Bula!
We are finally out of Asia! From Hanoi we had a two day stopover in Bangkok where we decided to feast on the city's amazing street food!
When we arrived we headed straight for Khao San road (or tried to). We grabbed a Sky Train into the city only to find that the bus to Khao San had stopped running so we had to get two tubes and another rickety old bus through China town before being dropped off a good ten minute walk from Khao San, but at least we made it! Max was finally reunited with his beloved pad tai, although still complained of being hungry after nearly two plates of it.
We only had one full day in Bangkok so we wandered around the Khao San road area, sampling crispy donuts, seeds covered in syrup, brown gravy rice and wonton soup! Max also decided to go for an extremely hot thai curry for dinner. We think the whole hotel corridor suffered from that one!
The rise back to the airport was a lot smoother as we managed to catch the right bus, although the journey to
Fiji was a long one, including a five hour stopover in sydney. Luckily we got into the priority lounge in Bangkok and we both ate way too many sandwiches, nearly missing our flight to Sydney!
We finally arrived in Nadi and managed to hitch a ride with a private transfer minibus heading to the Coral Coast and arrive at Tubakula Bungalows where our dorm beds turned out to be a private bungalow! We then had to wait for an extensive check of our bungalow by the two security guards, who had a checklist of items in the bungalow. This resulted in several conversations which went like this
'What is storage container?'
And
'Is this kitchen brush?'
'No that is toilet brush' - worrying.

Anyway we went to bed, woke up and went to market to stock up the bungalow. As always, our stomachs got the better of us and we bought a lot of food including 2kgs of rice, 30 eggs and 4 litres of milk (Max's idea, Hayley tried to tell him it was too much) It was incredibly cheap and there were so many colourful and weirdly shaped fruit and vegetables that we have never seen before, and also the biggest potatoes we have ever seen! We also had some fijian pie from the milk shop, the best cake we have ever tasted in the world! The Fijians are awesome people and were so relaxed compared to any other country. It was raining and the bus we got back to our bungalows had no seats left so everyone insisted they hold our bags for us as there wasn't much room. A massive change from Asia!
We went home, cooked a massive feast with the fish we bought for a pound and luckily, the weather the next day was nicer. It was still a little bit cloudy but the sun did come out, although we spent half the day in bed as we were struggling with jetlag for our whole week in Fiji. We managed to fit in some beach time and play some cards and cook more of our £1 fish!! For the rest of the week the weather was brilliant until there was a big storm on our last day. We remained in Tubakula bungalows the whole time on the coral coast. The beach was lovely, white sand and clear waters. As you walked along the shore you called see baby reef sharks and sea snakes and lots of other small fish swimming around in the shallow. The water is so clear in Fiji you can see the seabed for a good couple of metres out. There were some bungalows right on the beachfront just in front of the row of palm trees, but obviously we were in the bungalow that was the furthest possible distance from the beach but still only a two minute walk. We spent our time sunbathing and watching the fishes, although we didn't snorkel because the water was shallow for ages and Max was scared of sharks. From the beach you can see the locals way out in the sea, knee deep with their nets catching fish.
Over the seven days Max did a lot of catching up with his eating, frying up the unhealthiest potatoes in the world. Sweet potatoes covered in butter and fried in so much oil and onions. Heart attack central! Although we did also have a ridiculous amount of aubergines, courgettes and cabbage to eat! Plus of course, rice pudding, every night, plus fried rice for lunch, and steamed rice for dinner, and we still have some left. (And max didn't think we had enough!)

It was a brilliant week and definitely needed after Asia! We really really did not want to leave, but we was excited for New Zealand. All in all, Fiji is paradise.

We are now off to Middle Earth to eat lots of lamb...my precious...