NI SA BULA VINAKA!!

24 hours definitely is not enough time to explore fiji and her 300+ islands.. so when i was on my 11 hour flight to fiji i was surrounded by harmless, but extremely annoying, surfers from LA.. i over heard the different groups talking about which resorts they were staying at and as soon as we landed, i found a map, located those resorts, and went the other direction.. 60 cents and 1 ride on the local 'safari bus' later i was in the second largest city on the biggest island called 'nadi'.. nadi is really cool with relatively little tourism and rich with indigenous local culture.. during my day i met many interesting people, ate sticky balls, drank 'kava'(a local traditional drink made by mixing water and the ground root of a plant similar to the peppermint plant.. it has some marijuana like relaxing qualities and is prefered here to alchohol), attended a local rugby game and checked out the local markets were farmers from the inland foothills bring their offerings daily and sit on the ground and sell things.. i ended up finding a hostel for US$6, met some cool european travelers, and didnt spend more than US$20 the whole time..
the local people are much different than their carribean counterparts in that they are nice, welcoming, and the women are much more attractive (i did ask a couple if i could photograph them and they politely declined).. but my time in the carribean definitely helped me feel more comfortable as it was rare to see a white person in most of the places i explored.. here are some pics in no particular order...