Kiribati, which is the 99th country I've ever been to, is a country that's special, even though he's small and poor, but the equator and the international time dividing line meet here, and they say, "In Kiribati, you can step on 4 and a half pieces of earth with one foot.".
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I also had an extraordinary experience when I went to Kiribati, and the following is my diary when I traveled to and from Kiribati, which is presented here:
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 Sunny
Nadi Nadi- Kiribati Tarawa Tarawa FJ231 1210/1510
Thankfully arriving at the airport early today, the flight was more than 12 o'clock, and it was not yet 10 o'clock when I went to change my boarding pass, the Fiji Airways counter attendant looked at my passport and said: "You need a kiribati visa to board". I told him that I had repeatedly asked Fiji Airways customer service when I bought the ticket and he hadn't told me I didn't need a visa. So the person at the counter made a few more phone calls, flipped through another book, and told me exactly: You need a visa to board the plane.
Nadi International Airport, Fiji
I was dumbfounded, arguing with the group was useless, I hurried to run fiji airways office at the airport, fortunately not far away, just behind the check-in counter on the second floor, the office had a middle-aged man and a fat middle-aged woman, they were busy on the phone, watching me come in, signaling me to sit outside and wait for a while, obviously they already knew where I was coming.
They talked for a while, the two of them discussed for a while, the black man told me that I had to have a visa to board, and then I almost completely broke down, and I secretly cursed the person who sold the ticket, when I bought the ticket, I repeatedly stressed whether I wanted a visa, he said that the implementation was not wanted, and the result was like this, I was very annoyed.
I begged them for help, they took my passport and looked at it carefully, made another phone call, talked for several minutes (later I learned that their phone was to the Kiribati Immigration Department), and then told me that there was no way, I had to get a visa, I was completely disappointed, no way, but when I lifted the luggage and was preparing to leave, the female staff member's mobile phone rang, she answered the phone for a while, put down the phone and told me happily, "Kiribati Immigration Agreed to let me board, But to pay for 50 Australian dollars at the Airport in Kiribati for visa on arrival", the good news came too suddenly, I suddenly had sentences like "The Road to Heaven" and "Willow Dark Flowers", I almost wanted to hug the fat woman who answered the phone, she was so great!
Ecstatic, I waved my passport and ticket and trotted all the way to the boarding card counter to change tickets and board the plane.
After 3 hours, we arrived in Kiribati. It's beautiful to see Kiribati in the air, a curved coral island, on one side of the lagoon is light green, on the other side is the deep blue sea, the middle of the curved hook is the land formed by protruding corals, look at the land in the air is green. This is Tawa, the main island capital of Kiribati, and it might be more accurate to say that this capital is a road.
The airport is really small, the smallest airport I have ever seen, the departure hall is a small shed, not as big as the bus station in our township, and someone at the door sends free travel information. In the middle of the immigration shed is the counter of the immigration bureau, there is no computer, just here to apply for the passport visa of foreigners, my passport is high to the staff of the counter, paid 50 Australian dollars, tomorrow 9 o'clock to the immigration office to pick up, it is estimated that they will go to the immigration office into the computer. After I handed them my passport, like other foreigners, they didn't ask me about my Chinese passport.
Kiribati International Airport
Only met a Chinese, is Guangdong, he said that he has been doing business here for 10 years, see he is not interested in talking, only by the way to ask him which hotel he lives in.
Baggage checks were very strict, the bags had to be turned over one by one, making the passengers queue up for a long time, and I was worried that they would collect my food, but I didn't check on me when they went out, and later I understood that they mainly checked the nationals, afraid that they would carry smuggled goods.
More than 1 hour out of the airport, there is a hotel car outside the airport to pick up guests, I received the advice of the Cantonese, got on the car of OTINTAAI HOTEL, the hotel is not far from the airport, the hotel is good, 77 Australian dollars / night, in the room you can see the lagoon, there is air conditioning and hot water, is the best place for me to stay this time. Before reading the information on the Internet said that Kiribati often blackouts, water outages, mosquitoes a lot, after entering the hotel, all concerns have been dispelled, maybe that is their feelings 10 years ago.
It was almost 5 o'clock, looking outside the sun was still very high, cooked the wrist noodles to eat, carried the camera outside, I was worried about the safety of things, they said it was safe here, but don't come back too late at night. I took a picture of the dusk scenery on both sides of the lake at the hotel, and looking at Kiribati on the ground was still not as beautiful as looking at it in the air.
I went to two people's homes and felt that the people here were very friendly, and I could see that the people here were very poor, and the house I lived in was just a straw hut, with almost no furniture, too simple. One was nice and had a TV set.
Sunset view
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 Sunny
South and North Tarawa Excursions in Kiribati
Last night's window air conditioner roared, the wind blew cold, there was only a thin sheet on the bed, it was very cold, but there was no way, there were mosquitoes. By 2 o'clock, the power went out again, causing me to get up and spray mosquito water, fortunately, the call came soon, but I did not sleep well all night.
The car that rented for the day today was driven by the female driver who picked me up yesterday and took me around the whole Tawa.
water storage
Departing from the hotel in the morning (the capital of this country can only be regarded as a small town), stopping to take pictures while walking, there are many small villages on both sides of the road, photographing some details of life and simple houses, most of their houses are made of wooden frames, and the walls and roofs are grass.
Residence
student
motion
motion
Getting the passport at the immigration office was smooth and the visa stamp on the passport was already stamped.
Ben took some money from the bank in town, and several times at the ATM machine were unsuccessful, and he tossed for nearly two hours without getting a penny.
Originally afraid that the us dollar cash is not enough, now I have to exchange the dollar for a little Australian dollar, to buy water, pay the fare. $200 was only exchanged for $192, which I felt really dark here.
Went to the post office and sent a postcard. There is also no decent view of the town, except for a few broken tanks left over from world war II on the seashore.
The stuff here is really expensive, papaya 6 Australian dollars 1 kg, which is 10 times the price of Fiji; 2 A$1kg bananas, 2 A$1.2 eggs, 2-3 AUD bottles of 1.5-litre water. There are basically no vegetables in the market, and the fruits are only bananas and papayas.
The driver told me: A total of 40,000 people live on Tarawa Island, eating fresh water is based on stored rainwater, now there are two sets of generator sets, basically no power outages, 3 years ago only one set, often blackouts. The land part of Tarawa Island is about 1 km at its widest point and only a few meters wide at its narrowest point. The island-wide road is 40 miles long, from east to west, running through South Tarawa Island, with no north Tarawa.
In the morning, we go to South Tarawa, and after 3 p.m., drive to North Tarawa. North Tawa is at the back of the airport, and the road next to the airport is still a few kilometers away, but it's all very bad dirt roads. Cars can only drive to the ferry port, opposite North Tawa, a coral island separated from South Tawa, separated by a lagoon. I followed the driver through the lagoon, the water is very shallow, very clear, the deepest part is also to the calf bend, you can see some small fish. The driver said that the water was very deep at high tide in the evening, and he came to use the boat ferry.
Lagoon
My female driver is on North Tarawa Island
I'm on North Tarawa Island
The north island is small and very few people live here, but there are a few wooden houses with bridges that jut into the lagoon. There were 4 little girls on the shore riding on a fallen coconut tree singing, I went to take pictures of them, they were very cooperative, dancing and happy.
The tour in North Tarawa lasts about 1 hour, take a few photos, wade back to the ferry port in South Tawa before 5 o'clock and drive back to the hotel.
I was satisfied with the fact that I had to leave the pier and settle the bill with a credit card, but I still had to pay an extra 5% fee.
Even if the trip to Kiribati is over, it is not easy to get to the other islands of Kiribati from here. If you want to go to the famous Christmas Island, it is rare to fly to Fiji and then fly to Christmas Island.
fisherman
Dried fish
Beachfront bbq
Today I also hope to see their national bird, the frigate bird, but I still can't see it, which is a bit of a pity.
I wanted to see a local earth style dance, but no one watched it, and I had to give up if I wanted to charter the show alone!
The guesthouse I stayed in was big in the local area, with 40 rooms, but only about 10 guests stayed, 3 flights a week to Kiribati, too few customers.
The day is very cool, especially in the morning and evening, there are 30 degrees when there is a big sun during the day, but there is a sea breeze, it does not feel very hot, and the air is very dry.
Tarawa scenery
Thursday, August 5, 2010 Sunny
Kiribati-Nadi Nadi FJ230 0900/1200
I slept very well last night, there was no power outage at night, and I slept until 6 a.m.
At 7 a.m., the hotel car took us to the airport today to leave the small country and take a flight back to Fiji. A few frigate birds were seen in the guesthouse.
When I arrived at the airport, I took a picture of the small international airport. The airport runway is open, usually there may be people around the activity, and it is another rare thing to pull the alarm when the plane comes!
aerodrome
I met a couple of Chinese outside the airport, they were the crew of the fishing boat, and it was long enough to wait for 7 days to transfer here. They are crew members fishing in the surrounding waters, and the shipping company is American.
There is an exit fee of $20 to leave the country.
Near the airport
There are also no computers and X-rays for security screening, and they have to be turned over by hand. The middle-aged man who checked his luggage always smiled at me, I don't know why? When he asked me if I was the Chinese from Fiji, I said yes, he said that he had called Fiji Airways that day to agree to my coming to Kiribati, and then I realized that he was my lucky star! I rushed up to shake his hand and said thank you so much! He was a little shy and said I was welcome to come back later.
With less than half the passengers on board, I asked for a seat at the front window, saw the whole of Kiribati from the air, and photographed him. The whole island is a coral atoll with an area of 50 kilometers, how long will it take to form?
Christmas Island is said to be much larger than here, and that's where I would most like to go – the intersection of the equator and the international time divider is there.
Overlooking Tarawa
Overlooking Tarawa
#Kiribati #Tarawa island # #脚踏 "four hemispheres" of the Pacific island nation #