Bula, Fiji!

As the Fijians themselves proudly say, Fiji is a land of the big and beautiful. Here you’ll find an abundance of sunshine, water and happy people amidst a breathtaking tropical landscape. Tourism and agriculture are the two pillar industries of Fiji—and rugby probably comes in a strong third, judging by the unanimous enthusiasm of the locals for the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. Suva is Fiji’s capital city, but Nadi—located on the west side of the main island of Viti Levu—is an unequivocal paradise for the tourists (and also where we stayed). You can learn more about Nadi and other Fijian cities via the country’s offical tourism webiste, www.fijime.com.

Getting to Fiji has never been easier. Fiji’s international airline, Air Pacific (www.airpacific.com), currently provides direct flights from Hong Kong to Nadi three times a week. The journey is around 10 hours, and Nadi is four to five hours (daylight savings dependent) ahead of Hong Kong. It’s a serious distance to cover, and we strongly recommend getting some proper shut-eye on the plane. It helps if you travel Tabua Class, which is Air Pacific’s equivalent of business class; we definitely had a good rest in our reclining chairs on the way there.

There’ll be no mistaking you’re in Fiji once you land. Bright blue skies and fluffy clouds wrap around a land of green, and a persistent and slightly humid heat penetrates your skin as soon as you step off the plane. Once through customs, you’ll be greeted by friendly staff and cheerful guitarists, and if you hired a tour guide in advance (like we did, with local tour group Rosie Holidays, www.rosieholidays.com), they’ll likely shower you with fresh flower wreaths and cool moist towels along with a friendly “Bula!” (which means “hello” in Fijian) before ushering you onto a nice air-conditioned shuttle bus to begin your adventures.

There are many beautiful seaside resorts in Nadi, including the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa (Denarau Island, Nadi, +679-675-1111) where we stayed. The Sofitel is located right by the beach and is a convenient 20-minute drive from the airport, not to mention a stone’s throw from one of the city’s retail hubs, the Port Denarau shopping center (Port Denarau, +679-675-0602, www.portdenarau.com.fj). It also boasts a massive outdoor pool, spa facilities and an award-winning restaurant on its premises.

Before you can claim you’ve been there and done that, you really have to get yourself to the nearest native village for a taste of authentic local culture. We went with Sigatoka River Safari (www.sigatokariver.com, +679-650-1721) for our trip, which started off on a rush of pure adrenalin with a half-hour speedboat ride along the scenic Sigatoka river. For our particular itinerary, we visited the village of Tubairata along the river. After the girls wrapped themselves up in colorful sarongs, as is the custom here, we all headed up on foot towards the chief’s home, where a welcome ceremony was prepared in our honor. A major part of the ceremonial rituals is the making and drinking of kava water, which is a liquid mixture of the ground powdered roots of a kava plant. Kava water is drunk mainly on special occasions, and is supposed to have a calming effect that kicks in after an initial mouth-numbing sensation. We all got a chance to taste the rather flavorless water, although our limited consumption prevented us from feeling its full powers.