Tanu Beach Fales Savai'i

... br>And all the while, Samoan hip-hop was blasting on the speakers of this bus. Because that's what all Samoan bus drivers like to do...blast Samoan hip-hop. Sometimes I heard some American or New Zealand hip-hop or some Samoan pop on some of the buses, but mostly Samoan hip-hop. One bus played Abba remixes for half an hour. ???

Like I said, if you ever want a real local Samoan experience, then you must absolutely ride on a local Samoan bus!!

So having been driven around in the taxi of the village teacher's brother we ended up in a place called Malaetia Resort - a great place to stay! We walked in at 8am, that is very very early, and were immediately ushered to sit down and have coffee with the owner, followed by a breakfast, followed by our cool little garden fale looking out to the mangrove forest in the back. The resort itself if just a few fales and bungalows but it's next to a nice ...

Back in Upolu and now we had to find our way to Matareva Beach Fales where we had booked a fale for 2 nights. To get there we had to take a bus to Apia and then another one out to Matareva. This is how buses work here, to get anywhere you have to always start from Apia... After the day spent travelling we arrived in Matareva around 2 pm to find the place absolutely packed, Samoan hip hop blasting from car stereos and a party in full swing. We hung around for a while ...

After having brought the car back to Salelologa we caught a bus to Manase, the most popular tourist/backpacker/traveller spot in Savai'i with a gorgeous beach, once again. You could get used to this! After having taken a look at all the fales on offer we decided to take Tanu's Beach Fales because they included 2 meals for 50 tala - some other fales maybe looked slightly nicer but 20 tala more just for looks is a bit steep. And it's ...

... Samoan vodka mixed with drinking coconut and lime - very organic! Falealupo peninsula, the westernmost point of Samoa, was hit by cyclones in 1990 and again in 1991 and the ruins of the villages are still there. The force of wind must have been huge to wreck the houses and churches - people never moved back and the villages now seem like a ghost town. There is a big banyan tree in the new village with a platform (banyan grows around other trees and eventually kills ...

... we had paid to enter the properties we were told it would be a 15 min walk up to the mound since we only had a 2wd and couldn't drive all the way up there. We started walking and soon realised that it would be a much further walk than we were told; it took us about 35 minutes to get to the sight and then another 25 to get down again... It was really worth it though, what a spectacular construction and what a view!!! After that we ...

... lunch. We had spam (yes, spam!) and cheese sandwiches in a hotel restaurant and we were the only people there! After lunch we tried again at the ford, this time being persued by the locals that it was ok to drive through, and only after we witness several others getting across fine. So i started the car and drove steadily toward the ford, then suddenly, without no prior warning or histeria, Victoria screamed "This isn't for me!". Shortly followed by "I've got to get out, Craig ...

... est cool.. non seulement je suis loint et j ai la belle vie mais aussi incapable de souhaiter un joyeux anniversaire par telephone.. ca m a ennerve.. bref mis a part ca samoa sont deux iles magnifiques.. la premiere ile ou je suis arrive avec la capitale... ressemble un peu a l ile principale des fijis juste que c est polynesien et pas melanesien et que c est plus pauvre et plus simple comme vie... et surtout moins touristique.. deix fois moins qu au fiji ...