Bula! It means 'welcome' in Fiji. Finally, I arrived at Nadi Airport, Fiji at 5:25 am local time, with my colleague, Joedi. Our long journey started at 11.15am from Brunei to Brisbane by RBA. The flight took us almost 7 hours. In transit at Brisbane International Airport for about 4 hours before leaving for Fiji at almost midnight Brisbane time. Luckily, I had a good sleep in the plane.
(The picture from the plane on the left shows sunrise in Fiji in the very early morning) Upon our arrival in Fiji, we were welcomed by the Secretariat Officials from the Fiji's Central Bank, the Reserve Bank of Fiji. They took us to the hotel where we stay, the Westin Denarau Resort & Spa. It is located in a beautiful resort named Denarau, nestled within a serene surrounding. I just love the spacious room. Cool! Upon check-in, Joedi and I had good breakfast at the coffee house by the swimming pool. We were quite tired though and needed our sleep to regain our energy for our days ahead have been programmed quite intensively with the Directors of Research & Training's 30th Meeting, organized by SEACEN and hosted by the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
(Picture taken with the Secretariat and colleagues from Bank of Korea who arrived at the same time)
My spacious room..... Isn't that cool? Wananavu!
There are many other hotels in Denarau resort area, including the Sofitel, beach villas managed by Hilton, the Sheraton and more. I rejuvenated myself with a profound nap after breakfast. I needed that. In the afternoon, together with Joedi, I ‘ronda-ronda’ at Port Denarau as planned, which is just 10 minutes away by shuttle bus from our hotel. It was just the right time for lunch, and we had yummy fish & chips at the Hard Rock Cafe. I bought a nice t-shirt for my Cahaya and the limited edition pin.
In the evening, together with the other delegates from the other Central Bank members - Fiji, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore etc, we were entertained at the Hotel beach front with a reception.
