The beautiful South Pacific

I arrived in Upolu, Samoa dazed and confused after a whole day and a night travelling and was a bit freaked out by the smiling, winking band members who greet you in the airport with traditional music. Based on the fact that I was the only tourist on this Polynesian airlines flight from Auckland, I assume they do this even for the locals, which is kind of sweet. Either that, or word had been sent from New Zealand that white meat was arriving.

Catching a lift on the local bus

In my confusion, I'd somehow forgotton that New Zealand was cold and Samoa was hot, so I hopped of the plane in my jeans and coat, only to practically collapse as the intensity of the heat and the humidity hit me full on! It was 10.30 in the morning. So I cunningly hot-footed it to the toilets with my rucksack and changed into... well actually I realised at this point that I didnt actually have any suitable clothes. All I had were my too-short-for-Samoa-shorts and my does-not-cover-the-shoulders-vest. So I came back out still fully clothed and sweaty - only to find that everyone had left and the airport was deserted. I wandered through "nothing to declare" and then found myself being chased by the largest man Ive ever seen. He asked me if I was travelling alone. I said yes. He said "are you sure". I checked. I was indeed travelling alone so I nodded. He let me go through customs.

My own little piece of paradise

Women don't travel here alone much it seems. My taxi driver got very excited that he had me in his cab, and he kept stopping to show his friends the white girl. Then we had a small detour so that his wife could meet me. She told me I was very welcome in Samoa. Then he sang all the way to my hostel, Valentines Motel.

I was knackered, but I wanted to explore, particularly as I was having a weird ground hog day experience, where I had the benefit of the same day all over again, due to crossing the dateline. The scenery on the taxi ride was amazing - colourful flowers everywhere, big fales (open wooden huts in which whole familys live) palm trees, and fruit growing everywhere. There is also a constant undercurrent of lively, happy Samoan music drifting from the open huts, shops and stereos. I met some Kiwis in the hostel and suggested that they show me the town. They had apparently been here 2 weeks so they knew their onions. As we walked we talked and it turned out that they were missionaries here to tell the Samoans where they're going wrong. Samoa has a church about every 10 metres and all the money is going into the churches and the priest (priests are all even fatter and live in even bigger fales). The brothers (they were brothers in both senses of the word) wanted Samoa (and any other country who would listen) to go back to basics and start worshipping in their homes. They also thought modernisation was terrible, particularly gay priests.

Later on, the boys helped me choose a nice leg covering lava lava (sarong in english) and a fairly gross pair of green flip flops. Then we had lunch. As I was tucking in I thought Moses commented that the chicken looked nice, and I launched into a spool about how they only seem to have fried food here (its true!) only to look up and see that he had actually started the Lord's prayer and they both had their eyes shut.

I got back and read my Marian Keyes book about a girl who gets put in a rehab clinic and isnt allowed to do anything exciting anymore. In my little bare room, I felt like her. I went to sleep (at last) and had a very fitful nights sleep dreaming about Moses and David.

The next day I met an Italian. I think his name was Maritsio. We went snorkelling and saw the most beutiful fish Ive ever seen. They were so colourful - like walking through a tropical fish shop - blues and oranges and yellows. Amazing. Also the water was warm. Ive never seen the like before!

That night we went for dinner and Maritsio was on a bit of a mission. After 4 Vailimas (samoas award winning beer) we went on to a bar where we met some Samoan guys. They were all well educated and had excellent english. One of them had studied art history in Italy and was fluentin english and Italian. He also conveniently worked behind the bar and gave us free Vailima all night. The night was long and drunken, and best forgotton, apart from the rather amusing part when the Italian Stallion chundered all over the road. It was mainly the Samoans fault because they insisted that its rude if you dont down your drink, and its rude if you dont drink 2 for every one of theirs, etc. etc. Being a northern lass I could handle it (I also thank the 8 pint challenge training at university), but being a soft wine sipping Italian, Maritsio couldnt hack the pace. It was 4am and I decided that was a good time to leave!

In fact, I decided it was time to leave the island. I headed for Savaii, the larger but less inhabited island. Getting there is great fun. You have to get 2 buses and a ferry. Buses are big brightly coloured open windowed affairs with wooden seats and extremely loud Samoan pop music blaring out. The guys always stand up to give the women a seat, and as the bus gets fulller, people start to pile up, so that you end up with 2 or 3 on a seat sat on laps. The weird thing is that they all know who has to sit on who even though they dont know each other, and it all just happens without any commotion. Suddenly you find a baby sat on your knee or in the my friend Lucys case, you get lifted up and plonked on a big Samoan lady's knee for the duration.

Savaii is incredible. I stayed at Tanu Beach where I met some medical students (they're everywhere in Samoa!) and then we all moved to my beach fale's. (actually called Jane's Beach Fale's). For 10 pounds a day you get a big breakfast and dinner and you stay in a little fale made of wood and grass. Its all open until night time when you can pull the woven shutters down to shut out some light. Obviously mossie nets are imperative. The Fales are right on the beach, so you wake up and lift your blind and see the turquoise ocean. Coconuts, papaya and bananas are pretty much staple diet as they grow everywehere. So is Taro and Breadfruit which is a bit minging!

Our days were spent swimming, sunbathing, snorkelling and generaly lazing around and fighting off thigh feeling Kiwis (the men, not the birds). We hired a car for 2 days and drove to crystal clear waterfalls, lava fields and rainforests. A lot of time is also spent eating. Breakfast and dinner are big affairs where all the guests sit together and you get chance to meet everyone else. Samaoas not quite been discovered properly by the tourists yet thankfully, and most of the people we met were loveley. A lot were older couples from NZ and Australia. I think we were the only Brits there. I really hope it stays like that.

We went to 3 Fia Fia nights in total. This is where they show you their traditional dances and introduce you to Kava (mouth numbing and mind numbing drink made of Kava roots). All of them were excellent and different in their own ways and they always seem to involve the whole family. The dancing is a little like Maori dancing in New Zealand, but the women do a lot more waving their arms around and being very graceful, while the men bounce around and throw themselves on the floor a lot. The music of Samoa is great. It totally suits the island lifestyle, although you probably wouldnt want to listen to it at home. Its a sort of cross between reggae and pop, and is openly loud and brash! Cool!