It’s been a while since my last little blog and I thought that it was high time that I caught up with the outside world after being caught up in my hectic work life…
Yesterday Kate and I caught a flight to Fiji, just for work….
I still love saying that after all the times we said it yesterday! Anyway, we were ’sent’ to Fiji (after we volunteered of course) in order to do some IT testing. Caught an Air Pacific flight over in a 747-400. It’s been quite a while since I have been in an aircraft larger than a 737 so it was quite exciting. Espesh with the inflight entertainment with the seat back thingy. After poring over the brochure, I finally decided on watching X-Men 1 since there was nothing better on. Seriously. Unless you are 10 years old of course, and still love watching Scooby-Doo 2. Not even the fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar-Prince Junior was in it did anything to convince me that it would be worthwhile (that and the fact that I haven’t seen the first one….*grin*)…Oh, and that was after a 2 hour delay… of us sitting in the aircraft… someone in business class smelt a burning smell so some engineers had to come in and have a look. One of the guys behind us reckoned that some rich guy probably farted! lol! The food was pretty good though but the alcohol was limited to basic spirits. Doh! No cocktails…
Once we got to the airport (and dragged ourselves away from some very nice duty free), we were accosted by 5 people (within 5 metres) asking us which hotel we were going to (*note to self.. next time wear a placard stating _which_ hotel we are going to…*). We finally got to our destination in an old model car. All of the cabs around are like they are straight out of the 70’s! Some even included very furry dashboards and one eyelet lace and plastic concoction that was quite interesting. The place isn’t too bad and offers 24 hour room service, an on site massage/beauty therapist and a convention centre which is currently hosting quite a number of women orientated conferences. Go girls!!!
My main complaint? The severe lack of soundproofing of the walls/doors, oh and that kava is not on the drinks list! 
There are some Fijian men playing folky Fijian music around a kava bowl but I didn’t want to ask them for some. Maybe next time – either that or Kate and I will have to buy the powder and muslin cloth and create some ourselves in our hotel room! Lol! THat just seems so cladestine and wrong!
We spent today running all over the airport talking with the ground handlers and Arinc guy. By the end of the day I think they answered all our questions and vice versa. I was tired after all of the stairs that I climbed to get to other sections. oh well, at least I had a chance to work off that buffet breakfast I had in the morning. *grin* Then after a baff we caught a cab to a place called ‘The Bounty’ which we were told had nice and reasonably priced seafood. And guess what I had for mains?? Chicken. Yes, that’s right. Chicken… but it was good chicken! Speaking of chickens, something we have noticed here is that the yolks of the eggs are quite pale. Not looking very free range at all! Doh! Anyway, dinner was really, really nice (as were the cocktails!) and then we found out that the place did karaoke. The mike feedback should have been a warning. Unfortunately they didn’t offer the Buffy musical on their playlist so I had to politely decline. It was all quite nice and cosy though.
I really like it here at the moment – everyone is so friendly and helpful! I think I might have to come back here for a proper holiday sometime so I can indulge in the gorgeous smelling toiletries that they have for sale. Heidi would love it – all this frangipani smell in the one place! Yeah, frangi….
Thursday 26th August 2004
Another week, another south pacific island. Today I woke up in Le Meridien, Port Vila, Vanuatu. I slept in a king size bed (doh, wasted!) and when I open the curtains I can open the door and walk out onto some lush green grass, which along with some coconut palms and shrubbery (no white picket fence), separates me from the lagoon. Yes, they have a gorgeous lagoon here _and_ beach access somewhere. We arrived yesterday afternoon to a gorgeous sunset and it all seemed so totally different from the last time I was here. The drive to the hotel was through lush greeness also. I think that ‘lush’ and ‘gorgeous’ and maybe even ‘green’ may be my words of the week.
The flights yesterday were ok (after a delay on one – I won’t say which!). And I think this is the first time that I indulged in a little alcohol on the way to Vanuatu. Ok, I lie.. it was more than a little. Good thing I was sitting down all the way! After we arrived, we caught a taxi, checked into the hotel (while sipping our complimentary juices which I promptly spilt while juggling my backpack and laptop) and then went to check out the surroundings. We listened to some traditional music and made sure that we were booked for the Melanesian feast the following night – complete with kava tasting, traditional dancing and a pit feast thingy. Apparently there is a spa around here somewhere too but I might avoid that one this time since the place is so nice – I don’t think I will need extra relaxation thingies (although ‘want’ on the other hand may come into play later).
The main restaurant here still claimed to serve coconut crab so I ordered it of course! midway through the entree, I realised that I really couldn’t taste the coconut-iness of the crab so I dashed back to my room for the cold and flu tablets (time for the night ones) and the nasel decongestant. That seemed to help my cold a little. I still couldn’t really taste the coconut but it was pretty nice. After that we headed back to our rooms and I was so tired (you would be too after getting up at 5am) that I couldn’t even watch Lord of the Rings 3 which was playing on one of the dvd channels. Doh! Something else I thought was funny was that the tv channels they get here are all from QLD (except for one). It’s not something you expect to see over here – a tv ad for Home and Away. Mum would love it here! Lol!
Oh and all the hotel stuff, like room service menus etc, are displayed in english and french. It’s a totally different world from the main streets of Port Vila. I woke up a little earlier than planned so I think I am going to attempt some study (yes, I did actually bring some along!). Hopefully gazing at lush, green, gorgeousness will help me retain some knowledge from the government, business and society textbook that I brought with me. And if not, I might just have to lapse back to my Robin Hobb book!
Friday 27th August 2004
Yesterday we spent much of the day talking with the SITA guys and the airport guys before getting stuck into some testing. Then we caught a cab back to the hotel. It was dusk so I couldn’t see the outline of the door that well – but my forehead did! I now have a lump in the middle of my forehead to remind me of my gumbiness. Then for dinner we wanted to join the Melanesian feast they had by the beach. We tried all sorts of food including flying fox, to which the table declared that it tasted decidedly like beef burgundy. Not really what you expect! After dinner they had some guys do some traditional war dances and songs. It was pretty good. Or maybe that was because of the small amount of kava I had tried earlier in the night. It looks just like muddy water and had a strange taste. But after drinking chinese medicine, this was nothing!
After a morning of testing, we headed into town to do some window shopping. We were driven by the only female taxi driver in Vila – a lovely french/bislama speaking lady called Irene. We eventually found Rossi’s restaurant where we had this massive seafood platter for 10000 vatu! It was great though. Then back to the airport for some more work. When we were done, Ronnie (King ronnie!) took us to his kava bar and showed us how they make it. We had a couple of drinks of kava before going back to the hotel and winning the trivia night with Leon. The prize was dinner for 2 at the restaurant – sure will come in handy for tomorrow night!