28 June 2011:

I'm glad people were so good-humoured about me taking so many photos of them that night! Sadly, I left "early", well affected by the kava, as I had to get up early the next morning for a flight. The rest stayed up until 3am drinking kava and spending time together, which apparently is very common.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Throughout the night, people would knock on the door to buy things from Fi, as she also ran an informal store. More people arrived at around 1:30. One thing I noticed is that everyone sat very close, and often in contact with each other, including me. I appreciated the physical closeness that is missing from the Western world.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

A cute kitty sleeping in the corner! The people that night seemed amused I'd take that picture, but also appeared to appreciate the cute picture I took.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

This person was pretty cool and appeared to be some kind of chief. People seemed to respect him, and he was telling me how to sit to be respectful and told me to take his picture and show it my my Prime Minister. At one point, when I offered to pay for a round of kava, he led a chant which included my name, and ended with everyone clapping slowly three times and saying "thanks Mark!" He also told me to give his regards to my family as I left.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Drinking kava (or yaqona in Fijian) from a shared coconut bowl. I noticed some people coughing, I hope I won't get sick! The kids were watching TV and then sleeping on the mats in the adjacent room, completely open to the smoke and noise from us. I felt a bit bad, but they didn't see to mind and were soon asleep.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, an older woman called me "my dear" all night long, and all helped to teach me the card games they were playing, which was similar to Hearts. The one in blue is Fi, my host and travel agent. I'm still not sure how I feel about her using Couchsurfing as a way to get travel agent business, but there was no pressure and she found me the best prices and customized my trip, so I think overall it was still a great experience staying with her!

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Later on in the night, Fi invited me to drink kava with her friends, an apparently almost nightly endeavour. It felt good to be out of the resorts and back in the real world and learning about other people's lives. They prepared the kava in the green bucket, and drank it out of this large round bowl, which looked suspiciously like an unevenly cut open fishing float.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Evening kava - check out the big bowl and bucket of kava in the picture. The little paper bags to the left were pre-packaged packs of kava.

While I ate, Fi and her family watched Shortland Street while lying on the grass mats on the floor. Afterwards, there was a disastrous attempt at me fixing their computer, where afterwards, it wouldn't even start, which I felt very bad about. But oh well, Fi said her computer was still under warranty, so she'll just take it to the shop.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Evening kava.

We drove through Nadi, which looked modern enough, but all the buildings and stores had disconcerting bars on their windows. After the airport and Raffles Resort in Nadi, I looked to be the only tourist left on the bus. The bus dropped me off at a pitch black road junction, and the chaperone told me Viseisei was about a kilometre down the road. I walked into the dark, with the stars glowing brightly above me. Eventually, I started seeing some lights, and was relieved to see the village. A few kids ran up to me as I entered the village with a hearty "bula!" and walked with me to Fi's house, where a large bowl of chicken curry was waiting to me. I gladly finished it, and the bones were given to the dog. Seems like dogs function a lot like garbage disposals everywhere in the islands, even New Zealand.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

The lights coming on at the famous Beachcomber Island resort. I wonder what kind of parties and debauchery is going on there tonight. I wondered if I should have stayed there for my last night just to see what it is like there. We arrived in Denarau Port, a surprisingly modern and fancy complex with shops and trendy restaurants, one hour late. Bidding farewell to the people I've been chatting with on the boat, I boarded the bus to Lautoka, which will drop me off on the way. I had to confirm with the chaperone multiple times that I was indeed going to the village of Viseisei, and not a resort around the village before he was convinced.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

The sun disappearing behind some small islands around the Mamanuca chain.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

One last view of the Yasawas slipping into the distance. Although I loved my time here, I'm happy to be leaving what I see as as vacation within a vacation, and am on my way to more interesting adventures than island hopping at backpacker resorts.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

The ride so far has been surprisingly rough, and quite a few people were seasick from the ship bobbing up and down. As the sun set, everything was flooded with a warm golden glow.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

One last view of the Yasawa Islands. I'll miss this place. I have mixed feelings about the people, but the area was one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I had a lot of fun island hopping.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

The stop at Wayasewa and Kuta, a flurry of activity as usual.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

A closer view of the volcanic plug. I'd love to come back here one day to do some camping and hiking if the locals allow that.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

June 28 2011:

After a while, the familiar volcanic plugs of Wayasewa loomed into view. They looked especially dramatic in the evening sun, with the dense forests by the shore and the imposing jagged cliffs jutting up above.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

At low tide, the walk out to the boat was surprisingly long, while trying to step around the corals in the shallow-ish water. The yellow boat arrived behind schedule again, at around 3:30 to 4pm. The Yasawa Flyer, known as the "yellow boat" was much bigger than the white boat, and had an actual store and a travel desk section on board, with lots of cozy places to be on board.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

There was a surprisingly strong current in the passage, and I had to swim constantly against the current for control, especially around the corals in the shallows. There were huge schools of colourful fish being tossed around by the currents, but also some painful stingers. Coming back pretty tired, it was good to rest and dry off in a hammock on the beach. Looks like this resort has been here for a while - this rope around the tree has been engulfed.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

Looks like I'll be taking the yellow boat back later today. It definitely looks bigger than the white boat. The snorkelling trip took us on a long speed boat ride south to one of the passages between the islands, probably somewhere around Nanuya Balavu. Sadly, we didn't see any manta rays here, but this was the deepest water I've snorkelled in, where I couldn't even see the bottom. It was an interesting feeling diving down and seeing the empty darkness below me - it would have been awesome to see some giant manta rays gliding under me.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html

28 June 2011:

I woke up to good weather today, what a difference! This area is famous for large manta rays that feed in the currents between the islands. Although there hasn't been reports of mantas for a few days, I decided to go on a manta ray snorkelling tour anyway, since this was my last day in the Yasawas.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-46.html