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South Pacific & Asia
  • Kyran Klazek-Schryer
  • Kyran Klazek-Schryer

South Pacific & Asia

A 144-day adventure by Kyran Read more
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  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Fancy Valentine’s Dinner

    February 17, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Last stop on the very wet bike ride was a nice little restaurant that Sophie got me a gift card to for Valentine’s Day ❤️ called Brick Eatery. Came in soaked to the bone, but dried off a bit, sat at a table and had a nice dinner by myself, watching people out the window complete a community race it looked like. Got an obligatory oyster, some gochujang beef tartare, delicious roasted zucchini (courgette here) with tahini and pesto, and possibly the best panna cotta I’ve ever had

    Then rode home and almost made it before the e-bike battery died (probably would’ve made it if I hadn’t made so many wrong turns lol)    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Abel Tasman National Park pt 1

    February 18, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Today was definitely a day where ‘everything works out’ as it always does haha. Decided to get up to Abel Tasman park for the day, but instead of paying for the direct tour bus to bring me there, my plan was to take the city bus to Motueka (city near the park) and hitchhike from there to Kaiteriteri, where there are boats that take you to the park.

    Got the bus, only for my eSIM to run out of data as I arrived in Motueka. Found some free wifi, downloaded another eSIM, had lunch in a park (as it was already almost 2pm by this point) and decided to start hitchhiking. And then it started to rain, so not ideal for getting picked up haha. A kinda lady picked me up, sorry to see me standing out there in the wet. She was a dog walker by profession (as well as a taxi driver on the side?) and so had 4 or 5 excited dogs in the car with her, quite the ride! She dropped me off on the turnoff to Kaiterteri where I got picked up by a gentleman who lives there. It’s a sort of resort-town with gold sand beaches and lots of hotels and such, but also a starting point to get into the park, which is mostly hike or boat in only.

    I got to Kaiteriteri, half not expecting to even get that far, but happy I did! The only water taxi company I could find online seemed to say that there were no more departing boats until 4:30, the last run, and I had to get back too! But I decided that since I was there, I would just walk around in person and try to find other companies. So I spotted one that said next sailing: 2:30pm (in 15 mins!) Perfect, I bought a return trip, with about 1.5h in the park before the boat picked me up again. And it was cheaper than the other companies (still NZ$80 tho!)

    The boat ride over was awesome, stunning views, huge waves, stopped to see some seals, split apple rock, and then got dropped off in Anchorage Bay, where I did a little loop hike! A truly spectacular park with so much variety in landscape, but a tropical mountainous feel to it. Even found a geocache near the end! The 2h I had in the park were about the only sunny two hours of the day, really lucked out with weather, and it poured rain on the boat ride back. On the boat I met an American lady traveling with her cousin, who offered me a ride back to Nelson, as they heard I would be hitchhiking back!

    https://strava.app.link/SDbJWacogRb

    A success of a day, not knowing at every turn if it would work out in the end or not haha. Abel Tasman is a spectacularly beautiful park, named after the first European to see New Zealand. Same Tasman as Tasmania and the Tasman Sea.    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler
    1

    Travel Day - Nelson to Wellington

    February 19, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Andy kindly drove me to the bus in the morning, making it in good time to take the Intercity bus at 9:45am to Picton, where the ferry leaves from. Through the intercity flexipass system, I can book the ferry as time off my flexipass hours, but only the 6:30pm sailing was available. Thankfully, in person I checked just in time if they could switch my ticket to the 2pm departure and they did! Ate one of my watermelons with just a spork, so my food bag wasn’t so heavy. Had a nice 3.5h ferry to Wellington on the north island, where I napped a bit and had some fish and chips, got to Wellington and walked to my hostel from the central station!Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Nomads Capital Hostel Wellington

    Feb 19–22, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    Another Nomads hostel (same company as the Queenstown one), cheapest paid accommodation of the trip at only CA$14 a night! Bottom bunk in the middle of the room, with a loud door, but met some nice people in the room. Two girls from UK, one on a kind of indefinitely long trip.
    The “terrace” was an outside section beside the communal kitchen which was a small space squished between tall buildings, so could only see a sliver of the sky up high haha. Also a whole bunk bed got randomly removed from our room while I was there. I guess it’s an 8 person dorm now 🤷‍♂️

    Nice central location in Wellington. They don’t call it windy Wellington for nothing, superrrr windy here! And a beautiful quaint little city, reminds me of Geneva, but with the steep streets of San Francisco. Definitely a lovely capital, could see myself living here    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Te Papa - National Museum

    February 20, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    Huge national museum, with six floors of spectacular exhibits. The entry ticket is valid for 48h so you can come again the next day but I only had a few hours to see the whole thing.
    Super cool nature exhibit, with the world’s largest real Colossal Squid on display. Lots of endangered and extinct species in New Zealand as it’s so separate, lots of the fauna and flora is unique to NZ. And apparently no endemic mammals, other than bats, before the Polynesians came. So hard with lots of new predators, there’s efforts to return New Zealand to a predator free country.

    Really well done exhibit on the battle of Gallipoli in turkey during World War One, where lots of NZ soldiers fought. Including a Māori contingent. Stories and history and dioramas complemented by huge lifelike “giants”, sculptures of people involved, at 3x or 4x life size. Ultra realistic and made by the same people who did some for lord of the rings, super powerful. Quite a heavy exhibition, emotionally, but really well done

    Also a garden with different biomes of NZ and some Māori exhibits, one on Polynesian navigation and modern Māori identity, and one on the treaty of waitangi, one of the founding documents of NZ where the Māori signed over sovereignty to the crown. Lots of contention around it though because the Māori and English versions are translated quite differently    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Wellington Cablecar & Botanical Gardens

    February 20, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    Had to take the famous Wellington cable car up the mountain, for only NZ$6.50 a trip, and walked down through the botanical gardens. It was about 6pm at this point so the cable car museum at the top had already closed, but I went the next day.
    Man is Wellington hilly! Getting back into downtown there were parts and infrastructure that were very much like san Fran    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Wellington Museum

    February 21, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Also a great museum, a little bit smaller than the national one, but great exhibits. One on the history of Wellington and the land around it, and one on the Wahine Disaster, which was a boat capsizing accident in super high winds that was New Zealand most fatal boating accident. Heroic efforts to save people in the windiest storm of the century. Lots of things just happened to go wrong, like loss of radar and motors.
    And then the top level, called “the attic” was just a mix of a bunch of different things from the museum’s collection, presented very well    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    National Library & Te Tiriti o Waitangi

    February 21, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Walked in the rain to the national library, as they have the original Waitangi Treaty on display, as well as a bunch of copies that were sent to other parts of the country to be signed by different Māori chiefs. They also had the original petition of suffragettes in New Zealand, the first country in the world where women got the right to vote.
    Very nice library, explored a little bit, saw a section highlighting music and music books. Would’ve loved to spend longer if had more time but on to the next thing to see! In the pouring rain!    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Zealandia Nature Reserve

    February 21, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Walked through the pouring rain to catch the cable car up to the free shuttle to Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne wildlife refuge. With only an hour to explore the park before the last shuttle back, was a quick blitz but still totally worth it! The ticket is also valid for 48h but unfortunately I leave Wellington early tomorrow morning:/

    The huge park is fenced off to prevent rodents and predators from entering, as the goal is to return it to New Zealand’s original predator free forest with only endemic plants and animals. There’s even big bio security gates to go through at the beginning. An absolutely beautiful nature reserve, with lots of informative plaques about the plants and animals in Māori and English

    Saw lots of different birds, including Kākā and Tīeke, but no lizards in the lizard rehabilitation area :/ I think they were hiding from the downpour.

    Incredible flora, with super interesting trees and plants!

    Also stopped at the cable car museum on the way back, which had lots of interesting history on the Wellington Cablecar    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Travel Day & Taupō McDonald’s

    February 22, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Got up bright and early to catch a 7:30am bus out of Wellington, up to Rotorua. In total a 10h travel day, even though the drive is only 6h, cause the bus makes lots of stops.

    After some napping along the way, a stop in Palmerston North in time to catch a multicultural festival/market, and a stop for lunch in Flat Hills, we had about a 45min stop in Taupō. Just enough time to walk around, and see the one thing on my list of things to see here: the Taupō McDonalds.

    Voted the “World’s Coolest McDonald’s” from over 34000+ restaurants, it has a real DC3 plane that you can eat in, painted to match the McDonald’s colours. Got a picture in front of it, and ofc had to order food from here, so got the limited time Hawaii Burger with pineapple and back bacon, and the hot cross bun pie, which was definitely the highlight. Although I tried eating in the plane, it was pretty gross and warm inside so just went to take some pictures.

    Back to the bus to get into Rotorua in the early evening, and check into the backpackers!    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    National Kiwi Hatchery

    February 23, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    A bit pricey for a tour of the hatchery (CA$42.50) but I figured I can’t leave New Zealand without seeing a kiwi! And you can’t really see them in the wild because they’re so nocturnal and quite endangered.

    Took the city bus up to the hatchery, and met another solo traveller on the bus, an American, Kylie, who was staying at the same hostel! She didn’t have cash for the bus so I used my bus card to pay for her haha

    Cool little tour of the hatchery tho! Very unique birds, not only can they not fly but they basically don’t have wings. And very poor eyesight even though they’re nocturnal, so very acute sense of smell and hearing. The males incubate the eggs after the females lay them, and they mate for life, about as monogamous as humans are.

    Baby kiwis in the wild have a survival chance of about 2%, as these types of kiwis are basically abandoned by their parents as soon as they’re born (they’re ‘precocious’ birds so know everything they need to right after hatching). The hatchery then collects the eggs from the burrows before they hatch, hatches them and raises them until they’re big enough to be released back into the wild and defend themselves. This increases the rate of survival to about 60%

    Saw some kiwis in the artificial night area, where they’ve switched night and day so people can see them. No pictures allowed to not disturb the birds with flash. However our tour guide was unclear about when we could and counts take pictures so I (and a few other people) got photos of the baby kiwis in the hatchery and feeding part which was not dark. Apparently no photos of any kiwis, not just the dark room oops!

    Lots of fun facts about the birds and the hatchery process, where they’re all tracked with codes and the parent birds are kept track of as well

    Saw a kiwi!    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Mini Golf with Bunnies

    February 23, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    I saw mini golf with bunnies while searching for things to do, and it was on the way back from the Kiwi Hatchery so I thought what better way to spend a free afternoon! I like mini golf, I like bunnies!
    So Kylie and I did a round of mini golf, for only NZ$15 each! The bunnies are just lounging around the course, you can’t pick them up but you can pet them all you wanttt. I ended up losing by one point, but I got the bullseye at the end of the course so we got free lollipops! Had to uber back to the backpackers as we had just missed the last bus oops    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Redwoods Nightlights

    February 23, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Ubered out to the Redwoods tree park after dinner to do the Redwoods Nightlights walk in the trees after dark! Similar to WildPlay, but they have this course with just bridges and platforms, so no need for a harness. But all the trees are lit up with lights and art installations in the dark, quite the experience! Definitely worth it for CA$34 (+ about $15 Uber each way oop)

    Super neat light installations, and you can take it at your own pace, so I was one of the last ones there at the end, before they closed at 11:30pm. Quite peaceful in the dark and quiet.

    All these Californian redwoods are planted here about 60ish years ago as a forestry experiment to see which kind of wood would best be suited for lumber in New Zealand. Turns out the redwoods were too slow growing and the wood wasn’t ideal.    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Geothermal Day

    February 24, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Booked an intercity bus to Waiotapu, which is just about 30mins away, but basically a free bus cause I still had time left on my flexipass. There’s a lot of geothermal activity around Rotorua, and Waiotapu is one of the highlights. Theres a paid thermal “wonderland” where you walk around and see the mud pools and brightly coloured ponds, but instead I just walked to the free bubbling mud pools and spent a relaxing afternoon in the Hot n Cold River, where a cold temp river meets up w a hot geothermal one, and people come and swim in it. Very nice and relaxing and free! Had some lunch I packed w me and caught the bus back to Rotorua!Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Te Pā Tū

    February 24, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Decided to splurge and book a Māori Cultural Experience with a three course meal. Rotorua has a large Māori population and there are lots of these tours that take you to a Māori village, like it would have been in pre colonial times.

    The bus picked us up in town and drove us out to Te Pā Tū, the village. There they greeted us, and there was a ritual to be invited into the village, as people who had never stepped foot on that land before. The chief came out and met a selected “chief” from our group, where a peace offering of a fern was made to be picked up by the right hand, signifying that we are not here to fight. It was mentioned multiple times not to laugh or grin during this, as it was considered disrespectful, but once that was done and we were invited into the village, it was much more relaxed haha.

    They took us through the village, rotating different groups between stations, showing traditions Māori games and dances, and teaching a haka. They all referenced eachother as cousin and it was hard to tell how much of it was a reenactment or if they were actually related. But it turns out they are all actually members of that hapū (subtribe), and the chief who welcomed us is the actual chief’s son. (The actual chief couldn’t be there cause he was preparing for a bit nation-wide Māori games and arts competition happening the next day, and was representing his hapū).

    After the rotations, we were welcomed into a hall where they performed a few songs and dances. And this performance was incredible, some of the most powerful singing I’ve witnessed, and really tight musicianship and choreography. And they were all having so much fun doing it, seemed very similar to the family-like feeling of working at The Fort back in Thunder Bay.

    After the performance, was dinner. They showed us the ground out in which the root vegetables were cooked (albeit a bit different than historical versions due to health and food safety regulations)
    I was sat at a table with other solo travellers, and the food was good but the fellow company at the table was not haha. I booked this with a discount online for ~CA$170, so it was a bunch of rich travellers, or that type haha. Lots of Americans. Two Germans at our table, as well as a guy from wales and a woman from India. But I felt so out of place haha, very different type of travel than these folks were doing. But the food was delicious and so much of it. Duck and lamb and melt in your mouth waygu beef. Some local root vegetables and mussels and lots of dessert.

    After the dinner a guy who worked there took out a guitar and said he would sing a song from everyone’s country lol. When all the white people were singing take me home country roads, i definitely felt out of place hahahah. But there was a whole bus full of polish tourists and they all got up and sang the national polish anthem which was funny.

    Overall a good experience and wonderful performance, but I kinda just wanted to hang out with the people working there, rather than the other tourists haha. Definitely not my usual vibe of travel, but good to experience it.    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Bus to Auckland

    February 25, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Checked out of the hostel, and chilled there for a bit as I waited for the bus at 1:50pm. Had a nice lunch of smoked salmon and cream cheese but ate the whole thing in one sitting, I was quite full after. Caught the bus, and ended up sitting beside a Dutch girl, Marit, who is going to university in Auckland, in physics! She’s just going into her third year and we chatted almost the whole bus ride about physics and politics and lots of things haha. So nice to have a conversation that’s not just “oh where are you from!” “Oh yeah I’ve never been!”
    Got dropped off in dt Auckland and took the city bus to Rachel and Bede’s place!    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Rachel & Bede’s place

    Feb 25–26, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Stayed at mom’s orchestra friends’ place in Auckland, although Bede wasn’t there, just Rachel. But so welcoming and such a nice home! Wish I could’ve stayed for longer but had a flight to catch to Tonga the next day! Lovely to stay for a night tho, with a nice home cooked meal and comfy free bed!Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    AKL to NAN Airport

    February 26, 2025 in Fiji ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Caught my flight from AKL to NAN (Nadi, Fiji pronounced ‘nandi’). Managed to make it on without them weighing my far overweight carry on, but not without some other airport troubles.
    I got some takoyaki and an onigiri at the airport for lunch, and stopped to fill my water bottle, but then heard an announcement saying the flight was ready to depart and all passengers should be at the gate or on board. So I rushed to the gate and knocked over a display of alcohol bottles in the process. I think just the string of the pochette case caught on it cause no one really know what happened. I had to get to the gate so I kinda just kept running, oops! But during all that I had out my onigiri in my pocket and lost it :(

    Other than that, AKL is probably the nicest airport I’ve been to, people-wise. Security people were very friendly

    Oh well, they served a full hot meal on the plane even tho it was just a 2.5h flight. First time flying Fiji Airways! Very nice airline.

    Now I had 7h to kill at the NAN airport, but apparently if it’s less than a 8h layover, you can’t pass through customs and leave the airport. Hmmm. A small airport to spend 7h in but with everything you need. Lots of outlets, some restaurants and even a free quiet lounge with some bed-like couches. Not a bad layover airport.
    I ordered some Burger King and later a lamb pizza which wasn’t half bad. But I left half of it to go sky check my bag, and when I came back a security guard had eaten the rest :( was kinda peeved

    Boarded the flight to Tongatapu (main island of Tonga, where Nuku’alofa, the capital is) an hour before departure, running half an hour early! Pretty nice as it was a 2am scheduled arrival in Tonga    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    TBU Airport

    February 26, 2025 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Flight from NAN (Nadi, Fiji) to TBU (Nuku’alofa, Tonga!)
    After an early departure (still at like 11pm Fiji time, an hour behind Tonga) got onto the plane.
    Was sat in a window seat with the middle seat empty, and a very nice lady was sitting in the aisle. Her name is Lupe, and she has a daughter going to university in Suva, Fiji. We started chatting and when she learned I had basically no plans in Tonga, she offered for me to stay at her place for free! I already had accommodation booked for the first five nights in Nuku’alofa, but will stay with her starting Monday!
    She also offered to drive me into town, as it’s about 40mins from the airport and taxis are expensive. If that was okay with her husband and other daughter who were pickup her up when we land ofc haha.

    Landed and passed through customs (new passport stamp!) and met Lupe’s husband Samiu and their daughter (who’s name I forget but is very shy and quiet)
    They kindly drove me to my accommodation in Nuku’alofa, but first showed me their house to see if I would like to stay there on Monday. It was a bit a of a mess but hey free accommodation and she said she would clean it up before Monday as other family of hers is coming to stay there on Saturday. Her and Samiu don’t live there right now because she teaches at the school, who provides her and her family with lodging. Her husband is a minister who teaches as well, but at a theological school.
    Got some free bottles of water from her too! Very kind and giving culture it seems haha.

    After some offer of coffee at 3am which I kindly declined, they drive me to the Village Backpacker’s where I’m staying for the next five nights    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Village Backpackers

    Feb 26–Mar 3, 2025 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Cheapest accommodation in Nuku’alofa, not exactly plenty of amenities but it has a bed and a bathroom (that’s pretty much it) which is all that’s needed to rest my head.
    Room is not super clean, little ants get into everything you leave out, and the bathroom and showers definitely need some de-spider-webbing but it’s only 50 Pa’anga (abt CA$30) a night. So not awesome deal but doesn’t break the bank.

    Have to get used to the dogs and roosters again though after being in NZ for a while.
    First night, getting in at 3am and not turning off the light till past 4am, I actually didn’t get any sleep until after the sun came up around 7am. Pillow is a bit mildewy but comfortable. It’s boiling hot here but at least the fan works

    Definitely annoying not to have a kitchen or fridge though :/

    And no wifi, and the eSIM I bought for Oceania only does 3G, super slow so have to buy a physical SIM card tmr    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    First Day in Tonga

    February 27, 2025 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Running on about 2.5h of sleep total (didn’t really fall asleep until 7am because of the roosters, napped a bit in the morning) first order of things is to find food and a SIM card. The eSIM I bought and tried to figure out last night only connects to 3G and so is so super slow, definitely feels a bit stressful not being connected in a new country. Bought some food at a store and found the Digicel head offices where I bought a SIM card w 7GB for $20 Pa’anga. I thought that would be enough for the time here but turns out you go through a lot more data when there’s no wifi. Got a top up on Saturday.

    Tonga is a very interesting country. Very not developed, very religious, was never actually colonized (hence why their slogan is ‘the true South Pacific’) and is the only monarchy in this part of the world. The people are very friendly and always wanting to help here, in a way that feels very sincere. But it’s always hard being a white person in a non white majority, you feel a bit out of place. They call foreigners here ‘palangi’
    There’s also a decently sized Chinese population from what I can tell

    Walked around to get a lay of the land a bit, but the priority was definitely getting an early good sleep after last nights sleep.
    Took some cash out, had lunch by the water, finally booked my flight from Vanuatu to New Caledonia, saw the Royal Palace (Tonga is a monarchy) and war memorial. Managed to turn off my light before 11pm!    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Talamahu Market

    February 28, 2025 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Not much of a plan for today, other than checking out the market which runs almost every day here. Lots of fresh fruit, and I got a bag of about 10 or more starfruit for only 5 Pa’anga (about 3.30cad)! Also bought a turtle shell ring, which I’m pretty sure is illegal to sell in most other countries haha. She originally said the price was 20, but I said I wasn’t prepared to spend 20 today, so she said name a price any price and I said 8 and she said okay! Lots of different stalls selling shirts and things as well

    Bought some bbq chicken from a stand and had that for lunch!    Read more

  • Kyran Klazek-SchryerSouth Pacific & AsiaTraveler

    Buffet Dinner & Cultural Show

    February 28, 2025 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Lupe mentioned a cultural show happening on Fridays. I didn’t hear from her all day so booked one that I found happening at a resort, but right before I was about to head out, she texted back saying they would pick me up at 7 Tongan time, and we would head to Liku’alofa, their cultural centre.
    7pm Tongan time ended up being 7:30, and she picked me up at the backpackers. We drove to the centre, which is actually just renting a space as their original resort got destroyed by a tsunami on the west shore in 2022 (the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami). Dinner started at 8pm, with a show afterwards!
    The tradition is that whoever says the prayer before the meal, their table gets to eat first. So Lupe went up and did the prayer, but also told everyone about me and how we met haha, as an explanation to why she was there tonight.

    The buffet had lots of traditional Tongan food and some Chinese food and pasta as well. They have their own version of raw fish in coconut milk, very yummy, as well as some taro and ube and breadfruit chips. And a dessert which I think was faikakai.
    The cultural show was neat, traditional Tongan dance routines. Apparently it is the custom to go up on stage and put $2 bills on the dancers while they’re dancing to show appreciation. Lupe made me go up and do it a few times haha, and she caught it on video. And lastly there was a fire dance! The boy doing it must’ve been 10 years old at most but was so impressive. Apparently a pacific champion at it.

    It was someone’s birthday in the crowd so they made a cake and had a bunch of cake to give out as well so I got a piece to take home haha. At the very end they put on music for everyone to dance to, including a remix of cotton eye joe lolll

    A very fun evening and nice to talk to Lupe more! Her husband and daughter are very quiet but very nice.    Read more

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