the king of Tonga is dead!

Long live the Kind of Tonga!

On my last trip to Nuka lofa I saw this 300 lb king riding a bicycle --
trying to lose weight. The country was falling apart. I do hope that
his successor can put it back together.

On second trip there -- I dived Va V'au -- a pretty place up North,
fijords with palm trees but too bad the infrastructure was falling
apart...dusty roads put down with crushed coral -- taki drivers with
terrible hacking coughs, a bursting population of feral pigs -- felt
sorry for the poor little dears -- no water for them to drink. The hotel
had an electric fence to keep them out -- but guess what? At night, the
poor little dears swam out into the ocean and came around the fence (it
only extended on three sides) and drank fresh water from the oversized
conch shells that laid outside my hut -- there to extract any sand from
my clogs before entering my abode.

I'll never forget the chef at the Tonga Resort -- taken away by Interpol
in handcuffs while I was there -- he was wanted somewhere for doing
something reportedly bad....can't recall what it was!

Just when I thought I was going to get some shut eye -- after the feral
pigs left my front yard -- the cocks from nearby islands engaged in a
lengthly dialogue until dawn.

At dawn, chuch bells rang furiously to summon the faithful.

If you want to know what the South Pacific was like when Graham Greene
visited there - by all means -- head for Va V'au. You'll have lots of
funny stories to tell --even for the sleep deprived!