Today started off with the "free" breakfast at the hotel cafe. And to our surprise, it was free and not just toast and jam. Pretty much all the standards were here, with a few exotic touches.
For example my eggs benedict had dukkah scattered all over it. Yummy!
And here is the breakfast I actually ate, after trying a suspicious looking bit of the dukkah and discovering it was peanuts. Yay. I got them to check, and yes it was peanuts because dukkah is nuts with seeds and spices. So to them any nut will do. I didn't bother to argue that peanuts weren't actually a nut so I just got a quick replacement.
Louie's French Toast was fine, okay for not having to pay.
After a near-death breakfast we jumped in a bus that was just about to leave with a couple of Australians in it. Chatting away to the driver about Vanuatu food, he asked them if they have hangi back home. That gave me a chuckle, having an NZ stereotype being used on an Aussie. The outraged tourist corrected the driver, telling him Australians cook their food above the ground (because you ex-convicts are all too lazy to dig a hole I added in my mind). I have to behave, Louie doesn't like it when we get deported in an international incident.
No sooner had we arrived at the market, a guy with iguanas on him came up and started his spiel. Yes, I was fully aware this was a tourist trap but he did say this was how he makes a living before I took posession of the beasties so it was as above board as it could be. Besides, how cool is this! They were so chill, just sitting there and hanging out. Well worth the $15 I gave him. Not sure if that was a decent amount or not, but it was worth it to me.
We did a couple of laps around the markets, mostly selling green veges and fruit I had no idea the names of and bunches upon bunches of green bananas. I wanted to load up on fresh mangoes but I guess they are out of season so we left empty handed. Passing by the food vendors there was one stall with dried whole fish on a bed of something white and I almost left empty stomached as well.
More markets outside, all selling the same tat with "genuine" bracelets, shirts and dresses tent after tent. There was a bloody great handcraft market next to this, and again it seemed like the same story, carvings and jewelery "made" by the stall holder, which looked identical to the stall next door and the one across the way. We did spot a stall that had shirts that were very different to the rest, and as it turns out they are hand painted by the lady running the stall (or so she told us. I just checked and they are actually hand painted!) so I am now a proud owner of a pretty hideous but unique shirt. And so is my grandson.
The waterfront looks to be in development, and it's really nice to be honest. Loads of locals and tourists out and about. There is definitely a clear difference between the locals and tourists, for the most part the tourists look like... well, us, and the locals don't. At all. And they all seem to have their heads in a phone. Mad as.
The Vanuatu Conference Centre, the design is definitey a choice. I must suggest it for the next work get-together.
A snack, some freshly juiced local fruit which was almost completely passionfruit. The location and view over the water was brilliant but the food here hasn't been much.
Everywhere there are little areas where there are seats and people just relaxing which is really nice. None of the seats have the horrible "anti-homeless" bars and divisions, but we also haven't noticed any homeless people, so maybe it's just not a thing. We've seen a few large areas with some pretty rustic looking houses so maybe they are far more community minded that we are.
We stopped by a shop to get some reef shoes and googles for Louie so here is a typical Port Vila street scene.
Our vague destination was the local mall, just because and it was only 15 minutes walk so plenty of chance to see the local area.
All along the waterfront the sea is just amazingly clear. There wasn't anyone swimming but it is the dead of Winter & the water is only 25c so everyone is probably avoiding hypothermia.
It's the Pak n Save Hotel!
A local sign, and it's surprisingly easy to work out what it says, more or less.
This place is safe area to swim. But it is not safe time when we get heavy rain.
Some welcome signs, kind of along the main road but no real way of getting a decent photo in front of it, or explanation of why the Olympic rings are there. The guy on the truck is a pretty common sight. We've even seen a police truck with a bunch of them sitting all over the back.
Not a local, you can tell because the face isn't in a phone. Plus some other signs.
These are locals, with phones.
Yes, that is how restuarants usually do it. It doesn't really work out very well in any other combination.
More excellent local signage. I was particularly proud of myself for working out the bit above the door. But no, I did not come and check them out.
One of the "famous" French patisseries, which had a pretty good selection. The mall took all of 10 minutes to walk around including getting cash out of an ATM so it really wasn't worth the walk.
Some sort of cake that was quite dry and an eclaire which was nothing special.
My mille-feuille with what I thought was very crispy chocolate pastry layers, but it just turned out to be burnt. Very fitting I guess, like everything else French, it looks good but is a bit shit.
Another bus ride back to the hotel, with some pretty snazzy interior decoration going on. There is some pretty heavy duty plastic covering as well; hard wearing and fashionable! These bus rides are always a bit awkward, some initial confusion before they agree they are going where we want to go, then the friendly questions and chat and then silence for the rest of the trip. It's a great way to see the daily life of the town though, and Vanuatuan drivers must be some of the worlds most tolerant and polite. We haven't seen a single cyclist so they must be pretty accurate as well.
One of our stops was at the Ministry of Pretty Much Everythiing Else We Didn't See Yesterday. Maybe not the ones responsible for the roads because the entrace and exit roads were
rugged. This reminds me of one thiig I realised on this ride. We've seen posters on power poles all over with some words and a pretty grim photo of a person. I assumed they were wanted posters, or maybe protest at some political prisoner. Nope, they are promoting a candidate for some election. Definitely something we need, get rid of all the airbrushing and photoshopping out the circumcision scar on Luxton's forehead, and just have the cold light of day.
Back to the hotel and the weather definitely turned sunny. Still pretty windy but a lot warmer - time for a snorkel!
The little coral reef bay thing was at the perfect height, at the deepest up to my neck, so quite shallow.
The prescription goggles worked a treat, I absolutely loved just floating about being able to see all the fish and whatnots. Having a lot of natural buoyancy meant I was able to tootle about for ages just enjoying myself. The cheapie GoPro underwater case worked a treat so that will definitely get more use as well come Summer.
The fish were pretty much tiny or mostly white so I didn't get any blog-worthy ones, but here are two starfish and an anemone.
And here's a Louie after he got used to using a snorkel and goggles. It was a pretty challenging area, there were waves coming up to the edge of the coral which meant there were some currents moving everything around. At one point I was dragged over the coral, but there was just enough water depth that I didn't drag my carcass over it all.
After our extreme (for us) sports and a lovely few hours just relaxing outside reading it was time for dinner. Just a few sections away from the hotel was a pizza place so we went for a walk. As it turned out, the "shortcut" wasn't and we ended up in a paddock blocked by a barbed wire fence so back we went and around the long way. This involved walking down a long unpaved road / driveway at night with a few zig zags and some uncertainty untli we arrived at the most unlikely sight of a fairly decent looking restaurant.
The place faced the ocean but there's a blasting wind at the moment so we escaped the serial killer vibe and took it back to our room.
It was fine. The walk was more memorable, and most of that was in the dark.
One final oddity for the day - someone saw fit to leave some nose candy for us in the bathroom. Weirdly it smells like laundry powder but who are we to turn down such a generous gift.
Tomorrow for Louie's birthday we are off on a day trip to Lelepa Island for snorkelling, bush walking, relaxing and a village visit so it should be a fantastic day.
Some welcome signs, kind of along the main road but no real way of getting a decent photo in front of it, or explanation of why the Olympic rings are there. The guy on the truck is a pretty common sight. We've even seen a police truck with a bunch of them sitting all over the back.
