Fiji 2000, Part 1

TUESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER

No surprisingly, the planned and hoped for early start didn’t materialize. Left
our main bags in the hostel and went to the center of town. Nadi (insert an ‘n’
after the ‘a’ if you care about pronunciation) has more Indians than Fijians.
But it is nonetheless quite an orderly place, especially by the standards of
India. It’s less developed than I’d expected but at least there was no begging
on the streets. It felt a lot like India but only better – cleaner, quieter,
more organized. 

Had dhal and rice for breakfast. (Oh, how I wish I could have that as I write
this.). Though both Mustafa and I are also of Indian stock, we looked different
from them so attracted much attention. Good attention I must add. In the
cafeteria we apparently met a Fijian boxing champion

Took a bus to Sigatoka (‘n’ after the ‘i’ if you care), a small town near the
mouth of the Sigatoka River on the South Coast of the main Island. Arrived at
about 1:30pm. Not a lot there but it does have two bridges from the other side
of which one can get good views of the town. And it has a big mosque. After the
short walk about we went to the mosque to pray Zuhr. Met the young Imam who
told us the location of the graveyard where a Tablighi from London, a friend of
Mustafa’s dad who died in a car crash near Sigatoka whilst on jamaat, is
buried. 

The Imam wanted us to take a taxi but being shoestringers we walked (in the
showery rain). Saw a very good-looking bull on the way to the graveyard. Said a
prayer after eventually finding the grave and headed for the Sigatoka sand
dunes.

Walked, hitch-hiked, walked, it started pouring, sheltered, wanted to take a
taxi but none were forthcoming, the rain ceased, walked to the dunes. My first
sand dunes and wow! They were very beautiful. I’m sure we’ve seen better dunes
on TV or in pictures but being there was quite something. The sand wasn’t
golden as in the Sahara but the gray-brown had it’s own beauty.

The dunes were more extensive than I’d expected, stretching for more than 2km
lengthwise. (This wasn’t a desert so I didn’t expect a never-ending series of
dunes.) I hadn’t expected them to be this good and the best thing about it was
that there was nobody else there! Well, Mustafa was but someone had to take the
pictures!

The pretty villages below and the misty mountains in the background produced a
wonderful panorama. (On the other side was the Pacific Ocean. The dunes were
formed by the wind blowing sand from the beach). The clouds and the rain made
the scene even better. I wish I had such a camera to capture the beauty. This
was one of my favourite places of the tour.

Leisurely walked to the Eastern end of the dunes, near the mouth of the
Sigatoka River before walking back up the river. Palm trees and overcast
conditions are not a common sight but there it was. Took a taxi back to the
mosque.

Prayed Asr, chatted with a Tablighi who’d been to London, decided to spend the
night in the mosque, prayed Maghrib. After Maghrib there was a sermon in Urdu.
Of course, not understanding the language I went to get a bite to eat. Mustafa
came too but bitched about how we should’ve stayed ‘out of respect’. He got
really self-righteous and called me a Pakaha. (Look it up in your Maori
dictionary). I thought he was being really arrogant and told him so. Not the
most pleasant of table conversation. (You can understand why I’m traveling
alone, now.) 

Thankfully the waitress was very fascinated by us and came to the rescue. She
was a bit too excited. “You don’t know how much of an honour it is for me to
meet you people”. She asked for our addresses and for some reason I gave the
correct one. Mustafa was wiser. London and Sigatoka are more than 12,000 miles
apart, I thought later.

Returned for Isha. Ate with Tablighi_London – good vegetarian stuff – and then
went out for drinks where the very immature Imam also joined us. Ice cream too.
A question and answer session, some important stories, sleep. Slept in the same
room as four Tablighis. Very hospitable people, Tablighis. It felt very nice to
be in such company.