I arrived there in the late afternoon and had to pass the immigration. It was looking funny because of the handwritten signs above the officers.
At the airport I talked with a taxi driver and he drove me to the first accommodation. This was not so good and we went to a second one which I booked. It was raining very much and I wanted to have a bed with a good roof above me. The next morning I woke up and still raining... and a little flooding too. Some employees tried to drain the driveway in front of the hotel and also the lobby. After breakfast I went outside and did a little walk at the waterfront street. The town didn´t look very nice, so I decided to leave the island. I read in my travel book that vava´u is much nicer. The kingdom of Tonga consists of 3 main island groups, Tongatapu, where I landed, Hapai´i and Vava´u.
I drove with the same taxi driver to the airport and bought a ticket to Vava´u. Luckily I didn´t had to wait long.
On our way to the airport we passed by many shops, which looked like that one. Its closed, but you can look inside through the fence.
Or this one
The domestic terminal looked even trister than the international one ....
There is a new airline in Tonga, called Chathams Pacific. The flight was nice and smooth.
From the plane I could have a look at some beautiful islands and coral reefs.
This time I had reserved my accommodation, it was the Tongan Beach Resort. It was founded by a german, who is married with a Tongan wife. They met in New Zealand. The German left Germany after the War. He wrote a book about his life and it was quite interesting to read. The place was really nice and really luxury compared to the places I have been to since the beginning of my journey.
They decorated the room nicely with fresh flowers.
And the view from my terasse was marvalous.
On my first day there I was the only guest. The next day I went into town and had a look at the different dive operators. Tonga is very Christian, many churches around and they love their masses. They are singing very loud in the church and it happened often that I woke up by their singing early in the morning. Some day even at 4:30h!!! The churches are usually the biggest houses in a town and also the most beautiful ones.
They also have very colourfull graves. When someone dies, they have a big feast and have to mourn some days depending on the importance of the dead person. The relatives have to wear black clothes too.
The bank also looked funny, like 2 coconut halfes.
In town I met an australian couple which has been invited to a traditional feast and they asked me, if I would like to join them, which I accepted.
We got a boat transfer to a close island and ended up in a village, where the fisherman and tourguide Soki lives. Here you see me with Soki and the taxi driver.
The table was really full, we couldn´t eat only half of that.
The food had been prepared in an earth oven called "UMU". They light a fire and heat up stones. Then they put the food in and cover and after 40mins everything is ready. Here Soki showed us the Umu.
When we finished dinner it was totally dark. The village had no power, we had only a oil light and my torch. We went back with the boat and I didn´t felt comfortable because the boat had no lights. Some other boats passed us even without lights!! Soki and my taxi driver had fun drinking whiskey-cola.
Then came adventure part 2: The ride back home with the taxi. When we arrived the taxidriver where really drunk. His family waited for him in the car and we drove home. He nearly went into a crowd of children, who where playing at the street.Then we missed a crossing and went into the grass. I made 3 crosses when we arrived at the Tongan Beach.
The next evening I attended a commercial tongan feast, this time with some dancing.
This sign here reminded me, that I am still very far away from home.
On the next day I booked a sailing trip to one of the beautiful islands, I saw from the plane. The weather was perfect, blue sky... The skipper lives with his wife on a houseboat. She is an artist and there is her gallery too.
The boat was nice, relaxing in the net at the front of the boat was nice, looking down into the water.
We sailed to a nice island with crystal clear water and a white sandy beach. Perfect for postcards.
We snorkeled at the neighbourig reef which was really nice, many colourful fish and many corals. And with warm water it was pleasant too.
Next day was sunday and I wanted to go to church and hear them sing. I woke up so often, so I wanted to attend a mess. My host drove me to a "new life church". The mess was a mixture between very loud rock music and praying, in fact it was much too loud so we left after a short time. Sundays are difficult to spend in tonga, most commercial things are forbidden, most restaurants are closed and sunday starts saturday midnight. Then every bar shuts down. They are very strict with that.
To see more of the island I booked a kart-safari. I saw them often driving through the village and assumed it to be funny and it was. We drove offroad, on the beach and through high grass. We went to the less populated parts of the islands, saw a colony of flying foxes and beautiful landscapes.
My last days I spent at the main island tongatapu. They will have an inthronisation party on august 1st for the new king so there is much painting and renovation going on. This is the palace of the mother.
The king has a nice palace too.
The royal graveyard is very colorful too
The tongan wappen describes the country, the three swords are the 3 lines of kings, the three stars are the three main island groups, the cross is the christian belief.
This is the biggest church in tonga.
One king builded a little stonehenge, which is an calendar, it points directly to the rising sun on the longest and shortest day of the year.
One other attraction is a coast with many blowholes. The stones have many holes and the incoming water presses the existing water through theses holes.
On my last day I went to fafa island resort, probably the best place to stay when you are on tongatapu. As so often, it is runned by foreigners in this case germans. Is on a small island, which can be surrounded in 20mins walking time.
It was cloudy and windy, I tried some snorkeling but without pleasure, the water was 23degrees and bad visibility.
On my way to the airport I stopped at the Tongan national museum. It consists of two exhibit halls. I arrived at opening time, but noone there. 20mins later a lady arrived, her bus was late. And sorry she could open only one hall, the key for the other hall has another lady and her bus is very late. Thats was my experience with the "tongan way". Inside there was not much to see, some photographs abouth the history and the first settlers and a war canoe. Everything was dirty, I hope they do some cleaning before the big party. The tongans have been great warriors and navigators and ruled a huge part of the south pacific islands including fiji.
At the airport I saw some women in traditional clothings. The tongans are not skinny and with these mats they are looking even bigger.
I flew back to auckland, 2 nights there and then continue to fiji.
