Fiji Islands As a frequent traveller to the US, I thought a trip to the US is the longest airtrip possible.So wrong was I!
Fiji is a beautiful Country of around 333 Islands, a majority of them unpopulated. I went there for a business conference. Most of the attendees who were from Europe, Asia had on an average 30+ hours of air travel. The US one's were lucky as Air Pacific has a very short 17 hour flight from Los Angeles.
My travel took me through Malaysia, Auckland and Fiji. Nadi was the landing port in Fiji. Due to the nature of the connections I had a spend a day in Malaysia courtesy Malaysia airlines. Well as an optimist, I found it a good way to get used to a new time zone and getting travel ready.
While I never ventured into New Zealand outside the airport,it seemed like a stunning country to visit from the sky. One more place to my travel wish list!
Coming from large, well populated countries like India and the US, the population levels of these countries astonishes me - Australia 20 Million, New Zealand 5 million, Fiji 800,000. These entire country populations are comparable to our city populations - Los Angeles, New York, Bangalore, New Delhi etc.. How different their lifestyles and perspectives must be! Perhaps if 10 plane loads of tourists visit, it will resemble an Invasion.
Air Pacific took me from Auckland to Fiji, a lovely airline. I loved their dark red cutlery and the general party mood in the plane. At the same time, it seemed like a serious business, no nonsense safe airline. Nadi is a small city with the airport around 20-30 kilometres from Nadi town. In between the airport and Nadi town lies Denaru. Denaru is a Island off the coast of Nadi, which one large gated community. The Sheratons, the Westin's of the world all are located here. The Sheraton is beautiful with lovely views to the ocean. Within Denaru, an open air bus called the Bula Bus takes you to all the places. Besides the Hotels, there is a Golf resort (I didnt get to hit the course though) and a sea port from where all the cruises start.
(The Air Pacific Plane that took me from Auckland to Fiji )
The hotels in Denaru can be expensive (Fiji $250 or US $125); decent hotels in Nadi can be as low as Fiji $60. There are also hotels near Nadi airport with excellent prices.
There is a very nice Hindu temple in Nadi town, the Siva Subramanian temple. More than 60,000 Indians were sea shipped by the British in a period from around 1875 to 1930. There were also smaller levels of subsequent immigration post that into the 1950' and 1960's. Indian culture is very visible and a modified form of Hindi- called Fijian Hindi- is spoken commonly in Fiji. Being the first day of the nine day Navaratri festival, the temple celebrated it with lots of tradition, perhaps a level even greater than India. The priest a native of Chennai, was very sincere and dedicated to his audience.
I took a day trip to Suva, which is the Capital of Fiji. Suva seems a larger city than Nadi, but compared to Indian cities looks small. I took a shared taxi, from Nadi to Fiji. The shared taxi takes four passenger 1 in the front and three in the back. It is a lovely scenic road, full of beech resorts in all shapes and forms. Suva has a nice museum the Fiji museum which is inside the Thurnston gardens. Fiji museum has a good collection of all aspects of Fiji culture and history and their Indian section was particularly interesting. The shared taxi costs $22 Fiji. On the return I took a luxury bus which starts from the Holiday Inn, Suva. While this is a standard touristy bus, it is relatively inexpensive and costs the same Fiji $22, although it takes longer than the shared taxi.
(A view of the early Rafts all Human powered. This Hut like boat could turn at very sharp angles)On the penultimate day of my trip, I took a half day cruise to the South Sea Islands. This Island is perhaps 1 or 2 square kilometers. The entire Island will fit into one or two large Texan houses, may be the size of a US strip mall. You could walk around the entire periphery of the Island in 3 minutes. The 5 hour + cruise costs $80 Fiji and is fully worth it. Scuba diving was excellent although the sea started becoming wavy towards late evening.
(The route map for the Island.. This is all there is in the Island folks!)
(Another view of the Island on the way back to the Mother ship)Global average temperatures have risen about one degree from 1900 levels, global average sea levels have risen a few centimetres, Northern hemisphere snow cover has fallen by around 2 million square kilometres in the last 100 years. With such levels of Global warming, it is expected that some of Fiji's Islands may be submerged in the next 20/30 years. I could not but feel a sense of sadness, that perhaps the small tiny South Island may not escape the vagaries of Global warming, or will it? Only time and Human efforts to stop Global warming can make a change. The statistics I heard about Global warming were stunning: "Typhoons damage will increase by 10-26% for every 1 degree of warming of the sea". Pacific Islands will unfortunately bear the blunt of some of these efforts for no fault of theirs.
Well, it was time to head back to the airport and I had a super tight connection at Auckland of less than 55 minutes between Air Pacific and Malaysian Airline. I made it, but my baggage did not. Well thats another story for another day.
It was a very interesting experience something that I will cherish for a long long time. The feeling of being in a large, large globe with enormous diversity between places, the concept of Island nations, racial diversity all came to life in my trip.
My Views of Fiji- Photographs
(A view my night of the Hindu Temple Siva Subramanian Temple. The Largest in Oceania)
(A view of a typical Fiji road. This one was the road from the airport to Nadi town)
(A native Fijian Dance program)
(Proof that I am in Fiji afterall)
(The Entrance of the temple)
(A view of Sangam Sadhu Kuppuswami Memorial Trust)
(My Closing Picture and my Fiji Promotion Picture, Fiji beer with a beach Chair, White sand, the beautiful blue ocean)
