Daily Times

Ever since I saw the film ‘South Pacific’, I had wanted to tour the South Seas, if for no other reason than to watch their fabulous sunsets.

So when the chance came to visit Fiji, I grabbed it. I wanted the island to remain a mystery until I got there. I had naively assumed the locals would be similar to those in Hawaii or the Caribbean. Yes, they resembled those living in the Caribbean, being of African origin, and the beaches and sunset were similar to what you would see in the Caribbean or Hawaii, but that is where the similarities ended.

As we deplaned at Nadi airport, the hot and humid air of the tropics greeted us. We took a taxi to our hotel, which was located on the beach on Denarau Island.

After checking into our room, we ventured out for a walk along the beach. The views were the kind to die for. The waters of the Pacific shimmered in the sunlight and the leaves of the coconut palms rustled in the breeze.

After checking into our room, we ventured out for a walk along the beach. The views were the kind to die for. The waters of the Pacific shimmered in the sunlight and the leaves of the coconut palms rustled in the breeze

But there was a catch. We could not walk on the beach itself. The temptation had to be resisted. It had a chocolate colour and was cordoned off for safety reasons. There were several hotels on Denarau Island but none had a sandy beach. The island was built on a swamp and landfill. Wow! But it was too late to change hotels. Someone told us later that the Intercontinental Hotel was the only one on the main island with a sandy beach.

But even then, the coconut trees provided an ethereal backdrop against which to view the red and yellow sunsets. We walked along the pathway mornings and evenings during the next four days, taking in the surreal views.

On the first day, we went for a two-hour treatment at the hotel’s Heavenly Spa. The large lily pond at the entrance was stunning with its abundance of pink foliage.

The multi-layered treatments were very relaxing. First came exfoliation. Second came a hot shower. And third came a leisurely massage. I felt 20 years younger when it was done and said that to the beaming masseuse. This treatment would be repeated on the fourth day. Perhaps we had over indulged in the sensuous experience but we had gone there to relax and to forget the troubles of the world.

On the second day, we watched a Fiji cultural show at the Coco Palms open air theatre. This featured a buffet dinner and local music, amazing dances, and a man who walked on burning ambers.

We sat on a table with folks from New Zealand, Florida and Quebec, Canada. The conversation was very interesting. But at some point it turned inevitably to the antics of the US president.

The Kitchen Grill at the hotel had among the best lunches and dinners I have had anywhere else. The service was exceptionally responsive and polite as well. Just about every type of cuisine, including Chinese, Japanese and Indian was featured, along with western items. Dinner was accompanied by a half-hour show featuring native dance and music on the beach.

One the third day we did a half-day tour of Mana Island. The views during the cruise were amazing. The water was a clear deep blue; the sky was a lighter shade of blue. We also got to see the smaller islands along the sea, which were covered with sand and palm trees and people enjoying water sports.

Mana Island had real sandy beaches. We spent an hour just lying on chairs in the shade of the palm trees, taking in the views and watching people from Asia get their first snorkelling lesson.

BEACH SCENES

On the fourth day, we did a four-part tour of Nadi that would prove to be rich in anthropological detail, geography and economics. First, we visited a rustic farmer’s market where every imaginable produce was being sold along with bouquets and arrangements of tropical flowers.

Second, we toured a village, which was built at the spot where the first immigrants arrived. Our guide told us that they came from Tanzania some 3,500 years ago. I said that’s a long ways away. How did they get here in such a pre-historic time? He said on canoes. I was still sceptical, given the distance and the lack of maps and the roughness of the high seas.

But he said that their origins had been established through DNA testing of the current population. He added that some of the ancestors had Egyptian blood in them and may have migrated to Tanzania to escape persecution by the pharaohs. But I was unable to substantiate most of his statements on the Internet.

We saw a government building and a church that are part of the village. He said all native Fijians are Christians.

I also discovered there was a very disturbing aspect to Fijian history having to do with the gruesome practice of cannibalism. Apparently it was being practiced on the islands until the mid-19th century.

Third, we went up to a magical orchid and water-lily garden that was tucked on a mountain whose shape resembled that of a sleeping giant. The actor Raymond Burr built the garden.

Fourth, we were taken to the Lookout Point where you got a great view of the harbour and of the volcanic mountains that had given rise to Fiji.

While returning to the hotel, we stopped to check out the souvenirs at a department store called Tappoo, a chain store owned by a man of Indian descent. There were lots of shoppers from that big cruise ship, which was anchored off the harbour.

Wherever I went, the people were friendly. They spoke fluent English. Some of them, such as the hostess on the cruise boat, spoke the King’s English. If you were not seeing the person, you would think you they were from the UK.

A few also spoke Fiji Hindi. One sales clerk overheard us talking in Urdu at a department store and asked if we were from India. I said we were born and raised in Pakistan but had lived in the US for our entire adult life.

I asked him “how are you” in Urdu. He smiled. I asked if he understood me. He said yes. Then I asked him to repeat the question to me in Fiji Hindi and he did. But it sounded like a rural dialect to me. He said that Fiji Hindi is like rural Hindi and most urban folks cannot stand it.

The British governed Fiji for a 100 years before being granted independence in 1970. Its short political history has been troubled, marked by several coups and tensions between the native Fiji population and the population of Indian ancestry.

The flight home gave us some great aerial views of some of the small islands of Fiji.

The writer has travelled to 32 countries on six continents and can be reached at ahmadfaruqui@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 19^th 2017.