On the buses, Fiji style

Fiji's Viti Levu 'big island' has a big fleet of colourful and mainly comfortable buses, plying the routes between and within its main population centres. It wasn't difficult (or expensive) getting around.

Our day trip from Nadi to Suva and back went quite smoothly. It's about four hours each way along the Queen's Rd, and the buses were fine. Even the driving in Fiji is relaxed and sensible - there's none of the prolonged passenger terror you experience in India or Indonesia, say. (Maybe it's the kava, we thought.)

There was one thing that was decidedly wrong about our evening ride back though: the driver's choice of video to screen. In other places at other times I've been subjected to noisy kung fu, Bollywoods, silly slapstick comedies. You name it, somebody will make you watch it on a bus journey somewhere. This one though was totally new to me. It was a rather horrible ultra-violent junk prison 'drama'. I doubt there was much of a story line, just endless scenes of the prisoners, male and female, beating each other almost to a pulp. I was making a point of trying to look out the window, though it was soon too dark to see anything out there. Many of the other passengers were riveted to the screen however. Including small children. My companion, being a teacher, had to suppress her urge to march to the front and order the driver to take it off.

It was quite a revelation to encounter this unexpected facet of Fiji culture. They're generally so calm and gentle and friendly. Maybe it's all the rugby union they play, and the violence porn they watch, that keeps them so outwardly calm? As well as the kava.

Suva

Fiji's capital Suva was a four-hour bus ride from Nadi. While it's probably not one of the world's greatest capitals, it's worth a visit, and seems a pleasant and moderately busy sort of place.

There are some fine old colonial buildings, as well as a handful of modern new ones. There are nice parks and Fiji's national museum too.

Fiji cyclones? What Fiji cyclones?

We booked our Fiji holiday a few weeks after Cyclone Winston tore through the place. That was reported to have been the country's strongest tropical cyclone ever. They were rebuilding, we read, and they were very keen that tourists keep coming, to keep the economy moving.

Most of the damage from Winston was in outer regions, such as the Yasawa Islands in the north west. Our travel agent found us places to stay that were operating OK, near Nadi,and on Elevuka (aka Treasure Island), which is south of, but within sight of, the Yasawas.

Then a few days before our trip, another cyclone came along. Zena threatened to wreck it all for us, but at the last minute it got downgraded into 'just' a massive rainfall event. Nadi was flooded, roads, resorts and the airport were briefly closed, but reopened again just in time.

So what were the visible effects of all this? Not all that much, for us. The Nadi market was a bit of a lonely place though, with a notable shortage of fresh goods for sale.



On the other hand, the markets in Suva (Fiji's biggest town), and Lautoka (2nd biggest), seemed pretty busy still, and were very colourful, lively places to visit.

The Treasure Island Resort was thriving, except that there was damage to some of the accommodation cabins, with much rebuilding going on.





On the subject of colourful markets, I particularly like the picture of Pudding and Pie, my new friends in Lautoka market.

Anyway, Fiji's clearly open for business. I'm sure there's large scale devastation though in those outer regions - tens of thousands homeless in fact - and I'll be making an appropriate donation through one of the reputable charities shortly.