Dave & Margs' Travels

With a garland of flowers round our necks our first views of Samoa was during the transfer to our accommodation. The Samoans live in open houses with wooden poles round them and a wooden and palm leaf thatched roof. As we drove along we could see them sitting in their mosquito nets or watching their big screen TVs.. Our accommodation was an old colonial house -not an open air fale - on the beach near the capital Apia and so you can imagine me writing this there with gekkos climbing the walls and making their noise - not sure if it is vocal or not?

An early start in the morning, we left our main bags and were ready with just rucksacks to go to the other island Savaii. Pity the cabbie wasn't ready and was 20 minutes late, even more so when the ferry pulled out just as we got there. He said the next ferry was in two hours but it wasn't so we waited nearly four hours till the next one. We should have got the bus, it would have been twice as long as the taxi, but we'd have got the same boat and it would have been a hell of a lot cheaper.

Docking on the other island, we found our bus, it was full. But the locals realising it was the one we wanted, got off, took our bags off us, got back on with us and we set off only to be stopped 100 yards later by the police as Dave was standing in the stairwell. We and the bags got off. After discussions that it was our bus and no we didn't want to wait three hours for the next one, everyone standing on the bus squeezed up a bit and Dave and I and the bags got back on the bus. Dave was on one foot and I was on two next to each other so balance wasn't good, but as we were so crammed we couldn't go anywhere anyway. It was a good 10 minutes before anyone got off. About 15 minutes later I was given a seat and later Dave sat too. It was about a 50minute interesting journey.

The beach fales, right on the beach just screened by small palm plants, were the traditional wooden fales with panels of woven palm leaves on the sides for privacy. They had an electric light, floor mats, matress, pillows, sheets and a mosquito net. Oh and part of a coconut shell that you could use as a brush to remove all the sand that got in. Shared facilities were in a brick building a few metres away. The beack was beautifl white sand and was lined with cocnut trees and there was a volleyball net but half the court was washed away so a bit unfair on the rules.

Dinner, much needed was beef, fidh, rice, cucumber and a veg that looked like pineapple and tasted great. The night before there had been 20 staying, but our first night there was just 6, so Dave and I shared a couple of Vailima beers and rambling (The Gatwick-style) conversations about films, drinks, old peoples homes, travelling etc with a german girl and three people from the Czech Republic. Thankfully their common language was English. We retired to the sound of the sea, (the waves broke on the reef further out) and gekkos running about the fale. I ws pleased of the mosquito net so the gekkos wouldn't crawl on me.

Breakfast was fruit, toast, fried egg and pancakes. We tried to sort out our island day tour but there were insufficient people to run it, so we considered a bus to the the far west to look into 'tomorrow', we were on the world's most westerly island, but the thing the lonely planet didn't say was they only run once a day so we would have to come back the next day. Hiring a car was another great idea until we realised we had left driving licences in the luggage on the main island Upolo. We looked at emails on the net but as it was 20 minutes to look at 12 emails we decided it was too slow for the blog.

So a chill out day, spent sleeping, reading (we both read a book in a day, that tells you how little else there was to do), swimming, taking photos and doing nothing. It was very relaxed but a little frustrating as we had hoped to see the various sights on the island. The showers were cold but as it was so hot and humid it wasn't a problem, you waited until you were hot for a shower and you soon warmed up again after. Dinner was chicken, fish, rice, sweet and sour sort of veg and we had lost one of the CZech guys but were joined by and American guy and his Samoan dad. A short chat and and early night, ready for an early start.

We missed breakfast and caught a bus (less crowded, we got a seat) to the ferry, to miss that one as it was just pulling out too. We hated ferry wharfs as we waited another two hours, and we'd finished our books! The other side we caught a bus to the main town to the bus station. We got off, got on another bus went to another bus terminal and back to the first one. Another passenger advised us to get off and get a taxi as he was driving round looking for passengers! We got off and found a food court, we had missed breakfast after all, and then walked to the accommodation. By the time we reached the colonial house it had taken 7 hours from the beach fale and we were a bit too late to go to The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Samoan laid back ways don't match with tourists trying to see the sights in 4 days.

We went snorkelling at the local Marine Reserve, ok and refreshing but not over exciting. We did however, meet a couple who recommeded a round the island trip so we booked it. We also decided we hadn't really seen much of the active Samoan life so went to a Fia Fia night with buffet and saw the traditional Samoan dancing and lads performing the Fire Dance which looked very dodgey to me, all that baton twirling with fire both ends. The show was good and we made a good effort to try all the different things on the buffet.

We were of course the youngest on the day tour, which took us round the east of the island and showed us beaches, waterfalls and view points. As we drove through the villages the guide explained the Samoan way of life, the hierarchy in villages, funeral rituals, how they survive cyclones (it is cyclone season) etc. He was proud to be Samoan, feared the culture was dying and was very interesting. Lunch was at Lalomanu beach, another glorious white beach with fantastic snorkelling. For those keen divers and snorkellers amoungst you, we saw.... lots of coloured and stripey fish :-). The driver and guide cooked a bbq lunch and we relaxed after before heading for more waterfalls. We also spent time with a guy who explained all the benefits of coconut trees and there are loads, and made coconut cream for us. It was a good trip.

Back at the colonial house, only the young girl was working as the others were all at the Xmas do - a drag queen competition. She clearly didn't like being alone and so decidedd to make us the traditional Samoan 'Cava'. So we sat crossed legged and drank the 'dirty water', thought of you Darren! Then I was taught Samoan dancing, followed by Dave being taught the man's dance. Hopefully the video came out. :-) A Kiwi guest returned and as we wouldn't be leaving her on her own we left in a taxi for the hotel where our pick up was and waited till gone midnight for our transfer. As we sat and waited we discovered our bitten we were by the mosquitos and we were sitting targets to be eaten even more. Dave's foot was swololen with bites and we both itched. As we boarded the plane we weren't sure we would return to Samoa, our only memory at the time being mosquito bites (oh and the cochroach at the airport), perhaps photos in England will change our mind.

so vital things to know if you go Samoa...

The pace of life in Samoa is very laid back and very chilled which is great.............
...BUT ALSO VERY FRUSTRATING.

Don't try to plan to get anywhere in one day.
Don't try to see more than one thing a day.
Most paces, tour operators etc don't take credit card.
Beware of mosquitos - they eat lots!
Plant a coconut tree - they are so useful, everyone should have one.

On the plane we slept through Saturday (3 hour flight) and arrived in NZ on Sunday.