Bula Fiji : An excursion to Suva

There is one question that I heard being repeated to the guide by the tourists. Any guesses…………..? The same question was asked in the Nadi tour and another gentleman repeated the question during the Suva trip.

How much does a house cost here in Fiji? Can’t blame the tourists. Fiji is beautiful and very rightly an island paradise. It’s very clean, the people are friendly, things are relatively cheaper, the weather is lovely, peaceful and quiet, magnificent beaches…..an ideal setting. You can’t blame people for falling in love with Fiji and wanting to buy house here; own a piece of the paradise. Love at first sight !!

I got to see more of this island on the trip to the capital city Suva. As shown by our guide on the map, Suva lies diagonally opposite to Nadi across the island of Viti Levu. But we are not going to cut across the island to reach Suva; instead the roads are along the coast and we are going to circle half the island’s coastline.

Rosie Holidays again, started off in the morning from the hotel by 8:30 am, the journey will take almost 3 hours. Today’s company in the bus were a couple from Australia, two men from China, a lady and daughter from Australia. When the men from China introduced themselves, our guide remarked that the Chinese are investing in Fiji and enroute he pointed out a hospital build with Chinese collaboration.

First major city along the way was Sigatoka pronounced as Singatoka. The river by the same name had an old bridge that was washed away in the floods, picture below.

Next stop, at a place called Pacific Harbour, popularly called the Adventure Capital of Fiji. We stopped for 15 minutes and I bought chicken wrap to eat enroute and a bottle of the famous Fiji water.

We continued onward, the roads were good; two lane, not much traffic. I was glued to the beautiful scenery outside. The road along the coast gave glimpse of the blue waters, loved the ride !!

Soon we reached the capital city and the first sight was a large cemetery. Suva is a city of bungalows, no high rises here.

And as we sped across the city, the guide pointed out the High Commission of Australia, the embassy of New Zealand, American embassy and the residences of political leaders of Fiji and the now deserted old Parliament of Fiji.

The guard in front of the Government house has to stand in position for 2 hours at a stretch and he can wear no hat to shield from the sun !!

Next in Suva was the Fiji Museum. A small museum and we set about exploring the place.

Here came across Masi, barkcloth produced in Fiji. Masi is produced from the outer bark of the paper mulberry tree. The bark is soaked in seawater and beaten till the fibres have spread and intermeshed. Fijians believed that the ancestor gods blessed the people of specific regions with

Similarly, Fijians, the pioneers of fire-walking, believe that it was a gift given by their ancestor gods and only the people on a specific island have this gift and its passed down the generations.

Lunch time and we were dropped off at a shopping mall called Tappoo City. We were given a map of the city and were free to either roam around the city or just the mall; to meet back in the bus by 3:30 pm.

Surprise, there was a Fabindia store in the mall in Fiji !! Where there are Indians, there is Fabindia !?

After some shopping and coffee, I head back to the bus and we were off back to the hotel. It was a fantastic journey. The brochure also mentioned onboard entertainment and that was also met, with the guide playing a guitar and singing couple of songs from Australia and Fiji. Reached back at the hotel by 7:00 pm.

Happy travelling,

Anju

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