Ark The Herald..

No, I didn’t get out last night as the deluge continued. The grass area outside my bedroom window which normally serves as both a football pitch and helicopter landing pad (see previous pictures) now has a third function – a swimming pool.

The floods in my part of Fiji are not as bad, though,  as in some areas as I found out this morning.

What I also found out this morning was that, to my great surprise, it wasn’t raining. So, time for exploration. As I have said before, even Trip Advisor struggles to find the ‘Top 10 things to do in Lautoka’. It’s just not that sort of place -especially when the weather is bad. So, having done the market, the main shopping area and the sea front, The Botanical gardens beckoned as being possibly the best of  the remaining bad bunch. In a small city, these gardens were quite easy to find but despite the sign clearly showing Sunday opening times, they were shut!

So, with the highlight of my day not on the agenda, under increasingly threatening skies, I turned round and headed back to base.

On the way back I passed fine examples of two of the three main religions in Fiji. Shopping and Christianity! The only out of town-ish supermarket in Lautoka was doing a roaring trade

with some aggressive promotions going on as well although I didn’t think the prices were that special.

Immediately next door is the Methodist chapel which was also doing a roaring trade. A service was in full swing and the singing that radiated out onto the street was exceptional, complete with pitch perfect harmonies. I stood transfixed for a while listening to a magical rendition of Hark the Herald Angel Sing. I couldn’t help marvelling at just how religion can engender such passion in people who, whilst not exactly poverty stricken are not far above the bread line, something that seems to get lost as we get wealthier when, more often than not, the shopping ‘religion’ takes over!

The third religion in Fiji is undoubtedly rugby – the more so after winning gold at the Olympics (not bad for a country of less than 1 million people).

The stars of this success are treated like royalty (despite being paid little/nothing) and everywhere you go you can see young people practising their rugby skills. I was just about to take a picture of these two youngsters doing just that but they were much more interested in having their picture taken close up instead.

I can never imagine such a thing happening in UK where I would have probably been arrested. Progress?

The heavens opened again just before I got back to my hotel. Sadly, even Jesus couldn’t save me

so I got drenched!

The hotel food is adequate but another evening of incarceration is not acceptable. So I plan to don my swimming trunks and swim to a local restaurant if necessary.

I’m trying not to be negative about Fiji but under the current weather conditions it really is quite difficult not to be. The people are so friendly and I’m sure the landscape is great – if I could see it!. But as so often is the case in such tropical ‘paradises’, the entire tourist industry is centred around outdoor activity mainly relating to the beaches and the water (trip round the islands, scuba diving, swimming, snorkelling etc). There is precious little else. So, when the weather is pants (as it has been ever since I arrived) there really is very little to do.

Ah well. You can’t win them all!

Phileas