Fiji Trip, Part Three

Saturday, January 20 was our tourist day. We were only in Fiji for four full days (and parts of two others), so there really wasn’t much time to go sightseeing, not when there was photography, snorkelling, kayaking, and swimming to do—or just relaxing. Nevertheless, on Saturday we decided to drive to Suva, the capital of Fiji, on the southeastern part of Viti Levu, the main island. It was a two hour drive from the resort.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t initially all that enthused, first, because it was a long drive there and back, but also because plenty of people had told me that it was kind of run down, poor, and so, not a place to visit. I went anyway.

Suva is the country’s largest city, with around 93,000 people, and I thought it was fascinating! While it has things in common with large cities throughout the world, it’s also very different. The central business district was extremely busy, with heavy traffic—more so than some much bigger cities I’ve been in. Even so, it was easy to walk around.

Suva was also filled with mainly Fijian people, and we were clearly in the minority. It was actually the first time in my life I’ve been in a foreign city where I could clearly see I was in the minority, and I loved the new experience (obviously I’ve been in foreign cities and been in the minority, but until that day I couldn’t necessarily see that).

We did a little shopping at a mall called Tappoo, and after that we contemplated a stroll through the open air market pretty much across the road—but the fish smell was overpowering in the heat, and it was crowded, so we drove around a bit instead, especially near the harbour.

These are two decent photos I took in Suva. The tall, oddly shaped building on the photo on the right is the Tappoo mall. The photo on the left is looking in the opposite direction.

After Suva, we headed back, stopping at one supermarket to pick up some things for Sunday night’s dinner. However, it was kind of sparse, so we drove on.

Next stop was a huge supermarket I thought was really interesting, and then had a late lunch in the sort of food hall there. It turns out, the company that owns it (and the first one we went to) is in a dispute with the Fijian government, with all sorts of allegations flying around, including that the company is a religious cult. Such intriguing drama!

I noticed that many of the prices for New Zealand food products were comparable to shops in NZ (after converting currency), but some NZ things were MUCH more expensive. Fiji-made products were usually cheaper than the expensive imported NZ things, and the less expensive NZ products didn’t seem to have any local competition—which is the opposite of what I expected.

One thing I notice about Fiji is the omnipresence of Christian religiosity. The buses in Suva seemed to all have an enormous “JESUS” painted just above the windscreen, and religious slogans on cars were quite common everywhere. Nobody pushed religion at me, but it was definitely everywhere.

On the way back, the skies opened up and we drove through torrential rain. And now we can all say we’ve driven through a tropical rainstorm—another thing checked off the bucket list!

Once we were back at the resort, we rested before heading out to dinner. Fortunately, by the time we were ready to leave, the rains eased up. I shot a silly video of me out on the balcony of my room as the rain poured down (but the thunder wasn’t thundering). I also took this photo, imitating the pretend grumpy look (I wasn't actually grumpy at all):

We decided to go to a local bar/restaurant called “The Tipsy Italian” because they had live music. Several of us had pizza (mine was really nice). It was, technically, “across the road”, but it was a little far to walk, so we drove.

After dinner, it was decided that some of us would have shots of kava, a traditional Fijian drink made from a plant. It’s nonalcoholic and non-intoxicating, but may have a kind of calming, slightly sedative effect.

Traditionally, it’s drunk in a ceremony where everyone drinks from a shared wooden bowl (totally not my scene), and I had been told it tastes like dirty water (which is what it looks like…). What the bar had was a commercial version that tasted of absolutely nothing. It may have been more diluted than usual, for all I know, but in any case, I felt nothing from it.

The deliberately silly photo at the bottom of this post is me contemplating the shot of kava—and that was actually my second, because I forgot to do a selfie for the first. Oops.

The singer was awesome, singing Fijian songs and great covers of English language pop songs (including at least one New Zealand band), which was all the more remarkable because he didn’t really speak English—but he sure could sing it!

We didn’t stay late, and, like usual, I was actually ready for bed fairly early. After all, the next day would be a big day, whether I wanted it or not.

Previously:
”Travelling gratitude” – After I was home.
Fiji Trip, Part One
Fiji Trip, Part Two