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Suva Fiji islands.
We docked at around 7 am whilst David and I were just about rousing ourselves. The captain made an announcement and confidently predicted an overcast day with showers and thunder. By the time we stepped foot on terra firma at 9am, the sun was blazing and the humidity in the high 80s. It was completely stifling but we headed out the short walk to the main town.
Suva is a very busy port with industrial ships always arriving and masses of containers which don't really add to the picturesque scene which is the backdrop to the town. The town, or city really, is extremely bustling with shop after shop selling fine materials, clothes and handicrafts.
The population is a rough half and half Indian to native Fijian. The Indian representatives, many of them second or third generation, seem to make up the majority of the shop keepers. Everyone greeted us with a friendly exclamation of "Bula!" As we wandered around. We had been warned that the shop keepers tried the hard sell tactic and would try to shove you into their particular store but this was not our experience at all. Everyone was polite and gently asked us to take a look at their items. There was no hard sell whatsoever, not even at the handicraft markets which lined many of the traffic choked roads.
Boy was it traffic choked.... it seemed utterly pointless to get in a car because they just appeared to stand still. The fumes from the vehicles, along with the heat and humidity, lead to an oppressive mix. We still enjoyed wandering around the shops though and found a few gem items.
It turns out that the Fijian police rugby team is very successful and very popular. We found a store which sold every conceivable type of garment with Fijian police rugby as the logo.....David bought me their actual rugby shirt and it is super cool, I love it.
We both wanted to buy a traditional Bula shirt....these are similar to Hawaiian shirts with their garish patterns and colours but they are very popular in Fiji and have a distinctly different look to Hawaiian shirts. The patterns and markings are very Fijian and everyone, even the locals, seemed to be wearing them. Bula shirts are the biz.
We found a store which sold both male and female Bula's for a reasonable price. I got two because I couldn't decide on a colour and David got a lovely vivid green one. As we were walking around the shops this afternoon they had a power cut and every single store on the street we were on was without electricity. This meant no fans, no air con......no fridges and freezers to chill drinks and ice creams....the shop keepers were desperately trying to flog anything perishable. It was odd waking past the open doored stores and, inside, they were in relative darkness. The power was out for around an hour we thought. I meant to ask if it was a regular occurrence but, as we entered another store, the power came back and everyone became preoccupied with cheering.
I couldn't convince David that he would look good in a sula ..../and I did try very hard! The Sula is a wrap around long skirt which many of the boys and men in Fiji still wear. They have brightly coloured casual Sula but also navy pin striped ones for the office. I thought they looked great but, sadly, Dave assured me that he didn't want one. Would have been awesome if he turned up to his new job in a pin striped Sula......
The heat and humidity finally did us in just after midday and we sought shelter in a restaurant where we enjoyed a Fijian beer. After another walk around town and checking out the handicraft markets, we took the short trip back to the ship and straight into the swimming pool.
It wasn't much relief because the water was so hot but we enjoyed it anyway! Dave and I got chatting to a couple from Tasmania whilst we were in the pool.....I mentioned the medical emergency the other day and how we had lost one passenger....this couple told me that, to date, on this cruise, we have lost at LEAST 11 passengers. Apparently there was an ambulance waiting at the port this morning to cart yet another one off to hospital....hopefully they will all be okay and I won't mention what the average number of deaths is per cruise!
We are, right now, sitting on the balcony sailing away from Suva as I type this. The temperature is much more bearable and the promised cloud cover has finally materialised. So far the captain has been incorrect on most of his weather predictions! Tomorrow is going to be showers and cloud too apparently.....so we are expecting scorching sun and blue skies.
Ooooh.....thunder and lightening JUST started!
Once we have sailed off a bit more we are going to head down for some dinner.Hope everyone back home is okay and, mum, I hope you get your electrics and heating sorted.... :-(
Edit***
I couldn't post this earlier because the satellite internet was down. It is around four hours later, 21;20 hrs....we had a nice dinner and then popped to crooners for a couple of drinks. I managed to coax david into effys and we entered the raffle draw which was on this evening. Dave was a winner!
He has won a nice necklace and earring set....not something either he or I would wear but we think Barbara would like it. We are both tired now and heading for an early night.
Tomorrow is Savu-Savu.... we hope for another excellent day.
TTFN
- comments
Gary We like all the shirts and Barbara said she will be pleased to take the necklace and earrings off your hands. It's a good job the cruise is just 20 days or you may have had a whole deck empty. P.S. Barbara says can you keep Pew away from Little Little as she seems to be a bad role model.