3/17 ( Sin - Auckland )- Star gazing 10,000 meters in the air - I left Singapore on night flight. I choose a window seat was 33F, looking out it just behind the wing. When the plane catches the night, I decided to try star gazing. With blankets over the window and my head, I can see the milky way stretches from the Canis Major - Puppis- Vela region. The only annoying distraction is the anti-collision signal lights on the wing-tip. The plane flew SE over the great emptiness of central Australia. For most of the part it was pitched black, I gazed downwards and once in a while I saw civilization - patches of amber lights. Soon we cleared Adelaide and crossed the Tasman Sea in daylight see onwards to New Plymouth then heading NE to Auckland. Soon the green Auckland came into viewed and we landed on time local noon.
3/17 ( Auckland - Nadi, Fiji ) My flight to the only international airport
Nadi was on a turbo-prop aircraft. The flight was delayed 1/2 hour. I noticed
clouds presence even at 30,000 ft sometimes white-out occurred. During descent to
20,000 ft the condition was even worse. I hope the coming Mir trips won't have
such encounter. A ring of white breakwaters was visible around the main Island
of Fiji. The shallow s
ea looked green ( coral reefs) and soon we were landed on
a green lushes surrounded airstrip- Nadi International airport. This is the first time I
saw an air bridge with open corridors. I dragged my 32 Kg luggage, sailed pass
immigration and custom and headed straight to a long queue at the money changing
counter. I was not greeted by anyone as expected and approached a Hotel
representative. She directed me to a 'taxi' - more like someone who moonlight
part time as cab driver and headed towards Sheraton Resort. My first impression of the
Fiji - almost similar to any small Malaysian town in the 80s. Along the way I
saw similar tropical plants like hibiscus flowers, mango trees, bananas in
single or double-storey houses. Sugar cane fields were common. Muddy
roads, footpath and the interesting design of bus stop - grass-thatched. After a twenty
minutes drive passed I arrived at the Sheraton Resort. It was 'shut-off' from
the outside world. It was situated deep inside the many miles of golf fields.
Sheraton Fiji Resort 
: My room was on the 2nd-storey with the nearby beach
visible. It was a spacious room . It had a North facing corridor
I can do some outdoor reading. On the west I can catch a glimpse of the South Pacific
Ocean. Beyond were a string of islands. Shoreline was a mere twenty meters away.
Coconut palms( minus the coconut* - harvested so that no one get hurt should one
fall), frangipani dotted the garden. This IS the place to get away from my work
routine and perhaps do some leisure star gazing at night. { more on this later)
Just when I was wondering where the rest of the team were Donna - the team contact
called and fixed a pooled side dinner together with another participant . At least I didn't have to spend my first night eating alone
in a new place.
3/18 Sunday First Briefing- which became our daily routine for the next 7 days- 10.00am at the Frangipani room.
3/19 Updated my web site, tour the Nadi Town which was 20 minutes taxi-ride from our hotel. We were told to go to Jack's ( much like Singapore's Mustafa's). At the shop I picked up a wood carving of forks used by cannibals. Street scene is no difference than any W. Malaysian little town in 80s. At the dinner table I was surprised others had gone out to watch Mir. I was fooled by the time-offset in Heavens-above time which indicated an early AM pass.
3/20 Fijian Prime Minister's
visit . Woke up earlier in the
morning and walked to the nearby field to prepare for tonight
Mir pass. At first I thought I can 'sneak- out' and do my own video recording of
the Mir pass trying out the C5+. However as the evening drew closer,
I was tasked to check out the sky condition. We wanted to show the
visiting Prime Minister & his cabinet ministers the Mir. I was out checking
the weather for the 2nd Mir pass with a print-out of Heavens-above charts and my
Casio digital watch with build-in compass. It was cloudy and low clouds
were building up in the NE. In normal circumstance I won't even bother to
do satellite watching in such a sky but tonight it was different. The
first celestial object to pop out the murky sky was Jupiter. Well at least
we saw Jupiter - Mir predicted to be brighter will have some chance. As
minutes draw nearer, I called out the timing ( luckily my watch was always keep
accurate better than +/- 3 seconds - a requirement for an Iridium flare
watcher). True enough the yellow color Mir made a brief ( not longer
than 3-4 seconds) 
appearance above a line of coconut palms before
culmination.
Everyone clapped. By now the beach was crowded - as if we had a beach
party. You can see clusters of people engaging in their own versions of
the excitement. TV crews video light lit up the
gathering. The groups slowly thinned out and headed for a
reception. I am surprise the security looks not as tight as I could
imagine. ( different from what I experienced when Jordan's
Prince paid us a visit in o -
I posted my Mir sightings on See-Sat- L I took a nap earlier - I guess I had too much
champagne bubbles in my head. I woke up later to do some star gazing well past
the hours. The next day the local newspaper carried an article telling the
Fijian general public there was no fear of Mir debris raining on their head -
the high ranking Russian visit seems to be the main reason for disarraying the
fear. ( Earlier advise is DO NOT GO OUT AFTER DARK - STAY INDOORS )
3/21 ( T-2 days) Impromptu visit to a local farmer
house - where I
tasted the yaqona ( Kava) - POISON drink .
After the arranged phone-in interviewed with LA's Youmori's
representatives, I jumped into a cab and revisited the local town.
I was curious how the night shot will turned out. Unfortunately the ASA200
night shots were exposed too brief to register milky way splendor the night
before. On my way to the hotel I found out from the taxi
driver where to view the legendary yaqona plant. ( I am always
thrilled with native herbs). I had read about this
intoxicating 'POISON' and wanted to see the whole plant it first hand but
most people I asked assumed the plants are only available in outlying
islands. He made a U-turned and headed for his neighbor's house -
according to him - he had not visited for the past six months. The site was not
far from the airport road. The taxi turned into a farm road fringed with
sugar cane fields ( Fiji's main agricultural export is sugar). After a few
minutes drive we turned abruptly into a side entrance just before the car
hit a nasty-looking mud pool and high piles of cow dung! We were welcomed
into a little zinc-thatched house. He demonstrated the making of the
drink- the root in pulped form was mixed with water and strained in a
nylon cloth. Three of us finished the large plastic 'basin'. I drank three
large bowls of it without feeling any special effect- just a tingling feeling on
my palate. ( image of a meter- long water-borne tape worm did flashed in my
mind, but I could not do anything less to not offend anyone) He even
wanted to offer me a glass of milk! I politely declined - I had too
much yaqona. He told me he 
wned a cow , a horse ( for tilling the field)
and sometimes he fished in the nearby ponds to supplement the table. Life
must be hard to meet both ends ( I am a little ashamed of myself - spending a
month's equivalent of his earnings in my single hotel night stay!). Later I
visited his little plot of land behind and saw first time the tapioca-like
plants. The leaves are broad and if tubular-like 'flower' or stems
are seen that means the underground 'runners' are ready for harvest. These
roots fetch a Fijian $20 per kilo in the retail price. I took a couple of
digital shots of the plants and the owner and taxi-drivers ( unfortunately the
camera was lost and I could not show you how these wonderful plants look
like.) The wife was busy preparing the flex ( for mat/basket
weaving). His boy and daughter 's school uniform were smartly
pressed. The Fijian Indian family speak perfect English. We spend a
good two hours plus there. Later I paid the taxi driver more than I bargained
after learning from him I was the first pick-up. ( he showed me the tally
sheet). It was indeed a worthwhile visit. In one single visit I had
experience Fijian hospitability and understand their plights. That night
I enjoyed the southern sky just outside my hotel room ( see star gazing -
navigational panel above )
3/22( T-1 days) I spent the good part of the day-time preparing my
video equipment. At dinner time the chef rolled out a Birthday cake
for our Russian Guest of Honor - It was Musa's 50th birthday.
On top of the cake was a picture of Mir! Later we enjoyed the dance
performance by the native dance troupe. I was touched by the farewell songs
I had only my
digital camera and didn't bring the video!