Kapmcrunk said:
Let me just pull up a chair here. This is fascinating. Any stories you're willing to share we're willing to listen to...or read in this case.
ava
Landed late afternoon. Without question if you visit choose mid year, usually dry & maybe 25c (75f) & only varies a few either side. Was up til midnight in 2 nakamals & as always was given food, you have to keep in mind you will just be handed something & hygiene isnt something they are too concerned with as they have guts like steel boilers. Some sort of nut that had bitter skin, really shouldnt have eaten it knowing what a gut bug can do to a holiday. Ive pulled ok this morning,i always drink berroca (fizzy vit B) before sleep, kava can play merry hell bodies your bodies vit B. You get about in small busses, little 8 seaters that each have their own unique smell & its either island music or reggae music playing, some of the younger drivers pimp them up with lights & roof felt. Any trip of a few miles is 150vt (roughly $1.60 aud 1.50 usd) They always ask why im here & laugh when i tell them for kava only, they just dont get spending $1000 a few times a year for kava. Wages are very low here which always blows me out knowing just how very safe you are here. They value & protect the tourists dollar. They all know if there is the smallest doubt of visitors safety then their incomes dry up over night.
Nakamals here are very dark & quiet...seedy isnt the word (black as a bats arse i call them), there is little light & you need to sit & let your eyes adjust & within mins you realise you may be sitting with 10 men, they are just all very quiet as they let the kava settle in, or as they say 'listen to the kava'. A nakamal will have a light out on the street to show its there, usually a low watt globe in a bottle & it will be green or red. A continual sound of spitting never stops, the floors are just totally covered in spit, everyone spits all the time. I sat my phone on a table last night & when i picked it up i realised id sat it in some, it was all slimy.. i laughed as i should have known better. I always bring what i call nakamal sandles & i leave them outside my room & bin then before i leave, i dont want them in my suitcase knowing what they have been walking in for a week. The floors are usually just dirt or crushed coral. Im 6'3 & nakamals can be hard on your head, they are low & in the daylight its not unusual to see a 3" nail at head height for me, being my 10th odd trip ive got the bad ones picked & still the same nails are there every time i arrive. They are usually palm frond roofs & little siding. The chairs are always home made bench seats & i will carry a small torch to make sure im not about to sit in spit, ive done it plently of time before. Bright lights are not whats needed in a nakamal so sometimes its best to use your phone light to look about. A torch is handy if you head off on the roads as they have holes that will see a foot or ankle twisted. You can get up to get another shell & leave your wallet/phone passport in your bag where you sit in the pitch black, no-ones taking it, its not what happens here. You can walk into a nakamal with 40 men in it & you are so accepted here that no a soul will even look at you & if someone passes you will hear a soft greeting & maybe a one finger hand shake. They are content people.
Trying to upload a photo but its not working my end, apologies if its appeared a few times, will try & sort it later.
) but there's at least one kava bar in town. The one on the waterfront (Pacific Haus) had the most life altering kava I've ever touched anywhere. It was off the scale, less than 1USD per shell and totally worth the trip. The surroundings are depressing though (caged dolphins, caged birds of prey, caged crocodile 
