Bula Bula!!! Day 3 in Fiji, and my goodness, what a time i am having. I spent my first day as the only guest at a gorgeous resort in the mountains - 1 guest and 8 members of staff and a manager who seems to have adopted me. I can't believe how spoiled i have been! There are millions of gorgeous dogs and cats to keep you company, a lovely pool (with frogs - ugh) and a myriad of cocktails. The manager spends her evenings buying me wine and chatting until we are under moonlight. I've actually just spent the weekend with her in Suva, as she invited me to attend a big family feast at her childhood home. It was only when we got there that i learned that i'd been invited to a memorial! It was cool though (aside from one instance of an elderly relative doing some full on wailing - cringier than David Brent). Michelle warned me her family would drive me insane but not to worry, there will only be 8 of us there. There were at least 30. And yes, it was insane.

We arrived in the afternoon to join in the preparations for a lovo feast where chicken is wrapped in coconut leaves and cooked in the ground, and to sample the grog (i have no idea what was in it, but it was foul). We then escaped to head into Suva town, the capital of Fiji. It is a mess. Litter and rotting crap everywhere. Not my cup of tea. But it was interesting to get shown around all the various coup sites! Michelle suggested we hit a bar in the early afternoon to cool down with some icy chardonays and get in the right mind space for the madness of the pending evening. We started drinking at 3 and turned up to dinner at 7 clutching several bottles of wine and glossing over our negligence in forgetting to buy and prepare the fruit salad that the relatives had been reminding us to get over the phone all day. I had such a good laugh with Michelle. As we went from bar to bar she got increasingly friendly and before i knew it she was booking me in to have their honey moon suite at the dorm rate (nearly 10 times cheaper!) and telling me all the gossip of secret celebrity stays at her hotel. Also, New Zealand had slaughtered Fiji in the rugby that afternoon and the All Blacks entered as we were exiting one hotel bar. By then we had had a few and Michelle was in full flirt mode with them. It was hilarious.

Anyways, the lovo feast. Imagine a 30 piece orchestra at full volume, all out of tune, running around a small stage with me standing in the middle looking perplexed. That would be a pretty accurate image. I dutifully downed the grog and sampled every morsel of food and joined in some pretty hilarious conversations before passing out early in the morning (after several "let me tell you about my most recent illness" stories, and the most disturbing "hello caroline, you know i still breastfeed my daughter " story - how do you respond to that?!!) Well, i can only say that i had a great great time and have certainly experienced the real Fiji. Michelle's family covers every demographic of Fijian, Indian and Chinese cultures. Michelle insists that i tell you all that i have had Taliban dessert. It was delicious.

Right now, i sit at an internet bar in Nadi and am looking forward to boarding a sailing ship and learning the ropes (bad one, i know) over the next few days before heading back to the honeymoon suite and a bed full of dogs again. Yay