The Nadi Experience
Back in Nandi I met up with Jo again (and her mum who'd come to visit) She'd moved to the nicer resort next door to Travellers. They had sofas. I've never appreciated sofas in the past. As I relaxed on it, I couldn't remember when I'd last sat on something so comfy.
A couple of days later, I went to Beachcomber Island to meet Becky, Jess and Nick.
When I got back I had a couple of days to kill before going to the Cook Islands. I went into town, now very much on an economy drive, to get some food. I decided to buy a huge $15 pizza for lunch/dinner/breakfast and hopefully lunch again. I reckoned if I ate that, then had a Multi-vitamin tablet too, it'd be the same as eating properly.
While I was in town, I saw a dodgy little food trolley type thing that was selling $2 Fish and Chips. Compared to the $10 crappy sandwich I would've had to buy at Travellers, it seemed like a bargain. And it was. Though the fish was more batter than fish, I got loads of chips and it filled me up.
I wandered around Nandi for a bit to kill some time before getting the bus back. I slowed and stopped outside a nice-ish shop to fish for the last bit of batter at the bottom of my chips. "Hey, Where are you from my friend?" a guy sitting just to the right said to me. "Don't buy things from there, thats a rich Indian's shop who buys everything in from abroad, and charges too much. Come with me to my shop and I'll show you some true local craftwork. Good Value too!" As I was slowly wandering that way anyway, I carried on and said "Thanks, but I'm not buying anything."
"No Problem, my shop is just here. How long have you been in Fiji? Have you tried Kava?"
"Yes, Thanks. And I'm leaving in a couple of days."
"Watch your wallet around him!" a voice said to me from the nice shop behind. Stupidly, the first thing I did was put my hand on my wallet - a sure sign to anyone with bad intentions that's where it is. I realised what I'd done and tried to cover it by searching a couple of other pockets before looking satisfied.
We got to his shop and he ushered me in. "Ah Good Afternoon!" a fijian man behind the counter said. "What can I get you, we have some fine carvings, some good luck jewellery, this Kava is only $20 for all of this! Have you tried Kava?"
"Honestly, Thanks." I said, "I'm not looking for any souvenirs, I don't have any money to spend on them. I leave in a couple of days."
"How about this Fijian warrior face carving? $200! But to you, $150. In fact, how much will you pay? Look at the detail! How much is this worth? All made in Fiji."
"Dude, Look! I'm eating $2 Fish and Chips! How am I supposed to afford that?!?"
He looked troubled for a second, then in all seriousness, and as if he'd just come up with the best idea in the world, he looked me in the eye and said "Visa?"
I grinned. He's good. I thanked them both again and left the shop. Then went and bought my mammouth dinner (and breakfast/lunch/dinner) pizza and took it back to my dorm.
By dinner time, I realised I had a problem, there was an advance scout patrol of ants checking out my pizza (theres no fridges or proper cupboards as the resort likes you to buy its expensive food.) I brushed and picked them off and had my dinner. I put the rest of the pizza in a drawer at the bottom of a cupboard in the middle of the room. They'd have to be some pretty determined ants to get there I thought.
Next morning I went towards the cupboard. No ants on the floor, good. I opened the drawer and flipped open the pizza box. Sitting there, looking satisfied with himeslf at such a good feed, a cockroach sat in the middle of my pizza, antenae waving, suddenly aware that the ceiling had disappeared and he'd been caught eating my breakfast. This all seemed a far cry from the culinary opulance of Beachcomber a few days back!
Anyway, I found the cockroach crunchy, but worthwhile. I think it helped he tasted of Hawaiian Pizza so much.
Another money saving food idea from the other guys in my dorm was to have a weetabix thick shake each morning. They sliced the top off a coke bottle, put in some weetabix (the Fiji budget version), some powdered milk, some sugar, then half filled it with water. After a few minutes of stirring they drunk their wheaty-pasty morning milkshake.
That night, instead of spending money on Fiji Bitter, I went to the free Kava tasting ceremony. I'd been to one at Travellers before and it allows one to get mildly mashed on Kava. Kava is a ground root of the pepper family, which has mild narcotic properties, allowing one to feel somewhat relaxed.
Kava is BIG in Fiji. Its a man thing (though some women can do it if they choose) and all men do it most nights from the looks of things. Joe (below) mixed a couple of bowls for the assembled backpackers. The idea is to mix the powder with fresh water in the kava bowl. Then drink the muddy looking (and tasting) liquid in one go from a coconut shell. (There's a whole ceremony but I won't go into it here.)
After a couple of bowls, various people left having tried the foul tasting brew, but not wanting any more. I had a mild relaxed and tingly sensation in my arms and legs, but that was it. A few of us decided we wanted some more. We all chipped in and bought a bag which Joe mixed for us.
The following few hours are a bit of a blur but I do rememeber feeling very, very relaxed throughout my whole body. So relaxed, I really didn't want to go to the loo (you have to drink beer with it too - otherwise it settles in your stomach). Eventally, we got through the Kava, which got bigger and stronger each time as people went to bed (for a fantastic night's sleep.) And I finished up talking to a Norwegian guy who was the last one by the bowl with me about crossing the international dateline when I go to the Cook Islands... I take off at 6pm tomorrow, then land at 10 pm tonight... Craaazy-Maaaaan.
I woke up with only a force 1 at most force 2 hangover, hardly even worth mentioning. Except that I'm not sure it was a hangover? I went out for breakfast, slowly. For some reason, wandering across to the restaurant seemed to take longer this morning. I sat with a couple of American girls I'd played cards with a couple of times. They were from the deep south so their speech was slow and drawn out. I had trouble keeping up with what they were saying. As I looked around, the previous evening showed itself to me like a fog clearing. Then. Shit. It shouldn't have taken me so long to realise this... I'm still mashed!
It wore off about 2 o'clock. Like a tape being played at the wrong speed, it was like the day suddenly went from slow motion, back to normal, and I found I was back to OK. The whole Kava experience wasn't an unpleasant one, (apart from the initial flavour) I knew I was thinking and acting slower than I should've. But hey, who cares? I know I didn't.
Fiji Time.