Vacations Beach Fales Savai'i

... We landed in Samoa, no problem. Then they decided to get us off the plane and we were told to leave our hand luggage on board as we would keep the same seats etc and some new people would get on board. No worries we said!

We then had to go into the ….. erm….. shack……. erm….. terminal to go through passport control again, security again ...

... before I reasoned with myself that it was just a crab. Not Satan. My soul was safe (for now). Then the hunt began (because there was no way I was going to be able to sleep with something that huge and able to cause my bodily harm hanging out above my head while I slept!), I looked for something to poke it out from the roof and into the sand - I hoped. It just sat there. Staring at me. Like Satan. Laughing. Evilly. Finally, I found a stick and just as I ...

... that is full of mangroves and is a really pretty setting. The beach is not the best (black sand and no beach at high tide) but the mangrove marsh makes up for it - this is a different place to stay and after nearly two weeks on beaches it was good to change. The absolutely best thing about the place were the friendly and hospitable owners, Sung and his wife Otilia, who invited us for their family Sunday meal and cooked meals for us twice a day even ...

... nobody came to check us in and eventually we found out that the party was a private function of Westpac bank of Samoa. There was no fale ready for us and if we did decide to stay there'd be no food since the cook was not working. What about our booking...? What booking? With a 2km walk back to the village shop, no other fales anywhere in the radius of 15km and no buses running we decided to stay for the night. The general manager of Westpac invited us for their ...

... that Tanu's wasn't absolutely stunning as well! With so many gorgeous fales on offer you start to get picky: "no, this one is at least 20 meters from the water's edge, the other one is much closer" or "their palm leaf blinds are not hanging straight, we wan't properly hung ones". Ehm, back to reality - you're spending time in paradise, don't complain! Island atmosphere is catchy and we have both found ourselves letting go on petty ...

... dictionary and apparently a very funny pronunciation of Samoan words. The ferry finally came and 1.5 hours later we were in Salelologa on Savai'i. Salelologa is sadly quite a dirty town with rubbish lining the roads. It's such a pity to see the paradise wasted. We stayed in Lusia's Lagoon Chalets in a gorgeous fale elevated above the lagoon on stilts, very nice place and good food. In the evening we went for a walk and ran into Sebastian and Jasmine - on their way to ...

... to stay over night and book a car for the next day instead. We found a really nice quiet fale right by, or actually on, the water. We enjoyed the great food in the company of some friends that somehow had found the same place as us for the nightEarly Friday morning we hitched down to the rental place and got our car. Before leaving town we did a quick stop by the market to get supplies for our adventure and then we headed southwest ...

... she'd locked herself in, so then yelped "I can't get out, Craig!". I was in concentration mode and, once she'd gotten out, I drove through the ford with no problems. Then I burst out laughing, as did the locals. One guy was from the forestry division and insisted, after her little freak out, that he escort her across. I was still laughing and pretty much didn't stop for the rest of the evening! Blowholes and Waterfalls - The next day, day three, we drove down to the south of the ...

... palangi... visage pale... j ai donc du me motive a partir car ca demande un effort de change d ile.. il faut prendre le bus local.. ou t es entasse comme des sardines pendant une heure... a trois 4 par double siege.. les gens s asseie par terre ou sur les genoux des autres.. c est un peu comme au perou ou en bolivie avec les bus des locaux sans air conditionne... avec une chaleur tropicale etouffante...= je dis me motiver car plus ca avance dans ...

... dry, however Ky and myself thought we'd give it a whirl. We gingerly lowered ourselves in. Ky retired shortly afterwards however I was determined to defeat the turtles and face my fear and I successfully managed to feed them with several slices of paw paw despite them desperately flailing their flippers everywhere. At least the natives were amused. After this he dropped us off at Tanu Beach Fales, our shelter for the night. We were ...