Ha'apai - Part 2

For the week I was at Billy's Place, my life consisted basically of exploring the interior of Lifuka and Foa islands (connected by a sweet causeway, pictured). The place had free use of "mountain bikes." They were one speed granny bikes, good for the flat environment, like the one I used in Holland (the kind you had as a kid where you have to pedal backwards to stop, which was a lot of fun to remember when I suddenly needed brakes).

Biking around Lifuka was about the same as biking around Tongatapu, with one big exception - no crazy dogs. There were oodles of dogs, and I tensed with the anticipation of the chase whenever I passed one, but they were all pretty much asleep. I think maybe, because there were so many more Tongans using bikes than cars in Ha'apai, the dogs were used to the novelty.

The whole island was in general a lot more rural; not just fewer cars and more bikes, but also a lot of locals on horseback. The only place I had seen horse in Tongatapu was at the butcher shop, so this was a surprise. Score one for colonialism (or British protectoratism) because I'm sure horses would have never found there way to these islands without it.

I had heard that there was a museum in Pangai, the capital. And there are few things better in an obscure town then checking out the local museum and its random artifacts. I hear that at a museum in Fiji, for example, there is a collection of wooden forks left over from use when the first few missionaries arrived "just in time" for some great feasts.

I stopped at the Tourism Office to ask where exactly the museum was. The people looked at each other, and then handed me a key. Misunderstanding, I'm sure...maybe they thought I asked about the bathroom. I swear every time I ask for peanut butter at a roadside shop, they think I'm asking for beer, so it could happen! I asked again, and they told me the museum was down the street across from the Governor's Residence, and to lock up when I was done. "Ok...this is a new one," I thought (and think often in Tonga). I biked to the museum, unlocked the door, and found myself among a whole bunch of Ha'apai history artifacts. Of course, having grown up in a city that hires people to make sure you can't touch all the cool looking dinosaur bones at the Civilization museum, I proceeded to touch absolutely everything. The exhibits were mostly natural history stuff - shells, fish bones, informative posters. I especially enjoyed one that had a story about how "rat" pooped on "octopus" when octopus was helping him cross the ocean, explaining the passionate blood feud between these two species. There were a lot of humpback whale bones, including an inner ear. There was even a huge turtle shell on a shelf that I was considering taking down and using like a shield before a couple NZ tourists showed up and spoiled my plans.

All in all Ha'apai was pretty cool, though I explored it real fast. Next school break I'll head to Vava'u. And with any luck someday the remote Niuas (the Tongan tourism brochure reads in a contradicting way, "there are flights every week to the Niuas. At this time, the runway is closed down," making me wonder if I need skydiving lessons for the trip).

Ha'apai - Part 1

On July 5th, I took an early morning flight to the island of Lifuka in the Ha'apai group. I had been pretty excited about this trip since before I even arrived in Tonga, after reading in a National Geographic article (The Two Worlds of Tonga from Nov07) that I would be flying in a DC-3.

Unfortunately, about two months ago, they stopped flying the DC-3. Probably a blessing in disguise; on my way to the airport, the taxi driver told me about a flight from Vava'u to Tongatapu where, in the air, the door on a DC-3 just ripped off and flew into the ocean! The plane dropped off the passengers in Ha'apai (about midway on the trip), continued to Tongatapu and got a new door installed, then came back for the passengers and finished the trip. But I was still a little disappointed. These planes were huge in the 1930s, so where else in the world could I ride in one instead of looking at it in a museum? Instead, I flew in some other prop plane. Which was still slightly disconcerting - after the bags are weighed, the passengers have to step on the scale, while the attendant does some math to make sure the weight on the plane is properly distributed. What if someone decides to switch seats?

The view to the left and right was pretty spectacular - endless blue ocean, with the occasional island (there are over 160 in Tonga, including one that disappears and reappears throughout Tongan history, a story for another entry).

The flight was about forty five minutes, though it seemed more like ten. Ha'apai's airport was surprisingly spectacular, paid for by one of the usual suspects - China, Japan, Australia, or New Zealand. I waited and chatted with a local who worked at the airport's weather station while the only taxi driver made trips back and forth with passengers.

I stayed at Billy's Place, in itself nothing fantastic - a central house where Billy (surprise) lives, and four cabin/fales for the guests. It's on the beach, and is about a five minute ride ("mountain" bikes provided) from the capital town of Pangai. Other guests came and went (typically Australian, New Zealand, and German), but I settled in for a week. More to come about Pangai, the beach, and a message in a bottle...

Guess I Adjusted

I just put on the Old Navy hoodie I brought to Tonga, because it feels pretty cold today. Then, I looked at the thermometer. It's 26 degrees C. And no, the thermometer is not in the sun. Thank you very much, human body, for adjusting to this tropical climate. Now, a Canadian winter will certainly kill me.

Tonga's "winter" right now feels more like a Canadian summer. Summer in Tonga is like winter was in Afghanistan. And I wasn't in Afghanistan in the summer, but I imagine it's pretty much like winter on the sun.

Bicycle Tour of Tonga (gratis)

With a bit of Daniel luck, I found a whole bunch of my common Tongan cycling sights together in one small stretch of road! Just missing a few fat sauntering pigs, and a rabid dog chasing me...

(The quality is not fantastic, but it took a crazy long time to upload this without errors, so I'm pretty happy about it).

Best Kept Secret? To Ha'apai!

The Kingdom of Tonga is divided into four regional groups, kind of like provinces except they don't complain as much. I've been living on Tongatapu island in the Tongatapu group, of which 'Eua and Pangaimotu, two other islands I've been to, are a part. Ha'apai is the next group "up" as they run north-south. Above Ha'api is Vava'u, then the Niuas. Vava'u is Tonga's main tourist destination, and I'm often told it's filled with other palangi ("so THAT'S where they're hiding").

Ha'apai is thus often described to me as "Tonga's best kept secret," or "untouched beauty" or something similar. It's supposed to have kilometers of those white sandy beaches with turquoise waters that everyone associates with the South Pacific. Which would be great, because the beaches on Tongatapu are nice but the real good ones are on the western side, a fair ways from my apartment.

When I first made plans to spend two or three weeks of my break in Ha'apai, a Japanese teacher I know tried to dissuade me. He had gone to Ha'apai for five days, and pleaded, "there's nothing to do!" In that exclamation, he summed up my number one reason for going. Of course my guidebook mentions hiking, caving, kayaking, and snorkeling in Ha'apai, all activities that my friend has no interest in, so I was confident that I would find"something" to do. But if none of these activities existed, I would be just as happy reclining in a promised hammock at my private beach falé with a good book. The Green Dictator can testify to the pleasure I take from doing, literally, nothing. It was what I did for months after Afghanistan, while he begrudgingly departed for work every day.

"I would get bored with all that free time," friends told me. At yet, it never happened to me in the entire six months. It's this attitude that makes "island living" so attractive to me, and this attitude that causes me to occasionally look ahead with concern to my eventual re-integration into Western society... I look forward to retirement, but in the meantime, I've been looking forward to a vacation within a vacation in Ha'apai.

I'll write about it and post some pictures in a few weeks when I get back. In the meantime, by popular demand (Leo's popular, right?), here is me sporting my Tongan haircut while I'm eating my breakfast: