Tonga pt 3

So before the hell night began, I had a very good night. As we checked in to Fafifta's there was a blond guy with piercing blue eyes with whom I started a conversation. His name was Tero and he was from Finland. Apparently, tonga is a big destinatino for Finns as a popular travel show featured it some years ago. Tero is a 31 year old software engineer in the middle of an 11 month long vacation(!) Can you imagine? 11 months, AND he gets to go back to his same job! Apparently he had been with his company for 8 or 9 years and had accumulated a lot of vacation time (they get 1 & 1/2 month of vacation time a year in Finland. Somethings the euros just do better than Americans.)

Anyway, Andrew the barister from England had just taught Tero how to play chess, and when he saw me he wanted to play a game. Now I like chess, but I do not get many chances to play it as about the only american i know who will play chess is Dan Jones. So i said, "sure," and we played two very interesting games of chess. Interesting in that virtually every move I made surprised him, and every move he made surprised me. I ended up winning both games, which gave me a better record than his games with Andrew. Andrew, who was on our dive and gave some suggestions as to where i might have seen a shark or two (i didnt -- at least not on the dive trip.) Any rate, a challenge from Andrew left me dissapointed as a chess champ since he was a much better player (although still interesting/unexpected moves). Andrew played a classic game of wearing me down to the point that i simply gave up. But it was a lovely evening and great conversation. Its one of the things about traveling abroad that is so intersting -- meeting all sorts of people from all over the planet, and finding out that we are all human beings after all. Plus, my interest in chess is re-kindled, so when io get back home, Dan Jones, expect a challenge!

In the course of the evening, Andrew gave me some good advice about where to go and what to not miss while in New Zealand as he had been there recently. Advice i have since heard from other travelers, I will surely take it, and I will be in New Zealand soon.

Anyway, after the hell night, Tero was waiting at breakfast when i returned from my walk. He too did not look like he had got a very restful sleep, although his particular gripe was with a rooster just outside his room. Over breakfast we talked about saunas, since he is a Finn and I have a sauna.

Apparently, a proper temperature for a sauna is 75 - 80 deg C (which is way hotter than any electric American sauna is allowed to get!) I also learned that the world championship of saunaing is held every year in finland with the saunas set to 100 deg C -- the boiling point of water!!!! The idea is the person who stays in the longest without passing out is the winner -- the record is about 7 minutes. Apparently Tero's natinal pride was somewhat hurt as some Russian has been the world champion for a number of years running! We also talked about how one is supposed to sauna for about 20 minutes at 75 C, then roll in the snow or jump into a frozen lake, etc, staying out long enough to get cool again. So this winter, you gotta stay out longer all you panzy-ass americans!

Another small world moment occured when days later as we were heading to New Zealand, i ran into Tero on the street in Nuku Alofa on Tongatapu -- the big city on the big island of Tonga. (Total population of the entire kingdom is only 75,000, so it aint that big of a place). Still it was fun to see him at the end of Tonga and say, "goodbye, thanks for the Chess game."

So the day after the night from hell at Fafita's, Gen and I were like "we are out of here!" The other three americans all choose to stay another night at Fafitas as it was the weekend and they were afraid that any other decent place would be all full. This brings up some of what I mean by the cultural differences between global east and west. We americans had to have a plan...kevin jolene, and megan had to stay at fafitas because they had to have shelter for the night. Gen and I were more like, if we have to sleep on the beach, then so be it (plus the beach i scoped the night before would've been a good, isolated beach to sleep on, if it came to that).

Another example of the east-west culture shock was in the Sydney airport while i was writing those blogs, i was aware of the time issue and did not let anyone wait more than two minutes for the free internet access places. But, oh the looks i would get from some of those people! having come from the east where 4PM might mean 6 PM, it was strange. I mean really, two minutes is not going to make or break anyone making an airplane if they have time to check their email. But no, plan, stress, hustle, move. Or as Tero put it, "In Helsinki it used to be that people would have time to chat on the street if you saw them, but in the past few months, it has turned into, hey how is it going? -- Cant talk, too busy." That was part of why he was taking an 11 month vacation to get away from that too busy too busyness that his world had turned into. So while we may have "better quality of life" Is it really true? I mean take Bar in Indonesia. He had his job at the restaurant/bar on Gili Meno. He had to work what 3 hours a day, and sure, he was poor economically, but he had time to just chill for most of his day/life. Meeting interesting people, etc.

The eastern attitude, what happens, happens, oh well, its ok, just go with the flow. Sometimes I think I like the eastern way of life better than the western one, but I have mortgages. I just lost half my savings in the stock crash while flying over the ocean, I have worries and concerns.... I am a westener. But that is also probably why i like living in CB so much ... despite all of its short comings it still has that, hey chill out and relax and enjoy the view kinda attitude. So since i live in the west, i might as well stay in CB.

The Tongans were similar in attitude to the eastern mode of thought (or i suppose a polynesian mode of thought): They, like the indonesians, wanted to engage in small talk, they were VERY laid back. They worked little, could gain their sustenance from the small amounts of farming, and from the sea. They chilled. It was wild how even people i meant only once in passing the next time i saw them, they were like, "Hey David, how is it going?" Or the one of two taxi guys, tom, who I rode with once, remembered me, and he must taxi around how many western guys in a day? I was floored. But then I did engage in the small talk, and he was the one that told me that the Tongans like conversing. I didn't remember most of these people the second time I met them, but there they were, remembering me all right! And true while Ha'apai, the island we were on was way off the tourist track, there were still plenty of tourists, and yachters who were around the island, so I couldnt be THAT memorable, could I?

Anywho, I chilled at Mariners while Gen, Kevin, Megan and Joleen went to get their return tickets, and Gen was going to check out another place to stay. When they returned, Gen had a good report about a bungalow on a small, private beach that we could stay. No air con or fan, but again, this place still seemed cool at 28 C vs Indo at 31C, so I was like, "great lets do it"

I am going to take a break now and get some pictures up on the picassa site since i am here in Christchurch at a REAL internet cafe and you can see some pictures! I will continue Tonga with stories from Mele Tonga, the guesthouse Gen had procured.

until next time,

Newo Out