Fiji -- Final Post/Part 3!

I just got back from another vacation trip, Washington DC, which is why this final post on Fiji is coming so late.  I guess I'm just making up for lack of vacations I had last couple of years, for various reasons.  Anyway, back to Fiji.  My sister and I took another day cruise (we paid for that one) on Ooh La La cruise to Suvala island.  It's kind of funny how we ended up on it.  We were looking around Port Denaru terminal, when the cruise booking lady called us over.  The lady who called us over started giving us lots of options, and we basically said we wanted to snorkel.  As the lady started discussing virtues of each cruise (there were many), and we pondered which would be best, the lady who was quietly sitting by piped up.  This second lady LITERALLY only said one thing -- if you want to snorkel, then get on Ooh La La because the farther out you go, the better the snorkeling experience.  So that's what my sister and I decided to do... and decided that second lady was right.

The small cruise boat was actually very well done.  On the way over to the island, we got tea or coffee, snack (which sadly I could not eat because of my braces) and plenty of free beverage.  We also noticed that some of the other cruise boats for tours didn't seem to have as nice fixtures as the one we were on.  I was particularly surprised by the bathroom -- I expected airplane bathroom.  Even though it was still small, it was bigger than expected and cleaner... although I believe the bathroom was broken on the way back.  The island itself was beautiful and quite deserted.  There is also NO bathroom facility at this island.  It's a truly deserted island.  But the snorkeling experience was pretty awesome.  So, here are some more pictures of beautiful Fiji.

Making our way to our small cruise ship for another snorkeling trip!!

This is the island we got to.  Because there are no docks, we had to take small boat to actually get to the island.  Some people swam to the island using snorkel gear.

Quite a gorgeous view of the island, and the coconut umbrellas!

Another shot of the island we got to.

Basically, it was just us -- the small group of folks.  So we parked our stuff in one of these and headed into the water.

And then it was time for lunch after snorkeling around the island.  That's me, all wet after snorkeling, waiting for my lunch!

During lunch, the crew sang some songs (I was nodding to Jason Mraz song) and then gave a presentation about how coconut tree is the only thing you need to find on a deserted island to survive.  It was quite informative.  The root is supposed to have some healing power (it was supposed to stop poison from spreading if you were bit by something but I forget what).  The trunk is used for building houses.  The leaves also had many uses such as...

this basket!  And obviously, coconut itself has both water and substance so you can eat.  It was a pretty cool presentation.

I decided to take a picture of our shadows on the beach.

You can see the gorgeous waters surrounding the island and corals.  

And sadly, it was time to say goodbye... it was way over way too soon!

And as we hurriedly packed our stuff so we don't get left behind, a parting shot.

And it was back to our small cruise ship.

That night, we decided to try out Nadina, which was in Port Denaru.  Worst mistake.

I got this dish, beef curry.  It tasted fine when I was eating it (I ate ALL of it)... but that night, I threw it all up.  It was not fun getting food poisoning.  Literally, I threw up everything you see in this picture.  Twice... once I just woke up in the middle of the night to run to the bathroom just in time to throw up for a few minutes.  I was sick and running quite a fever the next day (which was the day we were flying back!)... and ended up sleeping a lot.  The only good thing is that this happened at the end of our vacation.

This was my sister's dish which was chicken.  She also had a milder case of food poisoning.  She threw up too but apparently not everything you see here.

And that's our Fiji trip!  My sister took a picture of me lying around quite sick the last day but I'm not posting that here.

Fiji -- Part 2

So my sister and I scored a free snorkel trip by attending a Wyndham time share presentation.  It was actually a good deal.  We spent 90 minutes watching and then tooled around Nadi town the rest of the afternoon.  Then the next day, we took the South Sea Island combo tour, which meant we snorkeled at the South Sea Island and then took a tour of some of Mamanuca Islands.  Those islands were gorgeous -- picture perfect, blue waters surrounding verdant islands.  So here are some more pictures of Fiji!

So this is the first island my sister and I went to snorkel.  South Sea Island.  It felt like Gilligan's Island.

He was our organizer, I guess.  I took a picture of him because I wanted to take a picture of what Fijian men wore -- basically a skirt (I think it was actually called sula...)!  It was quite common.  And they also wore  pretty much Hawaiian shirts all the time.

We didn't lounge too much by the ocean because we were in it... but they were available.

 Another picture of the South Sea Island.  You can actually stay a few nights for $80-120 in Fijian dollars... which I think is a great bargain.

 We took an underwater submarine tour and saw a lot of stuff.  You might be able to see all the blue tropic fish swimming about.  I actually saw a jelly fish (not purple) but didn't get a chance to take a picture.

That would be me before we departed from the South Sea Island.

And then we took a tour of various other islands... they were so beautiful!  And on the way, there were a few sand bars in the middle of the ocean.  I don't think the picture quite does justice but here it is.

And a closer shot of the sand bar.  I bet you could snorkel!

On our way to Mana Island (my sister and I decided this is the island we should have been staying at..), there was a little water highway marked for the boat... because it was surrounded by corals!!  It was pretty amazing.

This was the Mana Island (I think that's the spelling).

And another shot.

See the curvy water highway?  It was pretty interesting navigating through.

This is the close shot of the corals surrounding the water highway.

I forgot what this island was... BUT

it had these hotels where they were bungalows on water!! This was a zoom shot (my camera rocks... with 16x optical zoom!  I felt like a stalker) of the hotel.

And the row of bungalows.  Sadly, my sister and I were not in them.

 Afterwards, we had really great Indian food (did I mention Fiji had good Indian food??) at Indigo in Port Denaru.  It's a bit pricey but the food was excellent.

The next day, we did something different.  We took the Sigatoka river cruise tour.  On our way, we saw a beautiful rainbow.

 This is Sigatoka river -- it's supposedly the longest river of the main Fiji island, Viti Levu.

We all got on this jet cruise.

 And went down the river.

Saw a granite mountain, which our tour guide told us contained granite of excellent quality but Fiji government wouldn't allow foreigners to mine in order to preserve the mountain.

And visited a Fijian village... which subsists by farming.  To say it was a poor village would be an understatement.  

This is the narrow walkway (street) that was built by donation of Canadian couple for the village.

This was kind of typical of the buildings we saw.

Our group participated in traditional Kava tea ceremony.

The village elders made the traditional Kava tea, which our designated "chief" of our group first drank.  And then it was passed around to others to drink.

The villagers treated us to their lunch.

 And for their entertainment (well, also for our entertainment)...

We danced!  And then we parted.  It was overall kind of a weird experience for us because we saw true poverty (they got electricity just few years ago) and on our way down the river, our tour included spinning around river for fun (I got VERY wet).

That night, we went back into Nadi town to Sentai restaurant.. which was Chinese.

 And my GOD!  We had the best beef dish I have ever tasted.

And chicken dish was awesome too!  It was probably the best Chinese restaurant I have ever been to... and around the time we were leaving, a HUGE group of Chinese folks came in and took up one private room and then some.

I have more pictures to post... which will come later.

Fiji!! Part 1 of Fiji

So my sister and I went to Fiji!  Fiji is usually pretty expensive but I saw a Groupon deal for $1,492 per person so I snagged it.  As I found out, there may have been a reason for such a deal but my sister and I had a great time nevertheless.

Some random tips about Fiji before I start posting pictures:
1)  It's winter time in Fiji starting in May.  Which means that it's pretty warm with no rain!  Apparently in April, there was a huge flood... so check the season before you go to Fiji.
2)  There is more than 1 ATM machine to withdraw cash at the airport when you land at Fiji.  You will see one before you go through the last custom (where you declare food and x-ray bags).  Go THROUGH ALL OF the custom first.  You will see another ATM machine on your left after you pass through.  There was a line of people by the ATM machine before the custom because we didn't know there would be one after the custom.
3)  If you bring meat product, like my sister tried to with some beef jerky, you are going to throw them out at the custom.  So don't bring any jerky.
4)  At least during May, the weather turns in the afternoon.  If you want to snorkel and/or swim in the ocean, do it in the morning before lunch.  After lunch, starting around 1-2, the wind gets pretty strong, and it gets pretty darn cloudy.  One of the Fijians told us that this is what always happens.  So don't take snorkeling trips in the afternoon... do it in the morning.
5)  Remember to bring converter.  You can't charge anything if it doesn't fit into the socket.
6)  Bring insect repellent.
7)  Buy mosquito repellent at the grocery store once you get to Fiji.  They are pretty cheap.  You light those things, and you do get less bugs and mosquitoes at night.
8)  If you ended up at Sonaisali like us, then get out of the resort and book day cruises out to different islands.  There's no point in staying at Sonaisali -- you get to see beautiful Fiji islands, gorgeous blue waters, and tropical fish AWAY from Sonaisali.
9)  Oohlala day cruise is the best for snorkeling trip... BUT there is no bathroom at the island.  So just be prepared.  And based on the boats/cruise boats we saw, it seemed like it was the best small boats too.
10)  My sister and I ended up doing a Wyndham time share presentation to do free South Sea Island combo tour -- snorkel at South Sea Island the morning of and cruise to see other islands.  It was pretty cool.  And definitely worth sitting 90 minutes for a free snorkel trip.
11)  My sister will tell you that you should buy a cheapo cell phone because you can buy minutes like nothing.  You can have a pretty cheap cell phone usage there.  So you might want to look into it.  It comes in handy like calling taxi drivers... and not use hotel bill.

Ok.  Enough with the tips.  I took over 300 pictures.. and there is no way I can post them all.  But here's a VERY small sampling.

A view from the hotel restaurant.  They had these small coconut umbrellas with beach chairs... makes for pretty picture.  But the water wasn't the magnificent blue like other islands of Fiji.

At Sonaisali, most rooms were in "bures" or bungalows.  And every room had an ocean view.
This is a picture of the bures, and we stayed in the middle one.

And look... this is the view you get from the bure.  Pretty nice to wake up to.

 On the first day we were there, I desperately wanted to see the "ring of fire" -- solar eclipse.  That's why I had that binocular... but I wasn't quite successful.  Instead, my sister and I found random jelly fishes washed up ashore.  That's me with one of the jelly fishes we found.

 You can see the tentacles!  It was very odd to see purple jelly fishes... and all washed up!

 Near the hotel, there appeared to be abandoned picnic sites.

 Where we found some random frogs!  They were not very visible because they blended with the grass.  But I was able to take this picture.

There are a lot of Indians in Fiji.  Why they decided to migrate to Fiji, who knows?  But we had REALLY good Indian food at Curry House of Nadi Town.  And my food came out spicy!  Just the way I like it.

From the outside, you wouldn't think it though.  It's a bit rundown.  The lady gave us her card, though, and said if we called, she would pay for taxi to pick us up from the hotel.  And we would only have to pay for taxi fare back.  We never ended up going back and taking her up on the offer but we would have if we stuck around longer.

That's another picture of me at our hotel.

We found a live jelly fish swimming in the river near our hotel.  Pretty random.

Fiji is not a rich country... in fact, it's rather poor.  The mainland Fiji (Viti Levu) we saw had lots of fields of sugar cane.  It reminded us of Hawaii.

I did say they had good Indian food, right?  This was at Corner Cafe.  We went looking for Saffron Indian restaurant, but the restaurant was closed due to flood that occurred in April.  Apparently, the restaurant was still waiting for equipment to reopen.  So we made do with Corner Cafe, which was great.  You notice that Corner Cafe is next to Saffron... they are owned by same owner.  So Saffron, at least temporarily, has become Corner Cafe until it gets proper equipment.

I thought this was a really interesting poster that we found inside the post office of Fiji.  Basically, it's a movement to encourage people to accept people who went to prison and did time.

This is the post office we found at Nadi town.  Fiji, as I said, is not a rich country.

While walking around Nadi, we found less touristy places.  There were a few hole-in-the-walls, like this one.  I kind of wanted to try one but didn't get the opportunity.

Look at this menu?  Because American dollar against Fijian dollar was strong (like 2 Fijian dollar to 1 American dollar), this menu basically means you get a meal for $3 or less at the hole in the wall.  Notice the Indian food??

This is a view of the main street in Nadi town.  

This is where our hotel was.  We had to take a small boat each time we left the hotel to go to the mainland Fiji.

Sunset over the waters of Fiji.

And me reading my Kindle by the beach!  Killing time until we went to Natadola Beach.

I have more pictures to post... but I think this will do for the time being.