Fiji

Today we traveled to Fiji for five days / four nights.  This was the first trip for either of us to the southern hemisphere.

Why Fiji?

We talked about someday going to one of the places with the over-water bungalows - like Bora Bora or Tahiti or Maldives. Although Fiji has only one option for that, it also has a lot of other stuff to do - the island is comparable in size to the Big Island of Hawaii.  

Getting there

From Texas, we had to take a flight to LA or San Francisco to get a direct connection via Fiji Airways.  This meant a long eight-hour layover in the American lounge.  We used points and watched the final game of the World Series - Texas won.

The 11-hour flight left at midnight, so we touched down just after 5am.  We lost a whole day crossing the dateline so we took off on Wednesday and arrived on Friday. What? 

We had to wait a while for the Budget counter to open up and then it took a while to get the car.  This is how we were introduced to Fiji Time.  This is like Mexico Time, but about twice as slow.  It's an actual saying there.  Basically, there's not a lot of urgency to get things done. Just enjoy the scenery and chill out.

Day One

The best policy to mitigate jetlag on trips flying west is to power through the day, so I booked us an excursion starting at 8am.  We hopped in the car (right-hand drive) and headed to the meet-up point at the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple, the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere.

Our tour guide Avi, told us about the significance of the temple and that Hindu people support the faiths of others as exhibited by the flag flying both the symbols of Christianity and Islam.  Fiji is largely a Christian population - a long way from the stories about the Cannibals of Fiji, ruthless inter-village warriors before missionaries introduced Christianity in the 1800's. 

After touring the temple grounds, we went to a local souvenir shop - Jack's.  Jack has his name on a lot of stores in the area, as does Tappoo.  And then we visited a local produce market with fresh fruit and ou first taste of Kava from a vendor.  Kava is a root, which when ground and mixed with water creates a drink that may leave your mouth numb and your body relaxed.  Celebrating with Kava is an integral part of ceremonies in Fiji.

The next stop was a botanical garden called the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, named for the backdrop hills which resemble a giant person laying on their back.  We took about 45 minutes to walk the grounds and take in the native fauna.

Our last stop was the Sabeto Hot Springs Mud Pool.  Here we changed into swimsuits and lathered up with volcanic mud.  After it dried, we washed off in a series of four hot pools where we got cleaner and cleaner.  It was a fun experience - something we never did prior.  We got lots of goofy pictures.

On the way back to the starting point, we went with another family as they were dropped off at their hotel on Denauri Island - an area near the airport with several high-end hotels and shopping.  

Back in the car, I got my second taste of driving on the left side of the road in our right-hand steering car. On previous trips to the UK/Scotland, we had others drive or we took public transportation so this was my first time outside of Forza (video game) to drive this way.  Turning into the correct lane and even the roundabouts weren't that difficult, however, I turned on the WIPERS every time I meant to turn on the turn signal.  This did not get better on days 2-5.  As we were to find out (foreshadowing), this was not the most challenging thing about driving in Fiji.

We arrived at our hotel at about two in the afternoon and the room wasn't ready, so we took advantage of Fiji Time and got a cocktail at the bar.  We decided to stay at the Marriott Momi Bay which is a really nice hotel south of Nadi about 30 minutes.  It was closer to our activities than Denaru, so it was a good place to choose.  Also, it is the ONLY hotel in Fiji with over-water bungalows (or "bure").  

We went with the All-Inclusive package which was fine.  I think the food options were adequate (three restaurants were on the plan), but not many people did it.  I didn't do the math, but it may have paid off.  We didn't drink a lot or it really would have.  We found the cocktails on the plan were consistently bad - the paid ones were better, but they may need better bartenders in general. I drank plenty of Fiji Bitter (beer) and Shellie drank Pure Blonde (Australian).

We were pretty tired after the long flight and a full day so we wrapped it up early and hit the sack.

Day Two

Today we drove an hour southeast to the town of Sigatoka to take a River Safari Jet Boat tour.  On the way, I got a speeding ticket (90km/hr in an 80 zone - national speed limit, taken very seriously).   The super nice cop did not let me off with a warning, but he did offer to help me get my fine to the right people, so I didn't have to find the location and deal with that on our limited timetable.  He wrote a full account of my transgression in longhand on a large piece of paper - no fill-in-the-blank here - and I was glad we left much earlier than needed to allow for the extra Fiji Time. The stop set us back at least 20 minutes.

From the shop in Sigatoka, we took a short drive into the interior and arrived at a base camp.  We split up into about 12 to each powerful, but flat, jet boat.  The captain, Fabulous Freddy, stopped a couple of times and told us about the history of Fiji and life in his village and others like his - how the kids swim across the river with books and dry clothes piled onto an innertube to go to school and then swim back.  

After jetting around (the water is low in this time of year, November, before the rainy season), so boating is more fun, with more obstacles, we docked at the base of the Mavua village and ascended a path to the village grounds.  Very simple houses are arranged around a green yard and that area is surrounded by farms.

If you get a chance to visit a village such as this one (or this one - take this tour!) you will get a real appreciation for how simple a life can be and also how fulfilling.  These people have very few modern conveniences, but they have food (grown or hunted) and any money they get from family working outside of the village or from tourism funds basic necessities or is saved for kids' education and natural disasters.  

The people of Fiji, whether in the resort, at the airport, on the road, or in the village are the main reason to visit.  Sure, it's breathtakingly beautiful, but the people are the kindest people I have ever met anywhere.   Every single person will greet you with "Bula!" which is basically "Hello!" but better - see below. In the village, we met the residents in a Kava ceremony and introduced ourselves one at a time. We ate a meal, we danced and they played music and sang songs with beautiful harmonies, showing off lifetimes of practice and the soul of a religious and joyful people.

The children of the village joined us for dancing and some of the visitors offered toys and coloring books, stickers, and a soccer ball.  All thoughtful gifts for kids who don't sit around and play on phones all day. We spent about three hours at the village and then it was time to go.  

On the way back, Freddy piloted the boat into several 360 spins where we got drenched and then finished up back in town in the early afternoon.  We spent the rest of the day at the resort and went to bed relaxed and happy.

Day Three and Four

Day three was a resort day - started by watching the Longhorns beat Kansas State (barely, pure luck) at 4am, then hanging out by the pool, catching up on sleep, and doing some research on Fiji customs and the history of Cannibalism in Fiji.  We ended the day with a buffet spread at the outdoor restaurant, with local delicacies.  We had to get to bed early to get up at 3am for our next adventure - a river rafting tour.

At 3:50am we set out in the dark for Pacific Harbour - allowing enough time for traffic and the slow 80km/h max speed limit. (It's 137km/h on the highway by us in Texas).

Turns out this was a good move as we got a flat tire only 40 minutes into the trip.  Luckily, there was a lit shop on the side of the road and I was able to change the tire. It was probably a pothole - Fiji is the land of potholes - there are more potholes than people and the main roads have tons of them.  

Five miles from our destination, the spare went flat.  Also likely one of the potholes along the way.  I took out road hazard insurance before the trip (will update this to verify it worked).  But the car was now undrivable.

I called the tour company, Rivers Fiji, and asked for their help, and true to Fijian ways of friendliness and helpfulness they came and picked us up, offered to work it out with the rental company while we were off the grid all day, and even got the car back to their place to wait for a replacement.  

The tour was a two-hour drive into the interior and then a five-hour rafting adventure through narrow canyons and some small rapids. (When the water is higher, the scenery is worse but the water flows faster). Our guide, Moses, was an original guide from when the company started 28 years ago.  He had tons of stories and details about life in Fiji.  All of the guides were great, but Moses was a special treat. There were only four of us paddling with Moses - Shellie and I were joined by Adi and Vidya from the San Fran area. They were great traveling companions.  The scenery was unbelievable and I don't say that lightly - check out these photos. Canyons and waterfalls, and clear water. 

We got a picnic lunch halfway and at times we could get out of the raft and swim.  It was a total blast and worth doing again.  When we finally got back to the starting point, our new rental was there - they had taken care of everything and I can't thank Rivers Fiji enough.  We navigated every pothole on the way back and arrived at 7:15pm tired from the long day.

Day Five - Departure

We got a late checkout (only noon, but the Marriott offers hospitality rooms for an hour if you want to go do something and then get freshened up before a late flight).

We chose to drive to get lunch at Club 57 on top of the Ramada near Denaru, with beautiful views of the Pacific from this rooftop spot.  We gassed up and then headed for the airport to duke it out with Budget.  

After working out the cost of the tires and the gas, we were still way early for our flight but just hung out at the airport for the last four hours.  10 hours to LA, 5 hours layover, and an earlier-than-expected departure got us home at close to 1am.

Takeaways

1) Go to Fiji for the people.  Nicest ever. Not an exaggeration.

2) Learn Bula and Vinaka (Thank you) before you go. If you don't, don't sweat it - you will hear it hundreds of times.

3) Bula doesn't just mean Hi.  It's more like "Hi, I am so glad to see you and it's going to be a great day." And "Bula! Bula!" means double that or more.

4) Don't drive or Do take car insurance - the potholes are plentiful and aggressive

5) Rainy season is November-March with the bulk in Jan/Feb (plan accordingly) 

6) It's a beautiful country to hike or explore

7) Take the chance to visit a village on a tour like Sigatoka River Safari

8) If you tour a village, try to take along some small toys for the kids - coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc.

9) Recommended tours are Rivers Fiji, Sigatoka River Safari, and Sabeto Hot Springs and Mud Pool

BONUS:  "Islands in the Stream" is an immensely popular song here - don't know why but it was performed at the resort, heard on the radio, and a girl was singing it while cleaning in the coffee shop - bizarre...

Switzerland - Geneva

Today we had two things planned - visit CERN, the site of the supercollider, and the International Red Cross Museum.  

You can get a Geneva pass which offers discounts or free admission to places and tram/bus fares.  

Nerd Alert

We bought a two day pass, and from the train station, there was a direct train to CERN which is just west of the city center.  CERN is a Nuclear Research facility and the home of the giant atom smasher (Large Hadron Collider), an underground circular tunnel 27km (16.8 miles) in diameter that cuts through Switzerland and France. CERN is also credited with starting the World Wide Web (sorry Al Gore fans).

There is a really cool bike tour that you can take to learn about the supercollider which involves riding your bike around the path of the collider tunnel which is 100m underground. There are small towns along the way in both Switzerland and France, but Shellie and I weren't up for biking 50 miles. Instead we visited the museum and learned about CERN's activities.  

From CERN we headed back to the station and caught a bus to the Red Cross Museum. This visit held special importance for me as my mom was in the Red Cross after she finished college in 1955 and 1956. It was a really cool museum with lots of memorabilia from Red Cross missions around the world, both in the past and today. We spent about an hour and a half looking at the exhibits and walking the grounds.

Instead of taking the bus back, I convinced Shellie to walk back to our hotel.  On paper it looked pretty close, but it was a pretty good hike.  On the way, though, we were able to see a few spots. The United Nations Building and grounds are directly across from the museum, but much of it is off limits to tourists. 

We headed down the Avenue de la Paix to see the Broken Chair sculpture and the Alley of Flags where the flags of all the member nations are flown. We also saw the home of the WTO World Trade Organization.

From there we continued toward the lake.  Between the lake and the UN grounds are the Botanical gardens. There are a lot of native and non-native plants there and it is a peaceful area within the busy city. 

Cactus in Switzerland?

Walking along Lake Geneva -
Jet d'Eau in the distance

Since our hotel was only a couple of blocks from the lake and so were the gardens, we decided to walk along the lake to get back.  We got lost a couple of times trying to find the main boardwalk, but eventually found it just when it started to rain.  We got pretty drenched by the time we got back to the hotel.  

For dinner we ate at a restaurant which looked interesting, directly across from the hotel. It was another French restaurant, Le Restaurant L'Entrecôte Couronnée. We tried the four course meal and had some nice wine and desserts. 

After dinner, Shellie wanted to go back to a Casino that was on the same tram route as CERN. We took the tram and walked a half mile to the Casino du Lac near the airport and the Mövenpick Hotel (which says it has a Casino, but you basically go through the hotel to the Casino du Lac). It's a two-story casino with mostly slot machines. We had a good time there but didn't win anything. We took a cab home. Since the casino was near the airport, we had a good idea what another one might cost in the morning.

In the morning we booked a very early cab (no one was even out on the streets yet). We got rid of our Euros and Francs - the driver took both as do many service providers in Geneva since it's on the border.  I found it humorous that Switzerland uses Francs, but France uses Euros.

We made our flight in plenty of time, but the connection in the US was diverted and we ended up going through New York instead of Washington DC.  We still got home at roughly the same time, weary but happy to have learned and seen all we did in two weeks.

I guess no one wants to leave Switzerland

Switzerland - Geneva

Today we sadly left Zermatt to go to Geneva, our endpoint for this vacation. I expect we will get a taste of French culture being so close to the border. We though about stopping at Gruyere to see how the famous cheese is made, but it was a little out of our schedule so we opted to take the train straight to Geneva.

Upon arriving at the station, it was an easy walk to our hotel, Hotel Eastwest, which was in a great location relative to the main sights on Lake Geneva.  Once we arrived and checked in, we headed out to the lake to see the sights and find some dinner. 

On the Pont
du Mont-Blanc Bridge

The first thing we wanted to see was the Jet d'Eau, a famous water fountain that shoots straight up 140m (460 feet). We crossed the Pont du Mont-Blanc bridge which spans the lower part of the lake and the Jet d'Eau was on our left.  We found a viewing spot a little closer and watched as it went off and some boats got wet from the spray.  

Flower Clock

Then we headed into the old town which is to the right and across the first main street, Quai du Général-Guisan, as you exit the bridge. You will see high-end shops on the periphery, but walking a few blocks in, there are cafes and older buildings to see. The properties started going up a large hill and we aborted and turned back to find a bite to eat, but nothing caught our eye.

We missed the famous Flower Clock somehow, so we went back to the lake's banks to find it. Finally, we found it not far from where we viewed the Jet d'Eau.  

Back at our hotel we asked where to eat and they made us a reservation at a Swiss place down the street, L'Auberge de Saviese, which turned out to be top 20 in Geneva which is pretty good with all the French cuisine in the area. It wasn't that expensive and we enjoyed it.  I had perch caught from Lake Geneva. We walked around a little in the neighborhood near our hotel and up toward the train station, looking for ice cream, but not finding it, settled for a nightcap at the hotel.

Switzerland - Zermatt / Gornergrat

Today our big event was to get to the top of Gornergrat with views of the Matterhorn and other 4,000m peaks.

Gornergrat is easily accessible from Zermatt station via the Gornergrat Bahn - a normal train that ascends to the summit and takes 33 minutes. There are plenty of photo ops along the way and you can get out at various stops to hike if you wish. 

We went up to the summit where the Kulm Hotel is the second highest hotel in Europe. We thought about staying there instead of in Zermatt, but we were glad we chose the more -in-town option based on our interests. The scenery from the hotel and grounds though is amazing and we arrived on a relatively clear day.

We got spectacular pictures of the Matterhorn and surrounding mountain ranges.  

  

When we got back to town, we ate at Pollux - which is a hotel with three restaurants.  We ended up eating at Restaurant Arvenstube. They have Raclette, but we opted for fish and lamb which were both delicious.

Then Shellie bought a Swiss watch as an upgrade for her 20 year old watch.

Switzerland - Interlaken and Zermatt

Today we planned to go see the Ballenberg Open Air Museum, which was having a festival. This "museum" is basically a large park with exhibits of Switzerland throughout the centuries. You can see how the people lived and worked through replica housing and on-site craftsmen showing the trades of the time. This week there was a huge festival and thinking we may be strapped for time, we forfeited our tickets and instead visited Harder Kulm right next to our station and a few minutes' walk from our hotel.

Harder Kulm is a high point (4337 ft / 1322 m) above Interlaken that you can reach via a VERY steep funicular - see video descending it.  

At the top is restaurant and some viewing areas. The previous days we could see people hang gliding off of the area around it.

There's not much to do up there, but the funicular ride is fun (Shellie may not agree) and the scenery at the top and the view is nice. It was an easy trip taking only about an hour to see everything. The funicular seating is limited, so if it is crowded, you may have to wait to ascend.

After returning to the station, we checked out of the hotel and got on the train bound for Zermatt. We had a couple train changes and the whole thing took about 2 and half hours.

Zermatt is a car-free town - cars can park outside the town limits, so taking a train worked out well. We also booked a hotel very close to the station - the long-winded "SchlossHotel Zermatt Active & CBD Spa Hotel."  Basically, the SchlossHotel.

The hotel room was very nice and our little suite had a view of the Matterhorn.

We set out to explore the town and ended up at the Matterhorn Museum which has small setups of rooms and equipment from the time the Matterhorn was first being expedition.

We ate Swiss food at Whymper-Stube, along the main road. It's a cute little place that serves traditional Swiss dishes, including Raclette, a very popular melted cheese dish. It has a strong smell when it's heated up - so beware.  I like the taste when I'm eating it, but if I'm not, the smell is distracting until you get olfactory fatigue.

After dinner we strolled along the main road, window shopping on our way back to the hotel.

Zermatt - Not sure why my picture shows a car -
there aren't any, 'cept those little jitney things on the right