I was going to write about the
Lapaha royal burial tombs after my visit on Saturday. But the "WELCOME TO
PAKI MO E
TO'I" sign appeared just before a locked gate. I'm taking my grade 12 class there on Thursday for a field trip. I guess I'll have extend my "expert" charade to Tongan History now too, which is no big stretch since I also teach a university course on Pacific Politics. In the meantime, here are some pictures I took along the way to
Lapaha, and a couple I've been saving.
Rain rain rain. This is what it looked like one morning when I was thinking about going to class. It's the cyclone season, and though I have yet to experience one (I'm promised one or two a year), I did enjoy a full week of rain that ended (thankfully) Friday night. Although, with heavy rains, comes the Tongan equivalent of a snow day - rainy day programs at school!
God said he wouldn't destroy the world with a flood again. But with all the rain, I guess this guy chose to play it safe to save his family and his 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 pigs, 2 chickens,...
On the way to
Lapaha I found Captain Cook's landing point. Legend holds that, landing at this spot, he told a local boy to tell the King of his arrival. Then he took a nap under a great banyan tree this plaque claims stood here. My own experience with banyan trees suggests they're all infested with spiders, but then I've been in Tonga longer than the captain had. I thought this guy was offering to take my picture, but it turned out he was asking me to take HIS picture. After, when I offered him the camera, he instead shook my hand and said goodbye. And I shared my apples with him! He did offer me one of the many girlfriends he claimed to have in
Lapaha, though. All in all, thanks to the language barrier, it was an interesting apple-eating session.
You can't say being Canadian doesn't count for something. In Tonga, it means good sardines!
Rain rain rain. This is what it looked like one morning when I was thinking about going to class. It's the cyclone season, and though I have yet to experience one (I'm promised one or two a year), I did enjoy a full week of rain that ended (thankfully) Friday night. Although, with heavy rains, comes the Tongan equivalent of a snow day - rainy day programs at school!
God said he wouldn't destroy the world with a flood again. But with all the rain, I guess this guy chose to play it safe to save his family and his 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 pigs, 2 chickens,...
On the way to Lapaha I found Captain Cook's landing point. Legend holds that, landing at this spot, he told a local boy to tell the King of his arrival. Then he took a nap under a great banyan tree this plaque claims stood here. My own experience with banyan trees suggests they're all infested with spiders, but then I've been in Tonga longer than the captain had. I thought this guy was offering to take my picture, but it turned out he was asking me to take HIS picture. After, when I offered him the camera, he instead shook my hand and said goodbye. And I shared my apples with him! He did offer me one of the many girlfriends he claimed to have in Lapaha, though. All in all, thanks to the language barrier, it was an interesting apple-eating session.
You can't say being Canadian doesn't count for something. In Tonga, it means good sardines!
That first picture, that's from your apartment again right?
ReplyDeleteSounds like the Captain could have used your Tongan experience, and your modern world experience too. You could build an awesome windmill for him, and Lego cats!
An apple for a girlfriend? My Canadian, PC upbringing is confused. That's just error, error, error!