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Tonga Nuku'alofa

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  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    1
    Day 42

    Church Sunday

    March 2 in Tonga ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    On Sundays, all of Tonga shuts down because it is a 97% Christian country. Nothing is open and the streets are empty.
    But Lupe offered to pick me up at 9:15am to go to the church service at the Sia’atoutai Theological College where she and her husband teach. Before the service, Lupe showed me around the campus, where all the students and teachers live, where it’s separated into seven “villages” to represent the seven nations of the bible.
    The service was an awesome experience, with superb singing (although Lupe said not as good as usual lol), and the whole service in Tongan (except for one small part in English), and pouring rain during most of it. I didn’t want to be too disrespectful so didn’t take too many photos or videos as we were sitting right at the front where everyone could see.
    All the students were dressed in white, because today was a communion day, so got to watch that as well. I wore long pants and a dress shirt cause the knees should be covered in church here. I didn’t partake in communion but was invited to. There was also a birthday happening that week, so happy birthday was sung in the middle of the service lol.
    The Methodist church (which is the majority of Christians in Tonga) intersperses hymns with sermon, through the service. For the hymns, they had a guy press a preset button on a synthesizer and a student conductor in front, and everyone would stand up, and sing in three or four part harmonies. I caught on, reading some Tongan out of Lupe’s hymn book by the end. The singing before the service and during communion was all acapella though.
    After, I was invited by some of the boys who were studying there to try some kava, a drink that has relaxing and sedative properties and lots of social gatherings happen around it. Lupe left me alone for a bit to go finish up making lunch, and I chatted with the students of the college. There are lots of traditions and etiquettes on how to act respectfully around the reverend, and at a kava gatherings. I definitely felt out of place as a palangi but had some really nice conversations. Lots of students here are people from the states with Tongan heritage who have come to complete a bachelors or masters or PhD in theological studies.
    I had a couple coconut shells of kava but didn’t seem to feel its effects, even on an empty stomach.    Read more

  • TravelerMeine Weltreise
    1
    Day 63

    Tonga/Tongatapu/Nukuʻalofa

    February 7 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Das Königreich Tonga (tongaisch Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga, englisch Kingdom of Tonga) ist ein Inselstaat im Südpazifik, der zu Polynesien gehört. Der Archipel wurde früher auch Freundschaftsinseln genannt.
    Tonga besteht aus 172 benannten Inseln im Pazifik mit einer Fläche von 747 km². 36 von ihnen sind bewohnt, diese machen eine Gesamtfläche von 649 km² aus. Sie liegen östlich von Fidschi, südlich von Samoa und nördlich von Neuseeland.    Read more

    See translation
  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    Day 46

    Early Morning Travel to Fiji

    March 6 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    There were even more people staying in the house tonight, so my room got given up, and I slept on the outside couch on the porch for my 3h nap from 11:30pm to 2:30am. Had a mosquito coil burning the whole time and put on some bug spray so not too bad for bugs! And nice to be cool outside, although still super warm!!

    Lupe and her Husband so kindly drove me at 3am to the airport, where we said our goodbyes and made sure I got through security without getting my bags weighed as they were much over weight haha. They were even heavier than last time because I’m carrying some extra clothes and shoes for Lupe’s daughter who is going to school in Suva, Fiji right now.
    They were very impressed no one stopped me to check my bags, this palangi Canadian is lucky!

    Bought a turtle pendant necklace carved out of bone as a replacement souvenir for my lost ring, and used up the last of my Tongan cash. Got on the plane, all fine no weight the bags, and with a window seat! Napped a bit on the flight, had some food and landed in Nadi at 5:45am (1 hour time difference), half an hour early!    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    1
    Day 45

    Last Day in Tonga

    March 5 in Tonga ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Woke up and drove the car into town for drop off, just in time. Spent the day in Nuku’alofa, mostly at the air conditioned tourism centre, with wifi and a public washroom. Took advantage of the wifi to call mom, and hung around for a bit. Then ate some lunch and bought a traditional Tongan drink called otai, that had shavings of watermelon in ittt.
    Last stop in town was to exchange the rest of my Tongan Pa’anga for Fijian Dollars, and then I walked back to Lupe’s place, only about an hour!

    https://strava.app.link/EHFePyboxRb

    Had good food again, including theses huge jumbo prawns that her brother brought from Australia! They were very yummy and apparently they had bags and bags of them in the freezer lol. Also unfortunately lost my new turtle shell ring on the walk home :( bummed cause it was a very unique souvenir from Tonga.

    Nice last day in Tonga, and now for a quick nap before driving to the airport at 3am for my 5:30am flight! 😳    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    Day 44

    ‘Anahulu Cave

    March 4 in Tonga ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    After the natural bridge, got some food at a grocery store cause I was very hungry at this point. Had a meal of canned chicken spam, instant noodles, and mango juice when I got to the next stop, Anahulu Cave.

    This cave was so cool! A big cave system, with huge stalactites and stalagmites, and a first part lit up with lights, and with cement stairs so you can walk around and see the beginning of the caves. There’s pools of freshwater in the caves that you can swim in, which is what they’re known for. The water is normally very clear but due to all the recent rain, the water near the entrance was very brown and murky.
    There were two other Tongan girls and a guy from Australia visiting and the owner of the property said he would go get some flashlights and take them further into the cave where the water was clearer, so I decided to join them

    He took us past the ropes and part that was lit up, and we ventured into the dark cave with just flashlights. We went pretty far in, trekking over the rocks and stalagmites going deeper and deeper into the dark cave. For a while we weren’t following any rope or anything, and it seemed like it would be very easy to get lost in the cave system. Eventually there was a rope, and we followed it for a bit before getting to some more pools of water. They weren’t crystal clear as usual but a bit clearer than the opening of the cave. The owner/guide then proceeded to leave us there for the next half hour and went back to the entrance. We swam around for a bit, and the water was not too cold! (Although the Tongans disagreed). After the swim we started the decent walk back (started the wrong direction but eventually found the rope lol) and then the owner met us part way again.

    Saw some local boys jumping in the water in the main part of the cave, and then checked out the beach for a sec.

    What an experience! Felt like real caving haha! Cost 20 pa’anga but totally worth it!    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    Day 44

    Hufangalupe Natural Bridge

    March 4 in Tonga ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    Drove a little bit to the south side of the island, to get to Hufangalupe. Was going to stop at a BBQ stand on the side of the road but didn’t see any on the way there.

    Much more rural and rough roads than I expected, Google maps marks some roads as major when they are most definitely not major roads. But otherwise impressed at the road infrastructure in Tonga. The actual major roads never have any potholes.

    Hufangalupe is a natural bridge made of rock. Very cool, with a nice secluded beach down the cliffside next to it. But quite the trek to get to, single late road and then quite a few plants and bushes to walk through. Thankfully made it out without getting the car stuck and without getting bitten by anything!    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    Day 44

    Mapu ‘a Vaea Blowholes

    March 4 in Tonga ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    Super cool blowholes, that are all along the west stretch of coast in Tonga! The way that the coral has formed, and the holes in the coral, make that whenever a wave crashes ashore, the water gets forced through the holes and air and spray and water come shooting up.

    Mapu means whistle in Tongan, and Vaea is the name of an honourable family from the nearby village. So it is literally Vaea’s Whistle. There’s some debate on where the name comes from but the blowholes do indeed whistle! Super cool!

    Had a nice little snack here as there were some tables to sit at    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    11
    Day 44

    Tsunami Rock

    March 4 in Tonga ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Next stop was tsunami rock, a large boulder made of corallic rock that apparently got pushed inland by a massive tsunami thousands of years ago.

    Nice beach here too, but as with a lot of Tonga, litter almost everywhere. Helped a family from Fiji try to get their van unstuck from a rock in the thin single track road with no luck. I did not risk driving the rental car down that path hahaRead more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    11
    Day 44

    Rental Car! & West Tip of Tongatapu

    March 4 in Tonga ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Woke up, ate breakfast, and got a ride into town to pick up the rental car! Had a nice breakfast of toast and keke isite (like donut balls). Lupe was a bit late to pick me up, but had run out of data so couldn’t reply to texts, so I didn’t know if she was coming or not. So I got a ride into town from her sister-in-law’s friend who was visiting. Turns out we missed eachother by probably a minute!

    Picked up the cute little green Daihatsu Mira and started driving around for the day!

    First stop was the very northwestern point of the island, Abel Tasman’s landing site in 1643. Very windy! Met some other tourists here and they happened to be Canadians, from Port Alberni and Vancouver!

    Then stopped at a nice little beach, Ha’atafu Beach, with apparently good surfing! Met a little hermit crab here.

    Next stop was the Flying Foxes, a tree where a colony of fruit bats (which are called flying foxes here) live. They were mostly sleeping during the day but you could hear them chattering and when they flew from one branch to another they were so huge!!    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Pacific & Asia
    Day 44–47

    Lupe’s Place

    March 3 in Tonga ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Lupe picked me up, and we had a nice big meal at her place, with more fish (raw and cooked) and yams and breadfruit (not as extravagant as Sunday lunch but very yummy). Getting used to eating with my hands, cause all the bones have to be picked out of the fish haha. And of course more mango ice cream for dessert

    She showed me the room where I’ll be staying for the next three nights, and I had a nice shower before heading to bed.
    I’m fed very well here and always told to grab anything I want from the fridge and pantry haha. Very kind hospitality of Tongans.    Read more

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