View of the village from the village green. It's such a peaceful place.
Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-37.html
Sunday, June 19, 2011
A church at the left and the chief's house on the right. The chief's house was very imposing. Many roofs here are adorned with the two blunt outcroppings, with the outcroppings of the most important buildings being adorned with conch shells. I felt a bit bad walking around, especially in shorts, on a Sunday, as most people there see Sunday as a day for church and rest. I spent the rest of the day chatting and planning my trip.
Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-37.html
Viseisei is built around a nice village green. My couchsurfing hosts turned out to be travel agents, and booking trips for couchsurfers was their primary income. I let them book me a long island hopping trip to the Yasawas. Although I'm sad I only got to see the Yasawas, I was happy I took my time there. Their trip cost me less than what a similar trip would have cost online, and the guesthouses appreciated that I booked with them and not with a more commission-hungry agent - namely, Awesome Adventures.
Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-37.html
A ceremonial house with a large yaqona (pronounced "yahng-ghon-na") bowl in the village of Viseisei, where my couchsurfing host lives. This is one of the oldest villages in Fiji, and the origin of Josefa Iloilo ([Ratu] Josefa Iloilovatu Uluivuda), a recent Tui Vuda (paramount chief of Vuda District) and President of Fiji. I can tell that everyone is very proud of the village's history and traditions. Yaqoga is the Fijian name for kava.
Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-37.html
After passing the International Date Line again, I arrived in surprisingly modern Nadi Airport (pronounced "nahn-di") just as the day broke. I could see the shadowy outlines of dozens of islands on the descent, and dozens of points of light below, many of which belonged to ships drifting in the calm tropical ocean. I was picked up by a taxi-driving friend of the hosts and paid a reasonable fare. We drove by the Garden of the Sleeping Giant (the mountains form a sleeping man and woman) and sugar cane fields.
Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-37.html
Waiting in to the wee hours of the morning at the airport with contact details for my couchsurfing host. Had a chat with some kind of sport or youth minister on his way to a conference.
Rough notes:
http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-37.html
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