Following the Footsteps: FIJI SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND

South Pacific Polynesian Island have always fascinated me and a place which I always wanted to visit. The intention was to visit a number of island in the South Pacific like Samoa , Tonga and a few others but apparently they all look similar to one another.
Fiji islands comprises of 300 palm fringed beaches and corals with exotic sea life. Also the islands just happen to be a place where I knew a friend with whom I played cricket about 40 years ago. Fiji is also a country of great cultural diversity in which Indians, Chinese and local Fijians have created a distinct South Pacific flavour. Fiji became a British colony in the mid 1800 and thousands of Indian labourers were brought to work in sugar plantations. Not sure but the local Fijians at the time were cannibals who preferred to eat the British rather than work for them.
Nadi is the second largest town where we landed in the island of Viti Levu, which has the popular resorts and also where my friend lives. Meeting him and spending some time with him after all these years was a great pleasure and good fun to talk about the old times.
The resort we stayed was a fantastic place with a private beach and huge tropical gardens, very much in the style of the Kenyan and other S.E Asian resorts. Visiting other island which were completely uninhabited is also very strange. The interior of the islands are very much rain forest mountains and water falls. Towns and villages are very much like the African towns that we are used too.One of the island we went to , South Sea Island , had about 20 people living there and was so Small that one could walk from one end to the other in less than 2 minutes and can go round the island in less than 10 minutes. If you get into trouble there is no where to run. All one does in such a place is rest and relax and drink beer. The temperature is 33 degrees and there is cool sea breeze blowing across.
Returning and leaving the island is exactly like you see in the old movies, where the islanders turn out in their grass skirts, as you board the canoes, and sing the local songs . Except now they are not in grass skirts but in the uniform of the tour company.