hello there, well last night got to sample some of the local beer, we started on cocktails some blue thing that went down rather well, then moved on to some of the local lager, dont think anna was to keen on it though! Later on in the evening we joined some of the locals for a drink it was a little strage to be fair but free beer never the less so i was in and yet again there was lashings of kebabs!! The locals were very friendly and spoke better english than i do!! i know some of you will find this hard to believe he he! Seem to be getting over the fiji- barnsley language barrier though now!Then yet agian that was another day over! This morning we were both up early again to a selection of mozzy bites and sunburn, but managed to find a full english breakfast to start the day, seems though what ever type of egg you request it comes out looking remarkably like a fried one!! we spent this morning relaxing by the pool again, anna reading her sheepdog book and me reading classic tractor and farmers weekly, can take the lad out a the country an all that.....Then we decided that we should go for a little tour into Nadi town. so i went to reception and ordered a taxi, well within two minutes a taxi was waiting for us at reception, well i think it was a taxi but not just sure weather it may have been a car that they had found dumped last night. It did have 4 wheels and 4 doors but this was about as far as the luxuary went althought the air conditioning was very good, sorry i mean the various holes in the floor an sides and there was some rather intresting noises from the back of the car. Anyway wasn't to far to town and good to see the none tourist parts. i think the best way to describe the roads round here is to say that they are similar to the ones round home, knackered!! anyway we made it to Nadi no sooner as we got out of the car we whisked straight into a cafe and two menu's shoved under our noses, so we gave in an ordered two fruit smoothies which to be fair where very nice and dead cheap. so we set off again up the main high street and two minutes later we were stopped again by another seemingly friendly local, bearing i mind that we are still high on holiday spirit and probably some of last nights beer too we followed him across the road to his shop. Once we got into the shop we where invited to the far end of the room to be blessed ha ha (i'm sure i've been blessed somewhere along the line before he he). so anyway we both went along with it off with our shoes anna had to put some sacred skirt on, looked more like an old curtain to me though, then we all sat on this old wicker mat. i was elected as chief of the ceromany (sorry my spelling not good and anna scratching her head too!) then they brought out this old bowl some strange looking powder, some water, and a strange cloth bag, the powder was put into the bag, the water in the bowl, then the bag in the water, while we both looked on confussed, anyway turned out he was'nt doing his washing its was actually the fiji local drink, Kava, it looked lovely like a sort of mucky grey colour similar to when i used to wash my hands after a day at work! then two cups appeared,great. so as chief of the ceromany it was my turn first so just i was about to launch in they stopped me an i had to say bula (hello) then clap my hands once then down it in one so away we went bula, clap then down she goes, now after my several years experience of downing shots on a saturday night in barnsley i've got to say that it was about the crapiest thing i have ever tasted and was quite clearly invented in mud huts ha ha!! but you've got to try these things, think for anna it was another entry for the ever growing disgusting list he he! So anyway i closed the ceromany by drinking a bit more then we thought we could get away, but oh no before we knew it we had a necklace each and was been shown round there souviners department! which to me all looked like different coloured and legnths of 4 x 2 but apperently where actually tools to assist with the stripping down of people to eat in the past, luckily they didnt have a resturant department!! So anyway its was really reassuring to know that we where at the other side of the world been blessed by cannibals!! Anyway then the person who first brought us into thier shop started showing us around the gifts, first he gave us a wooden statue type thing which he said he would engrave for us, then he thought we might quite like our own blessing kit now that i was a qualified chief an all!! So we thought been in fiji an all that we best have one just in case sort of thing! So he chucked in two cups, and a bag of Kava powder assuring us that it would go through customs ok, (think the powder will be blessing the hotel bin before we leave!). so this was all well and good and to be fair had been quite good fun! but then came out the scariest weapon of all the casio calculator!! Unfortunately i dont think this had been blessed but was about to be by me!! 300 fiji dolars later we where allowed to leave the shop, around 90 pounds in our money, but i suppose we where laden with goods and afterall well blessed!! No wonder when we walked back past the shop later on they where all waving! They were either all very friendly or just trashed on Kava!! From there we wandered further up in to the town centre but to be fair there wasn't much to see and it was starting to rain so we jumped in the nearest taxi and set off back to the hotel. this taxi was the hieght of luxuary it had a solid floor and a grey sheepskin dash board trim that was lavered in dust! Anyway that brings us up to now sat in the air conditioned computer room. Going to have a steady night tonight then where starting the fiji experience tomorrow so could be fun!! hope your all are well Tom and Anna