BULA!

We landed in Fiji last Saturday morning, at Nadi International Airport. It took our small group a few minutes to adjust, as one Fijian after another greeted us with "Bula!" You see, on Guam, "bula" is the equivalent of the Bay Area's infamous "hella." As in, "Dude-man-bro, Guam's got bula marines coming!" I was thrown off at first, but quickly realized that "bula" is like the "shalom" of Fiji. Every culture needs a super-word that serves as a greeting and salutation, plus has four or five other meanings.

Our first night out we hit Sitar, a delicious Indian-Thai-Fijian restaurant with the best service I've had in months (aside from the family bbq's on Guam!). After some top-notch samosas and a plate of SPICY goat curry, we headed to Ed's bar. Ed's came highly recommended as a spot that welcomed tourists, but was mostly frequented by locals, which turned out to be true. The pool tables were slanted, the music was hit-or-miss, but the beer and the company was good. I did narrowly escape an a$$-kicking after a brief misunderstanding on the dance-floor. A word of personal advice, don't go too dumb in a country that just had a military coup... someone is bound to show you what dumb really is. But relax family and friends, I'm merely embellishing for the sake of an exciting tale!

One highlight of my time in Fiji was our visit to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. At the base of a mountain range that's looks like a giant on his back, lies a secluded park that started out as a private collection of orchids. Here's what it looks like now:

On my last night in Fiji I found myself at Ice Bar, the new hotness in Nadi. After some very minor flirting with the very-cute-and-nice bartender, I found myself in charge of the DJ booth... who woulda thunk it? I reached deep into my collection and managed to deliver a quality two-hour set on the cutting edge of international pop. It's amazing what you can do in some places with just a winamp playlist and an 8Gb flash drive.

The next morning it was back to the airport, and onto the next leg of the journey. Check back for the next posting to find out where I am now... let's just say I'm even further south, and further into tomorrow than I've ever been.

Pura Vida,

Drew