Nuku'alofa Hotels
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The Kindom of Tonga
Entry 11 of 12 | show all | print this entry |
Wednesday, 21st November
We arrived at Nadi airport at 7am for an action packed morning of back to back flights. After an internal flight through to Suva and then from there, we arrived at Tongatapu airport. We picked up a Taxi cab without a clue where we were going and so we quickly opted for Sela's Guest House (the one destination we knew!!) as Lauren's tutor from University had recommended that we stay there. We couldn't have chosen a better home from home; we were quite literally taken under the family's wing and treated as one of their own, spending quality time back at the house playing with their grandchildren. We spent our first afternoon in Tonga exploring Nuku'alofa city and ended up taking time out by the waterfront. After shopping for some basic food supplies, we crashed out for an afternoon siesta in a dorm room which we mostly had as our own for the week we were there.
We finally woke up and did a double take, as the time on our watches said it was 7pm!! Luckily for us, A'tolo, Sela's husband and a well known, popular local figure offered to drop us into town, recommending we eat at the Emerald Chinese Restaurant that evening, where we sampled our first Ikale beer (of many yet to come). Like a true father figure, A'tolo insisted that he would come back to pick us up again at 9:15pm and sure enough, he was there on the dot. We felt very touched that he went out of his way for us on our first night, however, it wasn't long before we found out that this generosity was characteristic of people we met in the Friendly Isles.
Thursday, 22nd November
Squashed banana and peanut butter sandwiches became our regular breakfast snack, with a cup of tea to wash it down with, of course!!! We made our way down the road to Talamahu Market and had a look at some of the local crafts and the lavish fresh fruit and veg displayed colourfully before our eyes. We decided to take a leaf out of our Lonely Planet Guide and do the walking tour of Nuku'alofa. This route took us around the main landmarks and also off the beaten track to see the quaint Churches and surprisingly brightly adorned graveyards and we sneaked a peek at the off-limits Royal Tomb from the gates.
We ventured past the King's Palace, which was unfortunately in the process of being renovated. The beauty of the Palace was understated, however there was no denying that its iconic and historic presence was breathtaking. We paused at the Palace gates to look at the finer details of the building with its intricate white wooden walls gleaming against the lawn and facing out over the Pacific Ocean. It was difficult to compare it to the immaculate photograph we held in our possesion taken by Josiah Martin in the 1800's, which Lauren had been carrying with her across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
We walked past the British High Commission just in the nick of time and stood by as the High Commissioner was escorted in a black cabby by Army and Police guards to take a meeting. On the circuit back to the centre of town we stopped off at Nuku'alofa Post Office where there was an extensive collection of stamps dating back to 1950's. There was even a strip of stamps that marked the Royal Succession of Kings and the Queen Salote of Tonga. After all that walking, it was definitely time for lunch and we settled down at Friends Cafe for ham and cheese panini and a cup of tea and headed back to Sela's for an afternoon siesta.
We left at 6.20pm and walked to the Tonga National Centre for 7pm for a traditional Tongan evening. We ordered two Ikale beers each and joined in the Kava Ceremony where we had our first taste of the Fijian and Tongan national drink, Kava. We sat in a circle surrounding the mock 'chief' and one by one, our names were chanted and we were presented with the half coconut shell bowl filled with Kava to drink in one go. It looked and tasted much as you would imagine a muddy puddle to taste, with a gritty, powdery aftertaste which left a tingling sensation on our tongues!! We were presented with a full traditionally cooked buffet meal with a wide selection of local delicacies to try.
Earlier on that evening while we were walking, we had seen a Sow and her piglets cross the road and joked that one of the little piglets would probably be our dinner.... lo and behold, a spit roasted piglet (eyes and all) had been speared, squashed and cooked for our dinner.... you can imagine we didn't go up for seconds!! After we forced our dinner down, for politeness' sake.... we sat back and watched the group of Tongan men and women perform traditional songs and beautiful dances together on stage. At the end of the night, we caught a shuttle bus back to the Internet Cafe on the corner of the main road, a ten minute walk from Sela's. Our imaginations were working overtime on the walk back in the dark and our 10 minute walk soon turned into a 5 minute run back to Sela's!!!
Friday, 23rd November
We woke up to torrential rain that lasted for a whole three days.... to occupy our morning and keep him out of mischief, we played with Andrew, Sela & A'tolo's adorable two and a half year old grandson. We played countless games of hide and seek and although he spoke perfect English, his favourite phrase was "What's your name?!?" which got a bit repetitive...especially as he definitely knew our names!! The three of us ran riot, hiding behind the curtains and under the beds in our dorms, thankfully we didn't collide with any cockroaches (...as we occasionally found there were some playing hide and seek in our room after we got in at the end of the day!)
We eventually braved the elements and headed to the Palace office where we had arranged to meet 'Vou, the King's Private Secretary and the man in charge of all the Tongan national archives and artefacts. This was the moment when Lauren handed over the glass photograph slide taken by Josiah Martin of the Palace of Tonga, dating back to the late 1800's, that she had been safeguarding in her day sack for the last two months on behalf of a family friend... it was a surprise that it was still intact!!! 'Vou was incredibly appreciative and amazed to have been presented with such a valuable piece of Tongan heritage, especially in the wake of the new renovation works that are underway on the Palace at present. He has since arranged to have the glass photograph plate put on display in the Queen Salote National Museum of Tonga. Mission Accomplished!!!!
We went to Friends Cafe for lunch and had a wander around the Talamahu market, buying gifts and keepsakes including traditional hand carved shell bracelets and bone necklaces reminiscent of the maori jade necklaces; carrying similar meanings behind their various shapes. We walked back in the rain and decided it was high time to brace ourselves for a nice cold shower... our first since arriving in Tonga!!! Alex looked over the shower curtain to see a fellow guest perving on her through the grate of the bathroom, never before have we more believed that the walls have eyes!! That night we cooked our famous "Maggi" 2 minute noodles... staple diet for the week... and met three Fijian men who were in Tonga for a conference. They pitied our poor efforts and offered us their leftovers for dinner which we gratefully accepted, maybe a little too hurriedly, and we stayed talking with them over cups of tea and chunks of fudge (which we had bought in Christchurch, NZ) into the night. After a great evening, they asked us if we would like to join them at church for the Sunday service so we could experience first hand, an integral part of Fijian and Tongan social life.
Saturday, 24th November
We made our way down to the Friends Cafe, our local watering hole, for a breakfast of eggs benedict washed down with a mug of coffee. We decided to pop across to the Women's Association, where we were informed there would be local crafts that made wonderful gifts. We prefered the buzz of Talamahu market where people had begun to recognise our faces and so struck up conversations with us whenever we popped in...which was turning into a regular occurance. We found that the best way to meet people and to immerse ourselves in the day to day happenings of Nuku'alofa was to mingle in the markets and also just sitting in the cafe talking to the staff and the locals, who soon got to know us. We purchased yet more gifts and veggies for our dinner as we were still too scared to cook the 'fresh' meat, that we saw in the supermarkets and the only other carnivorous alternatives ranged from corned beef to...corned beef! At 3pm we headed back to the Friends Cafe as we had heard that a live jazz band was playing...unfortunately they had a power cut and the electricity was down so they had to postpone it. Our afternoon was not completely wasted as we met three lovely Americans in the cafe who had been living in Tonga for the previous three months and were being funded by their church at home. We arranged to meet on the Sunday afternoon after church for a road trip off the beaten track to show us some of their favourite places. This gave us something to look forward to despite the weather!
We returned back to Sela's and cooked a veggie stir fry with chicken stock cube flavoured rice...mmmm!
Sunday, 25th November
We woke up for an early breakfast of peanut butter on crackers...we had run out of bread! At 9am we were ready and waiting for our Fijian friends...however judging from the snoring it seemed they had had too much Kava the night before and had over slept! We were bright eyed and bushy tailed and the shuttle bus, booked for the members of the convention, allowed us to jump on board despite our friends still being asleep! The service was an experience in itself, spoken in both Tongan and then English. It was quite emotionally moving for both of us at times, especially the purity of the voices in the choir. Everybody attending church was dressed in Sunday best, which was traditionally black with woven mat skirts and a cord fastening around the waist. The shuttle bus driver dropped us back at 12pm and we cooked lunch of two minute noodles at Sela's.
We ended up meeting John, Nicole and Ryan, the three Americans, at 3pm and after picking up supplies from the bakery for our road trip, the truck broke down and we ended up getting out and pushing before a 'helpful' good samaritan, with the best intentions at heart, towed us the wrong way down the road against the oncoming stream of traffic! After the boys rolled up their sleeves and tinkered with the engine, we were finally up and running and made tracks. We pulled up to 'Oholei Beach, a secluded spot on the east coast of the island and explored the 'staircase to nowhere' and the incredible hidden Hina Cave where we sheltered from the downpour of rain. Ryan and John shook trees to get ripe coconuts to fall and then split them open using their machetes. On the way home the three of us girls dried off and tucked into a coconut each. They asked us in to their house for a hot shower (which can never be underrated!) and even stretched their generosity to us joining them for a dinner of Tacos and we settled down to watch a DVD. The film had to be interrupted several times to kill over-friendly cockroaches, kicking them into touch with a trusty baseball bat! They dropped us back to Sela's after midnight.
Monday, 26th November
The sun was shining when we woke up which put an intant smile on our faces as we had decided to take a day trip over to a neighbouring island called Pangaimotu. We popped in to say hello to 'Vou, who was tied up in a meeting when we arrived. We were patiently waiting until he became available, the ladies in his office offered us juice and cakes to keep us happy! It turned out that 'Vou had a very busy morning scheduled so we unfortunately didn't get talk to him for very long. We caught a taxi from Raintree Square to the Wharf where the Fafa boat took us to Pangaimotu and after talking to the driver Lenny, we found out that he was actually part of Sela's extended family. We told him we were staying at Sela's and he was only too happy to offer to pick us up from Sela's the next morning and agreed to take us around the west coast of the island and back again for just $20!
After a fifteen minute boat ride across to the shores of Pangaimotu, we were blown away by just how beautiful the island was and the contrast between the dusty urban mainland. In the shalow waters by the main thatched fale is the half submerged shipwreck of My Lady Lata II which cast a surreal haunting silhouette at sundown. It took us twenty minutes to walk the whole way around the perimeter of the island; through the palm trees and soft white sand were a scattering of other remote islands which stood out across the shallow turquoise waters. We took the opportunity to make the most of the sun and for the entire afternoon, we were the only two people lying on one stretch of beach. We got carried away soaking up the sun in paradise, so much so that we completely missed the last boat back to the mainland which left at 5.15pm. After unleashing our powers of persuasion we managed to hitch a ride back to Nuku'alofa in one of the local fishing boats for $15 each.
We eventually got back to Sela's at 7pm and Nicole, John and Ryan came by to pick us up an hour later for a dinner date at Dupincio's Pizzeria followed by kareoke! We sat on the terrace above the restaurant after dinner as there was a breathtaking full moon breaking through the purple clouds. The terrace also happened to overlook the Tongan Navy Base. The boys dared us girls to go down to the gates and ask for a guided tour, bearing in mind it was midnight at this point! We took on the challenge and marched down to the gates...the guards patrolling the base were prepared for everything but these three girls! They didn't quite know what to do and sensing that we were no major threat promptly invited us in and showed us around. The rest of the officers started emerging from their posts and bunks when they saw our silhouettes project onto the concrete harbour! We chatted to them for a while and then managed to get a few photographs that proved to the boys that we had succeeded in our mission! We jumped in the truck and drove down to the waterfront jetty where Alex took some photos of Nuku'alofa harbour at moonlight.
Tuesday, 27th November
At 9am Lenny was true to his word and came to pick us up from Sela's house. He stopped off at a few local places of interest which had most probably never made it into the Lonely Planet Guide. This included stopping off to taste some local Tafi Lager and passing through some villages, one of which had a funeral procession and so Lenny talked us through the customary rites and behaviour expected by those in mourning. We drove down dirt tracks leading to plantations and plots of land that had been historically sectioned off by the King and he also took us to see the King's herd of hundreds of Egyptian cattle. We had to turn a blind eye to the fact that Lenny did not have a tax disc anywhere to be seen... it was a little hairy when we got pulled over by the police, however somehow he managed to talk himself out of it!!
We arrived at the Blow Holes of Houma and Lenny drove us right down to the front where one of his friends, Koufou, was renovating an old guest house. He promised to meet us back at the house once we'd had enough time to take in the spectacular views. As the tide came in and out, it pushed jets of water up through the rockface shooting approximately 20 meters up into the air, acting like a mexican wave all the way down the coastline as far as the eye could see. Koufou brought a chair and some baby oil outside and offered us a massage as he used to work in Australia's Bondi Beach as a masseuse (we got a good tan with baby oil slathered all over our shoulders!). We played with Koufou's new puppies Lion and Tiger in the sun for a while and then decided it was time so head back to Sela's. On the way home we stopped off to take some photos of some flying foxes that were hanging upside down in a tree. Lenny dropped of at Talamahu Market where we wandered around for the last time and said goodbye to some of our newly made friends and settled down for some ice-cream from Chateau in Raintree Square and watched the world go by. At 6pm we returned back to Sela's, packed, cooked fried rice and spent the rest of the evening playing with Andrew who was dressed in his Spiderman pyjamas!
Wednesday, 28th November
At 8am we got up for breakfast and cut up a pineapple that Sela had given us earlier in the week and finished off our jar of peanut butter and had a cup of tea out in the conservatory. We had explained to Andrew the night before as best we could, that we would be leaving in the morning. What we hadn't anticipated was that he had asked to stay overnight with Sela and A'tolo, his grandparents, so he would be there in the morning to say goodbye to us. For a two and a half year old he was one smart cookie!! We packed our final belongings and after spending the morning playing with and cuddling Andrew to bits, we said our final goodbyes and prepared to leave for the airport. At 10.20am Lenny was waiting outside for us and as we left, the whole family came out into the driveway, including little Andrew, to wave us off. Sela had gone to the market that morning to get us each a dolphin necklace carved out of bone and a traditional Tongan fan as a memento. We had to fight back the tears as we drove off, leaving behind such a wonderful family and many happy memories.
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