Days 16-24: Tonga and Samoa

Saturday, June 30

Tonga is the only nation in the South Pacific that was never a colony, although it had British "protected state" status from 1900 to 1970, when it became an independent nation.  Tonga (officially the Kingdom of Tonga") occupies about 169 islands and has a population of about 100,000, of which 70 percent live on the main island of Tongatupu, where the capital of Nuku'alofa is located.  Nuku'alofa has about 25,000 people. 

Tonga is in Polynesia, as opposed to Melanesia, where the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are located.  The Tongan people are lighter skinned than those we encountered in the other two countries, and are much larger.  

The weather in Tonga was very cool (low 70's), with a lot of passing showers.

Our hotel in Nuku'alofa was the International Dateline Hotel, so named because Tonga is just west of the International Date Line.

International Date Line Hotel

Another view of the hotel

My hotel room

The hotel was hosting a beauty pageant, so we got to see an extra bit of scenery.

We began our day with visit to the local market in Nuku'alofa.

Market building is on the right, with a red roof

Mutant squash (note size of water bottles at left)

We continued to drive around Nuku'alofa. 

In central Nuku'alofa

A cemetery in Nuku'alofa

St. Mary's Cathedral in Nuku'alofa

Although Tonga is not a particularly wealthy country, the houses in Tonga (and later Samoa) looked a lot more well-built than those in the previous countries we visited.  We were told it's because a lot of Tongans work abroad and send their money back home.

Some Tongan housing

Eventually we headed to Ancient Tonga, a local cultural center.  Unlike the cultural villages in previous countries, the natives here dressed in modern clothing (including grass skirts) but demonstrated ancient crafts that are still being used.

Arriving at Ancient Tonga

Yet another coconut demonstration

Pounding bark to make fabric

Weaving mats

 People in Tonga actually do wear grass skirts and mats (as skirts) on occasion.

A bowl of kava.  Yuck.

Modeling the latest fashions

Some traditional music

They then served us lunch, which was a traditional Tongan meal, cooked over stones in a pit.  Every dish (fish, lamb, chicken, taro, fruit) was covered in coconut milk and wrapped in banana leaves.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the best meals I've had in my life.

Individual dishes before being unwrapped

The whole shebang

Unwrapping the fish

Sunday, July 1

Today was Sunday, and the country completely shuts down.  All of the stores and tourist attractions were closed.  In the morning we went to a church service and in the afternoon we went to a "resort" island.

The boulevard along the sea, across from our hotel

Preparing for evacuation

The attraction of attending the church service (I'm not a churchgoing guy) was that it was held at the main Methodist church, and was attended by the King and Queen of Tonga.  BTW, Methodism is the predominant religion on Tonga, followed by Mormonism.

Centenary Church

Inside the church--it eventually filled up

The service begins

 King Topou IV and Queen consort Nanasipau'u Tuku'aho

Note the mats under their jackets

After the church service, we took a boat out to Pangaimotu Island, a few miles from Nuku'alofa.  It's described as a "resort", but it wasn't very elegant--basically a bar and a few cabins.  But it was pretty much the only thing open on Sunday.

Leaving the wharf in Nuku'alofa

Approaching Pangaimotu Island

Another look at the wreck.  Suprisingly, there wasn't much sea life offshore

Lunch at the Pangaimotu Island resort

Our lunch servers

Big Mama Yacht Club

Monday, July 2

 Today was devoted to touring the rest of Tongatapu Island.

The Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa.  It was built in 1867 and is made of wood.

Another old wooden building in Nuku'alofa

Free Church of Tonga, which was badly damaged in a recent typhoon

Royal Burial Ground

Here are a few shots from driving around the island:

An upscale Tongan residence

Apparently a cousin of the king had died a few days before we got there, and his/her native village was in mourning.  This is signaled by residents of the village displaying black and purple banners on their fences and houses.

A Mormon temple

Eventually, we reached Pupua' Puhi, on the opposite coast from Nuku'alofa, where we encountered some huge waves and blowholes.

A blowhole

Several blowholes

What could possibly go wrong?

The only 3-branched palm tree in the world

The objects forming a diagonal series at the center are fruit bats

We stopped for lunch at a hotel on a very nice beach on the northeast part of the island.

View from the hotel

Next door to the hotel was the Blue Banana Beach house, operated by an Australian expat.

Some ancient pottery shards displayed at the Blue Banana

Tuesday, July 3

We had most of the day free, so a few of us went back to the Blue Banana and did some snorkeling.  This time the equipment was of much higher quality :-)

After snorkeling, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Fiji.

A government building in Nuku'alofa

The Tongan treasury

The Nuku'alofa airport doesn't get a lot of traffic

We took a late afternoon flight to Nadi, Fiji, where we would overnight before flying to Samoa the next day.

Entertainment at our hotel in Nadi

At our hotel in Nadi

At the Nadi airport.  Before you freak out, a Fijian dollar is worth about 50 cents.  But that's still a lot of money for a Whopper.

Wednesday, July 4

We departed Nadi on an afternoon flight to Apia, Samoa.  Oddly enough, July 4 is not a holiday in either Fiji or Samoa.

Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa, is an independent nation, and is not to be confused with American Samoa, which we didn't visit.  Samoa consists of two large islands and a few smaller ones.  The population of Samoa is about 194,000, while Apia, the capital and largest city has a population of about 36,000.  Interestingly enough, the name of the country appears to be pronounced SAM-oa, and not Sa-MO-a.

Like Tonga, Samoa is in Polynesia, and the natives are relatively light skinned.  They are also very large.

(Brand new) Faleolo International Airport in Apia.  It was built by the Chinese.

We got leis or necklaces when we arrived in most places

During the ride from the airport to Apia, we saw lots of houses.  Samoan houses usually consist of a main building and a fale, an open air building.  There may also be ancestral/family graves in front of the house. 

A fale on the shore

A house (in the back), a fale, and graves

Sometimes there were fales without houses.

And sometimes there were houses without fales.

 After about a 90 minute drive from the airport, we arrived at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel.

Hotel entrance

Hotel bar

My room

Hotel pool

Thursday, July 5

Today the tour group went to Tavai'i, the other big island on Samoa, but I decided to skip it, and took a walk around the center of Apia, then chilled at the pool.  The fact that the tour left at 6:00 AM had no bearing on my decision :-)

The main street in Apia

Busses like these were the main form of transport in Apia

A visit to the local craft market

A government building, next to our hotel.

More of central Apia

The only McDonald's I saw on the trip

In the center of Apia is a circle with a clock tower.

Panoramic view of central Apia

Side of the Apia Public Library

Near the center of the city is the Immaculate Conception Cathedral.   It was finished in 2016 and replaces the former cathedral which was torn down after suffering earthquake damage in 2009.  Both the exterior and the interior of the cathedral are spectacular.   Below are a few shots:

For dinner, we attended a cultural show and buffet at Samoa Tradition Resort.

To give you an idea of the size of Samoan people

To give you an idea of the size of American people

The Chinese Ambassador to Samoa is introduced

A member of our tour group is introduced and offered kava

Let the show begin.....

Friday, July 6

We started the day with a visit to the main market in Apia.

Next we headed to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, the house where the author lived the last years of his life.

Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

Near the museum was Moamoa Theological College and its associated church.

A view from the church

From the college/church, we headed to catch a boat to Manono Island, just off the west coast of the main island.

Frankie is a grocery store chain

Most of the houses in the countryside have platforms out front where the residents place their garbage for collection.

It was about a 20 minute boat ride to Manono Island.  Here's a description of the island:

Our tour today will visit Manono Island, which offers an insight into Samoan culture and
life.  Once reaching Manono we will be greeted by our Samoan hosts for a brief lecture
on Samoan customs and etiquette. We will have the chance to learn about locally grown
products, as well as the various local uses of the coconut.

This island is completely enclosed by a reef, and the colours of the crystal clear water are simply stunning. Today there are only four villages on the island with a total population of 889. Electricity was only introduced here in 1995. This is the third largest island of Samoa, but has an area of only three-square kilometres and was in years gone by, the most important of the group of islands in a political sense, for it was here that the highest chiefs lived. In Manono there is a very Samoan atmosphere, no noise, no dogs, no vehicles, and the main thoroughfare is a footpath that follows the coast. We will enjoy a magnificent strollviewing the lush beautiful gardens with cooling trade winds. 

This is a real paradise for anyone looking for adventure, friendly people and an island that has hardly changed in the last 100 years. Life is very different than elsewhere. The men go to the coral reef spear-fishing every morning on their traditional canoes and come back only once they catch enough fish to feed the family.

Arriving at Manono Island.  As you can see, the weather was less than ideal.

Once on the island, we walked to a fale to observe a cultural demonstration.

The head of the family took a coconut leaf and wove a basket from it in about 3 minutes.

Yet more kava

We ate lunch in another fale, and walked around the island, eventually coming to a small village.

Monument to the first missionary on the island

A fale in the center of town

The town church

We then caught a boat back to the main island and drove back to the hotel.

Saturday, July 7

Today was devoted to a tour of Upolu, the main island of Samoa.

First, a few more fales for your viewing pleasure:

Our first stop was the Baha'i Temple, the only one in the south Pacific.

Nice gardens on the temple grounds

Next we visited a couple of waterfalls.

Papapapaitai Falls

Sopoaga Falls

Next we went to the To Sua Ocean Trench, a big sinkhole near the ocean.

Swimming in the trench

The ocean views near the trench were spectacular.

We then drove along the coast to Tatafala Beach, where we had lunch.

Fales (for rent) on the beach

Baby coconuts

From the beach we drove to Gogosina Falls and Botanical Garden.

Beachfront property along the way

At the falls

In the garden

 
From there, we drove back to Apia for our Farewell Dinner.

Along the road to Apia

Our final dinner was at the Bistro Tatau, near the hotel.  Here are a few shots.

Sunday, July 8

Today was departure day.  I flew from Samoa to Fiji, to Los Angeles, to RDU, arriving at RDU at about 6:00 AM on July 9.

The Apia airport

Departure lounge at Apia airport

At the airport, I bought a Samoan shirt (in my right hand), after comparing it with a size 7XL shirt.

What they're drinking in Samoa

One of the islands of Fiji

Near the Nadi, Fiji airport

When we arrived at Nadi, one of the planes at the gate (not ours, fortunately) was completely overrun with roosting birds. 

A few shots of Los Angeles from the air.

The new stadium they're building for the Rams

Finally, a salute to my travel shoes, which finally gave out at the end of the trip--note the hole in the upper shoe.  I estimate that they have been to about 50 countries and have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles.  Fortunately, I was able to find the same brand and model, so I hope I can keep going for another 50 countries.

And a final Q&A:

Q: Should I take this trip?

A: If you've already traveled the world, it's worth going to these places to get the cultural experience--remember that most of the people on the tour had been to over 100 countries.  However, if you've already been to Hawaii and/or the Caribbean, my recommendation would be to go to French Polynesia, particularly Bora Bora.  It's the closest thing to Paradise that I've experienced.

Q: What were your favorite places/experiences on the trip?

A: The volcano on Vanuatu would rank as the best experience.  Other highlights include the meal at Ancient Tonga, the blowholes on Vanuatu, World War II relics in the Solomon Islands, and the church in Apia.

Q: Where to next?

A: Well, Adventures Abroad runs another tour to islands in Micronesia (Kirabati, Tuvalu, Nauru, Marshall Islands),   I'm not quite ready to go back yet, but maybe some day.   Several of the people on the tour were going (or had recently been) to places like Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sudan.  Maybe I'll enlist in the army and go there.