The majority of the Indo-Fijians shops were heavily advertising the coming Diwali, and Fijian store owners were welcoming us in with sales banter.
After much debating, a couple of coffees and several 'sit down chats' on a sofa in the travel shop we booked ourselves on to a Bula Pass with Awesome Adventures (cringe) for a 14 day island hop around the Yasawa islands of our choice...we chose ones that we could camp on, and persuaded ourselves that it wouldn't be a hideous blunder, but an excellent way to see some of the islands...whatever. We both had our doubts.
We then went for a look around Nadi and a big blogging sesh. At the end of which we were quite ruined and not quite on our toes, consequently, in our dazed state, we were taken by surprise by a preacher on the street who welcomed and blessed us... then almost immediately we were accosted by Tonga who welcomed us into his village shop for an impromptu Kava session...
Tonga on the left and Knox on the right roll out the Kastom mats for one last tourist hit of the day...Oh go on then, we'll play the game too!
By sitting down and drinking the Kava we had effectively agreed to buy something. Wiji was chuffed to be getting into it so soon after entering the country! Lol.
Knox mixes the Kava from the dry powder...
We take it in turns to drink a shell and clap and shout 'Bula!' as we receive the shells. Yes I am wearing a sarong that Tonga has tied on me for the ceremony. Nice.
Here I say my first Bula! Of many Bula's! to come....Oh how she laughed. Fiji was the place where everyone insisted calling Wiji, WILLY! And also shouting BULA WILLY! This was totally hilarious and by shouting this in a deep voice outside the tent I managed to make Wiji jump. Lol.
Fortunately on the first taste we realised the Kava was considerably weaker than the Vanuatu Kava.
Wiji looks on...'Mmmm Kava...'
This is most definitely my Kava Face! I didn't even know that I could make it! Lol.
After sampling several shells and getting to know each other we got down to the hard sell and purchased, wait for it...what else but a Kava set and more powdered Kava! Yay! Really we had Capel in mind, and a future sesh, lol. Wiji being the main protagonist in this, was really chuffed with the outcome.
After our mini sesh we soon realised that we had missed all the supermarkets and our chance to buy chod for the Yasawa's...oh no! But hey, we did have our own Kava set...much more fun than a toaster. I might start giving them as presents at weddings...
Later at the Sandlewood Lodge, electricity seemed so novel that Wiji prepared for a beard trimmage, firstly combing out his beard into an 'Eavis'. Nice work. We then shouted 'Beardo' at each other, laughing our eads off, in honour of the random Mancunian bloke that Jamie brought home from the pub one night at Harmood House. It was one of those occasions where it dawned on us that maybe we had spent too much time together....but Nah!
'Eeer Beardo!'
A visit of two halves...After we returned from the Yasawa's we decided to get into the Indo- Fijian culture by taking a trip to Tata's the locally acclaimed Indian cafe. And what a treat a tasty curry was, washed down with a couple of Fiji Bitters.
Wave! Tata's was next to a scrap metal yard!
We returned several times to Tata's to chomp our way through the super tasty and extremely cheap vegetable Thali... It was great timing if we caught the comedy tiny train that was impossibly loaded with sugar cane. Once I counted 59 carts...
We were still seeing the Digicel adverts that we had first seen in Vanuatu, but taylor made for the differing islands...Oh those happy smiling faces holding phones that will surely become more expensive to own once everyone is hooked. Smile!
As we observed the different cultures at work and play we found it increasingly less likely that they would be texting each other....
The internet facilities were second to none...no really. This was an internet cafe.
Oh, back again then for a vegetable Thali.
On another day at Tata's the train failed to trundle past..some gurt massive lorries carried the sugar cane instead.
And on another day (yes really), I ran outside to get a good piccy and they waved to me. Lol.
Count those carts! Where was all the sugar cane coming from and going to each day?
Sunset before the storm over the river running through Nadi. The heavens did open with a thunderstorm that we narrowly escaped in a taxi.
Everyone was cashing in. It was a real shame that we would not be in Nadi to see Diwali.
On a burning hot day we trekked off though Nadi, passed the wholesale Kava stores, sari fabric shops, big supermarkets, souvenir craft market, Chinese restaurants and totally random businesses to the Hindu temple. It was an incredible sight, and all hand painted.
Wiji checked with an elderly man if it was ok if for us to visit, it was and he gave us a 2min tour, a banana and then sent us off specifying an anti-clockwise direction. The concrete was excruciatingly hot, so I was skipping about hot footing it off to take the piccys. Ouch.
Some of the ceiling murals.
The painting over concrete was very elaborate.
In the gardens were Hindu deities.
Our visit made us even more excited about travelling around India.
The temple was busy inside, but out of respect we didn't enter. There were several smaller temples around each corner.
At the entrance to the temple.
The view from our balcony at Sandlewood Lodge. It was here that we had a much appreciated cool swim in the evenings. We really enjoyed staying there. Our room had a small kitchenette were we made baked beans on toast for brekkie, it was a treat! The man in the garage, where we bought our beans, recommended the can with added cheese, Wiji approved! Lol...
On the tin it said it was a 'super food', Mmmm, not so sure.
We caught up with the blog in Nadi (nearly!) And gave ourselves a bit of a rest from the sun. I really enjoyed a more varied diet...even if it was mostly Indian food. The people were friendly and we enjoyed the bustle.
1 comment:
Lovely picture of you two in the Kava shop. I'm glad you were thinking generously of your friends! xx
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