My trip to Samoa.

Hey. Welcome to my-trip-to-samoa web page. This is just a page to show you my pictures from Samoa. I wanted to write this page so I can show all my friends some photos of Samoa (and what a wonderful place it is!) and so that people I met in Samoa can view our pictures. But if you're thinking about visiting Samoa - please read on, look at the pictures, and don't hesitate - it is truly a pacific paradise!



About Samoa

Samoa is a small polynesian island group, located in the south-pacific (Most people don't even seem to know that). The group is actually divided into two countries - Independent Samoa and American Samoa (And nobody seems to know that!). I stayed the entire time in Independent Samoa. I actually wanted to visit American Samoa, but the immigration office wouldn't let me in there without a special permit (Apparently they don't like israelis or anyone from the middle-east, really. Too bad for them!). While being quite a beautiful island, there are almost no tourists there. That's part of the magic - you can still see the traditional polynesian way of life, and yet enjoy amazing beaches. Independent Samoa consists of several islands, the two big ones are called Upolu and Savaii. The capital is called Apia, and is located in Upolu. But I guess you can get this info (or even accurate info) somewhere else. So to my trip...

landing in Apia

I guess Apia is a 'typical' pacific capital (well, it looks just like Nady (Fiji) to me!). I've stayed in two places in Apia. The first was the 'Seaside-Inn'. It wasn't a bad place, but I didn't like it, it felt like an Hotel and not like a backpacker to me.
I think budget travelers must go to Seipepa - A wonderful place. After a couple of nights in Apia I moved there, and it's great. Seipepa is owned by a Swedish guy (Matt) who married a samoan and decided to stay (well, you can just be jealous).
So what is there to do In Apia? Well, not a lot. I recommend going out of there the minute you can - go to sleep on a beach, either on Lalumano beach (On Upolu) or somewhere in Savaii (I stayed in Tanu Beach, in Manase which was amazing).
If you do have time to spare in Apia, you can go to the Sliding rock, which is really fun. The Robert Louis Stevenson house is nice - but not very special (climbing to the Tombs is fun, although in Samoa, with the humidity, it's not easy even to climb for half an hour!). The marine reserve in Apia is nice too (Palolo deep - nice place to do some snorkeling). There are two markets in Apia - the food market and the flea market. And the fish market, of course. I didn't find them too exciting...
Robert Louis Stevenson place. Well, it's no wonder he chose to stay in Samoa (and he bought this entire place for something like 200 Pounds back then...)
Me having fun in the sliding rock. Just 5 minutes drive from Apia - this is truly fun. Better than any artificial slide. There are 3 of those slides around, but the biggest one (just 5m, really) is the most fun. A must!
Breakfast in Seipepa. You can see Matt (Third from the right, sitting) with his wife beside him. The breakfast is quite good, and it looks great, too!
The main bus station in Apia (behind the flea market). The buses in Samoa are a real experience. If the normal capacity of those buses is something like 20 people, they cram around 50 before the bus driver agrees to leave the station. People stack up, sitting one on top of another. And there's great music all along (samoan music of course!). Usually you'll get at least one marriage proposal while riding one of those buses...

Savaii, Tanu Beach

Tanu beach is where I stayed about 2 weeks out of the 3 in Samoa. The perfect place to relax, and do nothing for days. The place is run by Tanu, which is the chief of Manase (a village in Savaii). His family helps to run the place (and there is a lot of family there! I think there are at last 50 people working there...). What you get is a very cool Fale (An 'open' hut - no walls, just blinds you can lower down). The fales are right on the beach (yeah, about 2 meters from the surf) - and it's a beautiful beach!
So what do you do all day? Well, you have breakfast and dinner served to you. Between them you usually hang around the beach, doze off a little, read, and go swimming (and, of course, drinking Vailima beer all day long) Not bad at all. Sometimes there's some music at night so everybody's dancing (Even I danced a little!). And the family usually performs some dancing every other day, which is good fun as well.
I've been twice to Tanu-Beach (I came back to Apia in between) - but all the pictures are here, so not to confuse anyone (which I'm probably doing just now)
A typical Savaii road. By now I guess you get the impression that Samoa is extremely green - and it's true. It's always raining (well, it was the rainy season) and the entire island is like one big botanical garden. Beautiful!
The beach at Tanu. You can't really see them, but the Fales are right on the beach.
My fale. Not bad, eh?
 Breakfast at Tanu beach. This is the 'breakfast-fale'. I have no idea why Olga is doing that, but she's the best!
This is the Lounge-Fale. (yes, everything is a fale in samoa).
Sunset in Tanu beach.
Another sunset. Quite nice, no? I think the skies in Samoa are the most beautiful skies I have ever seen. Brilliant!
Okay. Last sunset in Tanu beach, really.
Dancing. The dance the woman is performing is called Siva. Notice the cool Tattoos she has on her legs...
A couple of Kiwis relaxing at the beach.

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