Christian's Travel Blog

Spring is arriving in the northern hemisphere. And as I planned my journey along the sunny side of life - following for a year the warm seasons around the globe - my time in the South Sea comes to an end. Almost three months of island hopping: Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Huahine, Tikehau, Rangiroa, Vana Levu, Taveuni, Tongatapu, Fungamisi, Ofu, Lifuka. So what place I might select to say "good bye" before departing from Nadi towards North America? Just back from Tonga, I decided to stay only one night in Suva - watching the new SciFi-movie Oblivion - just to go back in time again: Levuka - the first colonial settlement and capital of Fiji back in 1874. And yes, visiting this world heritage nominee site, located on Ovalau island, rewards my efforts with another trip on a ferry boat - the M.V. Spirit of Harmony .    Indeed, Levuka - though a sleepy little frontier town - retains even today many of its pre-colonial and immediately post-colonial buildings. In simi

Traveling around the world is one thing, exploring the South Sea another. It is a matter of time. Not in first place because "time" - still - is not as dominant in daily life as in most monetary determined economic communities and nations, but due to that vast deep blue space on our globe, called the pacific ocean, harboring thousands of islands on a surface that no continent matches. Mobility in person - as over the centuries - continues to be linked with bridging distances by navigation on sea: be it between the countless islands, a hundred of archipelagos, or its numerous nations. Indeed, exploring the South Sea still maintains that spirit of an adventure by sea. Sailing with the M.V. Hawaiki Nui to the Leeward Society Islands (French Polynesia), the M.V. Lomaiviti Princess to Taveuni (Fiji), and the M.V. Otuanga'ofa to the northern archipelagos of  Ha'apai and Vava'u (Tonga) slowed down my own pace; for the first time in almost nine months loafing around the

"Oh yes, our daughter will arrive Friday, before we'll go back to Auckland together mid-April", a conversation across the tables at Cafė Escape - a recently opend, self-named Sophisticated Cafė with a Tongan Twist , located in one of the two new shopping arcades in what could be called the centre of the capital Nuku'alofa - passed over my head. I ordered a cappuccino  opting finally for the passion-fruit cheese cake, though the lemon-creme tart next did look delicious too. Meanwhile another Tongan couple found their way into the air-conditioned oasis. "Oh, how are you, when did you arrive?", followed by a few local phrases in exchange. "Oh, is it? You should join our club", some English is thrown into the conversations. "Join what?", came into my mind, "The club of 200 pounds plus?" And my sarcastic thoughts were not about money but weight ... body weight. I had the impression the only person not greeted warmly was an adolesce