Downpour in Fiji

February 14-18, 2023

Bula!

Bula (pronounced “boo-lah”) is the Fijian word for hello. It literally translates to “life” but, similar to aloha, it’s more of a concept than a simple word. It’s the most common greeting on the island and it conveys a sense of wishing well on a person.

Mel and I flew into Fiji on a redeye from Singapore from February 13-14, sad to be leaving our Southeast Asia time behind, but excited to see Oceania. We knew we’d be tired from the long flight and dealing with customs, getting SIM cards, finding a ride to our accommodations, and all the other things we needed to do every time we entered a new country. Because of this, we planned on laying low for Valentine’s Day itself and celebrating later in our stay.

We were staying in a bure, the Fijian word for a bungalow by the water, at Club Fiji Resort in the city of Nadi (pronounced “Non-dee”). It was raining hard when we arrived and we hadn’t slept well on the plane, so our first course of action was to take some long naps. We slept until the late afternoon and felt surprisingly good after waking up so we decided to celebrate the special day.

I took Mel out to dinner at a Fijian restaurant called Vasaqa which had delicious food and massive portions. We had wine, fish and chips, a burger, and kumala (sweet potato) fries to share and the food was amazing; we loved the unique Fijian flavors.

It was raining and the walk home would’ve taken close to an hour so, with the help of the friendly staff at the restaurant, we found a taxi back to our resort. The last stretch of road is just for Club Fiji Resort, so it was made of mud and dirt, right by the ocean, poorly maintained, and full of vicious potholes, none of which was made any easier by the unrelenting rain. The cab drivers drove in a very technical and precise way when traversing the road to avoid potholes, bumps and ledges, and the ocean creeping up. Our driver was friendly and said we could ask him about any prices from other vendors or drivers to make sure we weren’t getting overcharged, told us about all the different countries he’d seen visitors from, and offered to take us out clubbing at the hot spots in Fiji. We got his contact info and did end up asking him about some prices later on, although we didn’t go out to the clubs with him since the club scene seemed a bit rougher around the edges than we’d expected.

The next morning we were blessed with some sunshine so I got up early and went to the pool and hammock area. Mel joined me later and picked one of the many coconuts off the ground for us to attempt to eat. The shell was so tough that we couldn’t break it on our own, but some resort staff helped us and we had ourselves a sweet treat for breakfast.

As best as I could tell, there are two main parts of the city of Nadi: a main stretch about a mile inland with the majority of the town’s restaurants, clubs, shops, and apartments; and a small, touristy, beachy section with a handful of hotels, restaurants, and bars. It was easier for us to get to the beachy section because we could walk along the beach to get there, or so we thought until we had to cross a thigh-deep river on our trek over. Our upper bodies stayed dry, so we were all fine.

The real notable event on our walk from Club Fiji into town was running into a friendly local working construction. He said bula, we said bula, then he asked if we ate pork (interesting first question, but we’re just visitors, not trying to judge any local traditions without knowing more about them), and we said yes. We were not expecting or prepared for his follow-up question: “Do you want to watch me slaughter a pig and eat it with me and my wife at sunset at my house in the mountains?”. We were taken aback and didn’t know how to respond. I was honestly kind of intrigued but we didn’t have a way to follow up with him since he didn’t have any messaging apps so we let it be. It was probably for the better. If he’d been a psychopath and ended up slaughtering us instead of the pigs, I don’t think we’d earn much sympathy for completely ignoring the stranger danger lessons drilled into us as kids. It wasn’t even like it would’ve been an elaborate ruse to get us…his cards were on the table when he mentioned pig slaughter. I think it would’ve been on us for walking into that one.

When we finally made it to town, we had lunch at a Mexican-Fijian fusion restaurant called Oliver Tree. It was spacious and air-conditioned, so it was a nice respite from the heat and humidity. The forecast had nothing but rain in it for the next few days, so I thought it would be a good idea to stock up on some easy groceries for breakfasts and lunches.

After shopping, we taxied back home. We talked to the concierge at the resort and she helped us book a boat cruise to the Mamanuca Islands, which are the quintessential remote islands with pristine, white-sand beaches and turquoise water. Nadi had pretty parts, too, but it was more urban than what we were expecting for Fiji and the beaches were rockier and littered with trash.

In the lobby, we watched the Fijian night performance the resort put on while having a drink at the bar. At night, the rain temporarily subsided again so we went for a nighttime dip. The tide was low so we walked out for a hundred meters or so before realizing that it was going to be more of a dipping of the feet, rather than a full swim. We hung out at a sandbar for a little bit and returned to the beach just before the not-so-slowly rising tide swept away the shirt I’d left. If we’d been out there a couple minutes longer I think it would have been in the water.

It rained preposterously hard the next day. We kept going back to sleep because of the rain and didn’t get out of bed until noon and then didn’t leave the room until 4 when the rain finally abated. We took advantage of the brief hiatus and hit a volleyball around on the raggedy net at the resort and went in the pool. The rain picked up again but we didn’t mind swimming in the rain. I’d been feeling claustrophobic in the room so it was great to get out and move around for a couple hours. We ate dinner and watched live music at the resort since it was too rainy to go anywhere else without getting drenched. It was raining so hard that I was worried about flooding. The bures were propped up on short stilts, and even though there was at least another foot of space before the water would hit the floorboard, I watched nervously as it slowly rose.

The next morning we woke up early for our cruise to the Mamanuca Islands but it was cancelled because of the rain. It would’ve been fun to see the more glamorous islands of Fiji, but I’ll have a reason to come back at least. We watched a cooking lesson in the lobby where some staff told us how to make a Fijian dish called kokoda, which is similar to ceviche. After the lesson, we checked out and taxied over to the Bamboo hostel, where we were staying for the last night.

We got lunch at Oliver Tree again and Mel went to meet with her friend Amy she’d planned to see out here. I hung out in the restaurant for a while catching up on blogging and logistics before going to the Beach Club, a fun venue with live music and cheap drinks, right by the hostel. I met up with Mel and Amy there for a couple drinks before giving them some space to catch up.

(No disrespect to Chang, the local Thai beer, but I think Fiji Gold might take the cake for best local beer at any of the places I visited.)

I went down the road to Ghost Ship Bar & Grill and played cards with some solo travelers I met there. It was a fun group with a couple Australians, an American moving to New Zealand, and a Brit that lived in Iceland. They were warm and welcoming and it was cool to get a taste of solo traveling. We chatted for a couple hours before I worked up the courage for the daunting task of falling asleep in my bed in a 24-bed room in the hostel. The room was light and there was so much noise from Beach Club that I couldn’t fall asleep for hours. It wasn’t a big deal because I had an early flight I could sleep on the next morning from Nadi to Christchurch, New Zealand, where I was meeting with some of my friends from Hawai’i.

Fiji was a fun destination to visit. I’d like to come back for a few days (maybe en route to NZ or Australia) to see some of the smaller outer islands that are more beautiful and clean than Nadi, but it was still interesting to get a sense of the Fijian culture. There were lots of similarities with Hawai’i, in terms of climate, food, song, dance, clothing, environment, and people. The Fijians were very friendly and several we met invited us out with them and offered to show us around. They were always joking and laughing; Fiji seemed like a genuinely happy place. That’s all for now. Thanks so much for reading!

(This is one of Mel's photos from when the rain cleared up after I'd left. Fingers crossed for clear skies next time I'm there.)