Day 6
We arrived in Fiji bright and early on Monday morning. Our hotel, the Crowne Plaza Fiji Nadi Bay Resort, will be our home for the next 3 nights. The resort is beautiful, however, a little detail we missed was that it is the rainy season in Fiji from January thru March (looks like we need to add another “Tip” to the website)!
Hey, wait a minute. How did we get to Day 6 already? Wasn’t it Day 4 in Hawai’i? Well, we crossed the International Date Line on our flight from HNL to NAN. We left just before midnight on Saturday, February 22, flew 6 hours west, and landed in Fiji at 4:30am on Monday, February 24. So, Day 5 was “Crossing the International Dateline”. Not to worry, we’ll gain the day back when cross back on our way home.
The Fijian people are the nicest, friendliest people we have EVER encountered. Every person at the hotel would call out “Bula, Bula” whenever you crossed paths and give you a big smile. (It’s a greeting that’s used to express friendship, love, and good health.)
After a nap, we headed out to the beautiful pool. We decided to embrace the weather as part of the experience. The temperatures were in the 80’s and it was very humid, so the pool felt good even in the rain. Unbeknownst to Cheryl, there was a cyclone on the other side of Fiji! It is just as well that she didn’t know until it was south of us.
We enjoyed dinner at the Urban Sugar Beach Club. The sky lightened and we were able to see the “sunset”.
Day 7
We went on a tour today. The skies were not as ominous but it was still raining. We headed for the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. The Sleeping Giant is profiled in the first picture (forehead on the right, nose and chin to the left). The garden was started in 1977 by the late actor Raymond Burr and has over 2000 different types of orchids in it.
After the garden, we went to the “First Village”.
Our guide, who is a descendent of the original inhabitants, told us the first settlers were from Africa – following the winds and the currents. They traveled by a “drua”, a boat with a sail. It’s a symbol of Fiji and you see lots of references to Drua – it’s the name of Fiji’s Rugby team.
The first settlers were cannibals. According to our guide, this wasn’t for a preference for human flesh, but as a way to demonstrate dominance or conquest. Eventually, the missionaries arrived and “civility” was brought to the island.
After the village, we visited Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple, the largest Hindu temple in the South Pacific Islands. It was both beautiful and fascinating. Fortunately for us, our driver, Manoj, is a member of this temple, so he was able to explain the nature of the many structures, including the various shrines outside the main temple. He also explained some of the customs of his religion. One that Cheryl particularly enjoyed relates to the “God of Good Marriages”. Single women pray to this god for a good husband, and while they are praying for said good husband, they fast on Mondays. After they are married, they still have to fast on Mondays, unless their husband permits them eat on Mondays. Manoj told us he has allowed his wife to eat on Mondays since their marriage (because he didn’t want her to get another good husband!).
Our final stop on our tour was to visit the market. It was primarily fruits, vegetables, and spices with only a few non-food items. It was a pretty dark place, with very little “commerce” happening, probably because it was mid-week. There were a lot of people just sitting around, killing time. We did notice that eggs were inexpensive – about $2 USD per dozen.
Before leaving the market, Manoj wanted us to try Kava tea. He went to a vendor and got 3 small wooden cups or small bowls, filled with a murky liquid. It is made from crushing Kava root, then adding to water. Manoj told us it was good for calming the stomach and relaxation. According to Wikipedia, Kava “has sedative, anesthetic, and mild euphoriant properties” – alrighty, then!
After a quick lunch at Azure Kitchen, we spent the afternoon in the pool. The skies were gray but the rain had stopped. Dinner that night was at Harvest Restaurant.
Day 8
We woke today to blue skies on Pat’s 60th Birthday (that truly was a present)! We exercised in the fitness center and then hit the pool for the day! It was lovely to see the sun and it gave us a show with a solar ring. Neither of us had seen a solar ring before, but it appeared a couple of times during the day. It was quite remarkable – the picture doesn’t do it justice.
For Birthday dinner, we went to La Bottega. We enjoyed a lovely bottle of Antinori Tignanello. Because we are “glass snobs”, the waiter and his boss had to go in search of better wine glasses than what they had on the table, eventually finding them in another restaurant that is only open on weekends. After dinner, the entire staff sang to Pat and presented him with cake. The short video below doesn’t show it, but they give him a “trick” candle. The waitstaff thought it was hilarious that he kept blowing out the candle as it came back to life.
Day 9
Today, we packed our luggage and headed south about 45 minutes to the Marriott Resort Momi Bay . Our room was an overwater Bure – basically, a room on stilts over the water. The room was quite large and we had a balcony, with stairs down to the water. The porter who took us to our room informed us that they have nets at the opening of the bay that only allow small fish into the bay, so it’s safe for swimming (good to know).
The resort is rather spread out, and they offer 24 hour golf cart service. We only used the carts to deliver and pickup our luggage. It was good to get the exercise.
We were still battling rainy weather, but decided to visit the pool bar for a while. Dinner that night was at the opposite end of the property, at the Fish Bar, where we watched the sunset. They also had an infinity pool overlooking the ocean at this location, but we never ventured back to try it out.
Day 10
We decided to forego the pool today, and instead we enjoyed our balcony. It was a gorgeous day and Pat got into the bay for a quick swim. The water was warm, but not as warm as the Nadi Bay, which was almost hot.
We walked to the Fish Bar for some exercise and a drink before dinner. On our way back to our dinner at Lagoon House, they were doing a Fijian dance demonstration, which we watched for 10 or 15 minutes. From our restaurant, we saw that they added a fire component to the show, with twirling flaming batons which was really cool to see.
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