That was the greeting (meaning hello) from our flight attendants the moment we stepped on our Air Pacific flight from Sydney to Nadi, and it set the tone for our Fijian holiday. Fiji is a group of about 322 islands in the South Pacific, and gained their independence from Britain about 40 years ago. In the endless power struggle between the native Fijians and the immigrant Indian population, it recently under went its fourth military coup in 20 years in April (a non-violent coup I might add - nothing like in Bangkok).
From speaking to Fijians, the issue is this: workers were brought over from India decades ago to assist in harvesting sugar cane fields. The Indians stayed and began to run their own businesses. Next thing you know, they have economic control over the islands. After the economic power comes political power. The native Fijians don't like that; once they have decided that the Indians have too much control, they bring the military in and put the Indian population in check. It apparently is an ongoing cycle that happens every 5-10 years. All these shenanigans happen on the east side of the island at the capital, Suva. None of this nonsense ever trickles over to the west side of the main island, where the tourism is centered. A majority of Fiji's GDP comes directly from tourism, and they do everything they can to protect it. Enough with the history lesson.
From the moment we landed in Fiji, everything was fantastic. We stayed at the Westin Resort on Denarau Island (one of the two major vacation areas, with the Coral Coast on the south side of the main island being the other). The balcony of our room backed up to the shore of the Pacific Ocean. What more can you ask for? The Westin was adjacent to the Sheraton, both of which are owned by the same parent company. So we had access to all of the pools, amenities and restaurants at both hotels.
The locals say once you land on the island, you are on "Fiji Time", which essentially means there is no concept of time. Relax, don't worry, and just let things happen. If they want you to be somewhere at a specific time, they will tell you "Be there at 8, No Fiji Time". Needless to say, we spent our entire vacation on Fiji time. Breakfast buffet (w/ mimosas every morning), go to the beach underneath the coconut palms, lunch, have some drinks poolside in the afternoon (with a quartet of guitar and ukulele players providing soem acoustic music), happy hour, dinner and end the night with entertainment at the resort with some Fijian lounge music (which was crazy b/c these ladies covered everything from current music to Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer to Patsy Cline). That's how a vacation should be.
This is how we spent every day - with the exception of one. That day we took a private boat with about 10 to 12 other people out to one of the outer islands by the name of Mala Mala. The island was so small you could walk all the way around it in less than 10 minutes, and it was completely different than Denarau. Denarau is a volcanic island, meaning it has black sands, which tend to muddy the waters. Mala Mala was white sands and crystal clear water. We spent the day snorkeling, hand fishing and kayaking off the island.
Couple of other notes:
1. We met Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Japanese, Brazilians, Italians and people from all over the world while in Fiji at the resort - but not a single American. Kind of surprising
2. Fijians are probably the friendliest and most respectful people we have met. Example: We were searching the resort for some flowers (Melissa wanted one for her hair), and were having no luck. We asked someone at the resort to point us in the right direction; instead, the guy got a golf cart, drove us across the resort and used a cherry picker to get Melissa a flower. And we couldn't tip the guy b/c they don't accept tips. It's not in their culture; there are stories that go around of people who have left tips for the maids in the rooms in the morning. They come back to the room in the afternoon and there is a gift in the room b/c the maid didn't understand what the $$$ was for.
3. Once you get to Fiji, everything is cheap as far as resort prices are concerned - we only spent about $250 US the entire time we were there (when we booked the trip we paid $2000 US total for two round-trip tickets, 5 nights and all meals included).
4. KFC and McDonald's are everywhere, including Fiji. They refer to them as the American embassies. And, no, we did not eat there.
Vinaka!
