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Fiji Shopping
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Shop till you drop in Fiji. There
are many choices of exotic and beautiful things to bring back
home with you from Fiji. Fijians produce a wide variety of handcrafts,
such as carved tanoa (kava) bowls, war clubs, and cannibal forks;
woven baskets and mats; pottery (which has seen a renaissance
of late); and masi (tapa) cloth. The larger shops sell some
very fine face masks and nguzunguzus (noozoo-noozoos), the inlaid
canoe prows carved in the Solomon |
Islands, and some primitive art from Papua New Guinea. Bargaining
is still acceptable, however, when dealing with Indo-Fijian merchants
in many small shops Haggling is not considered to be polite. Some
stores have fixed prices to avoid the hassles of bargaining. Beware
of Sword Sellers, these are Fijian men who carry bags under their
arms and approach you on the street. They ask you your name and where
you are from, and then quickly inscribe your name on a sloppily carved
wooden sword carried in the bag. They expect you to buy the sword,
whether you want it or not. They are especially numerous in Suva,
but they will likely come up to you in Nadi, too. The easiest way
to avoid this scam is not tell any stranger your name and walk away
as soon as you see the bag.
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