Today was my first visit to the Kingdom of Tonga. We were supposed to dock but at the last minute the Captain pulled away due to safety considerations. I applaud him for not just sailing away but making arrangements for tender operations instead. Once the tender operations commenced Sandra, Allan, Apolonnia and I went ashore. We hooked up a taxi driver and were off. First stop was the old King’s palace which is under some renovation. We stopped for a while and watched some very large flying foxes (bats), very creepy. Next we were off to see the blow holes. We traveled around the island checking out it’s beautiful scenery. We also visited the Ha’amonga Trilithon which was built in 1200 AD. This huge archway is built from lintels, each of which weighs as much as 35 tons. According to tradition (according to HAL), the 11th Tui Tonga built it as a passageway to the Royal compound some 800 years ago. The current king lives in the palacial estate you see in the photo. I couldn’t get very close because it is in a walled compound and has guards at the gate. We really had a wonderful day at the lovely (but very flat) island. The people here are very warm and friendly and very religious which you can tell because of the high number of churches of all religions. It was a nice visit to a great island….
9 comments:
Is it in Tonga where they do all the slapping while dancing, or is that another island?
Nice spot Jeff but here comes a stupid question. Did you ask why there is a wall and armed guards? Does not look like a huge population and as you stated very friendly? I check the tracker occasionally and you are in the middle of nowhere land!
John
PS: See I can be a good boy. LOL.
Great pictures Jeff thanks
Since you missed Sunday the 27... I must tell you that absolutely nothing happened... you were lucky to get into Monday right away...
The Lott Sisters
The lady sitting by the fish, does she stay there until they dry out?
Thanks for being a good boy Whitey.
I think fish get better if they hang out in the hot humid weather for a while.... don't they?
I don't know about Tonga but slap dancing is very popular on the ship.... All the seniors are doing it.
It's Samoa. I had to Google to find out.
'Samoan Slap Dance, or fa'ataupati, which some say traditionally began as as a way to ward off mosquitos.'
Somehow I'm betting it's the senior women slapping the senior men.
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