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Food & Entertainment The
main hotels have dining rooms and Samoan feasts or 'Fiafia Nights' are
held at these hotels on a weekly basis. Entertainment includes traditional
singing and dancing. There are also several bars, clubs, and cocktail
bars, and at the hotel Tusitala, Aggie Greys and the Beach Bar nightclub,
there are live bands and a floor show every Saturday night. A recent
addition to this paradise is McDonalds.
It
is advisable to boil drinking water or buy bottled water available from
stores throughout both islands at reasonable prices.
Activities
& Shopping
Sporting facilities are mainly concentrated in Apia. They include the
Apia Park Stadium, the Royal Samoa Golf Country Club, public tennis
courts, squash, a fitness centre, lawn bowls, hockey, netball, rugby,
soccer, and Samoan cricket. There are also numerous marine activities
including swimming, snorkelling and diving.
A
wide variety of artifacts made by Samoan families for their personal use
are also sold to visitors because of the beauty and quality of the
craftsmanship.
Siapo and Tapa cloth made from the mulberry bark and painted with native
dyes is made into mats, hats and baskets. Kava and food bowls are hand
carved from native hardwood. Shell jewellery and printed fabrics are
also available. Shopping hours are from 8am to noon and 1.30pm to 4.30pm
week days and 8am to 12.30 Saturday.
Local Transport The
two large western Samoan islands have more than 2,000 kilometres of
highway. In Apia there are taxis and rental cars available and driving is
on the right side of the road. The first traffic lights in Samoa were
installed in 1995. There is a good bus service on the islands of Upolu and
Savai'i, and Polynesian Airlines internal service operates flights between
Apia and Savai'i.
Getting thereGetting to Pago Pago by air is fairly
straightforward, though rarely inexpensive. Depending where you're coming
from, you'll need to get yourself to Hawaii, Tonga, West Coast USA,
Australia or New Zealand and catch a connecting flight. Air New Zealand,
Air Pacific, Polynesian Airlines and Air Samoa all fly the blue skies
above American Samoa. There is a US$3 departure tax when leaving American
Samoa by air, but it's usually included in the cost of the ticket.
It is also possible to arrive by sea if you've
got a bit more time on your hands. Thumbing a lift on a yacht from the US
West Coast or Australia's north east is possible for those with sailing
experience, or the desire to cook meals and scrape barnacles. Generally,
you'll be hooking up with yachties in the USA between May and October as
they take advantage of favourable winds and weather conditions. They'll
all scatter by late November as the cyclone season fires up. If you're not
planning to batten down the hatches with the locals, you probably should
scatter with them.
The days of hopping a cargo ship
and working a passage around the Polynesian Islands are fast becoming a
thing of the past although you might just snag one if you hang around the
shipping services for long enough. Yachting to Samoa is an attractive
option in anybody's books so if you can show enthusiasm for all things
yachty or, better still, display some working knowledge of sailing, you
can sometimes bum a ride on a yacht as a crew member.
Getting Around Getting around Samoa is uncomplicated
but time-consuming. You can normally hopscotch around the islands by bus
as long as you remember that a Samoan timetable is a vague idea that may
or may not be acted upon depending on the level of interest shown by the
driver. Patience is required.
Travelling by bus is an experience. The buses are
brightly coloured and run by a timetable that is known only to thedriver
and if you are lucky local police officer. They start running early in the
morning but if you want to catch one after dark don't be surprised if you
can't find one. If you are hoping to travel from or to a more remote area
there may well only be one bus a day.
The buses have the name of the final village on the
front so you will have to ask someone which bus it is you need to catch.
Don't worry most Samoans understand and speak English, but it might be fun
to try asking for directions in Samoan.
The buses can get very full and you might find it
necessary to si'i, that is to have someone sit on your lap or sit on
someone's lap. The buses are not meant to travel with anyone standing, but
this is frequently ignored. However buses can be pulled over by the police
and people asked to get off and wait for the next bus.
Ferries and boats will get you from one
island to another but, despite what you may have imagined about the
paradisical nature of sea travel in the South Pacific, crossings can often
be unpleasant experiences. Cars are a possibility on most islands but
petrol can only be obtained in major towns. If you're feeling incredibly
fit you might want to cycle around the islands but you will have to
contend with the heat and the rugged terrain.
Samoa Air and Polynesian Airlines ply routes
between Pago Pago and a variety of American and Independent Samoan
destinations including Ofu, Ta'u, Apia and Savai'i. Buses are a great,
unpredictable, noisy way of moving about the main islands. The aiga busses
on Tutuila are brightly painted trucks that blast reggae music all day.
Drivers are a law unto themselves; they'll knock off work whenever they
feel like it. Never rely on a bus after about 2pm.
Carrental will set you back about US$50 a day plus
insurance and fuel, but if you're on Tutuila for only a day or two,
there's no better way to see the sights.
When to go When you're talking paradise, any time
is a good time to go. As a general rule, however, you might find your
Polynesian parade being rained on in December and January and your holiday
smile melting in the humid months between November and April. The very
best time to go is in the dry season between May and October when the
weather is perfect and the events calendar is full. See also
Tutuila
(Pago Pago).
If you're a keen diver
or into big game fishing, the Polynesian Dive Fest and the Game Fishing
Tournament take place in mid-August. The Rising of the Palolo, one of the
most fascinating natural phenomenon, takes place on the coral reefs of
Savai'i in October and the Samoan cultural event of the year, the Teuila
Tourism Festival, takes place in September.
Money & Costs In Pago Pago, there are only a few accomodation
options, and even fewer of them are really cheap. For a basic
air-conditioned room and a hot shower you can expect to pay about US$60
per night, however if you can do without these luxuries - and are prepared
to share cold shower facilities - you can bed down for as little as US$20.
For the self-sufficient, head out of town where for about US$10 you can
get a roof over your head in a plantation, and not much else.
Travel around the island is cheap but
unpredictable. The colourful busses on Tutuila do regular but unscheduled
runs to all major destinations. If you're only on the island for a day or
two, car hire is a good idea (US$50 a day). If you're based in Pago Pago
and are on a tight budget, you could get by with basic food and shelter
for US$50 a day, but that's really living frugally. For a few extra
creature comforts and a wider selection of better food, count on spending
about US$100. Those moving around will need to allow substantially more.
There is no currency exchange at the airport, so
arrive with US$ cash or travellers' cheques. There are two banks in
central Pago Pago, the Bank of Hawaii and the Amerika Samoa Bank. The
latter charges a US$5 commission on travellers' cheques. There is also a
branch of the Bank of Hawaii in Pava'ia'i on the western end of the
island. US dollars travellers' cheques are accepted at most shops and
hotels.
Although a distant relative of the United States,
American Samoa has retained some sanity regarding tipping. Unless you've
received fantastic service at a top-notch hotel, tips can stay in your
pocket. And anyway, the small change might come in handy when adding on
the 2% sales tax to all items purchased. Bargaining isn't practiced
either. The listed price is generally the one you pay.
Meals
- Budget: US$3-6
- Mid-range: US$6-15
- Top-end: US$15 and upwards
Facts for the
visitor
- Climate:
Pleasant tropical approximately 30º C year round. The rainy season is
from December to March.
- Clothing:
Bikinis and brief clothing are OK by the beach
or pool but considered offensive in the villages or public places.
Short shorts are frowned upon in the villages. The locals wear a 'lava
lava', a cloth wraparound.
On Sundays people wear white to church.
- Electricity:
110
volts AC/50 cycles.
- Time
Zone: GMT minus 11 hours or AEST minus 21 hours.
- Currency:
US dollar
- Tipping:
Not compulsory, but
you can give a gift for excellent service.
- Departure
tax: No departure
tax
- Visas
& Health: Visa not required if you have an
onward ticket. Visitors are permitted entry for a stay of up to 30
days. No
vaccination certificates required.
- Holidays &
Festivals:
The biggest cultural event in independent Samoa
is the Teuila Festival in September when choir singing,
fire-knife dancing, siva (traditional dance), and fautasi
(long-boat) racing take place. A month before the Teuila Festival is
the Polynesian Dive Fest which provides an opportunity for both
professional and amateur divers to explore some of Samoa's best dive
sites. One of the most spectacular natural phenomenon is the Rising
of the Palolo. Palolo are bluey-green vermicelli-shaped worms that
emerge from the coral reefs, sometime after midnight on the seventh day
after a full moon, to mate. The first rising takes place in October and
the second one around November. Below we list the most important
holidays for American Samoa:
-
April
17 - Flag Day celebrations
-
May
1st week - Tourism Week
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October
2 - Sunday Children's Day
-
October
(late) to November (early) - The Swarm of the Palolo
-
October
- The Moso'oi Festival Week & Arts Fia Fia
-
December
3rd week - Christmas Week
For
more general information
on Samoa, go to: |
