Bula!

Welcome, definitely not Fijian reader, as I try to give you a flavour of this island nation.

Fiji is a collection of over 300 islands, nestling in the western South Pacific. Most of the population lives on the two big islands, of which we visited one: Viti Levu, home to the cities of Lautoka and Suva, the capital.

Lautoka was our first stop. It's a relatively small city of about 60,000 people, although in practice it felt much smaller than even this, with a couple of streets lined with shops, and a small market. The first thing to strike us was the famously laid-back attitude of the Fijians, which extends to everything: here, no-one's driving quickly, no-one's beeping their horn in traffic, and you can be sure that no-one's in a hurry. Everywhere you go, folks are cheerfully wishing you "Bula", which is Fijian for "welcome", but is used to cover a multitude of potential meanings.

Transport in Fiji definitely has its own set of norms. Buses are pretty old and beaten up, and generally don't have windows: it's tropically hot and humid here, and the Fijians love a breeze. Cars seem pretty modern and well maintained on the whole (certainly no less well maintained than, say, California), but customizing your car seems to be a national pastime. In particular, it's common to see cars with little rugs or covers on top of the dashboard, loads of stickers and vinyls on the outside, spoilers, and of course extra wide alloy wheels.

Walking around Lautoka we experienced the two common modes of the Fijian weather: blazingly hot, sunny and humid (we're talking 29-30 degrees Centigrade, and 80+% humidity), resulting in you getting drenched in your own sweat, or flash tropical downpour, resulting in you getting drenched in Fijian water. Either way, you're getting drenched.

In the afternoon we took a coach tour down to Nadi, a smaller town along the coast which has more touristy shops, as well as a very large Dravidian Hindu temple. Fiji has a large Indian population, mostly descended from indentured workers who came here at the behest of the British. Yes, Fiji was part of the British Empire from late in the 1870s (when the Fijians signed the islands over to the British in return for Britain paying a debt to the US on their behalf) until independence in 1970. As a result, it feels quite British, an effect enhanced by this being one of the few places in the world where you drive on the left. Proximity to Japan, where they also drive on the left, means there are quite a few Japanese cars you'll see here which are typically only available in the Japanese domestic market - e.g. the ubiquitous Toyota Crown taxi, which I've only ever seen in Tokyo before (and yes, dear reader, this kind of thing really does get me excited).

Our second day in Fiji was in Suva, the capital city, which is bigger and runs at a fraction higher pace than Lautoka, although still very much on Fiji time. Here we took a walking tour and saw the market, various historic buildings, including the library where Helen found time to shelve a couple of books which had been put in the wrong place, and finally the Fiji museum. The museum tells the story of the islands and its people, and perhaps its most obvious attraction is the fact that it's air conditioned. We spent enough time there to drip dry before exiting in time-honoured fashion: via the gift shop.

Perhaps the thing we'll remember the most about Fiji are the people. As well as being pretty chilled, Fijians are a thoroughly friendly bunch and happily wish you "Bula" all the time. In the markets, folks were happy to explain to us what all the produce was, and how the Fijians use it, even though it was pretty obvious we were tourists and weren't going to buy any of it. On the street, of course a little of that friendliness is a tool to work out how to extract a few dollars from you, but typically people were kind enough to take a polite no for an answer.

I really wanted to try out one of the local buses (you know, the ones without the windows), but we inescapably had the equivalent of a big sign on our backs saying "RICH AMERICAN TOURISTS OVER HERE" so I wasn't quite brave enough. You'll have to console yourself with this splendid picture: