Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eVkHaU1ZMVmJhCxx8
I have to say, I didn’t dislike Fiji nearly as much as I thought I would. I still maintain that beaches are overrated, but this was a pleasant (if slooooow) enough trip. Basically was a one week stopover, as the cheapest way for me to leave this part of the world back to Asia was using 30k AA miles from Fiji to Singapore (this one way was priced at over 1000 USD), and the mileage redemption was only available on Jan 4. So I figured I would leave NZ in late Dec and spend a little time in Fiji before heading back to Asia.
My first and last nights in Fiji were in the airport town of Nadi. Honestly might be the single worst town I have EVER stayed in. There is absolutely nothing to do – a few bars and restaurants, sure, but just a godawful beach (really, like objectively might be the worst beach I have ever been to). I even got to the airport 6 hours early on my final day because I was incredibly bored, and my hostel was charging for WiFi which I refused to pay for out of principle, while the airport provided free WiFi (and AC, which the hostel lobby did not have). And yet, this hostel was miles better than the hostel I stayed in my first night in Nadi when I arrived, where a gang of cockroaches had to get ferried out of our dorm room. It’s a shame that pretty much everyone who visits Fiji spends their first and last nights in Nadi because that is a great way to give you both a terrible first impression and terrible last memory of the country.
In between was not too bad, but certainly not great by any stretch. I paid about 500 USD for a 5 day/4 night package to island hop in the Yasawa Islands, in the northwest of the main island of Fiji (where Nadi is based). This package included all boat transfers (I did 2 nights at Blue Lagoon Resort on Nacula Island, 1 night at Octopus Resort on Waya Island, and 1 night at Barefoot Kuata Resort on Kuata Island), all accomodation (in dorms…the privates were outrageously pricey), transport from your Nadi lodging to the port and back from the port to the ferry at the end (this was probably a 30+ USD value), and all food, so all you had to pay for was scuba, alcohol, and any other activities. My first two nights were at Blue Lagoon, which was a 4.5 hour ferry ride from the Nadi port. Then Octopus, which was about 2 hours south of Blue Lagoon. Then Kuata, which was about 30 minutes south of Octopus, and then finally a last 2 hour ride south from Kuata back to Nadi. The cool thing was the dorms were literally a part of these super nice (yet rustic…nothing like the obscene Cancun/etc. international resorts) resorts and we had the same bars, food, etc. and mingled with the richer folk.
Blue Lagoon was a pleasant enough beach, and it had some fantastic food and really good coral reef scuba diving. Probably the 2nd best coral I have seen after the Red Sea, but macro life was nonexistent. You can do these fed Bull Shark dives in Fiji where they shoot out tuna heads and attract like close to 100 sharks that just swim around you, but morally I am against any sort of wildlife encounter like that were humans draw them in, so I did not do those. But yea, the dives were suuuuper easy…I think Galapagos really improved my skill level as well, but this was basically 30 degree Celsius water where you drop down and just float alongside beautiful coral. Very low effort and very relaxing, so that was a nice little activity. But the dives were 70 USD a pop and it was *only* coral, so I just did two as I think at that price I would want to see sharks and big life naturally.
Besides that, I sort of just chilled with a few of the other backpackers at Blue Lagoon. Developed a taste for the local lager, Fiji Gold, which is excellent (and cheap!). And if I did decide to splurge on cocktails (~9 USD), they were honestly all strong and incredible. New Year’s was fun enough, we had a good group of 6 in total. Everyone I met in Fiji lived in either NZ or Australia, and was on a 1-2 week holiday. It’s actually kind of funny…I got along well with enough Aussies on this trip that had I gone to Australia after Fiji, I probably could have done a 2-3 week trip with 75%+ free accommodation from staying on all these random couches that were offered to me by these Aussies. They are just the best backpackers. But New Year’s at Blue Lagoon was a relatively timid yet fun enough time – apparently myself and a Welsh dude who now lives in Australia took a couple of suicide shots, which I suppose was fun…these are tequila shots where you snort a line of salt, take the shot, and squeeze the lime into your eyes. As one of the Aussie girls there said, “that is just such a MALE thing to do”.
After Blue Lagoon I went down to Octopus, which was by far the best beach of the three. Like literal picture perfect and what you see in those Corona commercials or when you picture “paradise”. And yet, I would say that this is still a comfortable 2nd behind Bazuarto in Mozambique as the “best” beach I have ever seen. I do think if the Mayan Riviera and Zanzibar were both less developed, they would be nicer too. But this was a great beach with gorgeous weather, and I just sort of lazed around my entire stay here. Hung out with these two cool Aussie girls, and one of them is actually an actress who was a recurring character in a show by Chris Lilly (of Summer Heights High fame…this show was for some reason huge in my high school even though it’s Aussie), where Chris Lilly plays the high school girl Ja’ime. So I thought that was pretty cool. The other Aussie girl was actually super interested in Afghanistan so I gave her my guide’s info, which was neat since I always get super enthusiastic when I talk about that trip so to have someone actually reciprocate that interest was nice. And while the food at Blue Lagoon was great, the food here was out of this world. It was fancy enough where at dinner we had these small dishes served before each of the 3 courses AND after dessert, which I have only ever seen in Michelin star restaurants. Fiji as a whole had excellent, excellent food, and Octopus was really the cherry on top of all of that.
My final lodge was at Barefoot Kuata, which was probably the “worst” of the 3 lodges I stayed at as it was the most backpacker-y and the least resort-y. Wound up hanging out with a group of Aussie friends from Sydney and some Brits who live in NZ here. One of the Aussie girls was actually (much like the last island!) super interested in Afghanistan after she independently brought traveling there up, so I also sent her my guide’s info as well.
Speaking of Afghanistan, I finished Khaled Hosseini’s second book (after The Kite Runner), A Thousand Splendid Suns, during this trip. Also set in Afghanistan, and I know there is recency bias, but it legitimately might be one of the best books I have ever read. It was the first time (and most likely last time) I ever teared up while reading a book, just so wonderfully written. I also started his third book, And the Mountains Echoed. While I have never gotten into poetry before, the 13th century Rumi poem he had to start the book is just such an incredible poem…I don’t think I have ever reacted to a poem before but this legit made me go “huh” and just think. But the poem is: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there”.
So after Fiji, I’ll be spending a few days in Singapore staying with my cousin and his wife (they recently moved here from Delhi), just figuring out my travel plans through mid-March before I head over to Madagascar. First stop is the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, where I will be doing a week-long jungle trek from the town of Ketambe to hopefully spot some wild Orangutans!