And Finally, Here Comes The Sun...

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, and I say

It's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter

Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, and I say

It's all right...

Yay... the sun is up but I am not in the mood for the Beatles, I am in the mood to head out to the Beachcomber Island...

And it's awesome to see the sun up...

This is the Fiji I had dreamt of... 

Look at the amazing reflection...

It's warm and balmy...

It's a beautiful morning...

Seems to be a nice morning to be at the pool...

Ohhh... those palms...

Man, I can't get over the bright views...

A quick brekky to tank up - grilled pumpkin, ham croissant, tomatoes, bacon and a pesto omelette... And we're good to go, go out and feel the warmth of the Fijian sun!

Rained Out, Yet Again...

Back at the home after a 30-minute walk back from the Denarau marina, on red carpets laid out exclusively for us by the fiery royal poincianas, we had kind of reconciled to the bad weather brought in by TD04...

A lamp shade in the lobby shaped like a nest...

Walking around the property, we toyed with the idea of having an early dinner or playing Uno, Scrabble or Rummy...

Oh dear, we forgot our deck of cards back home...

And here we are at the hotel shop, buying the playing cards...

The winds are fierce and the palms are swaying wildly...

Islands like these will face the brunt of climate change. Fiji already faced the brunt of Cyclone Winston in February this year causing massive devastation. Scientists do claim that the frequency of such storms will only increase with increasing temperatures and rising sea levels. And there is a horrendous possibility that island states like Kiribati will be completely wiped off the map of the world...

The rain stopped a bit, but the wind was too strong...

Buddha in Fiji!

The poolside...

Fijian men in their sulus...

A sulu is a type of kilt traditionally worn by Fijian men and women in Fiji and is regarded as national dress. It is basically a wraparound and is traditionally fastened by tying at the waist. 

Women's casual sulus are amazingly colourful and are known as sulu-i-ra, and more elegant full-length ones for dressy occasions are called sulu jaba. 

Men's sulus are known as sulu vakataga. Men's sulus, these days, may be fastened with buckles. Tailored sulus with pockets are commonly worn as part of Fijian men's business and formal wear, with shirt and sandals and optionally western-style jacket and tie. The sulu is seen as an expression of ethnic Fijian identity. While wearing a sulu is often mandatory for Fijians in traditional settings, members of other ethnicities are sometimes discouraged from wearing it...

A speedboat...

The wind doesn't seem to stop...

Settling down for dinner - that's what the "doctor" order for this cold rainy evening - a steaming hot tomato basil soup...

Seafood pasta...

And some vegetarian pasta...

And we have snorkeling on our plan tomorrow, we can only pray for a sunny day...

The Fiery Royal Poincianas Of Denarau...

And after giving up on the weather, we walked back from the Denarau marina to our hotel, passing by the magnificent royal poincianas (gulmohurs)...

The weather is quite cool here, thanks to the tropical depression...

The gulmohur seems to have laid out a red carpet for us...

The tree was named for Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, the 17th century governor of Saint Christophe (present day Saint Kitts) in the Caribbean. In fact, the flower of the tree is the national flower of It is the national flower of St. Kitts and Nevis...

And the tree usually flowers before the onset of the rainy season...

The gulmohurs do have a magical look to them. They add a dash of colour to wherever they are planted. In fact, it is a preferred tree for the roadside...

And back home, in the state of Kerala, there is a is a popular belief among Saint Thomas Christians that when Christ was crucified, there was a small royal poinciana tree nearby his cross. It is believed that the blood of Christ was shed over the flowers of the tree and this is how the flowers of royal poinciana got a sharp red color...

And I am reminded of my school biology project in 1991, where I studied trees and the gulmohur was one of them...

Indeed Nature is amazing...

A Bula Bus passes by as we do our gulmohur spotting...

Here comes another red carpet...

And indeed, my dream home from now on is a villa by the street of gulmohurs...

And yes... Neeti just reminded me that the view from our apartment in Mumbai has a gulmohur in sight...

And passing by the golf course to head to the hotel...