#oholei

[tongansailor]

The dining area #oholeibeach #oholei #tongatapu #kingdomoftonga #tonga #tourismtonga #buffetfood #placetoeat #foodvacation #placetobe (at Hina Cave & 'Oholei Beach Resort)

[melissatta]

'oholei beach resort

I spent my first two days in Tonga with Monica here at 'Oholei Beach Resort by Lavengatonga. It's close to the Fua'amotu International Airport - only about 15 minute drive away. This place was affected by the last cyclone and is still in the process of rebuilding the place. They definitely have made progress and the place looks great. We stayed in our own individual little hut called fale. We selected the fale with attached bathroom. I forgot to take a picture of our fale. :(

The name of the resort comes from a Tongan word, oho = food for a journey and lei = Hawaiian word for flower necklace. The accommodations were nice and the staff were extremely attentive. The owner Simana and his wife would always check in on us to make sure everything was OK and started up conversation.

I also forgot to get a picture of the welcome sign to the resort, but did grab a picture of the parking lot! :) 'Oholei prides itself in being natural, meaning they use everything from the surrounding area. For example, our dinner plates are banana leaf's stems. They also use palm tree leaves and braid them around poles as decoration:

While staying at 'Oholei, Monica and I explored the beach area, went into the bush, saw a cultural show at the resort, and dined on Tongan food. It a relaxing two days at the beach. We basically had the entire beach to ourselves because we were the only people there.

Here are pictures from the first two days with a bullet point explanation for each picture:

See the full gallery on Posterous

Saimone, Monica's friend, and employee at 'Oholei picked me up from the airport and drove us to the resort. Along the way, he pulls over and climbs a coconut tree to grab a coconut for me. He cracks it open by hitting it against the tree. Fresh coconut is amazing!

If you own a car in Tonga, you're considered pretty well off. As you can see by their license plate, they don't have too many vehicles here. If there is an "R" in the front, that refers to a rental car, a "C" means it is a sedan, and "L" is a SUV/van type of car. The roads are not the best here either - lots of potholes.

A little piglet the resort has in a pig pen. Tongans call pigs, ma. Tongan pigs also eat coconut!! They're vegetarian. (We actually ate this little guy the next night at the cultural show's buffet - very sad.)

Tongans refer to the forest/shrub as the bush and women are technically not suppose to be wandering around here. Of course, Monica and I were feeling adventurous; granted, we did stay on the path.

Along the way through the bush, we saw lots of farm land, root crop, and my favorite... 4 horses!!

Hanging out at the beach, I was sitting and watching the ocean waves and noticed this little hermit crab crawling along! Monica and I also picked shells. Tongans are known for their large seashells, yet, this particular beach resort we stayed at had the smallest shells. It was perfect for me!

'Oholei beach offers two nights a week a culture show and all you can eat buffet on Wednesdays and Fridays. The resort is situated right by the beach and next to the cliffside. The culture show is performed inside a cave. The cave is called Hina Cave. There was a young girl name Hina and her lover Sinilai who lived here. Sinilai was a fisherman and would go out into the sea to catch fish. One day he went fishing and did not return. Hina waited by the ocean for Sinilai to return. (There's a rock that she waited on for 2 days - you can see a little bit of the rock behind the tree on the beach.) Sinilai did not return and Hina went into the cave and died of a broken heart. Hence, the name Hina Cave. Such a tragic story.