Day 2 - Monday December 10, 2001 - Fiji - 2:23am Local Time

Having crossed the International Date Line, it is now Monday the 10th while back in Vancouver it’s Sunday the 9th. Even though I haven’t really lost a day, my brain and body feel as though they have.

I’ve just come off the plane into the wide open Fijian outdoors. It’s dark and it’s raining. Shit! Oh well - too tired to care.

The first smell isn’t jet fuel, as I’ve come to expect, but the smoke from an East Indian tandoor billowing up from below the catwalk I’m precariously negotiating on my way to Fijian Customs. Precarious because of my condition (tired) and also because of the wood slats of the walkway that creaks with every step - the slats are also tired I suspect.

On board the shuttle bus to the ‘waiting hotel’, I encounter a couple from Toronto. Perhaps endure is the more appropriate term here; all they do is bitch and complain about the weather in Fiji and how nice it was back in Toronto when they left. More’s the pity. I immediately suggest to the other travellers who appear to squirm in silence that this couple’s ignorance not be tolerated and that we take up a collection to ship them back to the “Big Smoke”. Failing that, I know a couple of burly Maori bodyguards who, for a small fee, would make their vacation one to remember. The Fijian driver thanks me warmly when he drops me at my ‘waiting hotel’. Too tired to continue… sleep I must… will explain all. Including why I’ll never use my miserable excuse for a travel agent again.

As I fall asleep the flowering orchids outside my room have replaced the smell of the tandoor. The good start continues….

Same Day - Nadi, Fiji - 8:00am Local Time

OK - let’s go back a step or two…

I get to the hotel, the Dominion Hotel (“Fiji’s friendliest hotel” if I’m to believe the gaudy signage out front) only to find that I’m supposed to wait in the lobby until my transfer to Denarau Island Marina at 10:00am (?!) Wait in the fucking lobby for six hours?! I think not. All the printed information I’ve received from my travel agent and through all the conversations I’ve had with the ‘three-blind-mice’ who pass for the staff have lead me to believe that I was going to the hotel to SLEEP! Wait in the lobby…? Whose idea is this? I realize I’ve already spent F$20 for the privilege of hanging about in their lobby (advance coupon purchase - lucky me), but I’m also told that I can’t wait there all night - it’s against the hotel rules! So whose scam is this - or is it a shared scam?!

Fuck it! I check in. It’s not too expensive really, only F$66 a night which is about US$30 a night which is about CDN$45 a night. Or, roughly CDN$10 per hour of sleep. It’s worth it! I’ll deal with the travel agent later - this is a vacation.

Which brings up the subject of syntax: vacation or holiday? Look up either word in a dictionary and it references the other by way of example. But the two really aren’t the same, are they…?

The very word: vacation, seems both prosaic and official:

I’m due some vacation time, so I think I’ll go away for a week. Hold all my calls. I’ll be thinking of you. Wish you were here!

Whereas the word holiday is more in keeping with the effect of engaging in a change of venue with additional perks: sun, sand, relaxation, food, salt sea air… all the things that make for memorable experiences.

Well, that’s it then. Screw the vacation. I’m officially on holiday!

Same Day - 8:49am Local Time

And now for some rambling early — VERY early — morning observations:

Minnie Driver… oh, never mind!

“Ni Sa Yadra” - this is a traditional Fijian greeting. It means “Good Morning”. Either that or it means, “No thank you - I’m seeing someone!” It’s still very early and my Vancouver body hasn’t yet caught up with my Fijian brain - the translation genes aren’t working very well.

Whoever said, “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humidity” was definitely talking about Fiji - ACK! I’m sticking to everything (OK - too much information!)

I have a new favourite breakfast: Weetabix (or Weetbicks as they spell it phonetically here) with fresh mango… followed by locally made granola toast and papaya preserves made by the chef’s mother running a close second (the toast and preserves run a close second, not the chef’s mother!)

There’s something to be said for arriving in a foreign country in the dark wee hours of the morning. You get to see this new land in the bright first-light of day with no expectations. So far it’s hot, humid, sunny, very friendly and already I’ve met a 72 year-old Aussie bush pilot who retired here and a young American couple from Vermont who decided not to waste another moment and get married after the calamity of September 11th.

It was a truly surreal site this morning to see a petite brunette woman of 22 struggling down the beach with her flowing white wedding dress draped over her shoulder, and her fiancé dutifully managing to carry the luggage a few steps behind. I sincerely hope he enjoyed the view ahead of him and got a good look at his soon-to-be bride because that image will stick with him long after the wedding photos have faded. I know it would me.

Anyway, I’m off to the marina in half an hour to catch the catamaran to Musket Cove, the first in at least three stops. Gotta go.

Same Day - 10:03am Local Time

An unordered list of observations…

    Mangrove Trees. These beautiful trees populate the islands of Fiji and flower once a year in December. Their green leaves mix with a vibrant red flower for only a few weeks. The Fijians refer to them as their own ‘Christmas Trees’ because of the colouration.
    I’m convinced that Fiji must have been explored and settled by Mexicans, even though heavily researched migration patterns and confirmed archaeological results would suggest otherwise. I’ve never experienced a more pervasive coda of ‘mañana’ outside of Mexico. As the chauffeur said on the way to Denarau Island (where I am now awaiting my ‘cat’ to Musket Cove), “You’re on Fiji time now, man. Slow and easy.” That’ll take awhile.
    Interesting tidbit… the roads are strewn with mangoes. The trees are huge and Fiji is in the middle of mango season - that explains the breakfast. The small market we passed on the way here had signs saying buy one, get five free! A local joke, apparently, to entice the tourists. They’re everywhere (the mangoes, not the tourists!)

My boat awaits. And it’s sunny!

Same Day - 11:22am Local Time

I feel acutely aware of my ‘Caucasianness’ - I’m really white!

Later

It’s sheer trickery. We get coddled into believing that we should wear polarized lenses to shield our eyes from harmful UV rays and such, but in a place like this polarized lenses do you an injustice. It makes everything look an unnatural shade of blue, various shades of unnatural blue in fact. So, upon arriving at Plantation Resort, the first of two stops on my way from Denarau Island Marina to Musket Cove, I am assaulted by hues I’ve only encountered in photographs or movies. So, off come the glasses… damn… it really IS that blue!

Same Day - Noon Local Time

I’ve finally arrived at Musket Cove courtesy of the Malolo Cat catamaran ‘taxi’ service. By my calculations — which due to my advanced state of tiredness could be a tad off — it is now 3:00pm Vancouver time on Sunday. It has officially taken me nearly 30 hours to get here. No worries though. The sky is blue, the clouds — the small, puffy ones, the ones that make you wish you were four years old again so you could pick out the unicorns and puppy dogs — are white, the ocean is the aforementioned several shades of blue, and I’m firmly ensconced in my own private Fijian ‘bure’. Interesting term that. From what I’ve seen so far — not much I realize — ‘bure’ means anything from private beach suite at the Shangri-La Hotel to a hovel in the rundown sections of Nadi or Suva. Mine falls somewhere in between, leaning distinctly in the Shangri-La direction thankfully.

iBook is recharging. Time for me to do the same.
Fiji Bure
Bure Photo Copyright © Pacific Travel Guides