Vegas, baby!

Today Las Vegas Pride kicks off again. Which reminds me it is already one year since our own Las Vegas Experience. Busy, fake, loud and in-your-face. When first arriving in the City of Sin I thought I could not take it and that we had to leave *immediately*. Luckily I came to my senses, relaxed and let myself go with the flow. It turned out to be colorful, lively, breathtaking! One of the most festive weekends of my life I can truly say.

Last Friday Night in Vegas! from Ben Moss on Vimeo.

Heaven is a place on earth

While waiting for summer to hit Norway, I dream back to september when we spent a week in the magical lagoon island of Aitutaki. A picture says more than a thousand words, but a video says even more:



More about our Cook Island adventure in this previous post.

Bula! Bula! Bula!

The Fijian word for 'hello' is someting you just can not escape while in Fiji. Everyone says it. All the time. And of course one has to respond: Bula! If I got a dime for every time I said it during the week in Fiji, the hotel stay might have come out on the plus side in the end. Another thing that was all around was men wearing skirts and flowers in their hair - or more precisely behind their ear. Even security guards at the airport.

The phenomenon of men dressed as ladies, that we first caught glimpses of in the Cook Islands, was also present in Fiji. Not to be confused with the skirt wearing men mentioned above! By now we have learned that they ladyboys are called fafafines. They are brought up as girls from a very young age. A fafafine is consider neither male nor female, but a third sex. Thus avoiding western stereotypes of sexuality altogether.

That was the exotic part. The rest of our Fiji experience was a whole lot less authentic. We stayed at Denarau Island, an island fully developed for tourists from nearby Australia and New Zealand. The island consists of six 5 star-resorts, a golf course and a marina where Tom Cruise keeps his Cruise Ship (his yacht that is). It is a secluded world of peace and quiet, where tourists and their money are kept in a little world of their own, safely separated from the real Fiji by a guarded bridge with it's own border control. Time passes by at island time - which is not very fast. A tad faster than Cook Island Time though.  

It is almost sad we were so lazy we didn't bother to see more of what was outside the hotel area. The bad weather played an important part in this though. We had some heavy rain and a lot of clouds. Not really the best backdrop for an island cruise. And the Radisson Blue Resort, where we stayed, provided us with all we needed. Being the newest of the Denarau resorts, with the largest swimming pool in Fiji, an impressive garden and various culinary options it gave us really no reason to leave it's premises. The adults pool in particular was highly appreciated.  

The one thing a resort filled with families and honeymooners does lack is night life. Too late we discovered that the Sheraton resort next door was a bit more lively than ours. Our restaurants closed at 10 and no one seemed to take advantage of the fact that one of the bars was open 24-7. That was where our newfound Australian friends, Ryan and Hayley, came in handy. One a dark and stormy night we lured them across the bridge to check out Ed's Bar in the city. A place we had learned of from a Fijian bartender working in Aitutaki. “Popular with locals”, he said. Local indeed, but it could have been more popular. Not many people on a Friday night. A couple of big mamas shaking their booties to island grooves and some tourists looking a bit out of place, including us. Some more authenticity was had when Ryan and Hayley in return took us to a restaurant in the Marina serving Fijian specialties. Probably the most authentic place in the entire Denarau Island.

Fiji Development (local IT-firm) stirred things up a bit in our resort Saturday night when they had some sort of conference with a wet and loud after party in the pool bar. As the only tourists we successfully merged into the festivities and they kept us entertained throughout the night by throwing each other in the pool. Fijian conference parties are not much different from the ones held in Norway around Christmas time... The same night a Kiwi wedding was held at another location in the hotel and two survivors from that party, a bridesmaid and a guest, added to the festivities later in the evening. We decided to check if the bar really was open 24-7, which it wasn't. The bartender went missing for one hour in the middle of the night. The local helped us out with some kava. Mudlike water mixed with some plant that makes your mouth go numb. Interesting. Lacking knowledge of Dean Martin songs resulted in us at some point singing the song we know best: The Norwegian national anthem. Gotta spread some culture when you have the chance! When the sun was rising and breakfast was ready to be served at the surrounding tables, we retreated to the safety of our king sized beds.  

All in all our week in Fiji was a bliss. Relaxing yet fun. We even got some sun in the end. But best of all; We made new acquaintances, which is one of the sweetest delights of traveling.

Moment of the Week : “Excuse me. This might sound a bit weird, but are you guys from Norway? From Bergen? Do you know Harald?”

Created with flickr slideshow.

Kia Orana!

Vår siste dag på Aitutaki er over. Siste for denne gang. Øyen føyer seg inn i rekken av steder på turen som vi allerede ønsker oss tilbake til.

Aitutaki er en atoll i Stillehavet, tilhørende øygruppen Cook Islands - oppkalt etter James Cook som har æren av å ha oppdaget Australia. Cook Islands har ca 20 000 innbyggere spredd utover et areal på størrelse med Vest Europa, hvor mesteparten av dette er hav. Folk flest bor på Rarotonga, hovedøyen. Aitutaki har under 2000 fastboende.

Air Rarotonga flydde oss fra Rarotonga til Aitutaki i et lite propellfly. Før avgang fra Rarotonga trodde jeg at jeg hadde sett verdens minste flyplass. Høner løp fritt på rullebanen og det hersket en mildt sagt avslappet stemning. For aller første gang opplevde jeg å gå på et fly uten en forutgående sikkerhetskontroll. Ganske befriende i grunn. Og til alt overmål: Flyplassen på Aitutaki var faktisk enda mindre.

Hvis Air Rarotongas flyvertinne, Tevai Howard, skulle bli lei av å selge soft drinks til turister på de tre daglige avgangene mellom Rarotonga og Aitutaki, kunne hun vurdert å representere Cook Islands i Miss Universe eller lignende. Men hvorfor skulle hun bli lei? Innflygningen til Aitutaki, etter 45 minutter i luften, var naturskjønn som få. Aitutaki er omkranset av et beskyttende korallrev som rommer en svær lagune med turkisblått, stille hav hvor små øyer, mutuer, med kritthvite strender og irrgrønne palmer ligger strødd utover som perler på en snor. Fra luften ser det hele ganske surrealistisk ut. Som å ankomme en fremmed planet.

En av øyene som utsmykker Aitutakis lagune heter Akitua, og her har vi bodd denne uken. På øyen ligger Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa – og ingenting annet. Fergeturen fra hotellet til hovedøyen Aitutaki kan like gjerne regnes i sekunder som i minutter. Innkvartert i en hagebungalow 5 meter fra strandkanten har alt lagt til rette for at vi kunne nyte disse dagene til fulle. Snorkling, hengekøye, kajakkpadling, myggspray og solkrem er essensielle stikkord for uken. Alt akkompagnert av en evig, svak dur, som jeg må ta meg i å ikke forveksle med lyden av en motorvei i det fjerne. Det er i realiteten lyden av bølgene fra havet som treffer revet rundt lagunen.

På hotellet jobber flere mannedamer. Det vil si menn som sminker seg, kler seg, og ter seg som kvinner. Vi ble ikke så overrasket, siden vi tilfeldigvis hadde zappet oss inn på en dokumentar om dette på Travel Channel før vi reiste. Det er likevel fascinerende hvordan dette inngår i hverdagen som den mest naturlige ting med tanke på hvilken puritansk avkrok av verden vi faktisk befinner oss i. Som de diskré nordmenn vi er, har vi ikke helt turt å spørre nærmere om dette, men vi må nok forhøre oss litt mer om fenomenet med den lokale bartenderen i kveld.

I går var vi på båttur med Vaka Cruise og fikk se flere av de mindre, ubebodde øyene i lagunen, bl.a. øyen hvor de første sesongene av den amerikanske Robinson Ekspedisjonen ble spilt inn. På en av øyene vi passerte var akkurat innspillingen av New Zealands Celebrity Survivor avsluttet. Vi var også innom One Foot Island, som etter sigende skal ha en av verdens fineste strender, men den skilte seg ikke nevneverdig fra de øvrige. Øyen har også verdens, visstnok, minste postkontor. Jeg trodde One Foot Island hadde fått navnet fordi den ser ut som en fot sett fra luften, men bakgrunnen for navnet er en helt annen, og mye lenger, historie.

For ikke å bli helt bløte har vi også måttet komme oss litt i aktivitet på landjorden. En dag leide vi scooter og freste rundt på Aitutakis humpete veier. På østsiden av øyen ligger flere hoteller med solnedgangsutsikt over strendene, men jeg ville ikke byttet mot laguneutsikten vi har fra øyen vår på vestsiden. Tohjulingen tok oss også til toppen av øyens høyeste fjell og gjennom det jeg liker å karakterisere som jungel. Hindringer i veien inkluderte en sovende gris, mange høner, haner og kyllinger, noen geiter og utallige krabber. Hjelm hadde de ikke hørt om hos utleiebyrået. Hjelm er noe som kun blir brukt på Rarotonga. Vi så eksempler på fedre som kjørte moped med sine spedbarn bakpå, uten noen annen sikring enn fars støttende hånd. Det skal riktignok sies at øyens øvre fartsgrensen er 40 km/t. Dermed gikk også venstrekjøringen over all forventning. Sånn sett et ideelt sted for oss å øve på til vi skal kjøre bil i Australia.

Ukens wow-øyeblikk: Da vi kom ut fra restauranten første kvelden og for første gang så stjernehimmelen over palmene. Magisk. Slik er bare ikke stjernehimmelen hjemme.

Turen herfra går videre til Auckland, New Zealand, hvor verden for tiden står på hodet på grunn av pågående Rugby World Cup. En virkelig stor hendelse på disse kanter.

In English? Well, what can I say? Aitutaki is a slow paced piece of paradise.


Created with flickr slideshow.

Weeeho!

So, West Hollywood! Where the streets are lined with pharmacies selling nutrition, tanning studios, nail salons, dog hotels and there's a gym on every street corner. Who'd thought we could find peace here? Ramada Plaza is a quite decent hotel located on Santa Monica Boulevard, right where the action is. Swimming pool - yaay! And you can't hear the neighbor snoring (unlike the last hotel we stayed in in Santa Monica). The hotel is a few blocks from the Sunset Strip, a short taxi ride from Hollywood Avenue's Walk of Fame and a shuttle bus ride from Universal Studios we learned today.

Universal's theme park built around various block busters of dubious quality (whoever remembers Waterworld?) was surprisingly enough a quite laid-back affair compared to Disneyland. Easily do-able in one day. The attractions were close to each other and there were just enough of them to keep us busy for the entire time the park was open. On a Thursday in late September it wasn't crowded at all. A fastpass to get past the queues would have been a waste of money here, where as for my next visit to Disneyland it would have been a must. Even on a less busy day in the middle of the week. That said, Disneyland still was more impressive. That might have something to do with me appreciating the Disney universe a whole lot more than Terminator, The Mummy, King Kong and the likes. Universal's Studio Tour was a hit though, showing off some cool movie sets, props and visual effects. Today's moment of joy: Surviving the House of Horror in one piece. Those actors lurking in the dark, sneaking up from behind with a knife in hand sure works hard for the money.

Those creepy events still didn't keep up from going out after dark. The evening was spent exploring the nightlife in the neighborhood. Spent most part of the time at The Abbey, where even Elizabeth Taylor was said to have popped her head in from time to time. Closing time for bars in California is as early as 2 am. We learned that already in San Fransisco. A late night here is not the same as a late night in Vegas.

Eco America

There are not enough hours in the day for me to find time to update this blog. 19th day of travel and this will be my first post. Hopefully I will find time later to fill you in on our San Francisco and Las Vegas experiences, but I'll start with where we are now: Baywatch Land.

I guess this goes for the whole of California, but Santa Monica surprised me by being all I didn't expect the US to be. By first impression it has a small town feel, it is very clean, new, well organized and most of all green. The closest supermarket is all back-to-nature with a truly impressive fruit desk. I even bought  organic toothpaste  Downtown looks like it was built just yesterday and the center is pedestrian only! Drinking age in California is 21 in and they are extremely strict about it. Having to show an ID absolutely all the time can seem like a bit of a hassle, but the people here are so service minded it's really not a bother at all. They easily put the swedes to shame. Plastic bags are banned, smoking laws are even tighter than in Norway (no smoking on or near bus stops allowed) and it seems public transport is existent here, although we haven't tried it yet. I missed an easy-to-find and easy-to-understand way of getting from the airport though.  In the end a shuttle van did the job. It's actually a taxi you share with others going in the same direction, for a fixed price. Brought us straight to the hotel door.

Santa Monica is said to be, alongside the likes of Sydney, Barcelona and Rio, one of the top beach cities in the world, and I can't wait to explore more of what it has to offer. Today we're hitting the beach. Gotta check out what Muscle Beach is all about and maybe we'll even spot a lifeguard or two. Also got to see the world famous Santa Monica Pier. The big, sparkly ferris wheel sitting on top of it, is, of course, solar driven.