. A very nice, quiet place where mainly Fijian families rested, i.e. no tourists. The perfect place for us.
On the second day, after a modest and delicious breakfast, we continued north-west towards the capital, making a full circle. I liked this part of the island the least. I mean, Marcin said there were nice views, because I actually slept through this route. The road did not go along the coast at all, and these stretches to the beaches were only suitable for 4x4 vehicles. Finally, after a few hours, we reached the capital. Suva is the industrial center of the islands; The food and shipbuilding industries are well-developed here. It is also the country's main seaport from where sugar, copra and bananas are exported. In addition, there is also an airport. The population is about 95,000. That's it. We did not enter the city center, the traffic on the streets was huge, and we were in a hurry. We drove around the outskirts to record their more public buses. They are a real attraction, they do not have windows, they are colorfully painted and decorated, and a ride on them is said to provide a lot of attractions.
It was our last full day on the island. We didn't manage to sleep in a hammock on the beach, and I was already a bit complaining that we were only sitting in the car, and I dreamed of basking my bones in the sun on the last day. So we decided to look for a diving site. Unfortunately, it is not too easy in Big Fiji. To see undersea wonders, however, you have to go a little deep into the sea. The reef is in sight and you can actually see it from the shore, but still too far to swim. We finally got to this place again with that big wooden pier that you saw in the previous episode. And I had sincere desires to go in, even a potentially poisonous snake floating just off the shore did not scare me, but the tide overcame me. The biggest one we've seen there. It was impossible to swim. Failure.
At this stage, I was already very disappointed with this day.
To cheer ourselves up, we started taking hitchhikers. We mostly took Fijians who traveled from or to work in various hotels. And they told us about each other, where they work, how unpleasant it was during COVID, about their families and what they like to do in their free time. We also took a very nice couple - Ruth and Jospeh. We traveled 45 minutes with them and talked a lot. They asked us about winters in Poland and what was happening in Ukraine, and we asked about their policies and customs. At one point I ask how big your wedding were, because we had almost 200 guests, to which Ruth said with pity: "Girl, we had 800! Five villages have come together!". Then the talks turned to cooking. I admitted that we did not manage to try the traditional Lovo (i.e. chicken, fish or other meat with cassava on stone baked in banana leaves), for which they immediately started inviting us to their place for the evening, because today they will be doing lovo, because of litlle celebration. Their eldest son will be "weaned" today and the whole village will have fun on the occasion. What a great occasion to celebrate. I pulled on the topic and asked about other traditions related to children. It turns out that the next party for their son will be when he is about 10-11 years old - when the circumcision will take place. Interestingly, only the eldest son at home undergoes this treatment. What about the girls? - I asked. Girls also have their holiday when they become women. To which I replied that I would also like to have such a celebration. Why we don't have such "girl becomes woman" celebration?!
They invited us very, very much. And it wasn't courtesy, it really felt like they'd really like to welcome us. If it wasn't our last night and we wouldn't have to go back to the hostel to pack, we would definitely have taken advantage of this invitation! I really regret we didn't get to know them sooner.
Finally, our hitchhikers asked if we had already drunk kava. We were ashamed to admit that not yet. They told us there was a proverb "that if you didn't drink kava in Fiji, you never were in Fiji." We promised them we would try and drink their health.
So we already had a plan for last night.
Kava - or methis pepper, or actually it's its root. The root of the plant is used to produce a drink with sedative, anesthetic and euphoric properties (this is how you want to sleep and dance at the same time, and you are more sensitive to music and sounds). Its active ingredients are called cavalactones after which due to physical symptoms the tongue becomes slightly numb and in some cases also the area around the genitals, which supposedly enhances the sensation of sexual expiernce.
The kava root is ground into a fine powder and then mixed with fresh water in a vessel called Tanoa, a bowl made of coconut wood. Kava, used for thousands of years in the Pacific region for healing and relaxation purposes, also has cultural, religious and even political significance. No major political meeting, high-level visit, or conference will take place without the kava ritual. Exactly - the ritual, because consuming the drink is accompanied by a real ceremony related to its preparation, serving and consumption. Traditionally, the root of the plant was chewed by boys and fermented with the addition of water. Today - apparently! I hope - it is mechanically ground, and the resulting powder is poured into a filter bag and repeatedly soaked in a large wooden bowl with cold water. Kava's rich history also has medicinal uses. It is used in the fight against anxiety disorders and mood disorders. More and more studies show its effectiveness in relieving depression, alcoholism, insomnia and aggression. It soothes infections, muscle, head and menstrual pain and relieves symptoms of PSM. It has a relaxing and relaxing effect, reduces the level of stress. It has no addictive properties. Its beneficial effects were also appreciated by sailors. Participants of James Cook's expeditions consumed a drink made of kava to alleviate the symptoms of seasickness and minimize negative mental states caused by prolonged separation from families and home.
And finally I will add a Hawaiian saying:
"The man who drinks kava is still a man, but the man who drinks liquors becomes a beast."
Why am I writing about all this ?! Because since 2016, kava has been legalized and allowed for sale in Poland (as the last country in the entire EU). So I recommend it. If you do not want to drink kava in the form of a drink (the taste is not outstanding, a bit like water with mud, but if someone drinks herbs every day, he will have no problems - it reminded me of sage), there are also dietary supplements in the form of tablets. Of course, read the contraindications, because kava can burden the liver. Like everything in abundance.
Now you can understand why people in Fiji are so happy ?! Is it kava, or is it beautiful beaches, the ocean, clean air and unprocessed food, lack of rush and pursuit of money? Surely it all contributes to this wonderful place. But I think they're really just good-hearted people who were lucky enough to be born in paradise. Nowhere else have I encountered such warmth, cordiality, honesty, openness, selfless care and sincere laughter. I recommend, RECOMMEND this corner of the world with all my heart. Even if a man has to save five years and eat dry bread with water, it is worth it. I'm going to starve like this for the next five years now, because I want to go back there. I want to see the rest of the islands of Melanzeja, Polynesia and Micronesia, meet people and their culture and fall in love every time.
The Happy Islands exist and are the greatest place on earth!
If you are looking for practical tips on how to organize a vacation in Fiji, write to me at misiax.travel@gmail.com, I will be happy to help!