More photos!

So... Gmail still won't let me upload photos. So here are a few more while we wait for more patients to turn up (we've started 20 minutes ago, and waiting room has freed up already!).

Anyway, the irony of being in the Cook Islands - you see your own Prime Minister here in Aitutaki. All the leaders came along for the 43rd Pacific Islands Forum today. Half the island scootered down to the airport (if you could call it one) to see them. I somehow managed to get the prime spot smack bang in the middle out the front! I have even better videos of John Key, but the internet here would never let me upload it before Christmas. Lol.

John Key! Followed by the Prime Minister of Samoa

All the Pacific Island leaders in one spot! Except Julia Gillard. Lol.

The Cook Islands PM, Henry Puta.

 

The entertainment crew.. I have videos of these for later...

John Key: Hmmm what's for dinner tonight?

So... email won't let me attach photos

Email isn't letting me attach photos.

So updating it here for friends.

Giant clams at the Marine Resource Centre! Very weird seeing them with all these crazy colours, but yes, they are clams! The bigger ones are 6 years old apparently...

If you thought the previous was big... then think again. These are the true giant clams. Your head could fit into one!

Samade on the Beach

Hi everyone!

Sorry, I am getting very slack with these posts! I've forgotten to bring out my camera again, so photos today (it takes forever to upload them anyway), but I will add them in eventually to their rightful posts!

It's Sunday night here and I am running out of new things to try fast! It is a little worry when you still have another 10 weeks to go!

Today Ben and I were back out at Ootu Beach (it's my favourite beach now!). It's by the airport and on the other side of Aitutaki Lagoon Resort (which sits on its own tiny island). The beach at the resort is nice too, but they are now doing some major constructions all along the beach and have shut it down, which is ridiculous seeing as there are still people staying there. I'd be peeved off if I had to stay there and weren't allowed to use their beach and had to put up with forklifts going back and forth the whole site. It looks like they are trying really hard to clean up the whole place and 'stealing' some nice sand from the sandbars in the middle of the lagoon (it's joined to the end of their beach so forklifts can actually just go right across it - photo later) and putting it back on the beach. Our theory is that they are trying to do this for the forum coming this week - supposedly Hillary Clinton is coming on Thursday, along with Julia Gillard (Aussie Prime Minister) and probably other prominent figures. It certainly has the locals excited, since it's not everyday you get someone so significant visit here!

View of Ootu Beach across Samade on the Beach deck.

Forklifts in the middle of the lagoon... it's certainly something different to look at. lol.

Anyway, back to Ootu Beach. There is a restaurant / accommodation provider called Samade on the Beach there. It's further down from Koru Cafe (just around the corner), but the beach is just lovely here. You have the classic sandy white beach and turquoise lagoon water. You can see schools of lagoon fish literally about a metre from the shoreline. You can swim about 20-30m across to one of the sand bars and you'll look like you are standing in the middle of the lagoon!

Say hello to Ootu Beach!

Samade on the Beach provides meals / limited bar services. On Sundays, they do what is called the "All day BBQ at the beach" between 11am - 9pm (I think). Ben and I went last week, thinking it was literally a BBQ on the beach with something like "all you can eat" barbie. Well, how wrong we were. For $20, it was a platter of food cooked up in the kitchen (yeah, the BBQ was inside the kitchen). Food was nice, but I think we could have done with a bit more of a portion. I think we preferred the food at Koru Cafe for similar money (and they do good coffee there!).

The welcome sign...

The $20, All Day BBQ on the Beach Platter

 The manager at Samade, Adie, also lets med students who are here on electives to use their kayaks and paddles. So we managed to get onto one and get pretty tanned! They are currently fixing the kayaks so we were warned to check beforehand to make sure they had no holes at the bottom. So after a warning and checking the kayaks, we still managed to pick one with a hole. We went down about a 100m before we capsized in the lagoon. It was somewhat of a mission to get all the water out and then drag it back to where we started. We then managed to get an intact kayak each and had some fun. I managed to get a fair way out and saw some rocks with some coral, but didn't see a lot. It has been hot and humid the last few days and I was getting scorched out there!

I have been getting eaten left, right and centre since coming here. I think taking my antihistamines regularly is helping with the itch, but doesn't stop it completely! Now it's the heat keeping me awake at night. Thankfully we haven't been woken up too much since I've been here. I have done a few things, like stitch up someone's head half-asleep at 2am.

I think it is bed time for me. Rather surprising that bedtime has changed to around 10pm since arriving at the Cook Islands but I get pretty tired here. I think it's the heat. I don't know how I will cope later given it's only going to get hotter and hotter.

Take care everyone. Will update more later. Ka kite.

Tamanu Beach Island Night

Hi everyone!

Something to share that's worth reading - about time! I have a list of things I want to write about, but I keep writing these massive emails to people (about the length of a book chapter!) that I get lazy with the blog! But I will get there eventually and hopefully have reviews of most places in Aitutaki.

I thought I might share what Ben and I got to go see last Thursday night.

Here, every weekday, each resort/restaurant take turns in doing what is called an "Island Night." Usually a decent meal (often buffet / three course) followed by a local performance. They can be quite expensive usually between $60-85 NZ dollars. Tamanu Beach Hotel covers Thursday nights, and are famous for their fire dance show.

Luckily, we could go and watch the show for free (without the meal). Some people have said, we could go in and watch for free if we bought a drink, but they didn't seem to care when we asked! But we bought a drink each anyway :P The show itself starts around 8.30pm right by their restaurant on the white Aitutaki sand.

So this is the fire dance show. They switch in and out between traditional dances and fire dances. It's really cool to watch. I was too busy taking videos of them, I didn't see it properly. I will have to go again and watch for round 2! Mind you, there isn't much else to do on the island at night and I will shortly run out of new things to try! But it is definitely worth seeing it.

Some female dancers... Lots of hip shaking. Lol.

And guys seem to shake their legs here. Haha.

I can't obviously comment on the food, but it looked pretty nice. It was a buffet and with desserts included (because we saw the desserts get dished out as we arrived!). If I do get to go later (maybe after I get paid...), I will do a food review!

Got lots of videos of the night, but not many photos. I will post videos later if I can, because if I tried to do it now, it will be Christmas before it finishes uploading!!!

Hopefully this keeps you busy reading in the meantime! I'm off to another Island Night tomorrow - one of the more budget ones at Paradise Cove for $25 (yes with food!). Will let you all know what it's like later.

Ka kite.

PS - You need to book in for these Island Nights if you want to pay and go for the meals! They can book out fast!

Oops

I keep sending my close friends and family super super long emails I keep running out of time to update this blog!

Have plenty already to tell but maybe when I have more photos, I will write up about one place at a time. And I still need more photos of the hospital to give anyone a proper tour!

All in all, things are going okay. I was up stitching someone's head half-asleep at 2am on Saturday night. We lost a patient yesterday which was very sad. I am going to have to get used to it, because here especially, we haven't got a lot of resources to deal with really sick patients :(

Will update more later. Getting late here and if I don't sleep now, I'll be even grumpier in the morning, because I'm going to get woken up early by that blasted mosquito spray truck at 6am (they are coming around the hospital for 3 days!!!). I will be needing my coffee that I bought today!

Ka kite.

Aitutaki - first 24hrs

Hi everyone,

I've arrived in Aitutaki safe and sound.

It's definitely smaller than Rarotonga, and much less things available around. You almost have to shop around all the different shops to find things. Some things are horrendously overpriced. I've seen chocolate go for $13+ in Rarotonga (but cheaper in Aitutaki) and peppers (aka. capsicums) go for $40+/kg!!! But you learn to do without.

Hospital here is small. Not surprising, huh? But it has what it needs to get by. A large part of the work here is rural GP type of work, with some inpatient services. I think there are 26 beds in total. It's funny how nurses refer to "Men's Ward" and "Children's Ward" when the whole inpatient part of the hospital is just one big room with different sections. So it's probably better to call them "Men's Section or Wing." Either way, right now it doesn't matter too much because there are no inpatients!

Ben (the other student here) and I were lucky to not get called at all last night. I heard he was getting called 2-3 times a night last week and with some more complicated things. But everyone is just lovely here and easy to get along with. I think I'll be having lots of fun over the next 11.5 weeks.

Student room is... not what I had exactly expected. I thought it'd be some form of accommodation block or room on the hospital site somewhere. Turns out to be a room right next to the ward (literally 5 metres away). The elective coordinators didn't quite plan it well and didn't realise they'd be having two strangers of the opposite sex in the hospital at the same time. We are having to share the room at the moment. We are both pretty chilled about it, so it has worked out ok, but certainly not ideal. My mother literally screamed out, "ARE YOU FOR REAL" when I told her. We just have to be a bit more considerate with each other. We are getting along pretty well so it's all good. Beds are terrible to be honest. I woke up with a flare up of my back pain. But hey, it's still free accommodation and we literally just sleep in the room.

I will write more about the hospital later. Photos are taking forever to upload here, so I'm actually typing this up on WordPad while I wait for it to upload for previous post. Internet here reminds me of how New Zealand used to be about 5-10 years ago. But by some miracle, I was able to Skype my parents last night, and video calling actually worked. Thank goodness I brought my webcam ;)

I think over the next 11 weeks or so, I'll be learning to do without and just improvising as needed. Things are limited here, so it's somewhat necessary to do so.

I am missing the nice stable hot shower in New Zealand though. Showers at the hospital is better than what was at Rarotonga Backpackers, and no cockroaches yet, but can go from Mordor to Antarctica quite easily (so I have been told - it was okay yesterday!). I have yet to go swimming at the beaches either. Apparently the good "swimmable" beaches are really only by the airport - i.e. other end of the island. We hired a scooter together so it might be something do to in the weekends.

There isn't a lot to do in the evenings either. We just had dinner at Mac Ned's and yes, they certainly make good burgers. I think there are Island Nights on in one of the resorts literally every night except Sundays, which will be good to go see. But otherwise, I don't think there is much to do.

Will update more later and actually get some photos of Aitutaki. So far, I only have a few on my phone which aren't ideal. Ka kite.

First night on Rarotonga was actually cold

So... this post was written on my phone, then it wouldn't let me publish. Will upload it when it lets me with a bit of Wi-Fi.

Some photos that I managed to upload with a lot of patience...

Yes, there are nice beaches!

Me trying to pose for the camera, except I look exactly the same in all the photos that I've taken myself!

Just casually walking down the road... There are coconuts on the ground (and in the air) left, right and centre! And no one claims them... really.

There are not only coconuts, but also free-range chooks everywhere. I'm not even sure if they belong to someone. They just roam free everywhere.

This is at Rarotonga Backpackers. I called this the "Beam of Jandals" - just something visitors had left behind over the years. Adds quite a character to the place. We used to have lunch and dinners under one of these.

The beach right in front of the Backpackers. There are actually more nicer beaches in Rarotonga than Aitutaki. It turns out Aitutaki has less "swimmable" beaches and has more rocks. But once you are out by the airport end, nothing really beats the beaches there. I haven't been there yet, but looking forward to!

So temporarily, long story short, Raro was great. Papayas are big. Most necessities are there. Raro Backpackers has amazing people. Oh and the beaches are nice. Lol.

Written during flight to Rarotonga

Hi all! I suspect I've now attracted a few friends to visit the blog.

So... I got on my first ever solo flight overseas.

By some interesting work of nature, we had 200+kph of direct tailwind and was flying something like 700+mph (~1100kph!!!) groundspeed. According to the captain, it's most unusual and meant that we were travelling much faster than usual 500(ish)mph. So I got more than what I had bargained for and got extra 30 mins to spend on Rarotonga (well, according to arrival time predictions onboard).

And it seems rather ridiculous and amazing that while I'm here having my Thai green salad for lunch, it's 11277m above sea level and -50 degrees outside this doesn't-look-anything-special window.

I made a smart move of choosing the seat right by the wings and got bugger all view out the window but hey, I got some good peeks through the neighbour's!

We crossed the date line on the way and now it's going to mess with my biological clock. Thank goodness it's 22hr difference (so technically only 2hrs out)!

When I was boarding, it was evident I had chosen the name of my blog well. Sure, it's a little bit of plagiarism off 'An Angel at My Table' and Raybon Kan's 'An Asian at My Table' but I was seriously the only Asian on the flight.

The fact that I'm flying out of the country hasn't sunk in as I type this into my phone in-flight. I suspect it will start sinking in when I get smashed on the head by a falling coconut. I hear coconut injuries are a class of their own in the Pacific Islands!

I have no idea what I'll be doing for the next day and a half on Raro except that my tshirts and shorts will get to see some light at last. Thhnks to international date line, it's going to be Sunday afternoon when I arrive even though I left.Monday morning! Which also means that hardly anything will be open today. I suspect I'll have to live off either a fallen coconut or my emergency soup sachets until I find somewhere suitable to eat.

Anyway, will update how things go later. Might need to get phone sim card first to call home.

Contact Me

Hello everyone!

I figured that as this blog grows (hopefully), people will start asking questions. Comments are never really that reliable way of communication since you don't always get notified when I reply. Plus it's not very private either.

In an attempt to keep my privacy but also leave an option to contact me, I have created a new email address for any queries you may have. Why? Because I know elective planning is serious business and hard work! ;)

eunaliciousblog@gmail.com

 I am happy to answer questions at any time provided I have internet readily available!

Two more days of 'formal' med school and I'm flying out (to Auckland) in less than 72 hours!!! Eeee!!!

D-9

Hi everyone (if anyone even reads this).

Just counting down the days till I fly out! I'm actually staying a couple of nights in Auckland, so it's really D-11 but this will mark the end of the more formal part of my medical school time (6 years!).

Anyway, I don't have all that much in the way of information and update, except that it has been incredibly difficult getting any form of email response from people in the Cook Islands.

However, by some stroke of luck, I've found another medical student who will also be on elective at the same time as me in Aitutaki Hospital on TripAdvisor! Rather excited there will be others around :) I have to say TripAdvisor is a really good place to look for some tips and such. Many kind people there who will also hunt out answers for you too!

I have a friend who was recently in Aitutaki Hospital for his elective and managed to get some information.

Not surprisingly, shampoos/creams etc are on the pricy end (seeing as they all have to be imported). Chocolate happen to run for $15 a block (ouch). Internet is available at the hospital and also at hotels/resorts at a cost. You can get $10 worth of txts at Telecom which allows you to txt to New Zealand too (so a bonus for me!). There are markets there everyday except Sunday and rains spontaneously. And a tramping strength insect repellent is a must.

I have tried to buy some things over the last couple of weeks, and boy oh boy, all my toiletries and some spices are coming up to like 8kg. Might have to risk my $5000 orthodontic braces and leave the fluoride mouthwash behind! I'm hoping to fit most of it into the luggage if weight will allow it. We shall find out next week!

I'm hoping to update this blog from time to time while I'm in Aitutaki with some photos. So hopefully more information soon! I first need to survive my Surgical viva and essay!