March 16, 2008

Got up 6:15AM. It's Sunday: Church day!

We all attended church except for 1 person. It's a cultural experience that was another must see/do in Tonga. It was fantastic.

We all walked up the hill to the large church, at 5 mins to 10AM.

The church is all white and red trim. It's quite impressive up on the hill. Instead of going inside, we went up the steps and to the left, stayed outdoors, and there is sort of a 'bowl' shaped grassy area. Everyone was standing, and it was Palm Sunday and we all got bits of leafy branch to hold. The priest started his sermon, and the choir was singing. Everything was in Tongan so we didn't understand. Then the crowd parted and the priest walked through the crowd carrying a cross, followed by the choir, and then everyone else. We walked out into the street and around the block, singing the whole time, and back up the steps at the front of the church and inside to the pews. They had saved 2 pews for our group near the front. The service was about 2 hours long. Lots of singing. They have very powerful voices, and it's really amazing. We stood up when they stood up; we sat down when they sat down. We just mimicked what they did. Most of us did not take our cameras to the church as we did not see it as appropriate. I'm glad I went, even though it was over 30 degrees and very humid, and we were all dripping with sweat. I don't know how the Tongans get all dressed up in their Sunday best, hats and dresses and men in dress shirts and pants without melting!

After church, Dive Vava'u met us, and took us down to the water at the Paradise Hotel (no beach) to their inflatable boat to take us to Mounu Beach resort for lunch.

The boat was very nice. There were 2 few people in the very front of the boat, and 6 of us sitting in the middle, and a few had to sit on the sides and hold on. The boat took us up to another boat and we were met by Allen the owner of the Mounu Beach Resort. We transferred from boat to boat and then jumped off the back and onto the sand.

Mounu Beach Resort is lovely. It's ecologically friendly. There are only 4 fales, including 1 honeymoon fale. The fales are sort of hexagon shaped with windows that open up most of the way around. Nice simple décor, south pacific style, but tasteful. I would stay here.

Allen and his wife are the original 'Swim with the Humpback whales' operators. The whales swim by just in front of their beach. He said they get the mother whales bring their calf and stay for hours. Whale season is generally from July – November.

Lunch was delicious. We had Lobster salad with warm rolls and fruit juice cocktails, followed by hummingbird cake which is like carrot cake, but it's made with coconut, banana and pineapple.

I heard some squawking going on, and I happened to be walking beside Allen on our walk and asked him what the noise was. He has a bird named 'George'. It's an Aussie bird, (black with pink feathers).

After lunch we got to go into Allen's 'sub' named the 'Kilisitahi', which is a boat with a boat underneath it (attached) and the sides that go under the water are thick windows, so you are under the water, and looking out into the coral and fish at eye level. It was great, although there is absolutely no airflow, so after just a few minutes it's like a sauna, humid and stuffy. I don't have a high tech spiffy camera, but some people had cameras with a special underwater setting, so they got some fantastic pics. It was almost as good as snorkelling and a good alternative if you don't want to get into the water (although it would have been a lot cooler!)

Allen took us to a place called Swallows Cave, on nearby Kapa island, which is a cave only accessible by water that is full of little swallows and their nests. We snorkelled into the cave and looked up and there were lots and lots of swallows flying around, and little nests.

It took a 25 mins boat ride back to the Paradise hotel.

The rooms at the Paradise Hotel are a bit dated, built in the 1970's. It is the oldest hotel there, and in need of an upgrade.

Met for dinner in the hotel restaurant and had Lobster and Red snapper.. For dessert there were banana splits. It's funny because their bananas are so small compared to the ones we get here in the supermarket, that there was big scoops of ice cream and tiny banana halves underneath.

Then someone got the brilliant idea that it was time for kava. Kava is traditional beverage made from the root of kava plant which is dried and ground into powder then mixed with water and consumed. You will find this on many of the other islands of the South Pacific as well. It is a social pastime for mostly men. It does not taste very good (sort of like muddy water), and it makes your tongue tingle. It's sort of a drug in a way, it makes you relaxed and tired, depending how much you drink. We just did our kava drinking casually, but there are traditional kava ceremonies as well.

The cook who prepared our meals just happened to be Fijian and he got out the kava bowl and prepared the kava. We all pulled our chairs around and the kava drinking commenced. I only had a few 'low-tides' (about ¼ coconut half shells worth). But 2 of the guys on our trip had to prove themselves, so they had 'high-tides' and lots of them. There was much laughter and stories shared by all. It was a good evening. All of us ladies decided to go to bed. (I think the men were waiting for us to leave, as traditionally kava is a men's social activity).