Our Story from Yasawa Islands

category: travelling
by Yun,

On the first day arriving at Fiji, we’re directly headed toward Yasawa Islands by Yasawa Flyer, a big yellow ferry which accommodates passengers from Viti Levu (Fiji’s main island) going to Yasawa islands. Departing daily from Denarau Port, it travels between some resorts on the Yasawa islands where you can hop in and hop off at your selected destination. Besides water taxis and chartered helicopters, Yasawa Flyer is the primary transport to go to Yasawa Islands.

The Yasawas is a chain of islands in the northwestern part of Fiji, famous for their gorgeous beaches, tranquil lagoons, barren volcanic islands, luxury overnight cruises, exclusive resorts, as well as backpackers resorts. Each island is remote and has its own uniqueness. The electricity mostly is powered by generators, so lighting is used very moderately in the islands. While it’s unlikely to have television in your Fiji’s offshore bungalow, there is also a high probability that you will not have a telephone either. All of these create Yasawas a perfect getaway for us to escape from the humdrum of our busy daily life.

The resort usually caters a meal plan as a compulsory which actually is very convenient for guests. Most of the food is organically grown or raised in the island. The breakfast is a continental-style buffet with cereals, breads, and tropical fruits. For lunch, they offer the same ten meal choices everyday, plus one lunch special that always changes daily. I found their coconut grilled chicken to be very flavorsome and enjoyable. It resembles a traditional Indonesian fried chicken that uses coconut as one of its seasoning ingredients. Dinner came at full course menu, consisting of an appetizer, a main entrée, and a dessert. The dinner menu changes every night. One day, we were served with a traditional Fijian walu pie (walu is also known as a spanish mackerel fish) as the main entrée. I never knew before that a pie could be categorized as an entrée, but it turned out that the walu pie was extraordinarily delicious. They added spinach and cheese on the top of the pie so it tasted similarly to quiche. In one evening, they prepared Lovo for dinner. Lovo is a traditional indigenous Fijian banquet in which food is prepared in an underground oven. It is extremely similar to Ma’a Tahiti that we had previously in Bora Bora, Tahiti.

Since the resort had no wifi internet access, A really had no choice but only to relax at the resort. We quickly learned and practiced the true meaning of “Fiji time”. It is essentially similar to the French concept of work – to postpone everything until later, to not worry about everything, and simply to be happy all the time. While I spent much of my free time lying down beside the pool or the beach reading books, A often preferred to sleep in our bungalow to regain his energy back after constantly working overtime every night prior to our trip to Fiji. Poor A. *wink*

Each resort is Fiji normally provides many types of activities for the resort guests. The activities vary from day to day and include snorkelling, village visits, sea kayaks, light handline fishing, romantic beach picnics, local church visits, Fijian massage by the beach and so on and so forth. We also went on a sunset cruise together with a local music band playing Fijian songs while we were enjoying the sunset from the top of a boat in the middle of the sea. Viewing a sunset from Liku Liku Bay was strikingly amazing. Everyday we experienced a different sunset scenery. The snorkeling trip was just so-so, as many of the coral reefs were pretty much dead around the islands.

In addition, we also went for a Fijian handline fishing during sunset, and then came back to the resort before dark. We were so lucky because each of us got a fish. A got a quite big grouper, while I got a small and cute striped snapper. Yippie!! It has been a while for A and I for not going fishing. The fact that I was the only female on the fishing trip made A worried that I might not be able to enjoy the trip. On the contrary, I was very happy when I got a fish, which was relieving for A. The story would probably be different if I didn’t get a fish, wouldn’t it?

The other activity we enjoyed was watching movie under the stars. I’m not kidding you, it was truly under the stars. This is one of the things that I admired so much about Yasawa and other Fiji’s outer islands. When I gazed out on the clear night sky, there are sooo many stars in the sky. I really wish that we had a tripod for our camera to capture the stunning beauty of the sky with the moon and numerous stars.

We made friends with some other guests at the resort. It was a pleasure chatting with them, listening to their exciting travel stories. We met an Australian couple who were going to Cuba and USA after visiting Fiji, only to do research for preparing their Cuban-style wedding held later this year. Wow, that’s excellent. We also got to know some young Europeans who took a one-year break post their college graduations, with the purpose of traveling around the world. Ahhh, I envy them. I wish I was still a college student and had more time and money to travel.

Comments

8 Comments so far

Elisa Sutanudjaja | 08 January 2009, 02:20
Ahhhh Yun, cantik sekali Damain, tenang sekali … seperti bukan dari dunia ini, hehehe
Foto orang nya juga keren dan ekspresif

Thank you lis.. iya tempatnya

cocok buat getaway destination nih…
Elisa Sutanudjaja | 08 January 2009, 02:21
Buset,
itu foto awannya, seperti imaji malaikat turun dari surga kalau di film2 ya …
pelangi dengan langit merahnya cakep sekali….
thanks for sharing Yun

ur welcome…. ada yg pernah bilang jg kalo sunsetnya kaya di film2 yg Yesus mau datang hehe
arman | 08 January 2009, 17:14
nice pictures yun!

Thanks man…
Herlina | 08 January 2009, 22:15
Hebat euy, dapet ikan Panas banget ya Yun disana?

panas si ci… tp emang kita cari liburan yg di tempat panas since disini dingin banget
Im3th | 12 January 2009, 20:17
Wuihhh bagus bener ya pemandangannya
emang cucok deh Yun buat melepas kepenatan dan buat hanimun hehehe :))

iya banget, buat refreshing enak banget met…
Rina | 14 January 2009, 21:15
Wuah Yun, enaknya.GUe juga ngiri sama orang2 Eropa itu. Wkt ke Bali dulu Yun, gue kenalan sama cewek Costarica, dan dia spend 3 months di Bali. Baru balik lagi ke negaranya, dan baru kerja. Wuah, enaknya! Kalau di Indo,kayaknya culture itu nggak ada ya, Yun

iya emang beda culture sih ya…. mereka bisa punya banyak holiday :)) kita di indo plg lama juga 2 minggu kali yah
Paulo | 16 January 2009, 12:50
foto2nya makin mantep aja.. was it u or ko A? well done!

Quoted: Ahhh, I envy them. I wish I was still a college student and had more time and money to travel.

i envy you and you envy them… wahwahwah…

Albert kok yg moto… Yeah…. emang orang ga pernah puas, rumput tetangga selalu lebih hijau hihihi
Paulo | 16 January 2009, 12:54
oya kelupaan.. kudos on the panoramic shots and that ‘majestic’ ray of light pic!

Makasih2….. you just made my day pol hahaha:D

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