Long ride and a taste of roti

TRAVEL

Enjoying a bus trip and Indian fare on Viti Levu

By THOMAS HUKAHU

IF you have a couple of free days in the year, one of the best things you can do is to take a long ride out from where you live and follow a main highway for about an hour or so before returning to your abode.
Or, if you can afford to, take a six-hour journey to another town or city, book a room in a motel, and rest for the night, then take a look around the place before returning home.

**A map showing the route taken from Suva to Nadi and onwards to Lautoka on Sept 26.**

Long rides in PNG and Australia
For some of us, the best long rides are taken on public transport – on PMVs, where we do not have to drive. We sit back, relax and enjoy the views as the vehicle moves on. I have enjoyed such rides along the Highlands Highway, particularly from Watarais in Morobe to Goroka, in Eastern Highlands. The ride from Kainantu to Goroka is also awesome. The rolling grassy hills and pine trees make the landscape look otherworldly.
If one was travelling from Adelaide in South Australia to Goolwa or Victor Harbour in the south, they would notice some parts of that outback having grassy slopes and pine forests, just like in Eastern Highlands.
It was my plan to travel from Adelaide to Darwin in the Northern Territory, or Perth in Western Australia, in 2021. But then the pandemic came and my plan was shelved. Possibly next time.
Back in the 1980s and 90s, I usually accompanied relatives or friends on vehicles travelling from Wewak along the Sir Pita Simogun Highway in East Sepik to Aitape in West Sepik. Some of the seaside views along that northern highway are unmatched and picturesque. Sandy white beaches with surf and small isles further out at sea are postcard photo material.
In 2019, a few teacher colleagues and I took four hours to travel down the Boluminski Highway in New Ireland. We started from Kavieng at 5.30am and arrived at 9.30am in Namatanai, in the south.
Our school principal, an Australian, said the sights along that highway are million-dollar views. She meant that tourists from the western world would pay to be part of a tour that could take them through such an outback.
That statement made me realise that in Papua New Guinea we have many million-dollar views. And the few road trips I have mentioned above should be appealing to a local tourist or one from abroad if they make a tour on a bus.
The best way to enjoy views
If you have not noticed it yet, the best way to enjoy the views in a long ride is to be a passenger, not a driver. The advantage of you driving is you can stop and rest or take in more of a view. But the disadvantage is you will miss a lot that you pass by outside your window.
Having a local accompanying you on such a trip is an advantage too. They can point out peculiar sights and recount histories of such places. Such information should help you learn more about the place and the people there.
It is also logical that you travel during the day so you can enjoy the sights more. Those are some tips to keep in mind if you are planning for a long ride.

**The coffee shop at Nawaicoba near Nadi is a good place to take a break before continuing the journey.**

Long ride on Viti Levu
On Sept 26 this year, I joined a group of staff members of the Fiji National University, Nasinu campus in Suva, Fiji, and travelled along the Queens Road to get to Lautoka at the western end of the island. We were going there to attend the sustainability week programme to be hosted by the FNU Natabua campus. That is where the students in education are based.
It was not my first time to travel that road since I was picked up by a FNU driver at Nadi Airport in mid-August when I arrived and we made the journey to Suva in the east, covering a total of 187km. This time though, the trip started in Suva at 5.30am with a drizzle, but by 6.30am the place was clear and I could take in the beauty of the villages and farms that we passed.
The ride in the hired 15-seater van was smooth, there were hardly any potholes and within an hour we passed by Pacific Harbour, which is 51km out of Suva. In another hour we passed Sigatoka, which is said to be the Rugby Town of the Fiji Isles. There were many million-dollar views. The famous Sand Dunes National Park is located in Sigatoka. That is where the national rugby teams go to train. (You can check for YouTube videos showing the sand dunes.)
As we got closer to Nadi, we made a stop at True Mart, which has a shop and café, located next to a gas station at Nawaicoba. It was now 8am and we bought coffee and biscuits and cakes and had breakfast there.
The setup has restroom facilities and it serves travelers well. (I could imagine how such coffee shops and resting places can help in promoting tours for visitors along the Boluminsky Highway, Highlands Highway or Simogun Highway. You get the idea, right? With such facilities, road trips would be an attraction.)
All along the ride, I noticed signs pointing to so many tourist resorts and hotels. Tourism is a gold mine here and it was reported in the news recently that even in this cyclone season some resorts remain fully booked.
When the programme at Natabua ended at 4pm, we made our journey back to Suva. We passed sugarcane fields as we approached Nadi and as we passed it to head towards Sigatoka. Along many roadside villages, there were stalls set up by the locals to sell local produce like bananas, cassava and dalo (taro) as well as fruits like mango and pawpaw.
I plan to circumnavigate Viti Levu this Christmas. I may go from Suva to Rakiraki, in the north, spend a few days there and then travel down to Nadi and return to Suva. I am told that the bus ride from Nadi to Suva is $50. If you want a cab to take you there, then the cost is $200. A colleague said there are many beautiful beaches up at Rakiraki. That sounds appealing.

**The best roti meal, comprising the flat bread and mashed pumpkin with dal. – Pictures by THOMAS HUKAHU**

Indian food and influence
As you know from your Pacific history, Fiji is made up of two main ethnicities, the local i-Taukei Melanesians and Indians who are the descendants of people from the subcontinent who travelled to these isles in 1870s and 1900s to work as indentured labourers on the sugarcane farms.
There are Polynesians as well, mainly those from Rotuma, up north and from the Lau Islands to the east of Viti Levu. The Lau islands have a Tongan influence, and a source stated that in 1855 a Tongan prince conquered those isles and served as the ruling monarch.
Sir Ratu Kamisese Mara, the first Fijian prime minister was the paramount chief of Lau. That is an interesting fact I learned this year.
If you are on public transport, it is very likely that you will be listening to Melanesian music. If you are travelling in a cab, three times out of five you will have the cabbie playing Indian music, or listening to the news in Hindi.
Then there is the food. I have observed that everyone here loves spicy foods because of the Indian influence.
If you order rice or chips, they always go with a curried something – beef, chicken or lamb. Spicy sauces can be added.
My favourite Indian food is roti, the unleavened flatbread, served with mashed pumpkin and soup containing some spicy dal, or greens. It can be an all-vegetarian meal. My favourite shop for roti is in the Suva CBD, just opposite Sukuna Park. You can get three roti with mashed pumpkin and dal for just $9.
You can ask for samosa (small fried pastry), or curried beef and rice and other food as well. But my favourite is roti.

Next article: The cyclone warning and disruption