Tonga - Day 2
Written on 9 September 2010
Today I got out of the main town of Nuku'alofa, but the story of how that came about is reasonably interesting in itself.
I started the day quite slowly, fluffing about, but doing a bit of reading, so not too bad. Eventually I headed off to town (which is about a 15 minute walk from where I'm staying). I took my netbook with me, in my SAFE bag, as I was planning to hang out at a touristy cafe, where they have free wireless.
On the way to the cafe I stopped off at the market, and chanced to see someone selling a range of junk food that I haven't seen sold anywhere else. And hidden amongst it all was none other than one solitary Richfields 50g 70% dark chocolate bar - what a score! Probably the only vegan friendly chocolate on the entire island. Maybe another one will magically appear somewhere else.
At the cafe I ordered a coffee of size large (long black). Yesterday, I got a regular (I don't know what it is, but I drink more coffee when away from home). It cost $1 more, but it looked like the same size cup as yesterday. It did seem more anyhow.
I then used the Internet for a short while.
After that I headed off down to the waterfront to a the strange shop I'd ventured across yesterday, with the Cycle Hire sign. It is hardly your standard cycle shop. In fact, the shop appears to have very little to do with bikes, being comprised of an interior completely un-shop-like, and being attended by an elderly man with very poor hearing. I'd had a brief conversation with him yesterday, when there were no bikes around. There were two today, one pink, one green. After some loud talking, and I suppose, arm waving, I hired the green one for a day (which means it is due back tomorrow at 1pm). I shall, as you will come to understand, probably rehire it for one more day.
The bike is a classic "picnic" bike, with one gear, and the reverse-pedal style of breaking. It has thick chunky tires, and low-rider style handle bars (though it's not quite a low-rider bike). It does have a stand though, and a cover over the chain (which falls off once in a while - the chain that is, not the cover). So all in all, it's the perfect bike to go cycle touring with (but not really).
I was going to head back to my accommodation, to drop off the netbook, but I managed to make a reasonable backpack impersonation out of the SAFE carry bag, and I got lost, and found myself having lots of fun riding around (the bike does have low weight going for it - which as you should all know is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING WITH BIKES). It thus concluded that I headed off on a longish cycle without dropping off my netbook, and without picking up any extra food or water (I had some "nut pieces" to tide me over). I ended up doing a tour of most of the western side of the island (Tongatapu).
I visited the landing site of that crazy Dutchman loved by many in the Pacific region (Abel Tasman), but I didn't bother going quite all the way to the northern most point as the road was getting a bit rough. It was exactly what one would expect from a landing site for a landing which I'm guessing was around 350 years ago, but the villages and forests on the way were the interesting part.
I then headed down to the village of Houma, and went to see the Mapu'a 'a Vaca Blowholes (had to after repeatedly mentioning them [on Facebook or somewhere]), and they were quite interesting. My camera gets confused by my batteries, and is convinced they are flat when they aren't, so I didn't actually know if I'd get any photos when I got there. I did. I could have taken a lot more, but I didn't bring spare batteries. Charging some up was we speak.
Anyhow, after that I headed back home via the Mormon church, strangely marked on my map (there are thousands of churches here, and quite a few Mormon ones that aren't marked). Turns out there is a Mormon high-school there as well. It's English only there too.
I eventually got back to town, and had someone wave and say hello "Matthew" to me, which was a bit strange, but it was the woman through whom I booked my accommodation (Petunia - probably spelt a bit different). I was taken a bit off guard by this, so I didn't stop to say anything (I'm not very talky, as per usual - I don't really know what to say).
I got rained on a couple of times, but the rain didn't last long, and it's a quick dry climate round here, so I didn't mind much. This evening though, it pissed down, for a sustained period of time (in fact, it is still semi-raining now).
All up I probably cycled over 40 km. I'm not sure if that's what hard of hearing man thought I'd do with his bike.
The "palangi" thing continues. One example is when I stopped at a grocery shop out near AT's landing, when the Asian woman serving me (a lot of the stores are owned by Asians, and there aren't many of them otherwise), then said a few words to some Tongan kids waiting near by which went along the lines of "something something palangi something", which I suppose is sort of rude when you consider they are talking about me, but I don't care. A lot of little children say "palangi!" when they see me. I really don't know if they expect me to know what the word means or not. (According to the Lonely Planet guide it just means "foreigner" in Tonga, where as "palagi" means white person in Samoan - which is how I've usually taken the word to mean - though I'm guessing it's like the possible use of the word Pakeha to mean anyone non-Maori).
Another thing I notice is that when I'm cycling past people they don't wave and say "hi!", they wave and say "bye" (and not always a friendly as the "friendly island" moniker might suggest - it's sometimes followed by non-embracing laughter, though that may be the fact that I'm wearing strange shoe laces).
American guy at the guest house (name David) is still on his quest to convert everyone to the ways of the non-carb diet, which means we should all eat meat and cheese (which I think is all he eats). The Australian fed the mother cat some tuna - the mother cat barely looks more than a kitten, and doesn't look well-fed - I'll get her a bit of food before I leave [I never did - she was fed lots by other guests].
Oh year, I got a bit sunburnt, but just on my hands - I put some sunblock on before I left - not much seems to be needed, but sunburn is still a possibility.
At one store I asked an Asian dude (it's all race today) for some Bhuja snacks (they are 30 cents) but he didn't understand me and kept wanting to give me batteries. In the end I bought a Fuji apple (NZ grown). True. [The Asian part is significant because I suspect non-English speaking immigrants are the least like likely to talk English - they do talk Tongan of course - also, according to my Lonely Planet, there is some animosity between the Tongans and Asian immigrants - I saw some evidence of this]
I think I've sunburnt the back of my neck. It's still raining. Oh yeah, I changed beds last night, and there were no dogs or noisy neighbours, so I had a good sleep. (By neighbours, I mean in the property next door, not to my room, though someone snores in the deep base manner, in a near by room).
Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll do. My planned cycle of the eastern side of the island will be longer than today, and I really have uni and election stuff to do. Will probably do some cycling or running.
Today I got out of the main town of Nuku'alofa, but the story of how that came about is reasonably interesting in itself.
I started the day quite slowly, fluffing about, but doing a bit of reading, so not too bad. Eventually I headed off to town (which is about a 15 minute walk from where I'm staying). I took my netbook with me, in my SAFE bag, as I was planning to hang out at a touristy cafe, where they have free wireless.
On the way to the cafe I stopped off at the market, and chanced to see someone selling a range of junk food that I haven't seen sold anywhere else. And hidden amongst it all was none other than one solitary Richfields 50g 70% dark chocolate bar - what a score! Probably the only vegan friendly chocolate on the entire island. Maybe another one will magically appear somewhere else.
At the cafe I ordered a coffee of size large (long black). Yesterday, I got a regular (I don't know what it is, but I drink more coffee when away from home). It cost $1 more, but it looked like the same size cup as yesterday. It did seem more anyhow.
I then used the Internet for a short while.
After that I headed off down to the waterfront to a the strange shop I'd ventured across yesterday, with the Cycle Hire sign. It is hardly your standard cycle shop. In fact, the shop appears to have very little to do with bikes, being comprised of an interior completely un-shop-like, and being attended by an elderly man with very poor hearing. I'd had a brief conversation with him yesterday, when there were no bikes around. There were two today, one pink, one green. After some loud talking, and I suppose, arm waving, I hired the green one for a day (which means it is due back tomorrow at 1pm). I shall, as you will come to understand, probably rehire it for one more day.
The bike is a classic "picnic" bike, with one gear, and the reverse-pedal style of breaking. It has thick chunky tires, and low-rider style handle bars (though it's not quite a low-rider bike). It does have a stand though, and a cover over the chain (which falls off once in a while - the chain that is, not the cover). So all in all, it's the perfect bike to go cycle touring with (but not really).
I was going to head back to my accommodation, to drop off the netbook, but I managed to make a reasonable backpack impersonation out of the SAFE carry bag, and I got lost, and found myself having lots of fun riding around (the bike does have low weight going for it - which as you should all know is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING WITH BIKES). It thus concluded that I headed off on a longish cycle without dropping off my netbook, and without picking up any extra food or water (I had some "nut pieces" to tide me over). I ended up doing a tour of most of the western side of the island (Tongatapu).
I visited the landing site of that crazy Dutchman loved by many in the Pacific region (Abel Tasman), but I didn't bother going quite all the way to the northern most point as the road was getting a bit rough. It was exactly what one would expect from a landing site for a landing which I'm guessing was around 350 years ago, but the villages and forests on the way were the interesting part.
I then headed down to the village of Houma, and went to see the Mapu'a 'a Vaca Blowholes (had to after repeatedly mentioning them [on Facebook or somewhere]), and they were quite interesting. My camera gets confused by my batteries, and is convinced they are flat when they aren't, so I didn't actually know if I'd get any photos when I got there. I did. I could have taken a lot more, but I didn't bring spare batteries. Charging some up was we speak.
Anyhow, after that I headed back home via the Mormon church, strangely marked on my map (there are thousands of churches here, and quite a few Mormon ones that aren't marked). Turns out there is a Mormon high-school there as well. It's English only there too.
I eventually got back to town, and had someone wave and say hello "Matthew" to me, which was a bit strange, but it was the woman through whom I booked my accommodation (Petunia - probably spelt a bit different). I was taken a bit off guard by this, so I didn't stop to say anything (I'm not very talky, as per usual - I don't really know what to say).
I got rained on a couple of times, but the rain didn't last long, and it's a quick dry climate round here, so I didn't mind much. This evening though, it pissed down, for a sustained period of time (in fact, it is still semi-raining now).
All up I probably cycled over 40 km. I'm not sure if that's what hard of hearing man thought I'd do with his bike.
The "palangi" thing continues. One example is when I stopped at a grocery shop out near AT's landing, when the Asian woman serving me (a lot of the stores are owned by Asians, and there aren't many of them otherwise), then said a few words to some Tongan kids waiting near by which went along the lines of "something something palangi something", which I suppose is sort of rude when you consider they are talking about me, but I don't care. A lot of little children say "palangi!" when they see me. I really don't know if they expect me to know what the word means or not. (According to the Lonely Planet guide it just means "foreigner" in Tonga, where as "palagi" means white person in Samoan - which is how I've usually taken the word to mean - though I'm guessing it's like the possible use of the word Pakeha to mean anyone non-Maori).
Another thing I notice is that when I'm cycling past people they don't wave and say "hi!", they wave and say "bye" (and not always a friendly as the "friendly island" moniker might suggest - it's sometimes followed by non-embracing laughter, though that may be the fact that I'm wearing strange shoe laces).
American guy at the guest house (name David) is still on his quest to convert everyone to the ways of the non-carb diet, which means we should all eat meat and cheese (which I think is all he eats). The Australian fed the mother cat some tuna - the mother cat barely looks more than a kitten, and doesn't look well-fed - I'll get her a bit of food before I leave [I never did - she was fed lots by other guests].
Oh year, I got a bit sunburnt, but just on my hands - I put some sunblock on before I left - not much seems to be needed, but sunburn is still a possibility.
At one store I asked an Asian dude (it's all race today) for some Bhuja snacks (they are 30 cents) but he didn't understand me and kept wanting to give me batteries. In the end I bought a Fuji apple (NZ grown). True. [The Asian part is significant because I suspect non-English speaking immigrants are the least like likely to talk English - they do talk Tongan of course - also, according to my Lonely Planet, there is some animosity between the Tongans and Asian immigrants - I saw some evidence of this]
I think I've sunburnt the back of my neck. It's still raining. Oh yeah, I changed beds last night, and there were no dogs or noisy neighbours, so I had a good sleep. (By neighbours, I mean in the property next door, not to my room, though someone snores in the deep base manner, in a near by room).
Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll do. My planned cycle of the eastern side of the island will be longer than today, and I really have uni and election stuff to do. Will probably do some cycling or running.