JBR - Malaita and the end of the trip

Malaita –

Lau Lagoon -
We spent a couple of days in Honiara again, but still had over a week of our trip left, so decided to go to Malaita. Some investigation revealed that the ferries were much more frequent to Auki, and to our relief, it was only a few hours away. We booked a ticket and were there by lunch time.

We found a cheap room in a church resthouse, and went off to find the tourism office we had heard about. We met a man there called Jackson, who helped us out with arranging what we wanted to see and do. We had heard about the traditional practices that still happened in the Lau Lagoon in the north, and were keen to visit. Jackson said that there were no official places to stay up there, but he knew of a family that would put tourists up. He said that he would contact Jack, the head of the family, by radio to let him know we were coming, and that we could get on a truck to the north the next morning.

After 5 hours squashed with about 30 people and 100 rice sacks on the back of a truck, we finally reached the end of the road. We assumed that this was where we had to get off. Jackson said a man would be waiting there for us to take us over to the island that we would be staying on. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. Lots of children had come out of a house to look at us. By now, the truck had turned around and gone. A man came over to ask what we wanted, and when we told him we wanted to go over to the islands to stay with Jack, he shook his head. He said Jack wasn't there at the moment. Then he asked us where we planned to sleep, as his was the only house there, and he had no space. We were suddenly quite worried. Another truck wouldn't be coming for a day or two.

After about 2 hours of waiting under a small leaf house, surrounded by people looking at us, one of then men said that he would take us in his boat to see if Jack's family were there. He insisted on charging us what we thought was an extortionate price - apparently it was only a 5 minute trip! But at this stage, who were we to argue?
By the time we pulled up to the artificial island it was getting late. A man met out boat, and as we tried to make him out in the darkness, we saw froth and red beetlenut juice dripping out of his mouth and down his face. He introduced himself as Sam, helped us to lift our bags off the boat, and took us into his house. He said his father was Jack, but they hadn't heard we were coming. It seemed that Jackson hadn't managed to get through on the radio... hmmmm, a little awkward! But Sam seemed happy enough, and soon Jack and his wife Emily turned up. They had only been at church. They welcomed us and said they were happy for us to stay.

It turned out to be an eventful stay. Unfortunately, the rest of the villagers on the island didn't seem to be as happy that we were staying. In fact, they came into the house and stole two of our cameras. One was returned quite quickly, but the other was not. The family were quite upset, and said that the other villagers were jealous that they had westerners staying and paying them money, however small it was. The family tried to negotiate with the thief, but he wanted a bribe to return the camera. In the end, after a whole day of negotiations going backwards and forth between us and the theif (we never saw him - he went into hiding on the mainland in the bushes) we paid him 80 solomon dollars to return it. Later that night though, another angry villager turned up at the house screaming that we had taken a photo of his 'sacred bowl' on the other side of the village. We hadn’t even been over there though, as we were too nervous with all of the animosity they were showing towards us! He insisted that we pay 500 solomon dollars as compensation (he was obviously trying to tag onto the idea that the first thief had, who had got the 80 dollars). We refused - this was ridiculous! The family were all arguing with the man, and we didn’t know what to do. Then suddenly, the angry man jumped into the family's boat, started it up and sped away. It took us a second to realise that he had actually stolen it! We were all quite worried now. We couldn't actually LEAVE this island now, and we had planned to leave the next morning (as you can imagine, we didn't really feel like staying any longer). Luckily, Emily, the mother of the family, spent a few hours negotiating with this new thief, and the boat was returned about 10pm that night - to our immense relief.

It was a shame that our trip to the Lau lagoon was tainted by the bad feeling of the islanders and these incidents, because the family themselves were very friendly, and it was a really interesting place to see. Jack showed us his shell money, which was huge and very beautiful. We went swimming around the house and had fun playing with the kids, and had a nice morning at the local market. Unfortunately, although the family are happy for tourists to visit, they just don't seem to be ready for it. Apart from the problem with the theft, there were a couple of other little things like the lack of a female toilet on the island - women are expected to canoe to the mainland and go in the mangroves. Which is fine if you are a good canoer, and you don't have a dodgy stomach! We were backpacking and didn't really mind this, but I'm not sure that all tourists would feel the same. The shower too was a hose pipe in the middle of the village, which every villager seemed to want to come and watch whenever we wanted to use it! We found it quite amusing, but it could make some people feel a little bit uncomfortable. In any case, we could understand the reasons behind the villagers’ feelings towards us, and although we felt a little bad for imposing upon them when we were not welcome, we were grateful to Jack and his family and still enjoyed the experience of seeing life first hand in the Lau lagoon.

Langa Langa Lagoon -
Back in Auki, we went to visit Jackson at the tourist office again, and he was disappointed about the problems we had had in the Lau lagoon. We said not to worry - we had got back in one piece! And as we had a few days left, we asked if he could recommend somewhere for us to stay in the Langa Langa lagoon, which is much closer to Auki. He suggested Busu Village Stay, which is run by Thomas and his family. Jackson went down to the harbour with us and arranged for us to get in a boat that was going over to the lagoon. So off we set, and about an hour and a half later, we arrived.

Thomas showed us to our hut, which he has built at the edge of the village for guests to stay. It is right by the water's edge, and is a lovely room with nice fresh beds with clean white sheets, and an attached room with a local shower (big bucket of water - my favourite kind!). Thomas' family were all very friendly, the atmosphere on this artificial island was very different to the last - Thomas has been putting up tourists for years, and the community are very used to it. In fact, Thomas tries to include the rest of the villagers as much as possible in the activities he organises for tourists, therefore spreading the money that we were paying him around. Thomas had lots of options for activities should we want to do them - we chose to learn about the making of shell money, see a traditional bridal ceremony, to see traditional face tattooing and to see a demonstration of a medicine man doing his work. All of the activities were very interesting - lots of villagers got involved and went to lots of effort to show us these different aspects of their culture. While the bridal ceremony and the medicine man were just demonstrations, the face tattooing (to our shock!) was real - one of Thomas' daughters really did have her face tattooed by an elderly lady right there in front of us. When we saw that it wasn't just a demonstration and the girl was really in pain, we felt guilty - we hadn't meant to cause her this distress! But Thomas assured us that she wanted her face tattooed like the other women in the village, and she was happy to show us how it was done.

Overall, Thomas and his family seemed much shyer than Jack and his family in the Lau Lagoon. However, after a couple of days, they really began to open up - and were particularly interested in our iPod and speakers. Thomas wanted to know where he could buy one for himself! We had a lovely last evening with the family eating their delicious food and playing Loka, the card game we had learnt with Ben and Jilly in Matikuri.

Auki -
When we got back to Auki, Jackson informed us that an Australian couple living and volunteering in Auki would like us to stay with them for the night. Kelly and Steve had apparently heard of our ordeal in the Lau Lagoon and had offered to put us up for an evening of comfort! We had never met them before, and were surprised at such a hospitable offer. When we arrived, Kelly had homemade warm banana muffins waiting - what a treat after all of the tinned tuna of the past month! That evening, we had a delicious curry and a chat, before having a lovely hot shower and crashing in a very comfortable bed in their spare room. What a treat! And what a lovely couple - we were really grateful for their hospitality, and it was great to share their good company for a night.

Unfortunately, the fast ferry back to Honiara had broken down (this seems to happen a lot!). So we had to board the slow boat. What had been a 2 hour journey on the way was now a painfully slow 7 hours of heat and cramped conditions. But it is all part of the fun of travelling by ferry in the Solomons! We met some good characters to chat with on the way, and had a few games of Loka to keep us going. We were getting quite good at this game by now, as you can imagine!

The end of the trip -
And so after another couple of days in Honiara in the great company of Joe, Kelly and Kelly's 8 year old little girl Kellysha at Bulia 2, we said a sad goodbye to our friends who had given us so many laughs between our little journeys to the various provinces. We had seen a great variety of places and cultures and had a lot of brilliant experiences in the past month, and had said bye to a lot of new and good friends. It was particularly sad knowing how difficult it would be to keep in touch with some of them, who primarily contact the outside world with radio. The vast majority of islanders were so friendly and welcoming and happy to share their lives and culture with us, and that was what really made our trip a special one. We will never forget those long ferry journeys, and the many people we met on them! There is so much beauty around the Solomons, and it is so unspoilt in so many ways from a tourist’s perspective. In a month’s travel, we only met 2 other ‘proper’ tourists. The islands and clear seas and the underwater life is stunning. The diving is some of the best I have ever done. But what I will remember most is the hospitality of all of the people, and all of the families who were so happy to put us up.

Camille, unfortunately, you met the wrong man in Auki. If you had met Silas, he would have taken you somewhere where you would have been appreciated. (Silas is an Auki-based tour guide).
Basically, you were ripped off, and the reason was, Jack, who rarely visits his home island, and has been a teacher and public servant in Honiara for years, as well as manager of the Auki Lodge, decided he would take advantage of the people at home in the lagoon.
The reason there is no women's toilet on the island is that Jack built his house on top of it. For this and a number of other reasons, he is highly unpopular in his home village, and his visitors may be treted as unwelcome for that reason.
A number of expats in Honiara tried to warn him, but he wasn't interested. (I am sorry for Emily, as she is a nice woman).

Please, please everybody, don't take Camille's experience as standard for the Lau Lagoon. The homestay mentioned on Exploring Solomons has a toilet (with a seat) beside the leaf house.

We heard of Silas, but unfortunately we did not meet him because he was out of Auki at the time. Jackson from the tourist office did his best - he was not aware of the problems at Jack's place at the time, but when we returned he asked us to write a full report, which we did. Now he will not be recommending that tourists go there.

As Ozziegiraffe says, I don't want my report to put people off visiting Lau lagoon. It was an amazing place to go to - the reason that we wanted to go was that it seemed a very interesting place to visit, and a lot more untouched than the Langa Langa lagoon, who see more tourists. If there is a homestay that is welcoming then I would definitely recommend going - there can't be many places left in the world like this. The truck ride up there is a lot of fun too, especially when it rains and you all have to get under a massive piece of tarpaulin!

I've done that truck ride sitting on top of a full load of copra, with a full load of passengers as well!
At least the road has improved. This time, I managed to get the loan of an elderly hilux, and got to sit in the front passenger seat - luxury.
However, whenever I reach the lagoon (by boat or truck, it often happens just about dawn) my heart sings.
Maybe I am just a light-skinned Melanesian?