Yo, so I’m back.
It’s been more than 3 weeks of
absolutely unbelievable places and people, and it would take forever to actually
give you guys all the details. I’ll try
to sum it up a bit tho. It was my third time in Fiji (first time doing a
vacation – it was all work prior) and
my first time in Vanuatu. I did pretty much the whole thing with my dad and boy, did we see a lot. Started off in Suva, took an overnight boat to
Savusavu, spent couple of days in the hills on the farm surrounded by tropical
fruits and some amazing people, continued to the island of Taveuni, took a tiny
local plane back to the main island just to go to Levuka (former capital), spent
some time in the town of Lautoka, caught a flight to Port Vila, spent couple of
days over there, took it to Emua (a small village on the other side of the
island), went back to Nadi for bit, and wrapped our trip in Sigatoka. We did
some couchsurfing, we did some homestays, we stayed off resorts completely and
we did hotels only like 3 times. Shout out to all the people who opened their
households for us and treated us like family, thanks for all the tips, food,
talks, walks... And shout out to my dad. Most people don’t get to do an adventure like this with a parent...
Now, let me cover some shit that surprised me a little bit. Fiji
has a reputation of a pretty touristy country. And true enough, there’s a lot of international flights and
tourists coming in and out all the time. The thing is though, it
really seems that pretty much all of them stay in resorts and hotels, not
really getting out by themselves, not using public infrastructure, transport,
restaurants, shops etc... So over our travels, as we kept is as local as
possible, we barely met any internationals. Since this
was one of my major worries, I really appreciated that a lot. People in Fiji are
mostly extremely easy going (outside of hustlers at the most touristy spots), positive and generally more connected to each
other, their families, their nature and country... And they are usually also very easy to talk
to... That’s why I don’t understand how the fuck we didn’t meet more travelers mingling with
them. If you spend all you fucking time in a facility where you just pay money
for services, if you don’t put
yourself on the same level, if you don’t share
food and stories... You are missing a bunch... Plus the shit that grows over
there... I mean, while I was at the farm, I used to do this fresh fruits
salads... I’m talking pineapples,
bananas, papayas, passion fruit, shredded coconut with some fresh one on the side. I could literally consume this shit all day everyday.
Vanuatu was also pretty awesome as we couchsurfed with this
amazing guy for the most part. However, Port Vila is probably one of the
saddest cities I’ve ever seen. Not because it’s dangerous or dirty or anything – quite the opposite actually....
Since there’s a relatively big expat
community over there (UN, some NGOs, international companies), the city somehow
transformed into something like an airport. I mean, there’s barely any local energy left over
there. Wannabe French restaurants and cafés,
wannabe pizzerias, everything is extremely overpriced and looks the same as
in Europe. If you don’t count
the main city market, the whole town is artificial as shit. Whites everywhere,
locals nowhere to be found (outside of servicing jobs)... But if you take it to the countryside, you get
the real stuff. Nice warm people interested in your story, willing to
share theirs, food for fragments of city prices, nice little communities... Oh, and
neither in Fiji or Vanuatu they don’t
really use scooters. Which makes it quite different from South-East Asia and I
missed that a bit.
So yeah, we’ve seen
some amazing beaches, forests, we hitchhiked, we did some trails, we traveled by
cars, buses, boats, planes... I managed to check some black sand dunes as
well... I hope I’ll have a chance to get back
there at some point down the road... You see, couple of weeks back, I read that
according to some recent research, pure gratitude is a feeling most beneficial
for mental health. Because it’s like
this positive emotion than relies on external things. Meaning that it's selfless – the positivity does not come
from within but from the outside which just makes your happiness intertwined
with the world. And I guess I feel lots of that at the moment. Being able to do
this shit, being able to experience what I experienced, talk to people I talked
to, being able to do that with my dad... I’m just
grateful for all of that I guess...
But yeah, your boy is back in Shanghai. Arrived this
morning, did traditional Chinese queuing at Pudong, arrived to my spot, did
some shopping, cooked myself a lunch and I’m
thinking about maybe doing a run in the afternoon. Even though I was doing push-ups
quite regularly, I feel my regular routine is something I gotta get back to like now... Other piece of my mental health...
Highlights:
- Sitting on top of the TV tower in the middle on Efatu island
in Vanuatu – no people, no tourists, no
business being there.
- Kava – we drank
it a bit by the end of the trip. Awesome fucking drink.
- Fiji Bitter. They know how to brew beer.
