They are returning smiles, they greet you -Bula! But they are like a big kids: local lady in the tourist info desk in Nadi airport told me that it is 4 kms to the central Nadi. It was raining in the morning (it is very warm rain here) so I decided to walk anyway… The public bus cost only 1 local dollar, but I like to stop every corner, to meet the people, to take a pictures of tropical flowers…
OK, but it was much more then 4 kms – probably around 7 kms so I was completely wet when I reached Nadi (locals pronounce “nandi”) downtown. Huge, covered market is the main attraction for the tourists – you will find there tropical vegetables, fruits, flowers but also the stalls where they sell dry roots of kava – used to prepare national drink – a kind of the soft drug… In the dark corners the groups of men are sitting and dinking. I tried kava in the past – it is tasteless so for me it is hard to understand why they like it… Nadi changed a lot since my first visit 30 years ago. I saw today many new buildings, supermarkets and elegant luxury shops… A loaf of bread costs 2,60 FJD, 1 l of coke – 3.80. Many local gent’ s still wear sulu skirts 🙂
To get back to the airport area where I live I took the bus. They just introduced magnetic cards to pay the fare. But where to buy the card worth 5 dollars if you will travel just for 1? After welcoming -Bula! The smiling driver of the junk bus became very friendly and tolerant – I handed him one dollar and went to the back of the bus. Now the sun in shining in the late afternoon. My wet clothes are drying on the string and I do hope that there will be dry weather tomorrow on Fiji. Bula!
