Posted by Niels & Amy on June 04, 2007

DAY 108  The Armpit of the South Pacific?

Here we sit in Pago Pago, American Samoa - a place where no one should choose to linger. The road around the island is clogged with oversized pick-up trucks and SUV's and dotted throughout are grease pit restaurants and cafe's spewing out "American food" - mostly fried and very unhealthy. There really isn't much to see and do to entice a visitor. A lot of rubbish lies alongside the road and piled up on the coastline. Pago Pago harbour hosts commercial fishing boats that supply the huge Starkist tuna cannery, regular container ships and a few sailing yachts that sit in the green, murky water and are mostly in a sad state of disrepair. Some have simply sunk and can be easily spotted by their masts that stick out above the surface.

A string of mishaps out of our control have left us stranded here. We knew Tutuila, the main island in American Samoa, was not a place we wanted to spend time in, but we needed to head here enroute to islands 100km to the East, called Ofu and Olosega. Once we got here, all of our planning rendered useless and we found out that due to changed schedules, we would have to stay in American Samoa much longer than intended if we headed to Ofu, unless we were to book a one-way plane ticket back to Apia, Samoa which turned out to be ridiculously overpriced. So, after much discussion and number crunching (it is really difficult to stay on budget here...), we have decided to cut our losses and change course. We'll have to endure the rough ferry ride across to Samoa once again which we are not looking forward to: The way here was an extremely rough, 8 hour ride, much worse than the small cargo ship we took in French Polynesia. Thank goodness for sea-sickness medication - a triple dose was needed to get us through.

On one of our days here in Pago Pago, we hopped on a bus to get out of the rain and the driver immediately offered his bus as a 'tour bus' we could hire to go around the island. In desperate need of something to do and a way to see the place, we jumped at the offer. We were quite lucky to come across the friendly bus driver and ended up getting a custom tour at our leisure, for a fair price. Needless to say, this has been the highlight thus far and all but one of the pictures included with this post are from our 'tour'.

Even though coming to American Samoa has turned out to be a waste of time, the people we have come across here have all been friendly and helpful and we have been able to stock up on some things and catch up on sleep. We are able to use the library here to be online and research our next destination: Tonga. Wednesday we will take the Lady Naomi ferry back to Apia, Samoa where we will have to wait out another week before we can fly on to Tonga where we hope to discover some more -much needed- positive adventure!

Posted by Niels & Amy on May 29, 2007

DAY 100  A Bright Spot

After crossing paths with the fellow travellers we met on Savaii, who we will now refer to as friends, we headed back to Upolu and on to Lalomanu. It was a very long travel day (taxi, ferry, taxi, taxi) made bearable by sharing the experience (and taxi fares) with them :). We left the resort on Savaii around 10am and arrived in Lalomanu just before dinner was served. Hungry, dead tired, and still sad, we stopped in at Taufua Beach Fales (definitely deserving of a mention!) where we were given our choice of fale and ushered to the communal dining area. Jovial conversation echoed through the room where we found a seat and indulged in some much needed cold beer. The food arrived shorty and just kept coming. As we sat back and took in the food, conversation, and surroundings, we both let out a huge sigh. What a welcome relief! What was intended to be a 2 night stay turned into 7 during which we met the greatest number of well travelled, educated people who had good advice, interesting stories and laughs to share.

During our time in Lalomanu we had lovely weather that was perfect for lounging a bit on the beach and snorkeling (which was great just off of the beach and Niels came across and got a good look at a stonefish - the most venomous fish out there). The owner of the resort took us on a tour of some sights that included the Sogo'aga Waterfall, Togitogiga Waterfall, and the To Sua sea trench. We had a really great time and were well taken care of. So thank you Tai (the owner of the highly recommendable Taufua Beach fales) and thank you to all the travellers we met there who made our stay so great: Craig and Alena, David, Harriett, Will and Alona, Julian and Jacquotte, Doug and Odette, Wim and Riet, Vienna, and Peter!

Posted by Niels & Amy on May 29, 2007

DAY 94  Disillusioned

Each time we step foot into a country for the first time, we are filled with anticipation and, for the most part, we really aren't sure what to expect. We set out in a sponge-like manner ready to absorb every detail and take everything in. From the start, it has proven very difficult to soak up the culture, integrate with locals as we usually do, and really get to know and understand Samoa.

In our experience, the vast majority of locals have been unhospitable and downright rude, outside of the resorts and Apia. We are still not sure why this is - perhaps it is resentment? A lot of people here seem perfectly okay with doing absolutely nothing all day, everyday, something that we just cannot comprehend. It appears to us that most locals are extremely unenterprising, lazy people. As we heard more than once from foreigners living here, most of the locals don't work but try to have lots of children with the intent on sending them abroad to Australia, New Zealand, and the US to make money to send back to them to support their lifestyle. How they fund this, we don't know.

For the first time we are chosing to reside in resort bubbles removed from most of the Samoan culture and lifestyle. Outside of the resorts and Apia, we have felt most unwelcome, eventhough we are respectful of local customs and conservative attire. Smiles and greetings are nearly never returned unless someone is trying to sell us something. We have also found that outside of Apia and the resorts, we are constantly started at and scrutinized and watched constantly as if we are on display all while no one will so much as crack a smile -makes for a quite uncomfortable experience. On Manono Island, we were especially appauled by village behaviour - mainly involving children; outright mocking us and calling names, trying to grab things from us, attempting to shake our hands only to pull a ring off, asking over and over, "Haven't you got no cash?", and even throwing knives at us. It seems their behaviour is completely acceptable as we have yet to witness an adult intervening in the children's antics.

In our opinion, respect and consideration towards others is severely lacking in this culture. One painfull example of this was a taxi ride we and another couple shared on Savaii which literally made us feel sick. The driver maintained incredibly high speeds through rural villages, which throughout the 45 minute ride, resulted in a string of near misses on pigs, dogs, and school children. From all indications, this behaviour was not out of the ordinary as not a single person we whizzed by so much as turned or looked up to acknowledge the taxi speeding by. It really was a miracle that no one was hit. Another example occurred when we and 2 other travellers were trying to negotiate a taxi fare in Apia. One of the many taxi's we were standing by that that was sitting unoccupied abruptly started and immediately pulled back running into Niels' pack and nearly hitting him as well. This resulted in roaring laughter from everyone around. We felt so sad and really couldn't believe the number of people reacting in that way. On a basic, human level - how can people be so cruel?

Other than the time we have spent inside a resort or in Apia, our time in Samoa has been riddled with experiences similar to the aformentioned, which has resulted in a very strange, sad, dissillusioning experience. If we had not happened to cross paths with another travelling couple on Savaii during our first week here, we would have long given up and flown out. Meeting them and following their advice to head to Lalomanu led us to an entirely different experience.

The tone of this post is one we do not intend to frequently repeat and of course there is always something good that comes out of a situation, which you can read about in the next post. However, as travellers, we think it is our duty to record and document all experiences, including the bad ones so that other travellers have access to first hand information through our site, as we would much appreciate ourselves. The bottom line: if someone asked if we would recommend a visit to Samoa, we would be inclined to say, "Give it a miss".

Posted by Niels & Amy on May 11, 2007

DAY 82  ...Is Sometimes Too High

Following a stay on Nacula, we made a stop at Wayasewa Island. The natural beauty and good snorkeling continued here but sadly, so did the 'fake Fiji' experience and the food and accommodation standards actually went further downhill. It is such a pity - if the resorts were thoughtfully run, the Yasawas would truly be paradisal. If you have money to burn then there are a few resorts in the F$1000 a night range and those surely must treat the traveler well and weed out the hoards of backpacking, party focused youth!
Our experience on Wayasewa was more like being at a crowded summer camp than at a 'resort'. A fellow traveller also in her thirties aptly remarked: "It's like being part of a factory line". You can forget personal touches and if you are not right on time for dinner and end up at the end of the line, there won't be any food left, as we found out first-hand one night (self-catering was not an option). At the prices we were paying, we didn't expect to be 'nickel and dimed' for everything, but sadly, we were.

On one of our days, we hiked to the top of Vatuvula, without the much pushed F$10/pp guide and after a strenuous climb, found the views to be stunning. We also joined a picnic trip and a reef snorkelling trip to pass the time and during the reef snorkel, we got our first shark sighting: grey and white-tipped reef sharks. During our time in the water, we saw five of them, fortunately not all at once. One 1.5m (5ft) specimen proved especially inquisitve, showing up twice a bit too close for (Amy's) comfort!

All in all, we've had another solid dose of sun and were able to take a bunch of pictures so not all has been lost, mostly just a sizeable portion of our budget.
We have returned to the mainland now as we fly out to Samoa late tonight. In hindsight, we should have probably skipped over the Yasawa Islands altogether - in our opinion, they just aren't worth the price they come at (and we're not just talking about the money...)

Posted by Niels & Amy on May 11, 2007

DAY 77  The Price of Paradise...

Tourists flock to the Yasawa Islands in droves in search of idyllic beaches beneath rugged hills and a large dose of sunshine, shelling out lots of money as the prices take a dramatic jump from those on the mainland. In search of some respite and sun, we joined the mainly 18-22 year old set (all it seems on RTW tickets) on a quest for another slice of paradise. After a few days we have really started question whether the extreme imbalance between what you pay for and what you get is worth it - It is such a contrast from what we experienced on Vitu Levu and Ovalau, not just in price but also in lack of culture and authenticity.
To get to the Yasawa islands, there is only one realistic option: the Yasawa Flyer catamaran which, as of April 1, 2007, abused its monopoly on the route and increased its fares by over 25%! This nearly put us off completely but we really wanted to see for ourselves if it really is as beautiful as the guidebooks suggest. Nacula (Na-thu-la), Nalova Bay/Oarsman's Bay is where we headed first.

The snorkeling was fantastic and the best we have experienced so far, anywhere. The mostly healthy coral include many large staghorn and shelf formations accompanied by an amazing variety of fish. A beautiful reef runs out to sea right from the beach we stayed on and the water is not more than only about 8 meters deep for at least a few hundred meters out. There are also plenty of sandy areas just off the beach that are perfect for a swim.
Steep, green hills are lined with narrow walking tracks through high grass that provide glorious views out across the chain of
Yasawa Islands. All this said, natural beauty should not come at this high of a price as the accommodations and food standards are poor at best. We hop to one other island within the Yasawa chain and we'll see if the trend continues...