34a. Moving into Oceania: A Bike Ride in Fiji for Chris, A Transaction on Wallis Island for Mom (11/02/2024)

Captivatingdesign in Auckland's international departures area

           Our first of two overnight transfers through went fine, although we lamented our loss of business class status before Air Chathams disrupted our well-laid travel plans. The upside was that the Fiji Airways airplane was new and comfortable with more than the two inches of knee space than we have had on other flights. We exited immigration and customs together at the small international airport in Nadi (pronounced Naandi), but after briefly waiting with me in the under-air-conditioned arrivals hall for my car and driver, she decided her time would be better spent getting checked in for her next flights. I took some of her luggage so that she could travel lighter and watched her trundle off to the departures wing.

           The Travelers Century Club has 330 official countries and territories on their list, with an island collective known as Wallis and Futuna as one of them (see Mom's blog entry). We had originally intended for Fiji to be a one-night stop on our way to Wallis from Saturday to Monday. Then, AirCalin canceled their Monday flight and it became a three-night stop in Fiji, with Mom doing a "turn-around" on Wallis Island so that it could be counted as visited. So she goes to wait for her air transportation, while I continue waiting for the ground transportation arranged by our accomodations. An hour and multiple unread messages to the Ideal B&B, I get a cab and arrived around noon.  Unfortunately, the room wouldn't be ready until close to two, so I was left to pass time in the "common area."  

Photo sent to the family after boarding flight to Nadi, Fiji

     Up until this point, we have been staying in hotels, ranging from the budget Fave Hotel in Makkassar in which we had to request a hair dryer every time we wanted to use on, to the Royal Garden in Hong Kong with slippers, robes, and high-end decor. Although this location labeled itself as a bed and breakfast, I had basically booked in an expensive hostel. The common room was a covered platform in the courtyard that had wooden tables and stools for sitting. This was the only place wi-fi was accessible, but it was miserably hot at midday as I waited for the room.

      To pass a little time, I walked up the street to Bike Fiji, a shop that rented bicycles and arranged tours, and learned that there was going to be an afternoon farm tour with one person and I decided that would be my afternoon activity.

      When I finally received our room key and walked in, I thought, "what have I done?" It was clean, but sparse; large and functional but in a completely different category of accomodation than we had previously been using. It was really reminiscent of the hostels and backpackers' lodges that Mom, Beth, and I restricted ourselves to when we backpacked through Southeast Asia twenty-five years ago with a budget of $25/day. Applying the message from a flag that was hanging from the roof of the common space, I told myself that our stay here would be part of "Liv[ing] a Great Story." 

       One benefit to this type of accomodation is opportunity for real quick connections between people. When there is only place with wifi and seats, that's where people are going to sit and they are likely to talk to each other. When meals are eaten at a single banquet table and you are sitting across from somebody, you are going to be part of the conversation either by just listening or by jumping in and participating. I feel that my roots in the South have ingrained in me a responsibility to participate in group conversation and social activities. I hoped that Mom would be amenable to the accomodation when she came back from Wallis in the evening. 

Common space (and only space with wifi) at the Ideal B&B in Nadi

Entrance, kitchen, dressing area, & second bedroom all in one

Bedroom

       Returning to the bike shop, I was greeted by the owner, a young Chinese man who had started the business in February, and a bicycle mechanic that I had seen working on a bike when I went by earlier. The other person arrived a few minutes later, a recently retired nurse from Vancouver, BC, who had been on the island with a group from her Masters swimming club for two weeks. We exchanged pleasantries while we were getting fitted with helmets and safety vests, but I think our first bonding moment was when we learned Joe was our tour guide. Cyclists are lean and lithe, right? Not Joe. He was easily 6'3" and 300 pounds but it turned out that guiding was one of his favorite parts of his job. With the benefit of assistance from the e-bike, he could spend an afternoon out in the fresh (or hot) air showing people around town and seeing other friends and family members out on the street or passing in a car. 

     We rode around town first, but I didn't take any photos for safety reasons.  We were in the roads and I needed to have all attention on staying close with the group and keeping an eye out for inattentive drivers and pedestrians. There was not much to see along the strip of downtown that we passed, other than to notice the mix of Fijian and Indian-owned stores (based on name). My taxi driver from the airport, an amiable man of Indian descent, told me that 400,000 of Fiji's 950,000 residents have roots in India. Their influence in the town and on the economy was evident, as we passed multiple Indian food restaurants, food stalls, and storefronts.  

Heather (right), Joe the King (left), cow family crossing the road (center)

Red-whiskered bulbul seen along the way (photo from internet)

        We mostly puttered around town with little commentary, but it would have been hard to share information on the city roads. After an hour of cycling, we ended up at a local vegetable farm. This was part of the tour and ended up being a really interesting experience. Although everything is picked by hand and most of the farm workers in the field were barefoot, it's not a completely rustic process. Rather than having to rent a tractor for $100/hr or use animals, the owner has his own tractor. They do crop rotation, irrigate from a nearby stream, and use herbicide around to control weeds. 

        We were shown plots of tomato, eggplant, peppers, and pumpkin, but the crop that predominates in Fiji is cassava. Once the rows of cassava plants were pointed out to me, I realized this is what I had seen growing all over the roads that we had been riding along. Cassava is a root crop, eaten at almost every single meal in Fiji as a starch much in the way that rice accompanies Asian cooking and tortillas are eaten with most meals in Mexico. New plants are grown from cuttings of old plants, and I think I heard that it takes 9 to 10 months to reach maturity. 

       Later, we passed some papaya trees and the workers shook a few papaya loose for us. I have never really cared for papaya, but perfectly ripe and fresh from the tree, it was honestly amazing. Maybe I will discover a love for papaya in my fifties in the same way I discovered how amazing avocados are in my thirties.

     We ended our ride on the beach near the bike shop, but ended up having to have Joe lift the very heavy bikes over a little inlet as the tide was higher than expected. Heather and I made a loose plan to be in contact regarding a possible ride with Joe and Mom on Monday. Then, Joe and I made a plan for him to take me back to the airport to retrieve Alla. We actual watched her plane land as we were fording the beach, but it took her over an hour to get off the plane, through immigration, out of customs, and through the line to exchange money. 

We stopped at this local farm to learn about their crops and techniques

Cassava plants with ~2 months more growth until harvest

Freshly dug cassava root

Banana tree

Beautiful vista

Harvesting papaya for us

"Bula!" says the bulumakau

Daily selfie

Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple

Our clothing matched that of the lower left box - no visiting inside the temple

Decor on wall outside temple

View of Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple outbuilding

Fording a small ocean inlet as the tide comes in - protecting e-bike batteries

       Joe was an interesting guy and we had some time to talk after the bike ride and in the car on the way to the airport. Having been delivered a video of the Fijian Olympic team singing prayers in the Olympic Village this summer (link), I asked Joe if he could recommend a church nearby that we could attend. I reiternated several times our interest in the music, and he ultimately invited us to attend church with him and his family tomorrow. Even more, he was going to have us announced as visitors and provide our transportation. Mom was amenable to the idea (she's generally amenable to all of my ideas, unless they are really out there), so that was that. Going to church with Joe was going to be our only official plan for Sunday. Right as he was dropping us off from the airport he mentioned it was a Pentacostal church.

        Mom and I ate at the Olive Restaurant next to the bike shop. It advertises itself as a Mexican restaurant, but there was nary a Mexican in site. The owner was Korean, so it was really a restaurant that served food with tortillas as well as Korean food. I shouldn't be so mean...my soft tacos were delicious. I had to hop on the computer in the evening to renew my international calling plan, but another evening of blogging slipped away. There is always another day....

Olive Mexican & Korean Restaurant 

Doing some travel research in the Ideal B&B's second common area