Taveuni

I was so excited to finally be making my way to Taveuni, but my enthusiasm was quickly turned to dread as I prepared to leave.  The nosy people at the hostel (Bamboo) kept asking me where I was going and I kept telling them Taveuni, to which they continuously responded, "The boat doesn't leave on Tuesdays, you have to wait until Friday", and of course they were simultaneously trying to sell me other tours to keep me occupied until said Friday.  I told them that the boat definitely left on Tuesdays, which was overheard by a crazy Chinese girl, let's call her Wei.  She decided to hijack my journey and come with me, but first we had to wait ten minutes while the people at Bamboo called to verify that the boat did in fact leave on Tuesday.  Wei then told me I must wait another twenty minutes so she could call various places to cancel reservations, since she was initially planning on doing tours and going to Taveuni on Friday.

Once she was finally sorted, we met up with Fabian at his hostel and then cabbed it to the bus station.  We arrived at 10:58 and the bus was slated to leave at 11:00, but Wei decided she needed to go get food, so we had to load her bags on the bus and then track her down as the bus was getting ready to leave without her.  She then proceeded to complain because the food she had just purchased, wasn't allowed to be consumed on the bus.  Seriously, stab my face.  You have my permission.  

It was a 4.5 hour bus ride back to Suva, from which we had to catch a boat to Taveuni.  The bus station is in town, with the docks about a 15 minute walk away.  Fabian and I presumed to walk to the boat to drop our bags, but Wei decided she could not walk for 15 minutes and we had to get a Taxi.  Knowing better than to argue with a crazy person, we conceded and cabbed it to the boat.  We then proceeded to buy tickets from the office and started to take our bags up to the passenger deck, but Wei started yelling at us, telling us to leave our bags in the cargo area like she was doing.  We asked her why it mattered if we left our bags downstairs or took them with us, but she seemed to think we were complete morons.  After we dropped our bags, we decided to go into town to get an early dinner and some snacks for the 20 hour boat ride, but when Wei spotted us, she asked us to pay for her boat ticket because she didn't have money...The bus stop was literally across the street from three ATMs.  At this point we were just like, we're heading into town, just go into town and get cash from the ATM.  The craziest part of this scenario, she had been to Taveuni earlier in the year, so she should have known all of this in advance.  Fuck. My. Life.

The boat was delayed about 2.5 hours, which is standard for Fiji, and in the meantime had become filled by a group of 30 Chinese people.  They proceeded to chew audibly, talk even louder, and generally block the TV and be inherently rude.  As someone that is half Chinese, I started to think maybe I should be more thankful of my British DNA since it provided me the ability to have manners and common courtesy.  Then I realized my British DNA was why I was complaining and constantly perceiving the world to be a miserable place...  It's not easy being a mudblood.  When we finally took off, the crew hooked us up with a free upgrade to beds, saving us from sleeping on the couches.  After about 16 hours, we ended up on the second largest island in Fiji, in a town called Savu Savu.  We were allowed to hop off the boat while it was docked, so we went for a brief wander.  

Savu Savu

It gets lonely at sea....

Naturally we were delayed in leaving Savu Savu and arrived into Taveuni late, our 20 hour journey having grown into a 24 hour adventure.  The Chinese group departed the boat in Savu Savu, so the boat was pretty empty during the final leg.  When we docked in Taveuni, we sorted out sharing a cab to our hostel with a Fijian woman who wanted to be dropped along the way, but out of nowhere Wei appeared and decided she was riding with us as well.  She didn't come to our hostel, however, opting to be dropped off in town instead.  She didn't even offer to pay part of the cab fair, she just hopped out and grabbed her stuff.  At that point I was just glad to be free of her, so I didn't even care.  Thank God Tatiana Maslany is not Chinese.

As soon as we arrived to our hostel, we saw some familiar faces from Beach House, including our Finish friend Lotta, and were invited to join a snorkeling trip the following morning to Rainbow Reef.  It'd been way too long since I'd been on a proper snorkeling trip, so I was pretty pumped for the opportunity.  In typical "Fiji Time" fashion, we left two hours later than projected and were also facing a shortage of equipment, so one of the locals had to give me his fins and goggles.  I was surprised to find the waters were clear of plastic bottles and other forms of rubbish.  The water had amazing visibility and the corals were awesome, but the fish life was pretty average.  However, based on other people's impressions I think I've just been spoiled by my time in Australia and Indonesia.  

Taveuni is what I expected Fiji to be like, desolate and beautiful

Practicing my cowabunga pose for the new TMNT movie! So nostalgiac!!!

A few days later Fabian and I visited the Tavoro waterfalls in Bouma National Heritage Park with a French dude named Tomas.  Surprisingly, the trip started ahead of schedule!  We bypassed the first and second waterfalls, to go to the third one first, which is more secluded and boasts a little area where you can jump off the waterfall into the pool below.  We weren't allowed to swim in the second waterfall, but once we got down to the first, we were allowed to go into a little cavernous area behind the waterfall and jump in for a final swim.  Upon leaving, we found out someone from a different group had left their camera at the third waterfall, which was an hour hike uphill, so she had to climb all the way back up to get it... Brutal.  

The following evening, the guys at the hostel randomly decided to have a bonfire, so we all headed to the beach for a late night fire and some drinks.  They made us leave at 1 AM, so we headed back to the hostel for a final shot and then turned in for the evening.  Quite a few people left the next morning, including Fabian, but I decided to stay for a few extra days to chill out and catch up on my reading.  I'm not ashamed to say I became engrossed in J.K. Rowling's newest novel, The Silkworm, and devoured it in two days.

The day you were born, you were born free.  That is your privilege.

Give you heart and soul to me, and life will always be La Vie En Rose (Cristin Milioti)

Somewhere along the way people have probably told you that you can't do something or made you feel like you weren't good enough... Fuck em, become who you want to become

Back down the bullies to the back of the bus, cus it's time for them to be scared of us!!!

I took the boat back to Suva with a couple of Swiss guys, Alexander and Gabor, as well as a pair of Germans...I'm always with Germans.  Going back was way faster, taking a mere 18 hours.  I decided to immediately head back to Nadi, since it is by far the cheapest place to stay in Fiji, while the others stayed in Suva for the evening.  I was relatively sure I was going to be murdered by my mini-bus crew, because the three of them took off towards Nadi with me as their sole passenger.  Luckily after thirty minutes, they finally started picking up some locals, so I felt a little safer.  When we passed by the Beach House, we randomly picked up a Welsh guy I had met in Suva named Gareth, who was catching a ride to the closest bottle shop to pick up some beer.  It's truly amazing how often people's paths cross.

When I finally got to Nadi, I decided to switch up my hostel and stayed at the Wailoaloa Beach Resort, which for $8/night included breakfast and free wifi.  It was pretty much the greatest financial decision I made whilst in Fiji.  Fabian ended up joining me there since he was flying out of Nadi a few days after me.  Our days pretty much revolved around eating, since neither of us had money left to pay for tours and I wanted to avoid taking out money because of ATM fees. 

Everything that you can't control, sometimes you gotta just let go. Lay back and you will hold, and you will survive

Well that's my year spent exile, second guessed and dressed up in tatters.  My both feet didn't take this path, and I'm still looking for a life that matters...

It's called a bathroom, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of room...

Now this bird has flown, like I've always known it would.  Maybe someday soon, you'll be flying too....

Overall I wasn't that impressed with Fiji.  I think the women are really nice and genuine, but the dudes are extremely fake.  It's so annoying to constantly have people come up to you pretending to be friendly, only to explain why you have to do a $300 tour thirty seconds later.  That's not to say there aren't genuinely nice people, they're just not as prevalent as the swindlers.  Fiji had it's moments, but overall I found it to be overpriced and very average in terms of scenery.

The next leg of my journey would also be my last before going home - Hawaii.  One final diversion during my year abroad.  Ten more days to procrastinate before making adult-level decisions about my future, but that's a story for another blog...

Random GoPros

I reckon I've spent 20-30% of the past year on boats, buses, plains, and other forms of transportation

The water is so clear, the reef thriving.  Amazing, the ocean is simply amazing...

When I first started travelling I took a million pictures...Now I just enjoy the moment and snap a few

Probably the most enthusiastic tour guide I've ever had the pleasure of meeting

Mini-Cliff Jumping at Waterfall 3

Crossing rocks at Waterfall 2

Swimming in Waterfall 1

Taking up an entire row so no one can invade my personal bubble 

Look how adorable these cats are, how can you not love animals?

My dorm room was backed against the Nadi Airport... Every 15 mins I heard the sound barrier breaking

I got a haircut!!!  Isn't I pretty????

Fiji Time

Before I could enter Japan, I was required to purchase an onward ticket.  I had two options; The first was to book a flight home, the second was to travel for another six weeks, so I could make my trip abroad last for an entire year.  Three minutes later I had a flight booked to Fiji.  I took Korean airlines, which ended up being pretty awesome.  I got a full lunch on my leg from Tokyo to Seoul, then dinner and breakfast on my way to Nadi.  I was also able to catch up on movies, the Lego Movie is awesome!!!  I could only last through four minutes of both Robocop and a Keanu Reeves samurai movie before switching to the new Jack Ryan movie.  

When I finally arrived into Fiji, I was instantly hassled by immigrations.  Fiji's website says travellers that need to apply for visas in advance are required to purchase an onward ticket, but several countries, including the US are exempt from acquiring a visa.  That, however is not the case.  No country is exempt from a visa, you simply get it on arrival.  Apparently this is a common miscommunication, as the Swiss girl in front of me had the same problem, and there were another dozen people stranded outside immigrations with us.  I figured I might as well go to Hawaii next, so I purchased 15 minutes of wifi and booked a ticket to Honolulu.  My life is pretty awesome :).

When I got down to customs, the guy working the immigration booth who forced me to buy the onward ticket, was now inspecting bags.  Apparently feeling the need to hassle me further, he decided to personally look through my bag and then took my two external hard drives.  He went to a room and came back fifteen minutes later and told me I was good to go.  My theory is that he was just hoping to score some movies, because the only reason they can invade your privacy by taking your personal computer equipment is to search for kiddie porn.  However, after looking in the mirror and seeing my greasy stache, I couldn't help but wonder if he really was searching for the latter.

I mean seriously, does this look like the face of a pedophile to you?

Pretty much everyone in Nadi stays at one of the backpacker places along Wailoaloa Beach, which is a twenty minute bus ride from the actual town of Nadi.  My entire plan for Fiji, was to chill out and to work on developing some writing ideas.  However, I'm far to ADD for that and got insanely bored of Nadi pretty quickly.  The beach wasn't really that great, the water is super shallow, it isn't particularly clean, and people are constantly trying to befriend you to sell you stuff.  Locals constantly burn fields as well,  but I consider being showered by ash just as good, if not better, than a normal shower, so I considered myself sanitized most days.

Fires weren't limited to just the fields, however.  One night as I was eating my dinner, I pushed my computer off to the side to clear way for my plate and began to dig in.  A few minutes later, a guy came up to me and said the following, "Bro, your computer is on fire."  Apparently the candle behind my computer was too close and was slowly melting the outside casing, which in turn was burning out the pixels on my screen.  I'm not entirely sure how a human being can be so unobservant, but that's the hand I was dealt with.  It's a good thing I'm pretty, because it's clear I'm not going anywhere with my brains.   

After having the stress of my computer catching on fire, I partook in the traditional Fijian libation known as kava.  Kava is an earthy flavored drink made from roots that mellows you out.  It was created as a peace drink when different tribes met with each other, because Fijians used to be cannibals.   It doesn't really seem that strong, it just kind of numbs your mouth and mellows you out.  It's like drinking weed, but without the fun parts of getting the giggles and eating a ton of food.  

Although everything I said was just a picture in my head, I think we can make it...

I never ever cried when I was feeling down.  I've always been scared of the sound.  Jesus don't love me, no one ever carried my load... I'm too young to feel this old.......

Are you gonna live your life wondering, standing in the back looking around?  Are you gonna waste your time thinking how you've grown up or how you missed out?  Good things are never gonna be quite what you want, but even at 25, you've gotta start sometime...

All the trips around Nadi cost a few hundred dollars and I decided I'd rather die of boredom than poordom.  Thus, I caught a bus to the capital, Suva.  I ended up meeting an Aussie named Dan, A German named Nic, and a Norwegian named Miriam, who were all up to get down. Suva's night life is legit; There are bars scattered all over and there's live music abound.   Somehow we even caught an American Blue Grass show.  Our second night there was Miriam's friend Jonathan's birthday, so Drunk Sean began his comeback, one that culminated in drinking every night for two weeks straight.  During our last day in Suva, one of the hostel owner's kids received his First Communion, so we demolished a giant feast of chicken, steak, fish, crab, shrimp, salads, cake, etc.  It was the greatest thing that's happened to me.

Entrance to this club comes with a free stabbing

Fiji isn't really what I expected, it doesn't have that Indonesia amazingness, but it's still nice

Suva Sunset

After Suva I was planning to go to one of the smaller islands in Fiji, Taveuni.  However, the boats run intermittently and I wasn't going to be able to catch a boat for three more days, so I decided to hit up the Coral Coast instead.  I was only planning on staying there for 4 or 5 days and then going back to Suva to catch the boat to Taveuni, but Nic and I ended up meeting some Germans and a Fin - Fabian, Tomas, and Minna.  We spent our days watching the World Cup, eating, and lying on the beach, with occasional side excursions to kayak, play volleyball, snorkel, run, hike waterfalls, or cook meals together.  Night time was a lot easier, we just drank.  Perhaps the most important part of this trip, is that I can now open a beer without a bottle opener, thus solidifying my status as a bad-ass.  

The first night I stayed there, I was awoken by a crazy Kiwi at seven in the morning, who was adamant that I was in the wrong room and that I had broken into an all female dorm.  While this did seem like something Drunk Sean would do, I told her that it was probably just a mixed dorm, but she just kept yelling at me.  I then showed her my key, and told her this was where reception assigned me, to which she simply responded that I was wrong and I needed to "Grab my shit and get out immediately."  I told her that she was being incredibly rude and that this wasn't an appropriate way to talk to someone, so she simply stormed out saying that she was going to reception to take care of this.   

After putting on my glasses and getting up for the day, I suddenly realized that the girls in my room were underage teenagers, and realized that for the second time in Fiji, I was suspected of being a pedophile.  I don't know where my life went wrong, but I probably deserve it.  At the same time I could only wonder, what kind of chaperon books teenagers into a hostel.  I eventually moved rooms later that morning, but the Kiwi lady never apologized to me.  Everyone else thought I should have complained about her to management, but in all honesty, it actually made me appreciate the fact I no longer work and deal with people like that everyday.  If that's the worst I've been treated in a few months, I'd say I have no reason to complain to anyone.

Cus Penny and me like to roll the windows down, turn the radio up and push the pedal to the ground.  And Penny and me like to gaze at starry skies, close our eyes, pretend to fly.  It's always Penny and me tonight.

Show me how you do it and I promise you, promise that I'll run away with you.  I'll run away with you...

Beach Hike

I don't use petrol, I use Zoom 50

After the Beach House, I was once again planning to go to Taveuni, but the Germans convinced me to come to Nadi with them so we could all watch the World Cup Final together.  I ended up heading there a day earlier than them and ran into Miriam and Jonatan, such a small world.   They were leaving Fiji the next day and needed to get rid of all their coins, so everyone at our table emptied their change and we bought as much booze as possible.  Usually a bartender would be pissed if you bought a beer with nickels and dimes, but he was so impressed, he gave us a free beer!  Gotta love the Fiji attitude!

The World Cup Final was between Germany and Argentina, so the Germans were intent on getting massively drunk.  The game started at 7 AM in Fiji, so we had no choice but to spend the entire day drinking after Germany won.  The next morning, the only three of us left were Fabian, Nic and myself.  Fabian and I decided to head to Taveuni (Finally!), but Nic had already been there, so he went to check out some closer islands instead.

GERMANIACS!!!!!

Foamy Victory Beers

Taveuni is supposed to be similar to Hawaii, and is a lot less touristy than the island I'd been on, Viti Levu.  My thirty hour journey there was sidetracked as soon as I started, but that's a story for another blog.



Random GoPros

It takes me less than four minutes in any country to act like a complete douche.  Check out the plane photobomb right above my head though, that's just awesome

I could climb that...

Greatest day of my life

Kayaking with Dan and Miriam at Beach House

My computer, now that it's been fired up

Waterfall with Ze Germans.   Fabian, Tomas, and Minna (Finish, but German)

The Coral Coast

Slowe Tide