Time flies
It’s November, and life doesn’t seem to get any easier as time goes by. Oh wait, I think that’s the whole point about it, life never gets easier, it’s supposed to go up a level on the scale of difficulty. It’s almost the end of another year and in the past three weeks I’ve seen so much happening that I can’t even begin to explain. The first was my trip to Savusavu.
Savusavu was such a blast! We had so much fun there, it was quiet, peaceful and at the same time different. I’m so used to the whole hustle and bustle of Suva that going to Savusavu has opened up a lot of different experiences for me. It’s actually kinda nice to just wake up and hear birds singing – not bass pumping music blasting from some bus just down the road. The beach was just across the road from the hotel, I mean you could just walk on down there and jump straight into crystal clear sea water and swim with the beautiful fish in the harbour.
A stroll though town was another order of the day, the people are so friendly and life there seems so laidback and easy. It’s no wonder that a lot of people go there to live after retirement. But for a town that’s boasted of as Fiji’s hidden paradise, it has one really seedy night life. If you’re not hitting it out in the local club – UROSOUS yes that’s what it’s called, you can also get smashed drunk at a local house party that 90% of the time occurs by someone’s beach house.
Anyway, back to the case at hand. I went to Savusavu along with a select group of members of the Malaga Choir to perform as guest artists at the Savusavu World Music Festival. I was billeted with Tiri and Valerie but I ended up sleeping in the same room with Jason, Ronnie, Fumaru and Ana along with Chris. So, in a room set for four people, there were in actual fact, six people there, who – as it turns out – are all smokers. LOL.
The festival opening was held at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, a five star place with beautifully decorated bures and posh looking villas all facing the ocean. It even has a massage parlour that’s right beside the water – here you can get a real proper spa treatment complete with Pure Fiji products. Speaking about Pure Fiji stuff, each bure is outfitted with a selection of Pure Fiji products like shampoos, conditioners and soap. In order for us to have a place of our own to change in, we were given a bure to use (Bure 19). So, while the girls were busy putting on their make-up, I was busy “hana-ing” all the Pure Fiji stuff I could find in the bure. I arrived at the hotel with an empty bag; I left with the damn thing bursting at the seams. LOL.
Our second performance was on Friday night at the hotel of our residence: Hot Springs Hotel. The only claim to fame this little place has is it’s spectacular view of Savusavu Bay and I don’t take that lightly – this place has one pretty amazing view. You wake up in the morning and you can stand in your little balcony overlooking the harbour and the island directly across from you just beckons. I loved waking up at four and waiting for the sunrise – it’s a truly beautiful sight, one I will truly miss. God! It seems like I can’t get out of talking about the place! Anyway, we performed the Bula Spirit Tour repertoire for both Cousteau and Hot Springs Hotel. The show that made a difference was our closing performance on Saturday night. We had to perform without Igelese who had to return to Suva with his family and I must say that we did pretty well without him.
Our repertoire was a combination of the Bula Spirit Tour and the Vaka production. The songs and dances picked were perfect for the show! Everything just seemed to gel from the beginning. The most exciting part for me was being able to do the hurricane dance from beginning to end, sitting down cross legged on the floor. You might not think it much but for me, it meant the whole world! LOL I was also given the chance to write the script for the show; the whole idea behind this was so that even though we had breaks between our segments, there’d be a flowing storyline. My creative juices were going out of control.
My favourite segment was segment 2 which I entitled “Aroha – Love”. It was made up of two songs and one dance. The first was Manea Koe Engara’s song, then the Ura Pa’u and finally Pese Mai Vaka. The whole idea behind the segment was that it had to show the Pacific love for life, for God, for the Arts and for each other. Am I good or what?
The whole performance was our best ever and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. That night, we were so tired; most of us just fell asleep after having a cool shower to wash off the sweat of the performance. I fell asleep and woke up late the next morning. When I got up, most if not all the choir members had eaten breakfast and left for the church service that I wasn’t told about. I couldn’t be bothered attending the service, so after breakfast myself and Fumaru took a walk through town. It was pretty nice. But an added bonus for the day was going for a car ride with Tupou (a member of the original Malaga 2006 choir). We all went up to an estate belonging to the Hazelman family of Savusavu.
Now this estate was pretty extensive and it had an awesome view. The house was built on the highest hill and it overlooks the low lying land and the sea. From that point, I could see Koro Island and Taveuni Island. We went sightseeing through the garden and we even got several cuttings of the plants in the garden. I scored myself, two cuttings – one for a red frangipani tree and another for the small white frangipani flower tree, those were the only two that I wanted. Tupou got herself a lot of cuttings – even a sapling of the red palm and some orchids.
Now I don’t have the time to finish this so I’ll continue this train of thought later…
Savusavu was such a blast! We had so much fun there, it was quiet, peaceful and at the same time different. I’m so used to the whole hustle and bustle of Suva that going to Savusavu has opened up a lot of different experiences for me. It’s actually kinda nice to just wake up and hear birds singing – not bass pumping music blasting from some bus just down the road. The beach was just across the road from the hotel, I mean you could just walk on down there and jump straight into crystal clear sea water and swim with the beautiful fish in the harbour.
A stroll though town was another order of the day, the people are so friendly and life there seems so laidback and easy. It’s no wonder that a lot of people go there to live after retirement. But for a town that’s boasted of as Fiji’s hidden paradise, it has one really seedy night life. If you’re not hitting it out in the local club – UROSOUS yes that’s what it’s called, you can also get smashed drunk at a local house party that 90% of the time occurs by someone’s beach house.
Anyway, back to the case at hand. I went to Savusavu along with a select group of members of the Malaga Choir to perform as guest artists at the Savusavu World Music Festival. I was billeted with Tiri and Valerie but I ended up sleeping in the same room with Jason, Ronnie, Fumaru and Ana along with Chris. So, in a room set for four people, there were in actual fact, six people there, who – as it turns out – are all smokers. LOL.
The festival opening was held at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, a five star place with beautifully decorated bures and posh looking villas all facing the ocean. It even has a massage parlour that’s right beside the water – here you can get a real proper spa treatment complete with Pure Fiji products. Speaking about Pure Fiji stuff, each bure is outfitted with a selection of Pure Fiji products like shampoos, conditioners and soap. In order for us to have a place of our own to change in, we were given a bure to use (Bure 19). So, while the girls were busy putting on their make-up, I was busy “hana-ing” all the Pure Fiji stuff I could find in the bure. I arrived at the hotel with an empty bag; I left with the damn thing bursting at the seams. LOL.
Our second performance was on Friday night at the hotel of our residence: Hot Springs Hotel. The only claim to fame this little place has is it’s spectacular view of Savusavu Bay and I don’t take that lightly – this place has one pretty amazing view. You wake up in the morning and you can stand in your little balcony overlooking the harbour and the island directly across from you just beckons. I loved waking up at four and waiting for the sunrise – it’s a truly beautiful sight, one I will truly miss. God! It seems like I can’t get out of talking about the place! Anyway, we performed the Bula Spirit Tour repertoire for both Cousteau and Hot Springs Hotel. The show that made a difference was our closing performance on Saturday night. We had to perform without Igelese who had to return to Suva with his family and I must say that we did pretty well without him.
Our repertoire was a combination of the Bula Spirit Tour and the Vaka production. The songs and dances picked were perfect for the show! Everything just seemed to gel from the beginning. The most exciting part for me was being able to do the hurricane dance from beginning to end, sitting down cross legged on the floor. You might not think it much but for me, it meant the whole world! LOL I was also given the chance to write the script for the show; the whole idea behind this was so that even though we had breaks between our segments, there’d be a flowing storyline. My creative juices were going out of control.
My favourite segment was segment 2 which I entitled “Aroha – Love”. It was made up of two songs and one dance. The first was Manea Koe Engara’s song, then the Ura Pa’u and finally Pese Mai Vaka. The whole idea behind the segment was that it had to show the Pacific love for life, for God, for the Arts and for each other. Am I good or what?
The whole performance was our best ever and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. That night, we were so tired; most of us just fell asleep after having a cool shower to wash off the sweat of the performance. I fell asleep and woke up late the next morning. When I got up, most if not all the choir members had eaten breakfast and left for the church service that I wasn’t told about. I couldn’t be bothered attending the service, so after breakfast myself and Fumaru took a walk through town. It was pretty nice. But an added bonus for the day was going for a car ride with Tupou (a member of the original Malaga 2006 choir). We all went up to an estate belonging to the Hazelman family of Savusavu.
Now this estate was pretty extensive and it had an awesome view. The house was built on the highest hill and it overlooks the low lying land and the sea. From that point, I could see Koro Island and Taveuni Island. We went sightseeing through the garden and we even got several cuttings of the plants in the garden. I scored myself, two cuttings – one for a red frangipani tree and another for the small white frangipani flower tree, those were the only two that I wanted. Tupou got herself a lot of cuttings – even a sapling of the red palm and some orchids.
Now I don’t have the time to finish this so I’ll continue this train of thought later…
posted by FALLENangel at
9:53 am
0 Comments
