Mugged!!

Ok, so after the internet last evening, I wandered down to the fairgrounds, the Bula Festival is on in Nadi right now, and they have a big carnival, probably a fair bit bigger than the MJ Home Town fair. They have the usual rides, and lots of vendors selling stuff. On my way there, I was chatted up by a local, asking me the usual questions, where I'm from, how I life Fiji, etc. He invites me to his booth at the fairgrounds, to have some kava, and I ask him how much this is going to cost me, and he's like, "No worries, you're with a local, don't worry about money." Along the way, he introduces me to his uncle, and the three of us go into a booth, out front, they are selling sausages and chops. The festival is VERY busy, lots and lots of people wandering about, lots of families, etc. Typical festival affair. We're sitting having kava and in my mind, I know he's going to want money at some point, then he asks me if I would like a feast of sausages, chops, chips, etc. I ask how much, once again, he says don't worry about it. I tell him I hardly have any money, and he starts telling me about the village he's from. Then it comes: in exchange for kava and supper, just a small $15 donation for the kids of his village, that's all. I tell him again, I have very little money, I only have $4 on me. He says, ok, for me, $10 donation, and I'll have a feast. I tell him once again, I only have $4 on me. He's gets a little annoyed, stands up, and ushers me out. Hahaha! I can buy sausages and chops and chips from any of the dozens of other vendors for $2!!! Got out of that one!

So, BEWARE OF SCAMS!!!

So, I wandered around the fairgrounds for a while longer, got some sausages and chips, then decided to head back to the hostel. I was going to stop at McDonalds along the way (McDonalds is about half way between the townsite and hostel) and get ice cream. It's about 8:00 or so, I think, and I'm walking along the side of the road, and two guys on the other side of the road yell at me, "Bula!", to which I reply "Bula." They look kind of seedy, but decide to trust them. We start talking, they're being friendly, asking me where I'm from, what I do, how I like Fiji, etc. The block before McDonalds is bare, just a big empty field, and we're walking along it, and I'm not feeling totally comfortable with these guys, and I try to start to hang back a little bit, but the two of them keep getting closer to me, and I keep moving away, to the point where I'm at the edge of the field, walking in the tall grass and weeds. In a flash, the guy closest to me grabs me from behind and puts his arms around me, holding my arms against my body. I started to struggle, and the grip became tighter. Then the other guy starts trying to stick his hand in my pocket to get my wallet, and the other guy is saying "Hurry, grab is wallet." Even though my arm was clamped against my body, my hand was right at my pocket, so I put my hand around my pocket (and wallet) so he couldn't grab it. He kept trying to get it his hand in my pocket. Everything happened so quick, it was unreal. I remember trying to figure what I should do. I remember thoughts of these guys starting to beat me up, or pull a knife or something. I looked towards the road (a busy road), and there were cars racing down it, and I remember thinking, "If I yell, maybe one of the cars has their window down and will hear me", so I started yelling as loud as I could, "Help! Help!". As soon as I started yelling, the guy holding me let go of me and packed off. I started running, and lost one of my flip-flops in the grass. I glanced back, the other guy was still after me, I stumbled as my other flip-flop came off, and I partly fell (just like a typically horror movie...the person being chased ALWAYS falls!), and lost my other flip-flop. I think, when I fell, I lost grip of my journal too, and it fell to the ground. I jumped across the ditch (in bare feet) onto the road (good thing there was no car coming at that instant!), and ran to the other side of the road. I could see the one guy still looking at me from the other side. I looked down the road, and there's a taxi coming, which I flag down, and he downs his window and I just say, "Please, let me in." There were two people in the front of the taxi. I was in a hurry, I couldn't get in, because I kept trying to open the door as he was trying to unlock it. I did get in, breathing heavy, I explained to them that I had just been mugged, and they're quite sympathetic, asking me what happened, who it was (natives or Indian-Fijians...it was natives), where exactly, blah, blah, blah. I mentioned I lost my flip-flops and journal on the other side of the road, and I wasn't even going to bother with them, but they said they'd help me lookk for them, so we did a U-Turn, they pulled up on the grassy shoulder, and with the help of the headlights, we spent about 5 minutes rummaging, and did find both flip-flops. My journal was no where to be found, though. Of course, in my journal were the postcards I had bought earlier in the evening. They offer to take me to McDonalds (where I was headed), but I asked them to take me home (hostel) instead, which they do. I'm still quite stressed out over it all, and on edge. They drop me off, I give them $4 for the ride (I was half-expecting them to say don't worry about it), and as I'm entering the hostel, stop and talk to two of the hostel workers and tell them my story. They're somewhat sympathetic, but not nearly as what I would have expected. They remark to me that it's not safe to walk at night in Nadi, they always advise people to take cabs. So, I walked inside, into the living room (common area) and two girls and another guy are sitting there, chatting. I kind of interrupt their conversation, and tell them I've just been mugged. The two girls pipe up, "So were we." WHAT???? Ends up, they just got mugged a little earlier, on the road leading to the hostel, some guy pulled a knife on them!!!!! He demanded money, and one of the girls gave him $5 and he took off!! Yikes!!! ANyway, it was a very harrowing and frightening experience. We sat and chatted, and wondered why no one suggested we contact the police...not that they could do anything anyway. I was surprised that the taxi didn't say somethign about the cops, or teh hostel workers or anything. Even Kesa, who I saw a little later, didn't say anything like, "You should go the police." The police never even came up, in my mugging or in these two girls' muggings.

So, we chatted for a while, I went and packed and went to bed about 10:00. Had to get 5:00AM ride to the airport.

Got up at 4:30 this morning, didn't sleep that well, after what happened. One of the lady's from the hostel took me to the airport at 5:00, I gave her the $6 charge, and checked my luggage, and had some breakfast (BTW, bacon kicks ass in NZ, Australia, and in Fiji...good stuff!)

Boarded my flight at 7:00, and we were off. The flight wasn't very full, perhaps 60%. I had an aisle seat, but when no one else showed up in my "seat set", switched over to the window. Flew with Air Pacific. The in-flight movie was "Pinnochio", a dubbed Italian movie. It was great! Very funny!!!!!!!!

Landed in Auckland about 10:30, got the AirBus from the airport to Auckland Central Backpackers. I know, I don't like it there, but my bag was stored there, and I'm not in Auckland for that long. I had a shower, and then hit the internet to post my horrific story about being mugged. So, that's it.

I'm off to take a look at renting a car...it's just as cheap to rent a car for a day as it is to get a bus to Whangarei, in the Northland. And, Let's Go recommends a car for that, if at all possible. It might be cheaper for me to rent a car for 1 month than to buy a 1-month bus pass! If so, I'll definately do that.

So, that's all for now.