A Saiga in Samoa

My phone lit up with an “Apia to Auckland on sale!” notification, and within seconds my decision to take a mid-winter break was made.

I’d never been to Samoa before, but YOLO. I had an amazing 10 days, spent with the most humble, kind, selfless, generous, and welcoming strangers I’ve ever known.

Being a New Zealand-born Chinese I’ve always grown up around Polynesian culture and loved all my Team Poly friends - seeing where they get their sparkling personalities, overwhelming humility, cultural pride, and mouth-watering feasts from made me even more grateful to be blessed with their friendships. As a somewhat ‘outsider’ in New Zealand, I’ve always related to the poly kids because they shared that identifier of not being the norm, of being judged by Pākehā for being different, and for representing a rich and intricate culture which your European NZer could never understand. Going to Samoa and seeing a country full of locals so proud of their culture and who they are - especially during the Independence Day celebrations - filled me with both admiration and adoration for them, but also a lot of pride in myself and my own heritage too.

 

With my backpack on and passport in hand I excitedly fidgeted in my seat, staring out the window at an Auckland I was ready to say bye to for a while. Before we’d taken off I was already befriended by the lovely woman next to me on the flight, and by the time I’d arrived in Samoa, she’d adopted me and offered me a ride into Apia town. She gave me sage advice like “Don’t walk around after dark and don’t get in cars with strange men!” then gave me the full tourist experience as we drove down the coastline, pointing out David Tua’s village and stopping to buy me pawpaw on the side of the road. Coincidentally, later that day she saw me walking home at dusk and told me off before taking me out for dinner with her husband, where I got to drink my first Vailima Pure. It’s now my fave beer, which I urgently need to track down in New Zealand.

 

That was not the end of the Samoan hospitality though, and later that evening I already had a marriage proposal before I’d even made it to Club X. I ended up there later that evening, and met Vito from Three Wise Cousins - he did not propose too, so no “real island guy” for me.

 

The next day I dragged myself out of bed to go explore the island, and did almost every possible tourist activity - I ate palusami and taro I bought on the side of the road, bruised my bum at Papase’ea rocks, scared myself swimming through Piula Cave Pools, marvelled at Sopoaga Falls, dived into To Sua Trench, and washed Giordano’s pizza down with a refreshing niu.

After a weekend of more exploring, including going to a church for the first time in over a decade, I ate Sunday Lunch and jumped on the ferry to Savai’i...where I was adopted again by a girl heading over for work. Naturally, I stayed with her family that night and went to Mass with them at 6am before drinking tea and eating noodles as her brothers sang Fifth Harmony and Ed Sheeran. They dropped me off to the Salelologa Market to catch the bus over to Manase, and told me I was welcome back any time. At this point, I’d pretty much fallen in love with Samoa and was ready to move to Apia to hang out with all the cool locals.

As I was preparing for my holiday, Samoan friends warned me that people would either think I was a ‘Rich Westerner’ and try to sell me everything under the sun, or they’d assume I was a local Samoan-Chinese. I definitely gave off tourist vibes but was asked many, many times how Polynesian I was. I got asked if I was a local by adults, but all of the kids could tell I was definitely an import, which was clear every time I caught public transport! 

After a bus trip where the kids plugged their phones into the AUX cord and tried to figure out my deal while the palagis sat uncomfortably, I finally made it to Vacations beach fales and jumped in the ocean. I left all common sense back in NZ though, as I fell asleep for 2 hours on the beach while my sunblock sat up in my fale instead of on my skin. When I woke up, I was redder than the Samoan flag.

 

 

My red self spent the next day sightseeing, kicking it off at Swimming with Turtles in Sato'alepai - my idea of heaven, once I got past my irrational fear of the turtles biting me. I’m no turtle whisperer, but they seemed as stoked with life as I was, and I even got a hug from one!

 

 

After pulling myself away from the laumei (turtles), I visited my friend’s family, checked out the lava ruins in Sale’aula, ate a pineapple pie, swam at Afu Aau waterfalls, stopped by Lovers’ Leap, and finally reached Cape Mulinuu - the first place in the world to see the sunset. My luck would have it that it was super cloudy and I had to herd cows off the road on the way back, but the mission was definitely worth it.

 

The next morning I watched the sunrise from the beach and caught the bus back to Saleloga Wharf so I could head into Apia for Independence Day. A local was worried I wouldn’t be able to get a bus because of the public holiday, so she waved down a school bus and made them take me. The driver and I became best friends, and the kids played their Team Poly top 40 tunes on their phones. It was excellent.

Back in Apia, I went to Taula Home Fest at Home Cafe, and spent the day hanging out with locals and drinking beer in the sunshine - perfection. My 5:30am wake up call that morning had me wrecked though and I couldn’t even compete in limbo when we made it down to Club X later that night, leaving me disappointed and full of beer.

 

In between eating everything in sight (accompanied by Vailimas or Nius), I had a lot of time to do some self-reflection, as the rest of my time was super chill because of the public holiday -  food was eaten, drinks were drunk, sleep was slept, and life questions were questioned, e.g. “Should I move to Samoa? Why didn’t you do the limbo? Should I adopt this stray cat?”. It was glorious. I also discovered pagikeke at breakfast on Friday, and I'm now in love. If anybody has the hook-ups in Auckland, slide away into my DMs!

 

 

After my existential crisis, later that day I watched a performance at the Samoan Cultural Village, had second lunch and lots of juice at Krush followed by a massage next door, and finally made it down to the highly recommended Nourish Cafe to spend my evening drinking cocktails, eating tapas, and listening to live music - my totally ideal Friday night.

 

As I sat sipping my cocktail and reading MiNDFOOD, I thought a lot about how wonderful and welcoming everybody made me feel. I like to think the universe had my back taking care of me this trip, but in reality it was just the beautiful Samoans. This really hit me in my feels, as I felt that same level of love as whenever I’ve gone home to visit family in China - deep pride to show off their country, bending over backwards for my comfort, and over-feeding me until I can’t lift any more food to my mouth. All of the similarities between Samoan and Chinese culture made me feel instantly at home, even though I’d been living in Auckland for 3 years.

The food is what really got me though, as I was raised with the idea that you show your love through food - be it cooking for somebody, or sharing a meal with them. Food is a huge part of my life and identity as such, and to be invited to Sunday lunch after church or to any food occasion at all in Samoa was so humbling and comforting. I could definitely feel the presence of my entire family making sure I ate everything I was offered as well, all embodied by little old Samoan women passing plates and plates of food my way. However, I do have no self-control when it comes to eating, and this was fine when I had the metabolism of a 12 year old Chinese kid, but lord has it caught up with me now! After this trip I definitely no longer have a bikini bod, so thank goodness for winter.

 

The rest of my weekend/trip went far too fast, and I was on a plane back to Auckland and Winter before I knew it. I had no idea that what I assumed would be 10 days of swimming and sunning myself would end up as 10 days of new friends, amazing food, and fantasising about living in Samoa. Faafetai to all of the super cool locals who made my trip so great, and next time the Vailima Pures are on me! - Anny Ma