Woke at 5am again, decided that waking at 5am sucked on holiday so went back to sleep (took a while but i managed it!). Got up again at 9am and made some pancakes for breakfast. There was no maple at the shops so we only had fruit on them. By this time hubby had been up a while and taken one of the kids down swimming already and picked up todays alotment of towels.
After breakfast we decided to take the bus to Nadi town instead o the taxi (Bus is like $5.70 total vs taxi which is $12). The bus is how all the locals get around who dont own their own car. Right after it left Denarau it took a right onto a single lane gravel/rock road. Now, ive seen some bus driving in my day, but this guy was all but drifting a huge bus down a single lane road with rocks the size of heads on it. How he was able to keep it on the road i have no idea, we just held on tight and i took photos of the houses as they went past. The bus had no windows, and did not seem capable of idling or using half the gearbox either, it often stalled .. usually when somebody walked out in front of it and he had to stop fast. Nobody else seemed very phased by this all so we assumed we would arrive in one piece and just enjoyed the ride.
The bus went down to some villiage that seemed even more poor in some respects to others with homes that I would have expected to be condemed. It was easy to see the churches or community places as they were a lot more ‘normal’ and about on par with a shitty state house in Otara vs an abadoned place.
We noticed there were very few pets or animals around other than the odd bull. We have only seen a single cat on Denarau, and I think that was a hotel cat.
Nadi town itself has non of the usual skateboarders at all, its just lots of dust, dirt, and grime. We walked from one end to the other and back. We found the markets which had much better souvenirs for cheaper and were willing to bargin with the sellers. They did not let us go and were extremely pushy however. We ended up leaving it up to my youngest son who just loved to argue and bargin with them. Finally having the ADHD pays off for him!
“How much is that wooden turtle?” he asks
“It normally $45 but i give to you for $25” replies the man at the stall
“Oh, the guy over the other side has the same thing for $10, only he has a better one thats black .. do you have a black one? oh you don’t … oh ill go check the other stalls then”.
There was a bowl i have seen around everywhere but the cheapest i have seen it was $50, which was a little out of my budget. Most other places have the same thing for $150-300. I suspect that some people are making a mega profit off tourists! My only worry now is that half the stuff we bought makes it back through border control. It was all treated wood and i made sure it was stamped, but im still a little wary of it all.
We decided to skip doing lunch in town because the heat was just insane and we were all geting seriously dehydrated. We got the bus back, but unfortunately it went straight back and had no cool detours this time. Once back the kids had noodles for lunch, and i just nibbled on some chips. After a break we hit the pool for another hour or two then headed back to lay about in our room for an hour or two. I sat on the deck with a large glass of wine and a book again whilst the others watched tv, played on the computer etc. It was good to have some downtime.
I dashed out to get photos of the sunset at 6pm, the sunset was spectactular! I only hope the photos i took look good when i download them from the camera, my photography skills seem to have deserted me since arriving. I have a ton of blurry shots from being on busses etc. Everyone is going to bed early tonight since we are going on a day trip tomorrow. Also I noticed the younger ones seeming very over tired today, getting a little grumpy
I have to admit, after being on the bus with the locals, and going to the real town rather than the pimped up tourist town at the ports, i felt like a dirty white tourist. I do wonder if they resent all the rich white people coming into their place, messing it up, then leaving. The way some of the guys at the markets treated us was more like a wallet than anything else. They see us coming and their eyes lit up.
We saw one well dressed indian lady with a child asleep in her lap,, she was begging for money for her child who apparently had a heart problem and needed to go overseas for surgery to fix it. I just said ‘sorry’ and felt real stink. I have no idea if she’s legit, and i suspect that its probably a con, but i still feel stink that to them i’m so friggen ‘rich’ when i’ve never thought of myself that way.
I tried the adults only pool today, it was the exact same as the other pool only boring because of less people. I also decided around the same time that beach loungers facing the pool was a bad idea, especially when larger females lay on them with their legs open :O
We took a swim in the sea today, it was a little choppy but the ocean was actually warmer than the swimming pool. Both are easy to get into without being too cold at all, so must sit at around 28C or more.
That’s all for today, heading to bed for an early night.