The Side of Fiji The Media Won’t Show You 🇫🇯

Harry skips the resorts and spends the day in Suva, the capital of Fiji and a city almost no tourist goes to. He has been told it’s the worst city in the country and that it’s dangerous, and he disagrees from the first minute.

Two things run through it. One is kava, which he drinks at the start, comes back for at full strength at the end, and which turns out to be the most communal thing in the bundle — one basin, everyone sharing, applause when you finish a cup. The other is the colonial history, which explains why a third of Fiji is Indian and why there is still a Union Jack on the flag.

Kieran turns up in the afternoon with a considerably harsher verdict on the city, which the video prints alongside Harry’s.

Obs: the video carries a long eSIM sponsor read in three parts. Only the travel content is recorded on these pages.

Key moments

• [00:00] Suva, the capital nobody visits, starting at the statue of Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna.
• [00:32] The history, with his own caveat that he’s oversimplifying: Fiji is one of the few places that asked to be colonised — under pressure — and did it on conditions that Fijians wouldn’t be mistreated or made to work.
• [01:03] So the British imported Indian labourers instead. Harry’s word for it is slaves. Independence in 1970; Gujarati migrants afterwards; 35% of Fiji’s population is now of Indian descent.
• [01:34] The reputation he’s arrived to test — supposedly the worst and most dangerous city in Fiji — and his verdict after several days: it’s fine, and it’s clean.
• [02:11] Kava, immediately. “Is it too early?” — it’s never too early; it’s 24/7.
• [03:18] What it is: powder from a root, mixed with water. Not alcohol.
• [03:51] $5 Fijian dollars.
• [04:24] The taste: like flavoured water, then like dirty water, and he says so rather than being polite about it.
• [04:58] The tongue goes numb, then the lips.
• [06:06] His own defence of it: nobody likes Guinness the first time either.
• [06:41] Six people, no music, just talking — which he says is his kind of night.
• [08:02] His surprise at how developed Fiji is, and the admission that all he knew was resorts, Fiji Water and rugby.
• [09:09] Fiji Water as a serious share of GDP, and the reason the country isn’t purely dependent on tourism.
• [09:43] A shoe clean for $5, which he takes as the tourist price and pays.
• [10:47] Seven or eight hour days for about $40 a day.
• [11:24] A man whose son is a soldier at Buckingham Palace and plays rugby. Lots of Fijians go to the UK to work or study.
• [11:56] Rugby, and the sizes involved — Fijians are enormous, Samoans and Tongans bigger.
• [13:06] The Union Jack still on the Fijian flag.
• [13:40] The opinion Harry says he couldn’t voice himself: Fijians didn’t want independence, and Suva would be better today if it hadn’t happened. The comparison offered is Hong Kong.
• [14:44] He pays somewhere between $30 and $50 for the $5 shoe clean, admitting he’s still confused by the currency, because manual work in that heat deserves it.
• [15:52] Looking for a Fiji shirt.
• [17:31] $200, then $109, then one reduced from $119 to $79, which he buys and wears.
• [18:40] A viewer recognises him in Suva, which he didn’t expect.
• [19:17] A spearfisher at the market — shot the night before, $40 a fish, free-dived at 30 to 40 metres with no scuba gear, sold on to five-star resorts.
• [20:59] A baby stingray for $10, and the largest sweet potatoes he has seen.
• [22:07] The market proper — one of the biggest in Fiji, and no tourists in it, because they all go to Nadi.
• [23:12] Hindi on the signs.
• [23:45] What success means here, as he understands it: not money, but impact, friends and family, and being a good person. A very religious country.
• [24:21] A strawberry milkshake for 50 cents. On the ice warning, he thinks Fiji is fine.
• [25:49] Why Suva has the reputation — cargo ships, building works, a working port. His verdict: not the nicest, not the worst, and not dangerous.
• [26:55] Old British Empire-era buses still running.
• [27:28] The comparison he lands on: an English town.
• [27:28] Cumming Street and the gold shops, which he’s told have never had a break-in — and he flags that he can’t verify it.
• [28:05] Kieran, asked for a brutally honest opinion of Suva, gives one that is much harsher than Harry’s. Both stay in.
• [29:09] A group of women approach them; Harry stops filming once it’s clear they don’t want it, and the encounter is a solicitation rather than a chat.
• [31:32] A seller presses a carved ornament on him as a gift, then asks for payment. He declines the object and gives some coins.
• [32:49] The useful thing that comes out of it: they know where the best kava bar in town is, and that’s where he goes.
• [33:40] Back for kava at full strength, and this time the whole basin.
• [34:28] Entirely communal — one tub, shared, and Harry notes it looks dirtier on camera than it is.
• [35:36] Applause every time somebody finishes a cup. He says nobody claps for you in the UK.
• [36:09] The export joke — a rival to Fiji Water called Kava Water — and the serious version: $5 here, far more abroad once taxed, and Fijian communities in Australia and New Zealand already drink it.
• [37:09] It was once for chiefs only. Now everyone drinks it, women included.
• [38:23] Kava over alcohol, largely because it’s cheaper. He mentions he hasn’t drunk in two months.
• [38:59] The one specific warning of the day: near the nightclubs at night people will try to rob you. His comparison is London.
• [39:30] Weddings, funerals, birthdays, and every day of the week.

Extracted pages

• Place: Suva
• Country: Fiji
• Person: Kieran
• Tips: Judge a place for yourself, Try the street version of everyday services, Reward honesty and hard work, The gift that isn’t free