The Sebel from the Iririki ferry. Mel told me that it is the most expensive hotel in the whole of Vanuatu. Just the air conditioning itself is worth the expense i reckon. There was a collective sigh of contentment from the 3 of us as we stepped into it's lobby "air con..."
The service at their bar was great. I swear that their home made vanilla ice cream was the best i've ever tasted. Complimented with a cholocate tart, a piece of white chocolate, chocolate and strawberry sauce, it was simply divine. Well worth every cent even though it cost a bomb.
We were told by Jason our personal lonely planet tour guide masquerading as the O&G consultant that Black Sands Beach was a very beautiful place. So we hopped onto a bus and told the bus driver, " Yu save sakem mitufala long Black Sands Beach?"
When we got there, Li Yong and I collectively thought, "This sand is not black! It's dirty brown just like back in Malaysia and East Coast Park in Singapore." Who knew that Vanuatu had not so great beaches as well?
We were the only 2 people on the beach with fair skin. All the ni-Vanuatu kids were waving and shouting Halo as we passed by. Many adults came up to have a chat with us and we took the opportunity to ask at every occasion if this was really Black Sands Beach. After many affirmative answers, someone told us that 20 years ago the sand used to be black but the soil erosion from the river upstream has turned the sands brown instead.
So we thought that Jason must either have a very warped description or perception of colour, or his information was outdated by 20 years. He told us later that the he visited it the week before we did and it was still black, the colour of our hair. Which meant that we must have ended up on a different stretch of the same beach. Sigh.
Baby minah which fell from it's nest onto our dining table in our communal kitchen. Thanks to skills imparted from my budgie catching days, i was able to catch it, place it in a box and leave it outside where hopefully its parents could see or hear it. Unfortunately, it disappeared when i came back to check on it half an hour later and i have a sneaking suspicion that it must have been eaten by a cat (although i haven't seen any cats around). In a way, i was thankful that i couldn't find it because otherwise i would have to endure watching it die of starvation over a course of a few days despite futile attempts at feeding it.
Baby mouse belonging to the nest of mice thriving on food left by previous medical students out in the open. This one was experiencing respiratory distress when i took a photo of it, it died not too long after. One of it's nest mates came along the next day, sniffed at the carcass and carried it back to the world of mice tunnels.
Tara Beach at Sunset. It was so remote that some of the locals didn't know where it was. The bus driver who took us there tried to rip us off. He asked us if we would like him to come pick us up when we were done. Because the place was so remote, we wouldn't be able to get a bus and if we were to call for a taxi, the cost would have amounted to the same. So we agreed on a time and price and he came 10mins early to get us.
The potentially disastrous part was that there were 2 other male passengers with him and it was getting dark. I looked at the number plate and memorised it before i got onto the bus. 10mins into our ride back to the city, passenger number 1 pulled out a foot-long knife during his conversation with the driver and stowed it somewhere else. Li Yong and I kept silent and pretended that neither of us saw anything out of the ordinary.
Then as we approached a dwelling, the bus driver turned off the engine and said that we'll be waiting there for a moment. The 2 passengers walked off into the darkness and Li Yong and i started to get a little frantic. The possibility that they might be returning with more men made us sit on edge, whispering to each other about what we should do if the situation did in fact occur. I started chatting to our bus driver, asking about his name, family and children. 10 minutes later a shadow approached from the dwelling. A man opened the door to the front passenger seat and plonked a 5 year old child into the bus. PHEW!
We're saved! Li Yong and I made it a point that we shall never take a bus at night without a male companion.
Yasur Volcano. The volcanic ash is a fine black. Yours truly who has lost touch of high school geography lessons thought that standing at the rim of the crater would be hot due to the proximity to the molten lava. Evidently, i've forgotten all about how hot air rises and thus powers a strong wind...
Shark's Bay. Do you see any sharks in the picture? Neither did i. But our guide insisted there was a baby shark in the water. So i think i must have been more myopic than i thought i was. Anyone knows if i meet the criteria for being legally blind if i took off my contact lens?
Liyong and I went crazy snapping pictures on Tanna... but i'm too lazy to upload them. Perhaps another time.
On Christmas, every single shop in the whole of Vanuatu was closed except for Au Bon Marche. The orphaned medical students decided to go to Mele Cascades for a picnic. Annika was smuggled in to places as a medical student whenever she went out with us..jpg)
This is a piece of freedom taken from where else but my window seat. If only i could really be out there instead of caged in an air-borne metal monstrosity. I shall have to try sky diving sometime.
On our first day, we went to Chill for dinner. It was by the waterfront, with simple but tasteful decor and familiar oldies tune playing from their stereo. There was air-conditioning to boot. Nothing really quite beats the ambience there.
