.....aided by the fact I somehow managed to get a 2 1/2 day weekend. The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, the water off the coast baby blue, the job has gone well, and the food is great. After a rocky start, life is good.....very good.
The work days have been pretty long and that's part of the reason we got done a little early this afternoon. I took the time to walk around the city for almost three hours taking photos. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow yet.
The Fijians have been very friendly and welcoming and I don't think it's a "tourist thing." A former British colony, they still have the Queen's portrait on their currency and in most of the buildings downtown. The people are all very dark-skinned but there is a very obvious difference between African heritage and South Asian (India and Pakistan) heritage. The Brits brought in a lot of Indian indenured servents during the colonial days and their influence is still very obvious today. Lots of Indian restaurants in the downtown area.
I've seen a few mosques, a few Hindu temples and a lot of Christian churches on the island. I think Hindu is the predominant religion here but it seems pretty equally divided.
The Holiday Inn is right on the harbor--a small seawall marks the end of the hotel property. In the evenings, before dark, I've been wandering along the coast and it is pleasant. There's an old, old colonial hotel along the beach--the shutterd windows, fluted columns and arched wrap around-porch.
The name on the front is "The Grand Pacific Hotel" and I'll bet that in it's day it was a five-star place. Right now, it's completely gutted and someone is doing a total renovaton on it. I'd love to stay there in a couple of years.
There's also a "bowling green" located along the coast. When I was in Southampton, England I came across the oldest bowling club in the UK, wandered in, took a couple of photos, and was promptly thrown out. Here, however, it's far less formal. The "green" is rather large and consists of beautiful grass much like our putting green grass on our golf courses. The bowlers use a ball (looks to be leather) about half-way between the size of a softball and a volleyball. I watched for quite a while the other afternoon and decided I definitely don't have the patience for the sport.
Many of the men here wear skirts. I think it's actually a Polynesian thing. Fiji, after all, is in the general location of cultures like Somoan, Maiori, even Hawaiian. The skirts are worn by bankers, shopkeepers, even the police. It appears to be completely normal and nobody thinks twice about it. School children--boys and girls--wear them.
There are lots of schools located around the city. Some are government-run; many are religious in nature; and some are just private. The literacy rate is very good here but they do speak English with a very heavy accent which I often have trouble understanding. Of course there are a lot of other languages spoken as well.
I've really enjoyed my first week and am looking forward to doing something this weekend. I'll be flying home next Friday after five weeks on the road. Still, I'm looking forward to my final week in this tropical paradise......
The work days have been pretty long and that's part of the reason we got done a little early this afternoon. I took the time to walk around the city for almost three hours taking photos. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow yet.
The Fijians have been very friendly and welcoming and I don't think it's a "tourist thing." A former British colony, they still have the Queen's portrait on their currency and in most of the buildings downtown. The people are all very dark-skinned but there is a very obvious difference between African heritage and South Asian (India and Pakistan) heritage. The Brits brought in a lot of Indian indenured servents during the colonial days and their influence is still very obvious today. Lots of Indian restaurants in the downtown area.
I've seen a few mosques, a few Hindu temples and a lot of Christian churches on the island. I think Hindu is the predominant religion here but it seems pretty equally divided.
The Holiday Inn is right on the harbor--a small seawall marks the end of the hotel property. In the evenings, before dark, I've been wandering along the coast and it is pleasant. There's an old, old colonial hotel along the beach--the shutterd windows, fluted columns and arched wrap around-porch.
The name on the front is "The Grand Pacific Hotel" and I'll bet that in it's day it was a five-star place. Right now, it's completely gutted and someone is doing a total renovaton on it. I'd love to stay there in a couple of years.
There's also a "bowling green" located along the coast. When I was in Southampton, England I came across the oldest bowling club in the UK, wandered in, took a couple of photos, and was promptly thrown out. Here, however, it's far less formal. The "green" is rather large and consists of beautiful grass much like our putting green grass on our golf courses. The bowlers use a ball (looks to be leather) about half-way between the size of a softball and a volleyball. I watched for quite a while the other afternoon and decided I definitely don't have the patience for the sport.
Many of the men here wear skirts. I think it's actually a Polynesian thing. Fiji, after all, is in the general location of cultures like Somoan, Maiori, even Hawaiian. The skirts are worn by bankers, shopkeepers, even the police. It appears to be completely normal and nobody thinks twice about it. School children--boys and girls--wear them.
There are lots of schools located around the city. Some are government-run; many are religious in nature; and some are just private. The literacy rate is very good here but they do speak English with a very heavy accent which I often have trouble understanding. Of course there are a lot of other languages spoken as well.
I've really enjoyed my first week and am looking forward to doing something this weekend. I'll be flying home next Friday after five weeks on the road. Still, I'm looking forward to my final week in this tropical paradise......
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