Fiji - Unforgettable Islands

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)

Nigeria - Lagos

I recently had the good luck of visiting Nigeria. Even for a casual visitor the cultural richness and diversity of the Country is awesome.
Lagos is the Commercial capital of Nigeria while Abuja is the Capital. Lagos is a large city. The drive from Lagos airport to Victoria Island (called VI) is about 2 hours in peak traffic conditions. A couple of lovely bridges form the drive from the Airport to VI.

Lagos and Nigeria have several pristine unspoilt beaches. I visited the main beach in Lagos - the Bar Beech. The Government of Lagos is building it on the lines of Queens Necklace or Narimal Point. The beech is clean and the White sand is nice. The crowd is totally variant - from kids playing soccer to people praying to a casual walker.

View of the walk way on the Bar Beech
A view of the sands of the Bar Beech
A view of the concrete walk way being built
Soccer being played on the walkway. The quality of the soccer was quite good even for a casual observer.

New York City - Come what may Rain or Shine

New York city is quite a lovely tourist destination. It is extremely well organized (as you would expect being a large city), well marketed. There are numerous organized tours by companies such as Grayline Tours, City Sights etc. The double decker Hop On Hop off buses are really interesting. Sitting in the top deck of a Hop On Hop Off bus, you are literally a few feet away from the traffic signals when they cross the traffic Lights. That makes it even more Interesting!

(A view of the Famous Bull near Wall Street)

There are several routes in these Hop on Hop Off buses. The Down town loop takes you around all the down town areas- Wall street, Greenwich Village, Times Square, Empire State Building, Soho, Chinatown, Rockefeller Center, the World Trade Center site. The Uptown loop circles around the Central Park. The Brooklyn loop is especially intersting as Brooklyn resembles me a bit more of suburbia USA.

(A view of the Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park)

New York is very very different from a regular mainstream US city/ Town. It reminds me a lot more of Singapore or Mumbai rather than the US.

(An Interesting Shot at the Wall Street Subway Station. I am hoping this becomes some kind of a class shot. Although I would imagine, it would be very easy to relicate. -:)

During our visit, it continually rained. However we continued on top of the Bus with light rain coats provided by the Tour company (Gray Line). It gets quite chilly because of the rain, dampness and wind effect. It was thrilling to get close to the traffic lights.


A visit to the WTC site was a difficult but important visit. One can imagine the scare and horror as must have been felt around September 11, 2001.

(A View of Times Square. Is it time to cut down on excess Lights to save the Environment)

Central Park is one of the best places to visit in New York. It is a comfortable, manageable size and has lots of Interesting places strewn all around it. There are castles, lakes, parks all within a small park. It is extremely clean, well kept and maintained, thanks to the spirit of Volunteerism.

(A welcoming view of the Statue of Liberty from the Ferry with Monsoon

Clouds in the background. What a welcoming sight it must be from the early

Immigrants after a Long trip across the Pond from Europe)

No trip to New York is complete without a Play. We caught a Off Broadway play for around $40. It was very Interesting and Interesting to see the Cast be able to live their roles -live without the benefit of a support crew.

New York rocks!

Top Travel Ideas for New York:

- Spend at least 3 days for a meaningful tour

- Use the Hop On Hop off tours if the weather is reasonable. If timing is tight you can just go on the complete Hop on Hop Off tour without getting out of the Bus

- To save costs use the free Staten island ferry. This gets quite close to Statue of Liberty

- Spend lots of time in Central Park. Its quite a lovely Park

Mount Rainier - from Seattle

Northwestern US is a lovely Tourist destination. Evergreen forests, fast growing and robust economy courtesy of Microsoft, Amazon, Google etc., plenty of hiking and biking trails and friendly people. It is considered the Biking Capital of the world for the right reasons.

Seattle is really lucky to be a Metro with a Major National Park less than 100 Miles away. Yahoo! maps direction to Mount Rainier from Kirkland/Redmond areas marks the total distance at no more than 80 miles.

While there are multiple Park entrances to the Mount Rainier National Park the only one Open year around is the Nisqually Entrance. As a rough guidance, the best times to visit Mount Rainier (excluding skiiers) is end of May to Late September/Early October). All other times the park is Open only from the Nisqually entrance to Paradise.

Mount Rainier's tallest peak is around14,000 feet. The videos/stories in the park museum bring out the difficultly in climbing this peak. But at 14,000 feet it is still only 1/3rd Mount Everest. Imagine How hard Mount Everest must be?

National Parks in the US are treasure, they are superbly maintained and manned by high quality men and women - the Park rangers. I Spoke to one during my Park Visit; apparently its quite hard becoming a Full Time Park Ranger. What amazing careers and lives these men and women must Have?

(A Shot taken from the Longmire National Park Inn)
(View of a Falls in Mount Rainier)




View from Paradise in Mount Rainier, True to its name it is Paradise



Mount Rainier is apparently an Active - yes I repeat an Active Volcano. There are Volcano escape routes all along Highway 7. While the exact number of Glaciers in Mount Rainier is probably a Quiz question, there are apparently more than 20. (Correct answer 26)
The National Park Inn right in the heart of the Park at Longmire is an amazing place to stay with no TV's and shared Baths. To get the best from a Mount Rainier Visit, I would recommend a stay in this Inn.

View of a Crow eating some food put by tourists at the Park. Feeding Wild Animals is the worst you can do to both the habitat and the animal.

Shivanasamudram Beckons

There are many short destinations within a few hundred kilometers of Bangalore. As the cauvery meanders through the Bangalore Mysore Coorg region, several scenic spots abound.
Shivanasamudram is a short 130 kilometres from Bangalore. It can reached in one of two ways, through Bangalore Mysore Highway or through Kanakapura road. If you take the Bangalore Mysore Highway, you would need to exit at Maddur and follow a state highway that goes through Malavalli. The Kanakapura Road takes you to Malavalli. But either way, I would give a three and a half hour drive time to reach.
Shivanasamudram has a twin falls of Gaganachuki and Baranachuki. Gaganachuki is close to a Hydro Power station called as Bluff. Both falls are very impressive especially when I visited due to heavy rains in the recent past. Baranachuki has a nice 500-600 metre walk downhill to the actual falls. A korekalli takes you right to the downstream falls, he can even take you till a level where the water sprinkles on your back. The Cold water falling in your back is thrilling!
Karanataka is a beautiful state and she continually amazes me!

A native fishing in a small village pond near Sivanasamudram.
The vibrant colors of the lake, the reflections on the pond and the rich fauna have come out well in this photograph

A village road near Sivanasamudram, with a smaller aperture. The depth of field of this photograph is interesting!