Nadi, Fiji is the welcoming place for almost all tourists to the islands of Fiji.  Pronounced, “Nandi”, you are immediately introduced to a hybrid world of “natives” (people with heritage from the Fijian Islands) and “Indo-Fijians” (people with heritage from India).  The population is split evenly.  An Indo-Fijian man is currently Prime Minister.  In the 4th grade, students are split briefly to take basic classes in their ancestral languages but they are quickly reunited.  The separation does not last long.  The capital city is Suva.  I did not make it there.  I spent 9 days on the Yasawa Island chain, in the northwest and 3 days in the moutains east of Nadi during Cyclone Josie.  I then spent a final 5 days on the Coral Coast.   It was really important for me to see what people meant when they referred to “Nadi-town”.

The hostels are situated west of the southern part of the airport runways in a newly developed stretch of beach called Wailoaloa.  The water is dark and hot.  I imagine there is significant fuel runoff from the airport.  The beach is filled with sand flies and mosquitoes.  The backpackers take it all with a grain of salt and sit at the picnic tables enjoying their beers.  Fiji is the hub of the South Pacific.  For the most part, you have to fly through Fiji to get anywhere else in the region.  I would find myself forced to stay in Nadi again and again because of this reason.  I figured I might as well see what the actual town has to offer.  The public bus cost $1 USD and terminated across the road from Bamboo Backpackers Hostel.  I took the 20 minute ride to the start of the route: the Nadi bus terminal.  

The bus terminal is parking lot style.  There are a few platforms with coverings for weather.  There is an undocumented prepaid card system to ride the buses.  My first time around, it wasn’t clear that you are also supposed to buy the cards directly from the bus driver.  In my first odd South Pacific communication moment, when I boarded the bus and the driver told me I needed a card, I didn’t think to ask him where to buy one because I figured there would be a booth nearby.  He also didn’t offer to sell me one.  Instead, I went to the bus in front of him and gave the driver my coins but the driver just told me to ride for free and not to worry.  Maybe this was part of the “Fiji time”-thing I kept hearing about.

Nadi Town itself is rather small. Queens Rd. is the ring road that goes around the island and is also the main thoroughfare of the town.  The portion in the middle of Nadi Town floods regularly during heavy rains.  During Cyclone Josie, 5 tourists died when their car got stuck in the water on the way to the airport.  There are a few small tributary roads with some hidden alleyways that are asking for you to explore them.  

As I got off the bus and asked the driver where to pick up the return trip, a local man was watching me and decided to walk with me.  He asked the normal questions about where I was from and how long I would be staying here.  I told him my itinerary for the day: get a haircut, see the market, eat some lunch.  He told me there was a cheap barber right next to his store and if I follow him to the store, we would have a traditional kava ceremony and I could be on my merry way.  Indeed, he was hoping that I would buy trinkets and local art from the store but I did not get the sense that I was being forced into anything.  (Kava is not the Spanish “cava” you are thinking of.  All of the South Pacific Islands have taken a liking to the ancestral beverage of choice for relaxing and having good times.  It is a powder and water mixture that has a sweet clay-like flavor.  It gets you buzzed after a few bowls.  Historically, women were not permitted to be part of the ceremony but nowadays anyone can drink it socially.  Having a kava bowl is a must for any local in all of the islands here).

I went into the store and an older gentleman came out and greeted me.  He asked the standard intro questions and explained the kava ceremony to me.  There is a custom where the kava bowl is passed to you by the chief, you clap before receiving, then drink, then say the oh-so-customary “bula!” and everyone claps a few times for you and you pass the bowl to the chief.   I felt the effects almost immediately.  (As my trip would go on, I would find it interesting to note that lots of people said they did not feel any effects of kava.)  My gums started numbing and my libido started activating.  The three of us were sitting on the mat just kind of looking at each other and the guy from the bus says to me, “We make a lot of babies when we do the kava.”  I guess we were all feeling the same thing!

After the ceremony, I looked around at the artwork and politely left the store to the barber shop that was right next door.  Overlooking an abandoned alleyway, I wasn’t sure that this was the right way to get my hair did, but I figure here goes nothing.  (Maybe now is a good time to note that I’ve been going to barbers in each of the countries I’ve visited.  It’s been an opportunity for me to connect with locals in a different way.   I get to hear local tales and they get a nice chuckle at my haircut.  I’m playing around though, they all love my fro-hawk. I’ve been to barbers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, Rotorua, New Zealand, Nadi, Fiji and Apia, Samoa.)

After my haircut, I got seafood prepared Chinese style for lunch, went to the supermarket and got my water bottles.  (I wish I would have bought bug spray, too. I’m so dumb).  I walked through the fruit and vegetable market.  Goods were all being sold on table tops.  (This would be different in Vanuatu where some items are displayed on the ground).  

During one of my inter-island stops in Nadi, I stayed at Smuggler’s Cove hostel.  Smuggler’s is the more upscale of the Wailoaloa hostels and is home to the Polynesian Dance Show.  Yes, they do a Polynesian show even though the performers are Fijian and we are in Fiji, part of Melanesia.  I caught the show by surprise.  While at Bamboo hostel they do a multihour kava ceremony and guitar playing chill time, here there was a highly energetic dance troupe who even did a fire knife dance!  They performed for more than an hour without taking a break.  This would end up being the best Polynesian dance performance I would see in my South Pacific island hopping experience.  Looking back on it, I am so glad I got a chance to see this.  It was one of two shows that I saw where I thought if this troupe were to perform in a festival in New York, it would sell out or get incredibly rave reviews.

After my initial Nadi stop, the next 9 days would be spent island hopping the Yasawa island chain.  We would start in the Mamanuca chain, actually, at South Sea Island and then continue on to see three other islands.  I stayed at each island for two nights.