Lazy Day #7

We planned to go into the big city of Suva today (only 190k people live there), but Wes wanted this to be a lazy day. So after b-fast down at the bistro, we spent the whole morning just chilling in the room, ready, watching tv and playing games on our iphones :).

After lunch we spent the afternoon out by the pool. The sun just peaked out and it the clouds were gone for the rest of the afternoon. We both went swimming in the pool and just read our books in the beach chairs.

We spent about 4 hours by the pool and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. I've been craving new food from a new chef, so we walked up the beach to the next resort down called Up Rising. This resort is was about a 30 minute walk up the beach. It was about 6pm when we reached the hotel and we were in luck, because they just started serving dinner. They had a special of Indian Curry with Prawns, so both Wes and I got that. It was decent, but I don't think we'll be making the trip back up there.

It was pitch black out by the time we finished dinner and luckily Wes brought his flash light for the walk back or I would have called a taxi. There are about two places with lights on the way back. One house and then one Seventh Day Adventist Camp, so I got a bit freaked out. The beach was crawling with huge and little crabs everywhere. If you even came close to them they would scatter as fast as they could and sometimes run right in front of your feet. I don't think we stepped on any of them!

We hurried back to the room as fast as we could, because my stomach wasn't feeling so good and just laid around the rest of the evening.

Wes in the pool having fun:


Chillin on the bed reading my book:

Village Trip, Day #6

Today has been so sunny and beautiful, I hope the rest of our stay here is like this. We woke up to get the continental breakfast and then got ready for our all day trip up the Navua River. This is the same river that the movie Anaconda 2 was filmed, but there are no snakes in Fiji. Our driver picked us up at the hotel around 9:45am and drove us 15 minutes up to a house up by the Navua River. The driver ended up being in charge of the whole trip and her family lived in that house. We got lucky that it was only a 15 minute drive, because there were 23 other that came from as far away as Nadi (3 hour drive). They all came in two different shuttles and showed up at the house about 1/2 hour after us.

Once everyone was there, all 25 of us got into 3 different tiny wooden boats that took us about an hour up the river. At least the boats had motors on them, or it would have taken us all day. We went up stream the whole way there and there were spots so shallow that we hit the bottom a few times. I thought we were going to flip!! Our first stop on the way up the river was at a small water fall, where we could swim in the water below it. It was pretty cold, but nothing compared to the Yakima River. Everyone swam a bit and then headed back to the boats. We made our way up the river to the Namuamua Village and all got out of our boats. We were greeted by the family of the village and I had to put my Sarong on (to cover my knees) before we headed up to the village.

We walked up to the first building to join the traditional Kava Ceremony. The men sat in front with there legs crossed and the woman had to sit behind all the men with there legs together knees to the side. Wes was made the 2nd chief, so he was served Kava at the main part of the ceremony. When the appointed him 2nd chief, he walked to the house right behind the chief and I had to carry all of our bags (Wes really like this.. haha). After everyone sat down there were 3 men surrounding the big Kava bowl and one main guy mixing it. A man came in behind him with a huge stick that had leaves on the end where the Kava dripped off into the big bowl where they were mixing the drink. Everyone sang and a few guys spoke in there native language.
They served the Chief (a guy from australia) and then the 2nd Chief (Wes) and a few of the village people and then the ceremony was done. They were then able to serve the rest of us Kava. When they came up to us with a cup, you had to clap once, they would give you the cup and then you say Bula (hello) and then drink it. The Kava drink is suppose to relax you. It's a narcotic, so it made my mouth and nose all numb feeling. The feeling only lasted about 10 minutes.

Once everyone finished their drinks, 6 guys did a Warrior Meke dance, which is a traditional dance and then we all got up and joined them in the Taralala and the Tuiboto (snake dance).

After dancing we walked to a building across the lawn to eat. The food was all set up for us on the floor and they gave us a plate and cup before we sat down. Everyone sat around the food and started digging in. We had chicken, tuna sandwiches, pineapple, bananas, cucumber and tomatoes, Terra Root and the leaves as a spread. Wes and I both loved the Terra Root, we wanted more after we left. I'll have to find some online and figure out how to prepare it.

They played songs and sang while we ate and when everyone finished we walked around the small village and saw their tiny health center. Some people travel 4 hours just to get to this tiny health center. That's how far out they live from the main highway and the little cities.
We walked back to the main building where the they had souvenirs all laid out for us to purchase. I bought a really cool photo frame that said Bula Fiji on it.

The village family then lined up outside the house and sang their national anthem. They had everyone sing their own national anthem. There were people from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and then USA. There were luckily 6 of us, so Wes and I didn't have to sing by ourselves!

Everyone headed back to to the boats and headed down the river. We stopped about 10 minutes down and got on some traditional bamboo bilibili rafts. Some of us floated on there and some decided to float down in the river and swim. The river was a brown green color and I had my camera in my hand, so I didn't want to jump in. There were tons of spiders on the raft and there was a huge one under this lady and a guy luckily saw it and flicked it into the water. It just floated in the water and got close to the other raft. The guy driving the boat picked up the spider... it was so gross!

We jumped back onto the regular boats and made it back to the house where we started. She dropped us off at the hotel, we showered and then went down to happy hour. We met a few of the big group of divers that are staying at our hotel. The one we talked to the most, name was Sara and she was from Denver, CO. She mentioned that there was a traditional fiji dinner buffet going on in the upstairs restaurant. So after happy hour we wondered up there and asked if we needed reservations and they said it would be okay.
Wes and I both ate way too much food. They had Kava and Terra Root again and lots of other foods. At the end of dinner the Pearl Resort dance team came out and performed and then had everyone get up to do the snake dance. Twice in one day, Whoa man are we lucky ;)
That was a long day for us, so we headed back to the room for the night right after the performance was done.

Village guys doing the Meke Warrior Dance:

Can you see Wes under the waterfall?


Ready, set, JUMP!


Wes and I outside one of the village houses:

Snorkeling Trip, Day #5

We woke up early again and headed down to the continental breakfast to eat. It was the same old food we've had everyday for b-fast. After eating we planned a snorkel trip with the hotel from 9am - 10:30am. This was one of the coupons the hotel gave us, so they hooked us up with a boat ride out there and snorkel gear for free. The hotel has these trips once or twice a day, so we were the only one's who ended up signing up for this trip.

We jumped on the boat and headed to the middle of the water between the pacific harbour and the Beqa Lagoon Island. I thought he was joking when he stopped the boat in the middle of the water. But there was a huge coral reef in the middle of the water with tons of fish. At first I was scared to jump in because I thought there might be sharks! Wes jumped in right away and I finally got the courage to jump in.

Neet, the guy driving the boat, told us to stay along the edge of the reef and it took us in a huge circle. We saw some zebra striped fish, bright blue fish, yellow fish, orange fish and tons of small fish. None of the fish were really that big, but there were a ton of them. The reef was colorful and very pretty.

Wes told me he saw a small jelly fish and freaked me out. I said it's just a little small one and he told me those are the worst. It ended up just being little pieces of stuff clumped together in the water. He always freaks out like that and then scares me! The other month we were watching the discovery channel where the tiny jelly fish in australia could kill you in 20 minutes if you got stung. He thought since we were so close to australia they would be here :)
I got a water camera from the Eddie Bauer sample sale, so we took some pictures under water, we'll see if they turn out.

After our snorkel trip we wondered across the highway to find this restaurant called Brizos. The Australian's we met the other day told us about it. It was only like a 5 minute walk, not as far as we expected. They had about 5 food choices, so I had a burger and Wes got calamari. It was a cute little restaurant on the river, but I think it's suppose to be more of a bar.

We needed to get some money out of the ATM for our village trip tomorrow, so we headed to the Arts Village again. I got a sarong, because when we go to the village tomorrow all women have to wear something over their knees. Women in this culture can not show their skin above there knees.

We walked back to the resort and sat out by the pool before dinner. The sun was behind the clouds and it was getting windy so we went into the room and watched TV for a few hours. Then we went down to the Bistro for dinner. I wasn't very hungry so I got some tuna Sashimi and some banana crepes. Wes got Tuna Sashimi and a Seafood Spaghetti meal. His food looked really good. I'm going to have to get that one of these nights. This bistro is half inside, half outside and there are these huge frogs that jump around on the deck area at night. They are pretty cool!

The only thing I'm disappointed in about this hotel, is that there are not a lot of places to eat dinner or go out to eat dinner. We have the arts village (15 minute walk), but you're not suppose to walk around in the dark here. It's not very safe and the hotel Bistro. There's one more restaurant in our hotel, that I haven't seen anyone eat at. There's a dress code, you have to make reservations and it's pretty pricey.

After dinner we went back to our room watched TV and called it a night.

Arts Village where we have been shopping:


The main lobby of our hotel:

Shopping, Massage and Private Dinner, Day #4

I think I'm still on Pacific time, because I woke up at 5:40am in the morning, which would have been 10:40am Seattle time. I really tried to sleep in! Wes and I headed down to the Bistro for continental breakfast and had pretty much the same thing we had the day before. The clouds were still there, but the sun was peaking through and we had a promising day of good weather.
After breakfast we tried to buy 7 days of internet, but had lots of troubles, so we are still going on the pay by minute plan.

We got ready and walked down to the Arts Village (where we ate lunch yesterday) to check out all the tourist shops and grab some lunch. The shops were pretty much full of junk and were like 2nd hand tourist shops. They were some of the worst tourist shops I've been in. I'm going to wait till we go into Suva next Tuesday to buy little gifts in the markets. It was about 11:30am when we were finished walking through all the shops, so we grabbed a bite to eat at Oasis and restaurant in the little village. We shared a lobster pizza and shrimp cocktail. Then I got a white chocolate ice cream dream bar from Cadburry from the little market. They are so good and I haven't seen these candies in Seattle anywhere.

The sun was shining and it was perfect weather when we were walking back to the hotel. When we got back we booked a free 30 minute Swedish back massage that the hotel gives everyone. It was really good, but I'm a bit sore today from it.

After our massage it was still pretty nice out and the sun was kinda shinning, so we got our swim suits on and headed to the pool. We laid out for a while and then walked over the ocean and swam in there for a while. There really aren't waves that come in crashing like most beaches, they just wave in like a lake. So no surfing or boogie boarding around this area. The water is so warm, compared all the other places we going swimming, but it still took Wes a few minutes to get in :) He put his goggles on and tried to find treasures on the bottom of the ocean, but there was nothing but leaves and sand. Without waves we got bored pretty quick, so I jumped into the pool and we sat by the pool for a little longer.

It was almost 5pm, so we headed back to the room to get ready for our Private Dinner, which ended up overlooking the beach, instead of on the beach. Probably because our beach is only 10 to 20 feet long from the edge depending on the high or low tide. It was so pretty, we got to see the sun set and the moon rise from the perfect view we had. The meal started off with appetizers: seared tuna, a smoke salmon salad and bruschetta. They were all so yummy and the band playing over at happy hour came over and played a song for us. It was romantic, even though Wes didn't ask me to dance. He said he was too nervous, hehe. By the time we finished eating appetizers and drinking champagne it was pitch black out and really hard to see our food, but the candle light was just enough. Next they served us our entree, lobster and beef. Even though I don't like red meat very much, I still tried it and had to spit it out! Wes seemed to really like it. But the Lobster was delicious! I scarfed that down super fast. Then it was dessert time, my favorite part of the meal. They served us chocolate cake with fudge on top and vanilla ice cream. This dinner was the perfect wedding present from Christi, Ryan, Tessa, Lily, Marlene, Mel & Tony.

As we finished dessert, the moon was rising, so we watched then and then got up and walked along the deck above the beach. There were about 50 little and big crabs running around on the beach and when we walked by they would all scatter away. After our walk, we headed back to the room for the night. We've been going to bed really early, since we've been getting up so early.

Wes and I at our private dinner!


The view from our dinner before the sunset


Wes chillin by the pool

Adventure #1 and Day 3

The hotel has complementary continental breakfast, so we went down to the bistro (AGAIN) to eat, but they didn't have too much of a selection. It was pastries, fruit, cereal or toast. No protein to last us through our Zip Line adventure at 10:30am today. I grabbed a huge glob of what I thought was oatmeal, fruit and some toast. The oatmeal turned into some tart cold fruity flavored food, which I didn't like at all. Wes mixed it with fruit and he seemed to like it.

The sky was covered with clouds and it was still raining, but let up to just a mist around 9am. When 10:30am rolled around we meet the shuttle out front of our hotel to head up to the Zip Line. Wes and I were the only one's from our hotel on the trip, but there was already a bus full of 18 people when we got on. We met a couple from Utah that was staying up in Nadi, which is the 3 1/2 hour drive we took the day before. They had no clue that the Zip Line was that far away, so it was a shock to them. It was only about a 1/2 drive from our hotel down the highway (queen's road) and towards the jungle/forest.

The shuttle driver showed us where they filmed the Anaconda #2 movie and we drove on a gravel road with lots of pot holes past kids going to school to get there. A lot of the people here do not where shoes and carry huge knifes (machete's) while they are walking on the roads.
Once we got to our location, they helped us put on harnesses and helmets. We walked up the hill and the guy told us what we needed to do. They would clip us into the zip lines each time we got to a different one, but we had to hold on with one hand and the other hand have an open circle on the wire. When you want to break, just rest your hand on the top of the wire, but do not grip it or it will hank you and pull your shoulder out.

Wes and I were the last one's to go, he clipped me in and I lifted my legs up and took off. There were a total of 8 different zip lines and we went through them twice. The first and last one's went over this little river/creek, so it was scary to start off with one of the highest zip lines!! They showed us how to go upside down, so I did that on a few of them, but Wes didn't want to... chicken ;) hehe. We would fly pretty fast through the trees and the end up on a platform around 100 feet above the ground. They tied us to a rope on each platform, so we wouldn't fall off.
Wes thought there was this huge black rope on a tree next to us, but it ended up being a millipede that was the size of a snake. It was crazy looking. After going through the zip lines twice, we got back on the shuttle and stopped at the arts village on the highway so people could go to the bathroom and grab food. It was only a 15 minute walk from there to our hotel, so we got off and stayed to eat lunch. I forgot the name of the restaurant we ate at, but it had a great view of this pond with tons of lily pads and flowers. Wes and I both got pan fried calamari for our appetizer and then Spaghetti Mexican for our meal. It had some peppers in it that gave it some spice, but I haven't had anything really spicy here yet. There was this cat out on the patio where we were eating, just wondering around begging for food.

After lunch we walked around the village a little, but didn't go into the boutique/tourist shops. I wanted to do that another day, so we got a few snacks at the little market instead. We got water, some drinks, coconut chocolate cookies, fruit snack candies, and lots of chips. Of the bags of chips was called UFO's with a burger flavor - an unusual spice. BURGER flavor... what??
The checker had to type each number in to her cash register, because there are no scanners. Technology is not very strong here. There are some Internet cafe's though. We packed up our groceries and headed back to the hotel along a walkways that was parallel to the Queen's road/main highway. It took us about 15 minutes to walk back to the hotel and we walked by a golf course and the police station that looks like a house with normal people there. I don't think the Fiji police where uniforms.

We had the whole afternoon to waste, so we rested in the room for a bit and then walked up and down the beach. It was just a mist out until the very end where it starting raining pretty hard. After our walking on the beach we changed clothes and went to happy hour at the bar in the reception area. They have some really good fruity and smoothie drinks at the hotel. I had a Melon Crush and Funky Fijian and Wes got a martini and beer. There are three different Fiji Beers; The Fiji Gold, Fiji Bitter and Fiji Premium. I think the first two taste the same and are very similar to Heineken, which I don't really like. There were two Australian's sitting next to us at the bar, so I started talking to them and they were really nice. There names were Stacy and Darrel and they had been there for about a week and a half and were leaving this Sunday. Darrel is a carpenter and Stacy works for the Council/County.

We chatted with them for about an hour and then headed down to get dinner at the Bistro. It was thai night, so I was really excited about that. The thai ended up not being spicy and not that great. The best part of dinner was the dessert Wes got. It was a rice pudding with a sugar sauce and mangos on top. Man that was one of the best desserts I've had and it didn't even had chocolate in it! Both of us were so tired after dinner that we crashed around 9pm in the hotel room.

Wes and I before we went flying through the trees


Me going up side down on the zip line!


Wes on the zip

Arriving in Fiji, Day 2

We landed in Fiji around 5am and got through immigration and customs in about an hour and a half and then found a bus ride at 7:30am to drive us down to our hotel. School was just starting, so there was a lot of traffic and it took us a long time to get out of the Nadi area. I was really surprised about how run down the houses are here. It looks really poor, like if there was a storm, some of the houses would be destroyed so easily.

The ride ended up being 3 1/2 hours, so we got to our hotel at 10:30-11am. Luckily the hotel let us check in early after traveling for about 26 hours and then we went to eat food! The Pearl Resort in the Pacific Harbour (where we are staying) has a casual bistro downstairs that we got a quick lunch at. It over looks the ocean and is all open, so we could feel the breeze that was just starting. The wind really picked up as the day went on.

After lunch Wes wanted to rest and he passed out for a few hours while I showered and took a quick nap.

Before we knew it it was 6pm and we went down to the bistro for Lobster Dinner. I had a half grilled lobster with avocado and Wes had a baked lobster in cream sauce. His was a lot better than mine, but they were still both pretty good. By the time we finished dinner it was pouring rain out and we were exhausted from our long day, so we headed back to the room and feel asleep around 8pm.

The beach


Our room


The awesome pool

TRAVELING TO FIJI Day 1

Our trip to Fiji began on Tuesday August 4th at 2pm, when Wes and I decided to the take new light rail train to the Sea-Tac airport. The light rail starts below Westlake Mall in the bus tunnel and ends in Tukwila. The track isn't finished to the airport, so we hopped on a 10 minute bus ride there. In total it took us an hour and half to get the the airport to catch our 5:05pm flight.
We flew through security and got there right before everyone was boarding. The flight from Seattle went by super fast and we had the back two of three seats next to the bathrooms. Glad we weren't in a rush for our next flight in LA. That flight didn't take off till 11:30 (boarding at 10:30).

Once we landed in LA, we had to find the international terminal, which was across the airport to get new tickets to Fiji. I gotta say, international terminals are full of tons of cultures and are a lot more interesting than the regular ones. Our hungry tummy's needed some food and after seeing Gordon Biersch in the last terminal, that's what Wes wanted. Well.... unfortunately there was only fast food restaurants and one "bar & grill", so we ended up sitting down and ate there. It had decent food, but nothing too exciting. I got fish and chips and Wes got a tuna melt. After our two hour meal, it was about time for us to board our plane.

The plane to Fiji was Air Pacific and it was a two story plane. HUGE! There were two aisle and I think it was larger than our plane to the UK. I guess Fiji is a hub for different flights around the Pacific (such as Australia/new Zealand).

The plane took off at 11:30pm August 4th and landed in Fiji on Thursday Aug 6th at 5:00am (with the 19 hour time change), so it was really only a 10 hour flight. We should have asked for first class, because our seats were so close to the one's in front of us. Especially the guy in front of Wes who had his seat back the whole time. Each seat had a TV, but you couldn't choose what movie you wanted and when you wanted to start it (like the trip to the UK). The just had 12 TV channels that played different movies and shows and all started at the same time. Both Wes and I slept on and off a little, but not enough to last us through the next day.

Wes and I in the LA Airport

The huge airplane we flew on from LA to Fiji


Wes and I on the airplane... his eye looks so red, but it's getting better now.