Woke up quite early in the morning - 8am. Felt refreshed. Packed our stuff that we needed for the day trip - sunscreen, swimming suits, extra shirts etc after our light breakfast. Then, we waited the others to get themselves ready. At the meantime, we took photos. Yesterday night, it was almost pitch dark that we could not see much.
Sneak peek of my travel mate who felt fresh in the morning.
It was cloudy but it did not spoiled our mood to explore the island.
When everyone was ready, we departed to the church. It only took about 5 minutes to walk to the church. There was eight of us. Thee three girls we met the night before, two backpackers for Whales and one American who studied in Waikato university. A lot of people were already in the church. Most of them were Tonga people. They dressed themselves smartly and elegantly, the women and girls with the traditional dress. The King and Queen were not there. Heard that they were on the other islands. They sang the songs in Tonga language. The lyrics were projected high onto the wall in the front of the church. However, I had no idea on how to pronounce the words. Yet, a woman sitting behind me invited me to sing with lyrics. So, I tried my best to sing along with them as a sign of respect. I heard that the morning service lasts for 4 hours. However, we decided to leave after 25 minutes sitting there. Then, we headed back to the guesthouse before we went to Pangaimoutu island.
We walked passed the town area and reached the harbour site after about half an hour walk. On the way, I chatted with Scott from Whales. He had been travelling to a lot of countries with his girlfriend. They worked in Auckland for almost a year to earn enough money and started to travel. They started to travel in Jan. Penang, Malaysia was one of their stops too. I did admire them for having such experience traveling to so many countries.
It is always my dream to travel around the world. Tonga is a good start.
Out of a sudden, the weather was hot and humid.
We reached at the port where the boat was. The time was scheduled to depart to the island every hour. We waited for another thirty minutes before we hopped onto the boat. The sea was crystal clear. It was even nicer than the sea in NZ. Well, the sea in NZ is attractive enough. It costed only 45 TOP to get to the island and the lunch provided there. We chose coconut curry fish with rice and a burger.
The iconic "landmark" of Pangaimoutu island.
The flags hanging on top , showing the visitors from all over the world.
The curry fish with coconut drink.
After lunch, we strolled along the beach. The island was very tropical. Coconut trees could be seen everywhere. Then, we swam in the crystal clear water. Enjoyed the sun too. We did not do sunbathing simply because we were too afraid to have a tanned body for our graduation. It was fun. Unfortunately, both of us started to get bored after an hour in the water. We decided to go back to the main island and explore the town area.
Just loved the view........
We missed the boat while we were paying at the counter. So, another hour wait before we were on the boat, heading back to the main island. Our new met friends decided to spent more time there, playing volleyball there.
A girl who just missed the boat.
We met another German backpacker on the boat. She was a friendly lady. She approached us and initiated the conversation. She thought we were Japanese. haha, Anyway, she did share her travel experience with us. We enjoyed walking together on the way back to the town area. Believe it or not, she had travelled to 43 countries around the world. Such a nice talk with her.
We made friend with a pharmacist on Couch surfing and she agreed to host us for one night. We got her description to her place. So, we had to figure out the way to her place so that we could go to her place on time before she went to work in the morning. However, we had no idea where to start. I decided to ask the locals. Two high school girls were kind enough to show us the way to the landmark- the royal tomb. I had to admit that I was not really good with map. Their help meant a lot to us. In addition, we got to talk to them and knew a little bit more about Tonga people's life.
We did find the place and felt hungry after the one-hour leisure walk around the town. Went into a cafe to grab our dinner. (To our surprise, the cafe was opened as we were told that no restaurants would open. Not too bad after all). We ordered fish and chips. Waited for almost an hour and found out that the waitress had forgotten to place our order to kitchen staff. More interestingly, when the food was served, it was seafood chowder, not fish and chips because the waitress had taken the wrong order. Well, she said she would replace us the right meal and seafood chowder would be free for us. Lol. I guessed it worth waiting for such a long time then.
Headed back to home. At night, we went downstairs to join the other backpackers and the staffs of Noa guesthouse. They introduced us to a drink which was made from the roots of the plant called "kava". Well, they told me that it was just "coffee". It tasted like "tongkat ali" ( another root extract that I tasted in Malaysia). Haha. After that, I found out on the internet that it has a sedating effect to relax our minds. No wonder I had such a good night sleep that day. Haha. We enjoyed our chat. And, we were also be invited to join their one day tour together with them on the next day.
We had planned to go to Eua island on Monday. However, till then, we still did not manage to figure out the actual time that the ship will depart to Eua island. Even the locals had no idea. The guesthouse could not confirm with us until Monday morning.
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