Kingdom of TONGA

Few people will resent you if you've never heard of 
the Kingdom of Tonga before.
We came from the Cook islands and via the Fiji-islands we could fly to Tonga.
When you land on Tongatapu, near the capital Nuku'alofa, you certainly enter a very special country.

Tonga is situated just along the west side of the international dateline.
This means that every day begins there first.
An anecdote: when we left from Tonga it was Friday evening and we arrived in Hawaii that same Friday but early in the morning.

Tonga consists of 171 islands, divided in four island groups: Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u and the Niua's.
On these islands together there is  699 km² of land and 362.500 km² of sea.
total number of inhabitants: 96.000 souls.
King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV rules the country.

We only visited the isles of Tongatapu (capital) 
and Vava'u, the main island of the Vava'u group.
People are very poor and still live in a traditional way.

Sunday is a sacred day. 
It is very difficult to get anything done
on a Sunday, even in your hotel..

our "good german car" (east-german as it turned out)
without registration plate at the back, in front it said T2 ..

Italian Clinic with "European doctor" (on Vava'u).
The animals in the front garden are pigs..

The main street on Vava'u

local transport: by horse

A graveyard.
If the dead person liked to drink during his life,
his grave is surrounded with (empty) beer bottles.
On Sundays, there is a traditional family gathering on the graveyard. The dead aren't easily forgotten !

Traditional dancing feast.
The spectators come on stage to put some notes on the dancer's body. She is completely oiled so that everything sticks nicely.
The disadvantage: money gets terribly dirty in Tonga.

Women in daily dress near the coastal defence.

The merry firemen at Vava'u

Bride and bridegroom with their witnesses in front of the townhall.

The market in Nuku 'alofa

The royal palace

sunset at Tonga

Going to school by "bus"

Excellent diving and snorkelling sites !