This is not a travel article but it has some travel in it and what we learned from that travel.
Bula, Bula!! The normal greeting in Fiji. Once off the main tourist tract you will hear it a hundred times or more. The people are so warm, friendly, helpful, kind….. They are amazing. Which is how I remember the people in my grandparents home towns, small prairie farm towns. I would like to see that return.
It was our first adult trip since our kid has gone to College. I spent 2-3 months researching Fiji (far too much time) and did it work out. We had a fabulous time. Some of the interesting things we learned and experienced are below and a bit of Fiji travel advice to boot.
We did 18 days, I think 23 would be better. We did Likuri Island (1/2 the price of the others and likely our #1, but they were all awesome), Barefoot Manta, Barefoot Kuata islands, these places are scenery wise stunning. 3 days Sigatoka town, the sand dunes were great but unless you are doing other tours from there forget it. I also say forget the Coral coast. If you want to just sit and look at water go to Mexico.
There are “home stays” which are what they sound like. They will likely be simple food, bed, toilet, power. If you are okay with that, they can be life changing awesome. Generally a fraction of the resort prices we stayed in.
Nadi and Suva (Main cities) stay as little as possible. Could see the sites in either in 1 hour.
I would like to have gone to farther afield but it takes time and Fiji Day (holiday) messed up our timing. But our trip was fabulous. When the sun is out a 30oC day feels like a Kelowna 40oC. If it pours, forget it stay inside. But the forecasting was “BS” as our hostess said when asked, ‘just look up’.
Most Fijians do not have much. Especially outside of towns. They live in Villages and Settlements, they are very proud of their homes, traditions, families and customs. It seems a simple life to me, and they also seem very happy to me.
We did two bike trips one into the farm land (from Nadi), which is small scale with LOTS of manual work. One into the mountains to a village. It was a crazy steep rough dirt road. The bikes suspensions all failed. We had to get 3 replacement bikes sent out. It was not the best time. The safety level is a lot lower than here. Eventually the operator ran out of working bikes, so the guide walked home! and he told us to just make our own way back! 25 km out of town, “just keep going down hill and ask people how to get back.” In some countries you need a bit of an adventure, take it as it comes attitude, Heather was a rock star, going down that mountain was nuts hard on the arms.
The farm bike tour, the guide King-Joe/Joeking asked if we were hungry and off we went to his village for lunch. It will be a memory I keep forever. These people are living a very simple and basic life. They are so darn nice it’s wonderful. I remember going to farm towns in Canada where people stopped to say hi and talk. Well they still do that here. I wish we still did it here.
Once there he asked what I did, they had heard about acupuncture but no one had actually seen it. I googled and it shows 2 Chinese Doctors in the country but I could not find them when I was there.
So this beautiful young lady, fell out of a coconut tree and knocked herself out for several days. While her brain seems to be fine, her lower leg/ankle was a complete mess. She wants to play soccer again so Joe asked if I would mind having a look. MIND!!! get her over here. She was lovely, the pain she must endure with the leg is likely a lot. But Joe said she has never complained. I showed them what to do and I hope they do it.
Joe had all kinds of injuries I looked at. He used to have a better job but an accident has limited what he can do. With something we take completely for granted here, rehabilitation. He could have healed just fine. But they do not have access to physio, chiro, Acu, massage etc. I would love to take a group of rehab people there for a few weeks. It would be hard and rewarding.
Earlier the daughter brought us coconuts, they use a decent machete to clean and open them, but she left the last couple of cuts for us. HAHAHAH!!! after almost losing a arm/leg/eye the girl took it back and like a samurai whacked off the tops. Yeah, they are handy people.
They do farmers markets in a big way, like huge, huge, huge. There are stalls just everywhere, in the towns it can be a couple of city blocks. Buying food there is cheap, fresh and good. Ate at lots of them, we did take some Chinese herbs to help protect our body’s from bad stuff and while our stomached had some experiences, they were very mild. When in Rome eat like Romans. I was pleasantly surprised in our 18 days we had excellent food every meal, the Fijian’s can cook.
Met a Brit that moved to Fiji to have and raise her kids, she owns a glass blowing studio in Korotogo. Again a super warm friendly place. We sat down and watched her and her team make some stuff. She came over and we talked 20 min and her phone just kept going off. She excused herself and then there was some activity. In a while she came to show us a plate she made. The phone call was the Govt of Fiji. The King of England, Charles (if you didn’t know) was going to Tonga and they needed a present, could she make something!!!
She laughed as it was the second piece the King had of hers! How do you go to Fiji and get your stuff in places like that. You just never know where life’s roads lead you.
I asked her about living in Fiji. She said if you went to a village in Fiji and showed the proper respect, no hat, no sunglasses, covered shoulders and legs, they would basically do anything to help you. Tourist or local. Wouldn’t that be nice.
I can go on and on about the value of hanging out with the locals off the main tourist path. The Fijians dealing with tourists all day are a bit more jaded but once they got to know us a bit they were just like all the rest, wonderful. So the resorts islands are real money. I don’t know who is getting all that money but someone is making a ton, I don’t think it’s the local workers. But before I criticize it must be awfully difficult getting a resort on some of these islands. The logistics of it are difficult. Also the only cash income they had before tourism was likely nothing.
So did you know Fijians can sing, dance and sing some more. Wow can they sing. The traditions of festivals, singing, dance, performance is alive and well and for sure it’s a show, but we met the GM of a island and I asked him what struck him. “They sing all day, if there is a guitar/ukulele they play it and sing” and they are very good at it.
Ow and the Fijian Islands of the Yasawa chain and the resorts are absolutely gorgeous. Save up and go for a tour, it’s awesome. I could put up 200 pictures of the islands, they are wow and so are the resorts. Really amazing places. We did 3 resorts for 3 days each and it was nice. Every now and then it’s nice to do something nice.
They have some adventure tours to say the least. They have a guy, Jan who just finished his field work for his PhD on studying Bull sharks and Manta Rays. Heather and I got to swim with Manta’s and I also swam with sharks. How close did they get, close enough to touch. The operators have spent a lot of time with Jan figuring out how to minimize the impact on the animals. There were lots of rules to say the least and they did a bunch of talks on it.
Many will balk at this sort of tourism and I might have before I listened to the talks and asked some questions and then did the dives. I am the guy with the yellow fins. These were from other guests that sent the pics to me. It was pretty awesome.
The money, research, education I think will overall help the species survive. Who’s the biggest 5 shark hunting nations? Indonesia, Spain, India, Mexico and the USA. Not who I would have guessed.
Kava is life, it’s also a root peppery vegetable they crush and drink preferably daily and lots of it. It calms some people down and it’s a really big deal in Fiji. I was Chief at a Kava ceremony but no pictures survived. It is interesting just how prevalent Kava is in the culture, no one will say it tastes “good” but wow it is a big deal.
I asked a few Fijians about mental health. What do they do with people having anxiety, depression, loss, etc. The only answer I got back was, “we don’t leave them alone, until they are better.”
My acupuncture mentor/teacher was born in Algeria. She says the same. She grew up in a war so there was a lot of death. She said when she was 7-8 her friend was killed. Every other child in the village showed up and sang, cried, laughed, screamed etc with her until there was nothing left but the loving memories of her friend.
The man is my age and is kid/grand kid. The kid 6-7 had a 10″ knife running around and the guy paddled 1.2 km. From his village over to this island to get some wood, why? I don’t know. He had it FILLED to the max. Then they paddled back and it was pouring by the time they got going. These people are tough.
Some random stuff.
If Acupuncture does not work out we leaned a new skill. We are now officially certified basket weavers! But I did scout out a new clinic location.
You need to think about a few things travelling. Heather took a bad fall and she will be okay, nothing broke but it was touch and go. We did get medical insurance that would evacuate us to the nearest medical facility which was only a $4500 helicopter ride away, as the sea plane was broken and the boat was not going for a day or so. We also had various medications with us, herbal remedies, taping materials and extensive first aid training.
Someone recently asked me what to take to Africa. I said they’d need to ask their GP and travel clinics. I have talked to lots of SAR, doctor, military on what they have, the normal answer is ‘everything’. But you can not carry it all. Risk is what is left after you have prepared for everything you can think of. You can never get rid of risk, you need to accept it. But I do encourage everyone to get a first-aid course.
We want to thank the great people of Fiji for their wonderful heart warming hospitality and hope for the people that go there, they can have a similar experience to us. it was wonderful. Happy to be home to see everyone, but will remember Fiji.
Be Well,
Ward Willison R.Ac.
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Kelowna Acupuncture & Other Natural Therapies