Fiji for 12 hours – What did I do?
In a previous post, Layover for 12 hrs? – Here’s what, I wrote about how one could tackle a long layover in a foreign country. What inspired me to write it was actually my own long layover in Nadi, Fiji. I had 12 hrs to spend on this Pacific Island (of which I only knew of their ‘water’) when I was on my way to New Zealand (where I planned to move to for a year). Here’s how it went….
Date: February 1st 2018
Time: 6.05am
So, I land in Fiji. I have no ‘contacts’ – no link, no aunty fren sistah, nuttin (I like to get the ‘what to do’s’ of a place from local people when I can). And I read only one thing about what to get up to in Fiji – and it was a blog post. So, what did I do?
I came off the plane from a longggg flight (11.5hrs), and besides feeling super tired and weird (cause I felt like I time traveled), I did my best to absorb everything around me – the sights & sounds of this ‘foreign land’. Granted I was simply on the boarding bridge to get to Fiji’s Immigration. But, it was different none the less.
I get to the Immigration line. While the officer is processing my papers, I take the risk and ask the following “If you had 12 hrs in Fiji, what would you do?”. Slightly shocked but pleased I would ask, he advises me to take the bus into town, and then another bus to what sounded like an action packed touristy spot.
(Backing up, while standing in a line at the airport after we got off the plane, I nosied in on someone’s conversation and ended up meeting a couple who were doing exactly what I was doing! – Moving to New Zealand for a year. They BOTH had the same names of two of my very good friends (funny) and they too had not organised a job or an apartment in NZ. SUPER comforting. We exchanged numbers and promised to keep in contact. Turns out I was in the wrong line but at least I got to meet them!).
Now, did I follow the Immigration officer’s advice? No. I’m adventurous but not that adventurous. Instead, I decided to try and do exactly what the one blog post I read suggested – a half day tour taking me to different places, then a couple hours in a transit lounge to shower, change, rejuvenate and use the WiFi.
I get out of the airport and change some currency – (I have no idea how much to change so I ask the currency lady and she tells me to get $100Fiji dollars which is about $60USD). I find an information desk and ask about possible day tours and they lead me to the tour office.
Now, once I get in to the tour office and I’m greeted by the guy, I can tell this is straight up island vybz. Pacific or Atlantic, we are similar in so many ways. He’s juggling like 5 people at a time, calmly bouncing around to everyone with that tourist smile on his face. He mentions for us to “Relax, you’re on ‘Fiji time’”. That’s when I was like “Yuppp, here we go. Just like home”, and I sit down knowing it may be a ‘while’ till he gets to me. But I take comfort in seeing a familiar trait even though I was half way around the world.
After a little wait, with his help I sign up for a half day tour and I’m paired with two American couples for the day. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but by the end of it I was glad we ended up on the same tour 🙂
My tour allowed me to visit 4 places on the main island of Fiji:
- First landing village
- Sleeping giant gardens
- Mud Pools
- Hindu Temple
(Luckily our bags could come with us on the tour so I didn’t have to pay luggage storage fees #conservemoney.)
We’re driving around with Avi, our bus driver, who is very nice and is originally from Fiji. Immediately upon leaving the airport, I recognise the vegetation (bush), that surrounds the island – there’s sugar cane, mango trees and he talks about cassava. All these things were so familiar. I was like “Damn, country to country – the tropical islands are the same”.
We get to the “First Landing” village and immediately as the bus pulls up, the ladies in the houses (which too remind me of home – concrete, dirty but colourful buildings in quiet areas) run out and begin to set up their hand made jewelry. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before coming from a tourist oriented island – the beads, the styles, the sets etc look almost exactly the same. The ladies rush and encourage you to come check out this stall and that jewellery set. There was one guy in the mix too. All in all a reality hit me – this is what they do for a living. This is their livelihood – what they depend on for themselves and their family. This is what it feels like to be on the other side – to be ‘the tourist’. The one who someone depends on to feed their family. I always see it in Antigua, but have never seen it from this perspective and applied it so deeply. They’re also pretty good at squeezing in the fact that this is what they do full time to feed their families. Almost ‘guilting’ you to buy something you probably don’t need. Not that you can wrong them. Hustle dem a hustle.
After we browse around what they have to offer, one of the villagers takes us on a tour of their village – short and slightly informative, the biggest take away for me was the impact of colonialism. Not even two minutes into the tour and she describes their ancestors practice of cannibalism and how when the Europeans came to their island, they brought their ‘method of church’ and taught their people Christianity – turning them away from cannibalism. At this time, we’ve strategically arrived at the site of their Methodist church. It stands right on the edge of a big green space that has a big monument of a Christian cross directly in the centre of it. Again, reminding me of how impactful colonialism was and still is to this day on countries around the world.
Methodist church at the First Landing Village
By the end of our tour I’d learnt:
-The original Fijian natives were cannibals.
-The chief of the village gets his own house built and rebuilt every 12 years by the men in the village.
-The villages are a VERY close community. Working together to assist each other in every way of life – building each other’s houses etc.
-The people use drums to gather everyone in the village. Different drum patterns are used for different occasions.
Chief’s house
Our tour guide
The First Landing Village’s drum (& tour guide
Next, we head to the bus and drive back along the ‘nice road’ then make a turn onto a dirt road (Nice road = paved road. Dirt road = road of dirt/gravel). As we drive on the bumpy road, Avi points out that we’re getting a Fijian massage – bumpy road gives you a massage one time. I thought that was a clever way of making the best of what ‘island life’ tends to offer.
(Now, I forgot to mention that when I landed the sun was shining and I was happy to be in actual warm weather. But by the time we hopped onto the bus, the rain clouds rolled right in and the rain began on and off for the entire day. Not so nice)
We now pull up to the Sleeping Giant – A garden with some beautiful flowers. We’re greeted by a woman – “Bula” she says = “Welcome/Hello”. She gives us umbrellas and has us follow her immediately. (Let me point out – everyone we encountered spoke English, but they were also fluent in the Fijian language). She then proceeds to show us around by pointing out the different flowers and their names. No background. No overview of the place. Just the different flowers and their names.
Alyssa’s side-note commentary:
This was a recurring theme throughout the day (besides the Hindu temple (kinda)) – From what I experienced, I got the feeling that Fijians know how important tourism is. They are fully aware it’s what their country runs on and needs. The basic facilities are there. The people to do it are there. But, it needs more. It isn’t ‘developed’. But as a people, they know and do their best.
Say one say two, at the same time I’m also thinking, I shouldn’t expect the top of the top. It’s Fiji but Fiji is still a developing country just like mine and maybe yours. Plus, I wasn’t in the very fancy places so who knows what that experience would’ve been like – what money could buy. I was only here ballin on a budget. Point is, Fijians know tourism is their bread and butter and they’re making it work. They have their systems that work – as high or low tech as they may have been. However, I must say there’s room for improvement all around. Which is great. It’s opportunity.
Okay, back to the program! Sleeping Giant. The grounds were very pretty. Orchids and other flowers (I wasn’t paying that much attention) the green scenery was just great. They had artificial tree huggers which I thought was cute and a swing set with a background where If I ever thought I was gonna get married (is that a thing though?) – it would be an awesome place for a picture (seen below) 😀
Tree huggers hugging trees
Sleeping Giant Gardens
We jumped back in the bus after having some fruit punch (they know the real deal) and after a 5 -7 minute drive on the familiar bumpy road, we arrive at the mud pool place. At a tiny reception with books as the registry, we’re again greeted by lovely smiles and faces that politely direct us to the change rooms. The two ladies in my touring group decide to do the mud bath but their husbands and myself opt out (I didn’t want to spoil my experience of doing it in NZ. Plus I was tired/lazy). The husbands and I instead play paparazzi and watch them rub themselves down with mud from a small bucket, wash it off in a muddy pond looking pool, then relax in a thermal pool. Our guide is a Fijian and after the third pool he encourages us to get a massage from the ladies on the property (extra fees but I joined in on this one). This one was a nice massage for 15 minutes. After speaking with the young guy, he told me that everyone who works on the property is his family – they are the product of two grandfathers who had 6 kids each, then the kids had kids (and so on and so on). They all live around the property. The men do the mud pool stuff, the women manage the massages and reception and the kids go to school.
This was a solid thing about Fijians I noticed – they are ALL about family and community. That’s just how they roll. Which I thought was just lovely. He continued to explain that all his grandparents knew to do was to work the land (aka farm). But one lucked out on this property and now the kids and grand-kids are able to run it and support themselves.
Shortly after we said our goodbyes we headed to the Hindu Temple. By now, this group of 5 are really tired and really hungry but go anyways (cause that’s what we paid for). We arrive at the Temple but before we could enter, we had to cover our legs with wraps (men and women once skin was showing). After we were appropriately ‘Temple covered’, we got an informative tour by a helpful and knowledgeable guide. The temple is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and was being renovated for a big workshop happening that May. We learned lots and almost joined the worshipers for food (The temple provides food for anyone during their major worship days) but opted out. We even took a photo with a priest who was super chill!
Posing at the temple with the super chill Hindu priest
Antiguan in Nadi checking out a Hindu temple? Check!
We left the temple and our driver took us for food at this place you could tell the touring company brings everyone to. It has just the right amount of ‘American food’ (burgers and fries) that people would feel comfortable eating at, yet it has some local food to try if you were adventurous. We all had a Fijian Gold beer (which wasn’t bad) and we tried some fish and chips (made with cassava, not potatoes). It was tasty.
We then made our way to the airport and I checked back in with my bag. UNFORTUNATELY I was charged AGAIN for my bag (wayy too much money) and then waited in the departure lounge with my now good American friends. We eventually separated and went on different flights but we had some good chats before we left. They were off to Australia while I was off to New Zealand.
The couples were super thoughtful and encouraging – voluntarily capturing photos of me when I was too shy to ask, encouraging me on my trip, telling me about more trips to take and even inviting me to their part of town in the USA. They were really awesome.
All lovely people. It was great exploring Nadi, Fiji with them!
I then got on a plane from Nadi, Fiji to New Zealand – the flight a total of 3.5hrs – slept all the way (besides waking up for food) and landed at my destination – Auckland, New Zealand.
*Phew* long story. But worth it.
NEW ZEALANDDDD. I’M HEREEE! *Said she when she landed* (Not really, but it sounds cool)
-Global Gyal
What things have you gotten up to when on a layover in a new country? Tell meee (in the comments below).
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