November 12, 2007
Tonga
LAND!
Truth is, I really don’t mind being at sea. I find it very relaxing although I do miss the birds. This morning, we are entering the harbor town of Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga to the serenade of birds – and the raucous crowing of roosters. As bad as the roosters are, they’re nothing compared to the Francolines in Hawaii.
Tonga is an archipelago in the South Pacific consisting of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, and is divided into three main groups – Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Tongatapu. The capital of Tonga, Nuku’alofah, is located on Tongatapu, which is the largest island. The population of Tonga is about 100,000 with some 50 of them easily identified in the NFL on the US mainland.
Tonga is a monarchy. The reverence for the kingship is likened to that held in prior centuries for the sacred paramount chief, the Tu’i Tonga.
In the Tongan language, the r’s are replaced by l’s, f’s replace most h’s and w’s by v’s. I think I better start this thread nearer the beginning of the Polynesian migrations.
Fred has just told me that we’ve been boarded in preparation for docking. The Tongan security officers were lightered out.
If any of you are wondering where the pretty pictures are, that is assuming there are any of you out there wondering or not, you may have to wait until I return home. It seems that I forgot to load my Slideshows for Dummies software on my laptop. This is not a fatal error. I could break down and code the pages manually. It's just that I'm lazy and prone to typos.
Mālō e lelei
November 22, 2007
We spent a lovely day with Angie, our guide, driving around the island and stopping at schools, farms, healthcare facilities and the Royal Residence. The EU has a major investment in Tonga working to generate jobs and products for export. After ward, we stopped for refreshments and craft demonstrations.
A Tongan dance troup joined us in the evening. I am fascinated by the similarity between Tongan dance and some Alaskan Native dance.
Mālō e lelei