I know my travel schedule is crazy, dear Readers, but soon after getting back to California, a trip to the Fiji Islands was proposed. I couldn't refuse. Still jet lagged, I'm taking off to Fiji. In fact, I haven't tried hard to get back into California time, so I'll slip back into Pacific Time easily.
I'll be the first to admit my ignorance about the Fiji Islands. This seems so far away and so exotic. I wonder if it'll be a bit like Hawaii, or even the Philippines. Perhaps the climate will be so, because the islands are in the middle of the South Pacific, and you can see from the map below that it's near New Zealand -- by "near" I'm talking 1,300 miles. To get there from California, you fly to Hawaii, and then on to its airport in Nadi.
I did a bit of research and came up with these facts.
Fiji is an archipelago of 332 islands in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean. One hundred ten of the islands are inhabited, and the biggest islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. The Dutch and British came in the 17th and 18th centuries and the British brought in South Asians as workers. Now, Fiji is populated by people of South Asian descent (one-half), and the other half are Melanesian. Fiji was part of the Crown Colony until 1970; since, it has had a series of coups but it is one of the most developed economies in the Pacific islands.
More blog entries forthcoming, from the Fiji Islands,
Read also
Burma: Moving Forward
Malaysia: Where Enrique of Malacca Came From
From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City
Coming Up - the Fiji Islands
En Route to Fiji - First Stop, Honolulu
First Impressions of Fiji and Fijians
Cultural Night at the Fiji Palms Resort
It's Raining in Fiji Paradise
Tropical Storm in Fiji Continues
Sunshine Break in Fiji - Hurrah!
Vinaka, Fiji, for a Wonderful Time!
Cecilia
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