Archive for December 17th, 2007

Of 4 hour bus rides and Cheap Chinese Lollies

Posted by Wilson in bloggers, fiji, lifestyle, travel on December 17, 2007

When you’ve basically lived in Fiji all your life, it’s easy to take for granted things that happen around you that would make other people do a double take. I mean, we’ve got guys casually hopping on white hot lovo stones, smiles and jokes aplenty from each of the participants, yet because that occurs on almost a daily basis (for the benefit of the tourist dollar I must add), us locals simply nod our heads and move on. Even something as mundane as a bus ride from Nadi to Suva can be somewhat of an adventure for the inexperienced (or unprepared, either way same thing).

Sometimes, an outside view on the life in Fiji makes for a welcome read, since most things brought to the attention of the reader are often things that many of us won’t give a second thought to. Blogger cieart (with a small ‘c’ mind you) of Broken Coconut can attest to that. Although being locally born and bred, she’s spent the last two years living (read: adjusting hehe ) in Australia, and has only just recently made the mecca back to her homeland.

And while the usual sights and sounds made themselves known to her, bringing back pangs of nostalgia (“…that so called 10 minute wait at Sigatoka bus stand which turns into 30 minutes because goodness knows where the bus driver or the checker went…ah, it was good to be back!”), eventually, she started to notice the little things that made her stop and say WTF!

A few pointers from the list include:

  • The price of groceries – I was visiting some family friends and i decided to make trifle which cost me almost $30 to make! I could not believe that for 1l of cream it cost me $12 and can of fruites were around $4 each.
  • At the age of 29 I got asked for ID @ O’Reillys!
  • Customer service or lack of.

Of course, home is always home, lolo kai with rice and all, so there was another list that was drawn up of things that will be sorely missed on the return trip back to Australia, my favourite lol’ed entry being Comsol.

Read the full post here and find yourself nodding your head in agreement, then shaking your head in amazement.

Never a dull moment in Fiji ain’t it.

Was there a moment you experienced with a shrug, but your not-local friend found amazing/awesome/disturbing?

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Our Christmas Poll is in!

Posted by Wilson in festival, poll on December 17, 2007


And the results I must say, isn’t much of a surprise. For anyone and everyone who has been around Fiji for at least one Christmas, the overwhelming good tidings spirit can be seen and felt in two forms:

1) Alcohol, and the effects there after…

2) Lovo, and the food that’s consumed there after…

image source: http://eecue.com Dave Bullock (eecue)

To be fair, both activities do go hand in hand, (massive generalization here, don’t send emails asking where I get my facts from, they are usually observed, not recorded) and are usually accomplished either one after the other, or at the same time, depending on how religious your father is. However, the closer you are to either the teenage years, or an alcoholic friend (whichever comes first), the more likely you, and everyone else around you is likely to indulge in the good ol’ happy juice.

image source: www.rayjeanne.com

Family get-togethers are almost always marked by a significant event, Christmas being the primary reason (though fundraising for a cause via the trusty bowl a.k.a. gunusede is another), and where there be families, there will be also food. Or lovo food to be exact. (ZOMG there’s a wikipedia entry!) The mainstay of all local family gatherings, lovo food generally spells death for countless pigs, chicken and healthy green dalo leaves everywhere, as the backyard hole is fired up once again, and the familiar smell of smoke and service station firewood permeates the senses, leaving behind a growling stomach and wishful thinking.

A small percentage really don’t bother with Christmas, considering it either a commercial ploy to get you to spend your hard earned cash, an excuse to stay home and catch up with the zzzzs, or simply an extra day to swipe the bowl. Whatever suits them to a T.

In the end, while our little poll may not be of Tebbutt quality, at the very least we are given a small peak as to how exactly do the cannibals here go about celebrating their Christmas. Of course, next on the local celebratory calendar – New Year.

Now that one’s guaranteed to be a cracker ;)

Was there a Christmas where you actually didn’t do one of the above mentioned activities?

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