Lautoka

A day at home yesterday listening to rabid dogs was enough of a spur to make the trip to Lautoka today.

The bus trip, which would have been about 45 minutes had I gone straight through, cost $3. Three!

As it was, I jumped off on a whim at Vuda village, and found a hidden beach almost worthy of a brochure.

After a chat with a couple of villagers, I jumped back on the bus to Lautoka ( another dollar ).

I spent the day wandering the streets.

Chance Encounters

One of the people I bumped into by chance, named Raj, offered me a place to stay. Only $300 / month for a private room in his house.

It sounded feasible, but by that time it was late afternoon, and I was hankering for something to eat and a good lie down.

Earlier, I collared ( and paid, mind ) a taxi driver for a quick tour of nearby ‘burbs which are dog-free and affordable. His recommendation – Kashmir, where he thinks I’d get a house to myself for ~$600 month.

I’d decided in the first few minutes that I liked it – it’s population is larger, and there’s a more compact town centre. It looks more affluent, and so possibly freer of crime. Having said that, there were street beggars, as in Nadi.

It has a huge central market, below, and also some street food stalls like South East Asia.

I finally stumbled home, over-heated and hungry at around 3pm six hours after leaving Nadi this morning.

Videos

I’m going to be doing more videos and less writing on this trip. You can see the videos on my sleepy youtube channel, which I’m now tidying up.