Most visa application takes 3 days to 2 weeks of processing period and 0 to 210+ FJD visa fee. Most visa application requires you to show the followings:

• 1 or 2 passport photos,
• Valid passport,
• Completed application form,
• Application Fee,
• Related documents
  • return flight itineraries
  • approved visa from final destination (if you are applying for transit visa)
  • bank statement, pay slip
  • accomodation arrangements in the destination country (hotel booking etc)
  • sponsor letter/invitation letter/leave approval form/support letter from your work if it is work related
  • program detail schedules,
• and any other requirements stated in the application form.

For the recent Bali trip, I had to apply for Indonesia visa, Malaysia Transit visa and Australia Transit visa. All three visas didn’t cost a cent for me and were done within 2 weeks time. It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it a lot thanks to all the help from Indonesia Embassy, especially Ms Lina Dilliane and the organizer Ms Oona Solberg. I sincerely thank you all for very smooth and fast processing with my visa as well as the trip plans.

I was invited for this year GV Summit which will commerce on 27th – 30th June, in Budapest, Hungary. My sponsor has sent all the required documents and flight itineraries. I had to apply for Schengen visa, British Transit visa and U.S Transit visa. They all cost a big sum and each application took 5 – 10 working days.
The fees are:

• Schengen visa – FJD 140.85
• British transit visa – FJD 150
• U.S transit visa – FJD 210 + $4 EMS

I was able to obtain Schengen visa and British transit visa but my U.S transit visa was rejected.
Due to unreasonable rejection from U.S embassy, I’ve:

• missed out a great opportunity to attend GV Summit 2008 in Budepest, Hungary,
• missed the chance to meet all those wonderful people from GV,
• the above approved 2 visas have been wasted,
• wasted the above visa application fees,
• wasted USD 3000 return flight tickets,
• wasted a great deal of time and afford on preparations eg. having done passport photos, prepare required documents, running around embassies,
• wasted a great afford/support (time + $) done by Ms. Georgia Popplewell (GV Managing Director),
• wasted time and afford of various friends and family (especially Sally and Mom) who helped me with U.S visa application and plan to rearrange flight route.

Most of all I’ve missed out the chance to learn the whole new world of citizen media and global voices community. It is very rare to get such kind of opportunity for me, as a Myanmar passport holder, to be able to attend such great conference and U.S Embassy has crushed all my hope and dreams down the drain.

The reason they gave for rejecting my 1.5hr of transit time in Los Angeles U.S.A is that I lack “TIES”, as you can see in the following letter.

During the interview, the interviewer told me:

• my passport is old and unreadable, (unreadable my arse! all other embassies approved of it and everyone can read it, only her god forsaken eyes are blind!)
• that my application needs to be applied from U.S Embassy in Myanmar, (how the hell am I suppose to apply from U.S embassy in Myanmar while I am in Fiji!!!)
• and Fiji embassy will take 2 or 3 weeks of further processing time. (normally 24hr processing time for transit visa, according to the visa officer on the phone and from website info page)

She simply refused to answer my question of any other document that I need to submit in order to speed up the processing and RUDELY reply me by saying “this application needs longer processing. I will deny the visa right now if you like”. There is no explanation of what kind of things they are looking for in that processing time and what I need to do in order for them to approve my visa. I have asked many times via emails as well as phone conversation on what more they want to see from me. I only get a response such as your application is not convince enough and refuse to tell me how the f*ing way to convince them. It’s like – my country, my rule, I don’t like you, you can’t enter, that’s it, F*off, kind of policy. Ofcos’ that’s the same policy for almost all the countries but at least be reasonable and give me proper reasoning/explanation for the worth of $210 fee for god sake!!! I tried not to write about this but just for remembrance I’m keeping my bad memories on this blog post. Excuse my bad language but I couldn’t find the better words to express my feelings. Arrgghhh I’m just seriously pissed!!!

Anyways, since I can’t do anything about it and my trip has already been canceled, now let me get back to my experiences with some embassies here.

Indonesian Embassy – Super Sweet and Fast
The embassy is very close to our office. When you get there, once of the officers will come meet you with application form. Fill in the form and give them the required documents. In my case, I told the officer that I need to apply for other transit visas as well so need to get this visa quickly. I lodged my application in the morning and in the evening I got a call from the embassy that my visa is ready to pick up. How sweet is that! Since my case is special, I don’t need to give any application fee. I was surprised and really lucky to get a visa within a few hour time. It’s very neat and well decorated with Indonesian handicrafts and you can view lots of country tourism related booklets and brochures while waiting. The ambassador is very nice as well. While I was there to pick up my passport, the ambassador came in and saw me so he asked whether anyone’s already served me or not. That’s just so sweet. Most ambassadors or big bosses don’t even bother to give a glance at visa applicants.

My experience with the whole embassy services and the staffs are just so great that I must say they are the best embassy in Suva.

Indonesian Embassy in Suva, Fiji
6th Floor, Ra Marama Building,
91 Gordon Street
Suva
(P.O.BOX 878 Suva)
Phone: (679) 331-6697
Fax: (679) 331-6696
Email: kbrisuva@connect.com

Website: Nil
Phone Support: Excellent
Email Support: Great
Walk in reception: Excellent (polite security, very helpful smiling visa officers, a nice ambassador)

Malaysia High Commission – Very friendly

I emailed them first whether I need to apply for the transit visa since their website wasn’t stated clearly on who need visa and things. I didn’t wait for the reply but I went down in person since the high commission is quite close and met with this very friendly receptionist.
I’m not sure she’s a Malaysian or an islander but she is pregnant and asked me lots of friendly questions. She told me about her high school days where she met some Burmese students and what she think of them etc etc while waiting to meet the proper visa officer. Five minutes later, the officer came to meet me with my email print out. He asked me a few questions about my trip. I told him that I’m only transiting in Malaysia, he said no need to apply for the transit visa since I’m an ASIEN member passport holder or something. I can get a visa on arrival at Malaysia airport and need to pay about $20 USD there. We talk for a while about my stay in Fiji and the family. Then we found out that he plays Badminton a few times together in a group so kind of remember the faces, he even sent regards to my mom. It was very friendly environment and the officer was very helpful in explaining visa related things. Their office is small but friendly staffs and I get what I came for so I’m very much satisfied with their service.

On the note of the visa on arrival transit fee, I didn’t get to pay anything. The immigration officer thought I was an Indonesian/Malaysian and greeted me in their language. Then he just quickly check my passport and didn’t ask for any $. How nice!

High Commission of Malaysia, Suva
5th Floor, Pacific House,
Butt Street, Suva
P.O. Box 356 Suva
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Phone: (679)3312166/3312617
Fax: (679)3303350
Web Site: http://www.kln.gov.my/perwakilan/suva
Email: malsuva@kln.gov.my
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8.30 am-4.30 pm

Phone Support: Good
Email Support: Slow
Walk in reception: Excellent (very sweet-talkative-pregnant receptionist, very friendly handsome officer)

Australian High Commission – Strict and Uptight but good support
Australian High Commission, in my opinion, is the most busiest consulate office in Suva. Everyday it’s packed with long queues of various visa applicants. Previously it’s quite easy for Fiji passport holders but after the coup, due to bad relation between governments, they started to make things hard for all visa applicants. You have to fill in 4-6 pages long application form together with 16-18 pages long booklet about you and your whole family history. You need to state about your kindagarden, primary, secondary, your current address, your past 3mth address, 6mth address, 1yr address, your step parents, step mother’s cousins, your brother’s 2nd wife’s daughter’s date of birth, your cousin’s great grand father’s FNPF number, your 1st contact in case of emergency, your 10th contact in case you puke on flight etc etc. (ok I might be a bit, just a bit, exaggreating but still – ) After an hour or two sweating, pulling hair and rethinking/creating your whole life story, you then sign at the bottom last page saying – I swear I wrote all the truth and nothing but the truth and god mercy the bloody truth in this document. Finally you walk up to the reception, pay the fees and submit the application. You get a receipt number which you use to call and ask for your application status. Normal visa take 2 weeks and transit visa takes 3-5days.

Australian High Commissioner to Fiji
37 Princes Road,
Tamavua, Suva.
Fiji Islands
Phone: 679 338 2211
Fax: 679 338 2065
Web Site: http://www.fiji.embassy.gov.au/
Email: public-affairs-suva@dfat.gov.au
Office Hours: The High Commission is open from 8am to 4.30 pm Mondays to Fridays except for public holidays.

Phone Support: Many machine steps to choose but reaches to proper section
Email Support: Good (1 day response)
Walk in Reception: As long as you got your ticket, in due time you can talk to the personnels

French Embassy – Very quiet
This was the first time I been to French embassy and my first impression was quiet. It’s just too quiet. There is 1 security officer loging you in and out of the office. The receptionist/visa officer, Fiji girl, sitting and lazily listening to slow Fijian song from the radio. You don’t see any other officers at all. Anyways I emailed to the embassy before I go and when I got there, the girl sweetly says “Oh you are mayvelous, you emailed before”, I was really surprised they actually read their emails and actually REMEMBER who email them. She quickly explained me about procedures, check my application documents, write a receipt for the fee and said it will take about 10 days and I’ll call you when it ready. It took exactly 10 days for my visa and I picked up from the embassy. Everything was done quietly and sweetly.

Embassy of France in Fiji
Dominion House 7e floor,
Private Mail bag,
SUVA,
Fiji Islands
Ph. (679) 3310526
Fax. (679) 3223901
# Website: http://www.ambafrance-fj.org/sommaire.php3?id_rubrique=2

# Phone Support: Good
# Email Support: Good (actually they don’t list email address at all on the website but I somehow found it from main french site, and from there they direct me to proper personnel in Suva office.)
# Walk in Reception: Good (the receptionist/visa officer remember you from your email and she smiles)

British High Commission – An OK, stern face
When you get to the embassy, you need to talk with security first stating what you came to do ie. lodging or picking up the visa. They only work 8am – 12am and you can pick up your visa only after 10am. There is only 1 visa officer there. She is a Fijian lady, very stern face and doesn’t listen to you at all. She couldn’t find Myanmar in her system so she called up her friends and asked about it. I was telling her from the other side of the glass that it’s called Burma but she won’t listen to me and wave at me to be quiet. Gosh why can’t she just listen to what I say for a sec and she won’t have to wait 2-3 min asking her friend to search for the country name. Anyways I let her do as she wish and finally she found Burma and started typing things in. She then asked me to take my finger prints and also took the photo. Everything is done one word at a time and you cannot extra question at all or she will ignore you. Anyways the transit visa normally takes 5 days but I get my visa after 6 days. But it’s still ok, as long as I get my visa.

British High Commission
47 Gladstone Road
Suva
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Opening hours: (Mon-Thur) 1000-1200hrs
Telephone enquiries: (679) 3229100
Fax: (679) 3307118
Visa Email: visasuva@fco.gov.uk
Passport Email: ukpassportsuva@fco.gov.uk
Consular Email: consularsuva@fco.gov.uk
Website: http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/fiji

Phone Support: Good (answer quite politely and transfer to proper personnel)
Email Support: Good (1 or 2 days response)
Walk in Reception: No ticket system, talk to security and he’ll let you in to the office. Only 1 visa officer there who manage everything. No smile, 1 question, 1 word answer, very stern faced visa officer.

U.S Embassy – F* up Services, F* up Staff, F* up Policy
Everything about U.S consular service is a headache for me. You cannot call them, email them or walk in to get information at all. You have to check everything from the website. Fill in the application form online which creates a .pdf file with your info in it. You keep the bar code number from there and check the time for interview. There are very few slot each day. Some days, it only has 8am slot and some days none at all. Anyways I scheduled for 8am appointment and got there on time. There are about 15-20 applicants waiting across the road, outside embassy. Since it’s for my first time I went up to the security officer and ask when can I go in since I got 8am appointment. He told me to step back to road side and wait for them to call you. Around 8:15am another security came and asked to make a line. He then check out names and passport. There are quite a few old Indian couples who do not know what he doing so they went up to ask him but he rudely told them to go back in line. Then they call the applicant one by one in to the embassy. I was lucky to go in a second place. Inside they do the x-ray check, switch off your mobile or any electronic device and leave them at the counter. Finally you walk in the door. There are about 50 seats in line and 5 counters, non of them open yet. We have to sit in order, since I’m the 2nd person to walk in, I have to sit in the 1st row – 2nd seat. About 10 applicants are seated, the security officer turn on the TV showing how to take a finger print. Around 8:45am the first 2 counters opened and we have to go up one by one to lodge the application. One officer is a fair Indian lady and another is some islander lady. Both has totally stern faces. They talked very snappy and the islander lady even yelled at the old Indian couple for not being able to print their fingers correctly. There is another old man asked her what to fill in one of the questions. I guess he couldn’t read well or understand the question and wants her to explain a bit about it. But she rudely said “Read the question and answer Yes or No” with very stern face. I wished I could take some video or voice recording of how seriously unfriendly, rude service they were giving. Unfortunately we have to leave our mobile outside so can’t do anything about it. For my application, the Indian lady collected it and said I need to pay $60 something more once the application has been approved. I’ve already given $210 application fee and they are asking for more…it’s just ripped off. But I didn’t say anything and went back to my seat to wait for interview.

Around 9:30am they call me for interview. Interviewer was an old American lady. The first thing she says before even saying hello was, “Your passport is old”. I says hello and told her that it’s about 8yrs old now but it’s very much valid passport and showed her the pages with the renewal information. She briefly look around then says “it’s unreadable”. I asked her what’s she mean by unreadable, may be the cover is a bit old and worn off but you can read everything inside clearly and all other embassies give an OK to it. She then says I need to get a new passport and carry on with a few visa related questions such as where/why I’m going. What I’m doing in Fiji etc. I answered them all properly. She then paused for a while and said I have to apply the visa from U.S Embassy in Myanmar and Fiji embassy doesn’t work on my passport. I was shocked. How can I apply from Myanmar since I’m currently in Fiji and asked her that’s impossible and why can’t Fiji office process it. She then said it will take about 2 or 3 weeks and may be more. I was again shocked. I reminded her again that it’s only for 1.5hr transit time in Los Angeles and I will only stay inside airport. It’s very short transit and shouldn’t have any problem. The normal application takes 24hr processing time and how come mine need to take that long. She then said it’s simply cannot be done and need further processing. So I asked her what more documents do you need in order to process faster. She said she has to submit it to other officers above and they need to check things out and if I don’t like waiting she will deny the visa at this instant. I told her I’ve already got 2 other visa approved and all my flight and trip plans are ready. I just need this transit visa only. There is no negotiating or consideration about the loses from the applicant end at all if the visa is denied. After she said that she won’t say a thing no matter what I said. It’s like she simply ignoring me, so I finally summit to her and to let me know if they need any more documents from my end. She gave me the green form, stating “need further processing” and don’t response me at all and waiting for me to leave. I was standing there, asking what more do I need to do and requesting for her help but she was completely ignoring me and started taking away documents. Gosh I was like some crazy person talking to myself. The blood rushed to my face, if the glass is not there, I would start shaking at her but I kept my cool and walked out of the office, feeling very dissatisfied and depressed.

About 3 days later, I received my passport and all my documents back with EMS and yes, it was rejected. I called up and asked why my visa was rejected and how can I reappeal or reapply for it. The lady said my application was not convinced enough and I did not convince the interviewer during the interview. I asked what do I need to do to convince them or whether I can reapply it. She said I can apply for as many time as I wish provided I pay for the visa application. Until and unless I provide them with different situation/documents, the result will be the same. I asked what more documents they want but she only says I need to convince them and starting to hang up on me. So…, that’s it. In the letter it says I lack “ties”. I don’t know what the hell those ties are. My colleague said I need to have a husband and a kid back home to make sure that I come back here. Gosh it’s like if you are single, you can’t even enter U.S or something. Ok, I think I said enough and I’m sure you get the idea of how I’m feeling.

U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji
31 Loftus Street
P. O Box 218
Suva, Fiji
Phone: (679) 3314466
Fax: (679) 3300081
Email: consularsuva@state.gov
Website: http://suva.usembassy.gov/
Office Hours: Monday – Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m

Phone Support: The number mentioned on the website is useless, once called, tells you to call another number. Extremely RUDE and snappy response.
Email Support: F* up. I sent 5 emails; out of them only 1 got a automated reply saying it has been directed to proper section and will contact you soon. Other emails lost in the queue. Fax is not working as well.
Walk in Reception: Nil

For other consular services such as New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar, are done by my Dad so I couldn’t write about them here. We do not have SG, Thai and MM embassies in Fiji and have to apply via respective embassies residing in the closest neighboring country (Aus/NZ) or send to directly to the main land. There you have it, my experiences with some consular services in Fiji. I’ll update this post again if I get to go other offices in the future.

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My two weeks trip was exciting, tiring and a great fun. I met lots of new faces and visited new places. It was a great experience for me. Couldn’t come back quickly cos’ I caught a cold after the trip due to too much excitements and weather changes; then my laptop screwed up and had to repair OS. Now everything is settling down so catching up on my feeds and blogging here.

I took lots of photos and a few videos of my two weeks stay at GC, Syd and Adelaide. The main event was ofcos’ GC Tech-Ed. It was my very first business related overseas trip. I thank my bosses and the company for giving me an opportunity to participate in such event. I met lots of geeks and super geeks at Tech-Ed. There were total of 2400 delegates made their mark at Gold Coast Tech-Ed this year. ~80% of them are male with very few female delegates, regardless of this year Tech-Ed having the most female participants compare to the previous years. I’m one of those very few female delegates and most of the time I found myself lost in the superiority and the geekiest air around them. I felt like disappearing when I have no idea what the geeks were talking about. Yet, I somehow found myself enjoying their conversations and was inspired by their intense knowledge and skills on various subject matters.

Here are some of the photos Sarnil and I took from the event.

Note: Lightbox enabled. (Click on the photo, hover over it to browse “Next” or “Previous”)

Surf Parade Apartment

We stayed at Surf Parade apartment which is about 20-30min walking distance from Gold Coast convention center and about 10min Bus ride. The room was very neat and well furnished – TV, fridge, oven, microwave, washing machine, in-room spa, etc. The view from the room was also great. Can see the beach and also the buildings from Surf Paradise area. The room costs around AUD 119 per night and ideal for two people but I stayed alone so quite a big room for me. There were heated swimming pool and tennis courts downstairs but I didn’t even have a time to peek at them. The whole day out and we only came back to our rooms after 9 or 10pm to sleep so we couldn’t check out the whole building and the surroundings.

Gold Coast City Views

There wasn’t much time for us to explore the city as our times were fully occupied inside the convention center. I found Gold Coast has many weird looking buildings, some having spiral type and some has alien style weird diamond shape in the middle. I didn’t see any building of my liking but overall the city is quite lovely and quiet.

Activities at Tech-Ed

There were lots of sessions to attend to and I had a hard time choosing them but Sarnil and I sorted out ourselves on which sessions we should attend and share them later. We couldn’t attend any hand-on-lab sessions because they were always too full. I sat one exam there but I didn’t make it. It was the very first failure in my exams history and I was very disappointed about it. I stayed 2 whole hours burning my head hard in the exam room; I missed one session and my lunch. I was so hungry and was mad at myself for the failure. Anyway what done is done and I’ll try that exam again later. So let just say, the exam was a hard one and I didn’t prepare well. Some of the sessions I attended are:

• WEB316 Ajax Patterns with ASP.Net
• DEV307 Developing Office Business Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office
• DAT302 Database Schema Versioning: How to Use Microsoft Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals and Team Foundation Server to Version and Deploy Your Databases
• CON206 Custom Activities with Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation: A Developer’s Primer
• ARC307 Enterprise Library 3.1
• DEV308 A Lap around Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation
• DEV311 NET Framework 3.0 End-to-End: Putting the Pieces Together
• CON311 Building Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation Enabled Windows Communication Foundation Services in .NET Framework 3.5
• DEV320 Microsoft Visual C# Under the Covers: An In-Depth Look at C# 3.0
• OFC418 Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007: Deployment and Advanced Administration Topics
• ARC312 Make your Customer’s Day: User First Design

I also attended the “Blogger Lunch” and here is one live post which covers pretty much everything about the session. I found out later in the “Ask the Expert” section that one of the Blogger Lunch session speakers, Darren Neimke, is in fact from Adelaide and live near Flinders University where my sister is studying.

One of the fun things about Tech-Ed was collecting stamps and freebies from exhibition stands. I collected a few pens, toys, a cap, a T-Shirt, a few evaluation product CDs and lots of information brochures. I also filled in lots of forms to place in the daily draws. There were some gift packs and good stuffs such as Xbox 360 draws everyday. My friend Robert won Xbox360 and we were very jealous of him. Such a lucky guy but he didn’t even invite us to play with him. Bad Robert!

There were tons of food and drinks at Tech-Ed; if you are a drinker, you would definitely love it. Coffee stands were always packed and I liked the breakfast donuts. Lunches and dinner were great too but for some reason I only ate lots of salad. I think it’s cos’ of different cooking style, their meat/main dishes didn’t taste good in my tongue.

Movie World Night

They booked the whole “Movie World” park for 2400 Tech-Ed delegates from 6:30 – 11pm on Thursday night. It was a great fun. We met one of the speakers and Sharepoint expert, Milan Gross, from Hawaii and team up with him to enjoy the night. We rode “Lethal Weapon” (roller coaster ride), “ScoopyDoo” ride, Batman stimulation and the Waterfall ride. I couldn’t believe I actually rode all of them and enjoyed it. I couldn’t have ride them if it wasn’t for the guys who kept pushing me to try so. Every ride I closed my eyes, shut my mouth and sit very still and stiffly so I didn’t get to see the high/dangerous views. But the feeling alone is scary enough for me. That was a great fun and we all enjoyed the night.

Evening at the Beach and Last Night Out

The final day closing note ended around 4:30pm and we rested a few min at our apartment. Then we paid our (my) first and final visit to the beach in front. It was lovely evening and we saw some surfers, walkers and swimmers there. We took some photos at the beach then went back to the apartment and waited our friend to go for dinner. The final night out was enjoyable. Conversation between Sarnil and Milan was interesting and amusing. They did the talking and I did the listening part as usual. We then had Korean BBQ for dinner and done a lot of walking around to digest the food. Actually the guys were searching for a good place to dance. I had a very early flight to catch and have to wake up around 4am in the following morning so I took an early leave, said goodbye to the guys and came back to the apartment. Then I packed my stuffs and get ready for Sydney departure in the next morning.

So Tech-Ed ended pretty well and some of Tech.Ed 2007 Statistics from lock note are:

• This year there were 89,608 teeth at Tech.Ed.
• You ate 12,628 bread rolls, and drank over 14,000 liters of enough coffee and Coke.
• And at MovieWorld, on the Superman ride, we recorded 1,216 cries of “shhh****tttt…!!!!”
• If all our Tech.Ed delegates were laid end-to-end, you’d stretch 4.15 kilometers long. But only an average of 1 meter wide. In most cases.
• If all this year’s delegates forms a conga-line, that would be the end of Gold Coast Tourism.

Interesting stats, aren’t they?

I was checking out the next Tech-Ed SEA 2007 at Kuala Lumpur 10-13 Sept and found out that there is one Burmese in the speaker list. The speaker name is “Maung Maung Phyo” and is a Senior Consultant from Singapore. He looks pretty young. Kuala Lumpur Tech-Ed got quite a few female speakers and most of them look very young. Also there are lots of Asian speakers. Impressive! Our friend “Milan Gross” is in the list as well. Being a Sharepoint expert, he got to travel a lot I bet.

Anyways Gold Coast Tech-Ed 2007 was great and I enjoyed it. Tech-Ed SEA 2007 looks interesting too so do share some words about it if any of you out there attending.

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Couldn’t blog long. Just dropping a line during session break. I’ll write about my Tech-Ed experiences very soon. At the moment, I’m at “Ask the Expert” session, and quickly posting this. I got one exam to sit tomorrow and couldn’t finish studying yet. Gotta cram tonight.

Anyways gotta run. Will post about things properly later. Tar.

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Promises and Vows
When we arrived there late and, it was already started; we were about 45min late. We gave our gifts to the welcoming party, sign the guest sheets and quickly went in front to take a seat. Nobody was taking photos that time so I started to take some, shortly followed by some guests and friends photographers. There are some speeches and prayers in both English and Fijian languages. Bride and Groom exchanged Vows in both languages as well. Jachin had a hard time repeating the Fijian words but he managed to keep up and done quite well in the end. The guests applauded him for his effort. While exchanging Vows and rings, Alisi was crying, happy tears…oh just so cute!

Greeting Guests
The couple received lots of congratulations and blessings from the family, relatives and friends. They proceed to greet all the guests and went out to take some family photos. The session was halted for about 30 min to prepare for the next part.

Fijian Ceremony
Second session started with an exchange of gifts and formal greetings/welcoming in Fijian style. Both sides talked in Fijian. I think it’s something like bride’s family handing their daughter formally to the groom’s family and vice-versa. There is this thing called, “Tabua“, whale’s tooth which is used as a gift. I think it’s similar to olden days Burmese style engagement/wedding gifts where Burmese groom side has to give a set of cows and a set of coconut and bananas (Ok I’m not so sure. Different places have different way of giving gifts in asking for their bride’s hand) to the bride side. The more set of cows you give, the better for you. But nowadays, no more cows involved (may be coconut and banana are still used) and getting more materialistic, some bride’s side would ask for money or housing or jewels. Well don’t know properly cos’ I never get to see any close relative’s wedding yet. Same thing in Fijian society but instead of cows, they use this whale’s tooth. I think Jachin side offered quite a number of whale’s teeth during their engagement to Alisi family.

Honored Guests
There were quite a lot of guests attended the wedding. Many came from various part of Fiji and some from abroad. Some special guests are introduced; some came all the way from Tonga and Groom’s relatives from Brisbane Australia. There was a Tongan style food preparations ie. whole pig roasting and plenty of seafood. I forgot to take photos of the food. The meal was splendid with many courses. About 3 or 4 fish dishes, pork, Indian curries, salads, Lobsters, crabs and Fijian dishes. There were lots of food and many people took second helpings. My bro and I enjoyed a big plate full each.

Entertainment
There were three parts of entertainment. The first was a lovely song sang by one Fijian lady, the second was another song sing by Jachin’s younger brother (Jonathan or something) and his friend. I think they sang pretty well but there were some kids at the back screaming and playing and some people are not listening properly. I think the guy relized that too so he didn’t smile or say thank you towards the end of the song. But they did have some audiences, some girls came up in front to take a video. The last one was a dance performance by a young girl. I think she was one of the Bride’s maids too. It’s not a Fijian dance…Tongan?…not sure. The dance involves lots of hand movement and gestures with little head shakes and small footings. I like her costume and head part. She was very shy dancing in front everyone but she received lots of kisses from the audiences and some men danced along with her. It was overall a cute performance.

Speeches
Speeches were given by the fathers of both sides as well as the special speech by the Groom and the Bride. The speech by the bride’s father was quite amusing where he talked about how he remembered the newly son-in-law in their first meeting and their very first impression on Jachin when he was introduced to the family for the first time. I’ve finally found out the reason behind the disappearance of Jachin’s long hair and big beard from that speech. It was after all because of Alisi’s Dad’s ultimatum to cut his hair if Jachin wants to date the daughter. haha It must have been his family influence…I discovered those big beards run in the family. Check out his Dad and the brother. When I first met Jason, he got a big beard, mustaches and a whole lot of long curly hair. He was one of the guys to interview me for my job. I thought he was about 35+ or something because of his appearance. He did scare me a bit during interview compared to the 2nd interviewer, Ian, who looked quite well and keep scratching his head that time. Though Ian has a beard, he didn’t have a big hair like Jason so not that scary. hehe. I thought Jason looked like a grandson of Frank Einstein and I called him “Sir”. Later I found out that he actually was just a few years older than me and quite fun to work with once you get to know him. Apart from that, Jason’s Dad and the couple speeches are quite normal mostly thanking God and everyone. Jachin and Alisi said about 20 – 30 thank yous in their short speech. I think they didn’t prepare their speech properly. But it was fine.

Cutting Wedding Cake
Finally they cut the wedding cake. The cake looked cool and I like the porcelain doll at the top. They both look great posing in those photos.

One thing I noticed from the wedding was that there is no kissing involved after their exchange of Vows. It was absolutely PG rating. hehe The couple kisses outside while they are taking photos, just to pose. May be because the wedding was a mix styled, Fijian and Australian, some usual scenes are missing. Another thing is no throwing of flower bouquet from the Bride after the wedding…may be she did throw it before they left but I didn’t get to see cos’ we came back home early. Aww yah, I like the bouquet, it’s made out of “Tapa“. Alisi’s gown is also made of Tapa and is a beautifully crafted dress.

Anyways the wedding was great and everyone enjoyed it. Around 8:30pm, we came back home. We wished the couple many happiness and many many many children in their near future.

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Just a note to say, I’m back in Fiji and back to Mayvelous.
The trip was alrite, well…a bit of mix feelings. Nevertheless, it was pretty enjoyable getting to see many new things and places.

The only thing I got to say is, stop telling me that I’ve gone thinner.
I got to Adelaide, my friends saw my pic and said “May, you gone thinner than last year we met you”.
I came back to Fiji, the first thing my mom said, “My daughter, you’re so thin and dark”,
my dad said, “You’re like a slice of bamboo, got so thin”.

Oh please!
My sis didn’t feed me well back in Adelaide and I had to do lots of exercises like walking through parks, climbing hills, running after buses and carrying heavy stuffs. I became a hunch-back and cut down more fats.

Don’t worry, I’m back in office where no movement or exercise required and back at home with lots of mom’s cooking which definitely make me gain some weights. (hopefully!)

Oh, how I love that smell of my stinking old room, what a beautiful sight to see my stacks of old, dusty books and piles of unwashed cloths, what a delight to see my old buddies, cockroaches. LOL.
Such a great feeling to get up late and waken by a yell and a bang from my dear old brother and it’s so good to see my favorite cheerful people at office, they surely missed me. (NOT!)

Anyway it’s great to be HOME!

Out of 360+ photos I took over my 3 weeks stay in Adelaide, these are the one with “ME” in it.
I used up the monthly upload limit at my flickr account so am using 7ven backup account for these.
Cheers.

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Me at Thai Buddhist Temple

Me at Bday Party

Me at Victor Harbor

Me at Rundle Mall

Me at Wild Life Park

Me and The Kangaroo

Me at Mount Lofty

Me at Home

When you hold a camera, 98% sure that your photos will not be included.
When you go out with siblings who keep critising you for the way you smile/pose and who is terrible at aiming, it’s 100% sure that you will not be in the photos.

So I took my shadows to prove that I’ve been those places, how about that HUH!

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