Tonga Photos are In!

Beaches, whale watching, bike rides, bars, even a trip to church, it's all here. I have finally put together some of the photos from our trip.  Click on the album to see a slideshow of the images (double-click to open it in a larger window).




These photos are compiled from the cameras of everyone on the trip.

Tonga Part 3: Getting Home

The rest of Sunday was relatively uneventful.  We had a nice dinner on Sunday night and then woke up on Monday morning to take a bike ride to the blow holes.  The blow holes occur on several of the islands in the South Pacific where water shoots up through holes in the cliffs as the waves come crashing against them.  If the tides are right and the waves are big it can look like a small geyser.  

Janine and Amanda enjoying a slush

The five us used old school bikes (the kind that don't even have hand brakes) to ride 45 minutes to the blow holes ala a new age Von Trapp family.  We traversed the Tongan roads avoiding pot holes, chickens, pigs, dogs and people.  Finally, we arrived at the blow holes which were cool but the ride itself was easily the most fun.  We stopped along the way back at a roadside shop for what we had hoped was a fruit slush, what we got wasn't really what we were expecting but at least it was cold and refreshing.

Like the rest of my experiences over the last few months, we met people everywhere in Tonga.  We became friends with our host, Sven from Germany, and his wife, Calolina from Tonga.  We met Calolina's brothers who worked on the property during the day.  We got to know the other people staying at the lodge too - a family from New Zealand, two German backpackers, and a Canadian woman who sailed up from New Zealand among others.  So it's not really a surprise that we met a few Tongan guys too - Toni and Teveta.

Teveta showing us how to climb a palm

On Monday afternoon, after cleaning up and packing up our things, we went back to Bill Fish to kill some time before our flight left (it was an 11:40p flight so we had plenty of time).  Teveta came to meet us.  After a bit of time he said he needed to go to the airport and he could take one person with him...I was the lucky nominee.

We made a few stops along the way before arriving at his family's house.  As it turned out it was two of his relatives that were flying out so the entire family was going to the airport to say farewell.  He introduced me to about 8 kids (all under the age of 17), and a few of them followed me around a bit.  Teveta explained that they hadn't really interacted with a palangi (white person) before.

Teveta and I along with his nana and aunt got into an SUV and followed a pick up truck packed with the rest of his relatives, the kids were all sitting in the back loudly chattering as we pulled out.  After about five minutes (driving at 40kph the whole way), we started to hear synchronized yelling from the back of the truck - the kids were singing at the top of their lungs.  What were they singing?  None other than Justin Bieber.

We got to the airport and a few of the kids rushed up to my door to greet me.  Then the cameras came out and they wanted pictures and to ask me questions: "How are you?" "How did you like Tonga?" "How did you meet Teveta?"  "Where are you from?" "When are you coming back?"

Just proves what I already knew, people are the same the world around, and most of them are pretty wonderful.  Maybe I will go back to Tonga...afterall, I was invited for Christmas.

Tonga Part 2: Cultural Show, Church

After cleaning up from the day of whale watching we walked down the beach to a resort that hosts a cultural show and buffet with traditional foods.

Our cultural buffet

If you like protein and starch the food was fantastic! There were more potato varieties (Taro, Kumala, and others - which are popular crops among the islands), meats, salads, a few stir fry options, and a pig that had been roasted on a spit.

The dancers started after dinner and performed traditional island dances from across the South Pacific (including the Hula from Hawaii and the Haka from New Zealand). The energy was really high and the dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves which infected the audience with the excitement. Fire eaters and dancers that spun flames on poi finished the night.

The excitement from the dancers worked it's magic and all of us felt the need to go dance in town. We piled into a van and headed to town to try the “tourist friendly bar” – Bill Fish.  Instead of calypso island music, it was songs were from the US Top 40, with a few old songs thrown in. The only difference was that they weren’t the mixes of the songs I was used to hearing, and after about an hour or two we knew the tracks by heart.  There were Tongans at the bar but there were just as many tourists (with sunburnt skin and bad rhythm they weren't hard to spot).  It was the most fun I've had dancing in awhile.  (We met enough people there that when we turned up the next night we felt like regulars as we waved to the familiar faces.)

Lindsay in her favorite hammock

Saturday was spent lying around and generally relaxing on the beach. The day was gorgeous and we took full advantage of it with naps in hammocks, reading on the sand, and snorkelling. It was exactly what I was hoping for on my vacation.

Sunday morning I crawled out of bed early enough to get some breakfast before we went off to church.  As many know, I'm not a particularly religious person so this would be my first time at a church service in years.  But it's a big part of the culture in Tonga.  In fact, everything shuts down on Sundays (even the taxis stop running) and work isn't permitted.  Tonga is primarily a Christian culture.  We found our way to the Free Wesleyan Methodist Church in a small village past our lodge.

Free Wesleyan Church

At 10am when the church was still almost empty we were a bit worried that we picked the wrong one in this small town (there were three to choose from).  But at 10:15 the bells rang and the people started to fill the church.  It was island time afterall.

It was well worth the wait and the heat for the experience.  The music was incredible!  Each voice alone may not have sounded spectacular, but together the congregation was awesome.  An older man in front of us turned around and handed us his hymnal (he knew all the songs by heart) so we sang along with the choir and conducter in Tongan - or at least attempted to sing along.  For that hour I didn't feel like a tourist as much as I felt like part of the culture...even if I couldn't understand a single word that was said or sung, I got the meaning.

More to come:  Bike ride to the blow holes, a Tongan send-off at the airport, Photos

Tonga Part 1: Exploring, Whale Watching

At first inspection the islands of Tonga are the same as many of the islands in the Caribbean, but after spending five days there, I've come to appreciate the more subtle differences.  Tonga is a group of 176 islands (only 36 are inhabited) in the South Pacific.  If you look at the International Dateline it veers around the islands just to the East, making them one of the first countries to start each day.  So for four days I saw the sun rise and the night fall before 99% of the rest of the world....pretty awesome.

Arriving at the airport

Tonga is the only Pacific nation to never have been ruled by a foreign power.  It isn't as touristy at the other islands in the South Pacific which can be great, as long as you know what to expect.  The trip to Tonga was planned about a month ago when I just needed to get away.  I would have been happy to go alone to spend some time by myself on the beach, instead I had what turned out to be a great group of friends join me.  Janine (my English flatmate), Lindsay (Janine's Scottish friend), Amanda (one of my Kiwi friends), and Robert (a South African guy I had met a few times through mutual friends) all piled into my Honda to head to the airport at 4:30am on Thursday morning.  Each of us from different countries, with different backgrounds, all seasoned travellers..this was just one more experience.

We arrived in Tonga with our luggage in tow and our duty-free liquor purchased, the weather was overcast and a bit rainy so after checking into the hotel we headed into the main town on the island and the capital - Nuku 'Alofa.  There were a few main streets and as our hostess from the Heilala Lodge (also our driver in this case) gave us a short tour she pointed out the main sights including the markets, a few cafes, a tourist friendly bar (unbeknownst to us at the time we would be regular visitors during our five day stay), and the two storey building that was until recently the tallest building in the Kingdom.  It was a nice tour around the town and we took advantage of it to get our bearings before setting out on foot.

Even with valiant efforts potatoes don't stir fry

After lunch, we found our way to the fruit and veg market where we purchased some things for a stir-fry dinner (which really just turned into a starchy mess, but tasted good despite appearances).  We stopped at the only ice-cream place in town and headed to the grocery store before heading back to our hotel on the far west side of the island.  Overall, it was a good introduction to Tongatapu (the main island) and a nice way to spend a day that wasn't ideal for the beach.

The next day we organized a whale watching tour with one of the few outfits on the main island.  It turned out to be the five of us and our Swedish skipper, Yves.  So for $750 NZD we chartered a private 54' sailboat for what became an awesome day of whale watching.

The Sea Star with our Skipper, Yves

The Southern Humpback whales migrate to Tonga every winter for mating season making July-October ideal months for whale watching.  The day was really windy so we had trouble seeing much of anything in the morning.  Around lunchtime we were distracted by a few porpoises playing in our wake when Yves slowed down the boat and pointed just off the side where he was predicting a whale was going to surface.  Sure enough a ginormous whale emerged about 20 feet off the side of the starboard side.

During the rest of the day we estimated that we saw approximately 10-12 whales, some on multiple occasions.  We saw whales surfacing, fluking (raising their tales as they dove deep), breeching (jumping into the air), and mating.  When two of them swam under our boat (we saw their huge white bellies go by in the crystal clear water) I nervously realised that we were truly at their mercy.

We finished off the day with a tour of a small island (Fafa Island) off the coast with very nice (aka expensive) accommodations.  The fales (pronounced "fa-lay" which is Tongan for house) had open bathrooms and cleverly designed power and other conveniences which meant it was a cross between a beach hut and a modern apartment for the low price of $500 NZD per night.  After our island tour, we headed back to our own more moderate hotel for a quick change and shower before walking down the beach for a cultural show and night on the town.

More to come:  Cultural Dances, Local Bar, Church, Bike ride, Tongan Men (and women), Photos

To Tonga! For Sunny Warm Weather

Up until now I typically avoid the topic of Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.  That's because I'm much more from the "Harden Up" camp.  I mean, seriously?! Even the acronym makes me think it's a joke.  However, I like my Vitamin D as much as the next person, so I know that a lack of sun can have an affect on someone.  For me, I got some of my best work done in the Fall and Winter because I had so little desire to go outside in the frigid temperatures of Chicago.  In other words, I was a hibernator, but I didn't get depressed.

That was until I had two winters in a row...I'm starting to see the effects of my hibernating.  I've even seen the light (figuratively speaking) because without a reprieve from the shorter days, I can even accept that people may catch a case of  "SADness" during the winter months... I know I have (granted it took nearly 9 in a row).

My solution:  go someplace warm, sunny and tropical.  I ran a search online and found reasonable tickets to the Kingdom of Tonga...haven't heard of it, but what the Hell, I booked it.  Whether I had someone to go with or not wasn't important, I needed some reprieve from the darkness and chilly weather.  But I had nothing to worry about - I wasn't alone with my desire to see some sun.  Three and maybe four other women will be joining me on my holiday in Tonga for five days near the end of August.

Tonga is a small island nation in the South Pacific, it is one of the few that was never taken over by foreign rulers, because of that they still have their own monarchy within the islands.  This also means that it was never over populated by tourists, which is a positive and negative.  It means that I will get a very island experience, without dealing with all of the touristy shops and large complexes that cater to that crowd....but sometimes I am in that crowd so we'll see how the "island experience" is for someone that has come to appreciate four walls and a comfortable bed.

Here's what I have to look forward to:
- Beaches:  Like many in the South Pacific, the islands of Tonga have gorgeous beaches and great snorkeling. Without all the tourists around things aren't overpopulated and crowded so I should even have some space to spread out.

- Whale watching:  The Southern Humpback whales go to mate near the Tongan islands every winter (July - September) making it one of the best places in the world to see the whales.  On most tour boats you can even put on snorkel equipment and jump in to swim with them.  Their calls can be heard for miles around as the sound travels so well under water.

- Snorkeling and Kayaking:  Sunken ships, reefs, and other underwater marvels are all to be explored on kayak trips and snorkeling excursions around the area.

- The sun:  Did I mention that I could use some Vitamin D??  Although I still don't plan to spend much time in the sun, after all, I enjoy my pale white color, I am definitely looking forward to the longer days and sunny weather.