Goodbye Fiji

After two more days in Fiji, we finally made it home.  But, not without getting "Fiji'd" a few more times...

For example - on one of the days, we decided to drive into the mountains to do a hike to a waterfall.  Google maps said it would take us just under an hour to get there.  The first 30 minutes of the drive was on semi-paved roads and then it changed to gravel, which then changed to dirt and random boulders, which included random river crossings.  After about an hour of off-roading, we arrived in a small town and saw a sign pointing to a lodge and hiking trails, so we took it.  We made it about 10 minutes in before the road became impassible for our poor budget vehicle.  So, Todd VERY CAREFULLY backed down the mountain and cliff edge to a place where he could turn around and began our trek back down the mountain.  Once we got close to the main road, google maps offered up an alternate route with a "similar ETA", so we decided to be adventurous and try it since our first plan hadn't worked out.  This road very quickly turned from paved to gravel and so on, but we really didn't want to turn around and have to backtrack, so we kept on.  Another hour later we found ourselves at a locked gate and some very unhappy Fijians telling us we were trespassing and to go back the way we came.  We did.  4+ hours later, we finally made it back to the main road and decided our day should be finished.

All in all, our Fiji trip was not great.  None of us have any plans on returning and we've been very happily enjoying our garden, beds, clean floors and counters, delicious healthy food, pools, clean air, nice vehicles, and potable water.

Fiji - day 7

Since we weren't able to go home early, we figured we might as well do the tourist thing and pay to go to another island.  So we booked a half day on Malamala island.  

Our boat left Denarau Island at noon and arrived at our destination 30 minutes later.  We had 4 hours until the boat returned, so we spent our time snorkeling, jumping off the pier, 3-person kayaking around the island, stand-up paddling, swimming in the beach club pool, walking around the island, and bumping a volleyball around.  The snorkeling was not spectacular, but there were a few areas with some cool coral and quite a few fish.  We even saw some squid that inked at us and sped off.

The day was fun, but definitely as manufactured as we thought and there’s weren’t a lot of places to hide from the sun, so we’re all a bit cooked. We finished off our day by going to dinner at an Indian food restaurant near our hotel.  The food was ok, but we are all pretty done with Indian food for awhile.

Thoughts on Fiji

This is a hard blog posting to write.  We generally think of our family as being open-minded travelers who are able to see the beauty and appreciate places for their food, people, and culture, rather than their smells or lack of cleanliness.  We have been proven wrong and/or we have been pushed to our limits.  

After spending 6 days in Fiji, we will not be returning for the following reasons:

1. Everyone burns their trash so the air constantly smells like plastic.  Some might say that this was because we stayed in Nadi - they would be wrong.  Everyone everywhere here burns their trash, it’s just more concentrated in Nadi than in other areas because there are more people.

2.  Since everyone burns their trash, there is burnt plastic ash that is constantly blowing in the wind that covers your clothes when they are hanging out to dry, it’s in the pools, on the car… everywhere.

3.  There is trash EVERYWHERE.  It’s all over the ground, in the waterways, in the streets, in the parks, in the gutters, etc.  Everywhere you look, trash.

4.  The food is not vegetarian friendly.  Yes, we could eat Indian food every day, but Indian food is not the healthiest, and it also doesn’t make your body smell very good after awhile.  In addition, Indian and Fijian food doesn’t really include many veggies… we are all in some serious need of something green.

5.  Everything is expensive, but low quality.  This is true of the hotels, food, rental cars, massages, excursions, etc.  The price tag is the same or higher than US prices and what you get is so far off from what you’d expect.  Things here are so janky that they constantly break, are already broken, dirty, missing, not working, or very seriously lacking.

6.  In order to experience the Fiji that you see in books and movies, you have to go to one of the outer islands.  This can be done by either doing a day trip over there, or by staying at one of the island resorts.  Most of the resorts are luxury resorts and are very costly.  Not only that but many of them require you to book your own boat ride there and back which can run you another $200-$400 per person in addition to what you are already paying.  If you do decide to splurge and stay at an island resort, the experience is a fake, manufactured experience.  This is not real Fiji.  This is what rich people want Fiji to be.  The day trips are expensive too with the cheapest one being a half day for $100 per person to a very tourist busy island.

7.  Everything is sweetened.  That’s right, I’m talking peanut butter, sauces, bread, snacks, juice… everything has sugar added in.

8.  We were told not to drink the tap water in Fiji, so that means that we have to buy plastic water bottles.  Not our favorite thing to do when we know that the bottles will just be burned outside our hotel each night for us all to inhale.

9.  Massages are relatively cheap but they are not great.  This could be that we just haven’t found the right place to get a massage yet, but so far, this has been our experience.  I hate to compare places, but in Bali, the massages were super cheap (less than $10 USD) and they were awesome almost every time.

10.  Roads, if paved at all, are riddled with potholes, gravel dump areas, parked cars due to accidents that no one seems to care about, cars stopped on the sides of the roads that then pull out in front of you with no warning, random unpaved areas, people walking down the lane who don’t seem to care  if they get hit.  We will all leave here with spinal issues.

11.  Dogs bark 24/7 and locals do not seem to mind it.  We still aren’t sure what to say about this because we cannot understand how anyone could be ok with it.  There’s one barking as I write this post outside my window.  He’s been barking nearly nonstop since we arrived 6 days ago…

12.  It feels like everyone is constantly trying to scam us or find ways to take our money.   Everything we pay for seems to have things that should have been included in the price, but for some reason were not.  And just to be clear, it’s not because we are idiots and can’t read and/or frequently misunderstand. We are being taken advantage of, which is a horrible feeling.

We are so done with this place, that we drove to the airport to find out about hopping on an earlier flight.  Unfortunately, our tickets won’t allow for changes, so we’d have to book new return tickets for more money than we spent on the original round trip ones.  So, we stay… and wait for Tuesday to come when we can board our plane for home.

Fiji - day 6

With Todd on the mend, we figured we’d get out and amongst it (a little).  So, we started with a coffee and juice at a little shop down the road. They happened to have a spa right next door, so Todd and I took turns getting 30-minute back massages while the other person hung out and had snacks and played games with Gordy. 

Next, we visited Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple, which is a famous Hindu temple.  Gordy asked a lot of questions about religion while we were there and I decided I should read up a little bit about Hinduism before I take him to another Hindu temple.

We then did a reconnaissance mission to Port Denarau to look into a day trip to another island.  The parking situation at the harbor was not great, so quickly jumped out, grabbed some flyers and then ran out in time to hop back in the car when Todd came around a second time.  We have no day trip scheduled, but we are considering booking one for another day.

Todd was pretty beat at that point, so we headed back to our hotel where we made what is now Gordy’s favorite food - a peanut better, jelly, banana and apple slice sandwich.  After our food digested a little, we went down to the hotel pool for some play time.  

As our day came to a close, we decided to rally and check out a rooftop bar and pool area where Todd read that we could watch the sunset. Turns out he was right and if not for the 20+ fires that were going on all around us (from people burning their rubbish, not brush fires) it would have been quite beautiful.

We then stopped in at a Chinese restaurant downstairs from the bar where we had a feast that included: salt and pepper tofu with garlic mince on top, stir fried broccoli, fried breadfruit, and veggie fried noodles.  It was the best meal we’ve had yet while here and thankfully, Todd was able to eat some of it!

Fiji - day 5

Todd woke up feeling ok enough to partake in a small, mellow adventure, so after breakfast, we all rallied for the mud pool and hot springs. After a very long gravel road drive (poor Todd’s belly), we made it to the site, changed into our suits and were shown to our bucket of mud.

First, we covered ourselves in mud.  

Second, we hung around on the lawn waiting for the mud to dry.

Once dry and crispy, or as Gordy described it: you feel like a big scab, we were shown to pool #1 - the mud pool.  This pool was luke warm and when we stood in it, our feet sunk into what felt a little like mud quick sand.  In this pool, we washed as much of the mud off of us as possible and tried not to get stuck.

After we were most of the way clean, we made our way through the next 3 pools which got hotter as you moved from one to the next. Of course, Gordy’s favorite was pool #4, because it was almost like a hot tub, but “not as good as tutu’s hot tub”.

The result of the adventure was some pretty soft skin and it was extra exciting because Todd’s belly cooperated and he was able to enjoy it with us.  We celebrated by driving another 20 minutes north to a town called Lautoka for lunch.

Todd was pretty exhausted by the end, so we came back to the hotel and relaxed the rest of the day.  Hopefully another good sleep and he’ll be even better tomorrow.

Fiji - day 4

Todd is still sick, but we think he’s on the mend. Without getting too graphic, everything that comes out of him is yellow/orange, so we are pretty sure that the turmeric latte was the thing that poisoned him. He’s no longer throwing up, he’s stopped shaking, and at 5pm he was able to drive us all to the supermarket and he even walked around inside and picked out some chips and a drink he thought he could consume. While Gordy and I ate our home made dinner (take 2), Todd ate a bowl of museli and took a pain killer. He’s now back in bed trying again to make some good progress.

Gordy and I had a pretty lazy day. We had breakfast, did some laundry, played in the pool, and walked to the produce market for some more bananas and to try to find some sugar cane for Gordy to try.  While we do live in Hawaii, sugar cane isn’t something we come by often and it is everywhere here. Sadly, there was no sugar cane at the market, but a nice lady told us to come back tomorrow and she’d have a piece for Gordy from a nearby farm.

For lunch, we had Indian food leftovers from last night. Then, we went on an adventure to find a nearby 25 meter pool. We found the pool through a pretty questionable area of Nadi, but it was closed due to a broken pump.  So, we turned around and headed home where we jumped in our hotel pool again.

We finished off our night with a shop at the supermarket, a home-cooked meal, and a movie night.  Tomorrow, Gordy is hoping to get to the mud pools and hot springs, so fingers crossed that Todd is recovered enough to join us. 

Fiji - day 3

After a nice long sleep we were all charged up for our day.  Todd’s friend Stu and family were going back for another Natadola session, so we packed up and headed off to meet them there. On the way, we stopped at a little cafe called Bulaccino for some coffees where I got a flat white and Todd got a fancy turmeric latte. 

Natadola did not disappoint with waves that were a little bigger than yesterday and beautiful sunny/cloudy weather. I got in a beach run down a long sandy beach and the boys spent 99% of the time surfing the kids on mini waves.

After 3 hours, everyone packed up to leave, but we decided to stay a little longer to venture/swim over to the adjacent uninhabited island.  We walked on the little sandbar as far as it would take us and then we swam against the current till we crossed the channel. On the other side, we hung out in a little ocean pool, found lots of cool shells and enjoyed our solo island time before making the swim back.

By the time we got to the car, Todd started feeling a little junk. When we finally made it back to our hotel an hour later, he barely made it inside before he puked him guts out. He is currently huddled up in bed shaking like a leaf trying his best to sleep off whatever bug he seems to have caught.  Gordy and I are fine so far and we are planning our dinner for two within walking distance of the hotel because there isn’t enough car insurance in the world to cover me driving on the wrong side of the road.

Fiji - day 2

Our day started out with a search for coffee on the way to Todd’s friend’s Stu’s house.  We didn’t have as much luck as we’d hoped, so we ended up at the True Mart 5 mins from Stu’s house. Once we got to his house, we loaded up boards and kids and made the drive to Natadola Beach. 

We spent the day snorkeling with cool striped fish that would follow us, bodysurfing shore break waves, and surfing the little inside reef where parents can easily stand and push the kids into waves.  

On our way home, we stopped back at the True Mart and everybody had smoothies.  Before going back to the hotel, we made two final stops - to buy a coconut water from a guy on the side of the road (delicious) and then a massage place where Gordy got his first professional massage, which he loved!  He said it was “the best ever” and he can’t wait to get another one.

When we got back to the hotel, we made rice, lentils and sautéed veggies for dinner, which would have been delicious if not for the “dark mushroom soy sauce” that we had bought by accident and put on everything.  Gordy had one taste and decided he’d rather not eat.  I tried to be brave and ate without breathing through my nose, but it was horrible.  Gordy described it as smelling and tasting like a can of vegemite (sorry to our AU friends).

So, we mostly ate lentils and some snacks and went to bed relatively happy campers. 

Fiji - day 1.2

Most of the rest of our first day in Fiji went similarly to how it started. We found a supermarket nearby with prices that were higher than pupukea foodland and very limited food items. We sat down in a cafe for lunch which took 40 minutes to bring out our food (we have since learned that this was not an issue with the cafe, it’s just Fiji time). We played in the cold and very murky hotel pool.  We went out looking for massages and got skunked.

Things finally started to turn around when we stumbled upon a different supermarket on our way to a dinner restaurant.  This supermarket had much more stuff and everything was more reasonably priced!  So, we did a small shop for dinner fixings for the next day and then headed over to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

We all have high hopes for tomorrow being a better day.

Fji - day 1

Our Fiji trip has gotten off on a bit of the wrong foot.  It all started off with Todd forgetting his backpack and passport at the house. He realized the mistake when we pulled up at the airport and he went to grab it out of the backseat only to find that it wasn’t there. So, he hopped back in the car and flew home while Gordy and I held our spots in the slowest check-in line I’ve ever seen. An hour and fifteen minutes later, Todd made it back to the airport and Gordy I were finally at the front of the line (after letting 5-8 people go ahead of us).

Our flight was relatively smooth, but Gordy was the only one who got any sleep due to a crying kid two rows behind us, and a family behind us who were hell bent on testing out the thickness of our seats with their knees. 

When we finally arrived in Nadi at 4:30am and found our rental car company, we discovered that it was closed and wouldn’t open until 6am. So, we waited as patiently as possible only to find out that all the other car companies opened at 6am, but ours actually opened at 7am. Just to be clear here, the rental company sent Todd an email saying that they would see us at 5am, so we aren’t crazy.

At 6:45am, the representative at Hertz told us that he had found a car for us. He took us outside the airport and put us in a car explaining that the car was with another company that kept their cars in another location. And while we knew it sounded sketchy, we took the risk since we were tired, hungry, and feeling vindictive against our rental car company. The driver took us about 10mins south of the airport to a small car wash place that looked abandoned. As we all got out of the car, the driver’s uncle came over and pee’d on the fence next to us. We then went into the “office” and started the paperwork for a rental car. Things went south pretty quickly with this guy not giving us the rate we’d been promised and he ended up driving us back to the airport. 

By that time, our rental car company was open and we spent the next 30 mins sorting out the car and the paperwork because the car we’d reserved was not available. Side note - the car guy has never seen Seinfeld, and yes, Todd asked. By 8am we were all loaded up in our mini SUV and were headed to our hotel/apartment which was only about a 5 minute drive away.

Prior to coming here we had decided to pay up for a place with a kitchen because we have become quite particular with our diet. So we booked an apartment in a place that got great reviews. Sadly, the hotel is not all that it was made out to be. The room is dirty and even has a weird slimy film/coating over the entire floor, the kitchen utensils are VERY limited, the shower door only opens enough for one of us to slip inside because it opens into the toilet, the towels are a very weird fabric which doesn’t absorb water, the pillows are super lumpy, the bedsheets have stains on some of them, etc. And, while all of this is a bummer, we paid in full upon arrival, so we are stuck. The good news is that they let us check in super early without any additional charge which nearly made up for everything else because we were all so tired.

So, 4hrs after arriving in Fiji with not much to show for it, we all laid down and took a 2hr nap.