Planet Tonga

I think everyone needs to know that Miss Heilala contestants go through a lot of preparation for this pageant. A lot of them spend a lot of their own personal money, take time off work, school, etc. to participate in the pageant.

It also takes a mental toll on them, having to deal with the media, dignitaries, being paraded, being poked and proded, learning dance numbers at the last minute, being whistled at, being groped by uninvited hands at the Block Party, to name just a few.

Since I was at almost every Miss Heilala event, from dress rehearsals to press events (I skipped the cocktail parties because frankly, they bore me), I got to know some of the girls and the committee members. In addition, I got to witness some, um…..things that were cool and some things that, clearly, were not cool at all.

For example, some contestants were pressured by sponsors to “put out”, i.e. wear clothes that were more revealing. Basically, they wanted them to look like sluts. And if they didn’t comply, the displeasure of the sponsor was immediately felt.

Some sponsors don’t know what it means to sponsor, as many girls paid for their own dresses, gowns, shoes, airfare, hotel, etc.

And some committee members were just downright mean-spirited, talking bad about contestants to the public, or publicly declaring who they think should win or saying that one contestant is a mata’i hoosi or another is mata’i puaka. Yes, sure they were late for rehearsals, but c’mon, can’t you do your business privately?

Oh, here’s another bombshell…..one committee member went up to a contestant and told her she should have won but the scores were changed at the last minute. I told this contestant not to believe this particular person because just a few minutes ago, she was going around publicly declaring who she personally thought will win, and it wasn’t her!

I also have to acknowledge that Misi Sika has organized a committee of hardworking, young individuals in Tonga. I give credit to Misi and his supporting crew, who seemed to really have a grasp for the mission of the Heilala pageant, for all their hard work in organizing not just the pageant but the entire Heilala week festivities.

But, Misi, if you are doing Miss Heilala again next year, for the love of God and for the sanity of Tonga, please cut out the sourpusses. You know who they are. You have a terrific group of committed, young, vibrant people, just like yourself, by your side. Utilize them, tap into their creative minds, their fresh ideas and pour the old, sour milk down the drain.

Hi everyone…I’ve been back for a week and am still trying to recollect my thoughts from this Tonga trip and organizing the 7.0 Gigs of photos I took!! So, I’ll be putting up more blogs later…in the meantime, enjoy the blogs already posted below.

Here are some upcoming blogs in the works:

• Behind the scenes at the Miss Heilala pageant.
• Did the right girl win Miss Heilala? (The answer is YES)
• The freaks come out at night…for the Block Party!
• Can I hang in Tonga? (My cousin thinks I can’t!..haha!)
• Chinese stores vs. Tongan stores.
• Tourism in Tonga..it’s everyone’s business.
• Predictions for the future of remittances.
• Final reflections on Tonga and Tongan people.

‘ofa atu,
Rich

The local media in Tonga gets treated, like, well……it starts with sh and ends with it. Allow me to elaborate.

At the final night of the Miss Heilala pageant, I had set up my camera position at the front of the right corner of the stage, only because other cameramen were already there.

Soon after, the rest of the local media came and joined me. This included the reporter from the Matangi Tonga, the Talaki and I think the other was the Kele’a or the Tau’ataina. There were also the television stations and foreign press.

At all these events, I knew that it wouldn’t be proper for me to criss cross across the front of the stage in all my fabulousness to get some good shots, when the even more fabulous Guest of Honor, usually a member of the Royal Family, was present. That’s the first rule of Tongan etiquette. You might think you are HOT, but if the Guest of Honor is present, and in this case, it was the Honorable Fanetupouvava’u (who I might add is really beautiful) then you just have to accept that you aren’t that HOT and move on.

We were told by a particular woman (who shall go unnamed but was part of the Heilala committee) that this was our designated press area. (Well, NO DUH!)

HOWEVER, later that evening, this woman took one of the photographers straight to the front of the stage and allowed her take pictures. At this time, Hon. Fanetupouvava’u was already on the stage to announce the winners.

In the meantime, we were completely ignored, like we were a collective pile of dog crap, while this woman pampered and doted on this photographer, giving her all the access she needed.

I asked some of the other press “Who is this photographer and why does she have access and we don’t?” They replied, “Oh, she’s from the New Zealand Herald.” I asked “Does this happen all the time?” They said, “YES, all the time.” I asked “Why?” They said, “I guess because they feel the Herald is more important than us.”

Really, who in the hell in NZ really cares for the Miss Heilala pageant other than the Tongan population there? And how many of them actually read the NZ Herald? I would imagine that the Tongan population in NZ would rather prefer the Taimi Tonga or one of the other Tongan papers.

Give me a damn break.

This was a severe lack of insight of an individual that really needs to learn to be fair to all media, especially the local Tongan media. How can you treat local media like that?

Oh, after the NZ Herald got all her shots, we were “invited” to come up to the stage and fight over the leftovers.

Thanks for nothing.

This whole “who you know” mentality in Tonga is so archaic and needs to banished to the 19th century.

Prior to this, I was on this competitive trip with the local media. At every event, we would run into each other, size each other up, jockey for the best positions and shoot away. I had a camera capable of 12X zoom and I was taller than all of them, so it was no sweat for me.

Some of the local papers were even blatantly ripping off the pictures I took for Planet Tonga and cropped and printed them!

At first, I was pissed.

But if this is the way they normally treat local, independent media in Tonga, then it was more important to me to drop my cutthroat attitude and support the local media and the hard work they do.

So, to my friends that I met from the Matangi Tonga (Linny) and the Talaki (Hola), keep fighting the good fight and doing the great work you do! Never settle for less!

Me, chillin’ in Tau’olunga Komipiuta. I really need to do something about my man boobs.

This trip to Tonga was mostly to work on our TYA project and also for Planet Tonga.

So, most of my time was spent either looking at the beige, brick walls of my hotel room (and watching the spider the size of my open hand, crawl in and out of the AC) or staring at the yellow walls at Tau’olunga Komipiuta.

What is Tau’olunga Komipiuta, you ask? It’s the only Apple reseller in Tonga and the preferred internet cafe of Tonga’s most intelligent people, yes, I’m talking about Mac users. (Shut up Anapesi!)

There goes Anapesi, giving us orders again….she’s so bossy.

If you want the best service, hassle free and reliable computers, or you want to buy and iPod or the newest Mac, go to Tau’olunga Komipiuta. This is where my cousin Sione works, along with Trish and owner of the store, Kik Velt, who was so generous to let us come and do our work and tie up their lines uploading photos for our PT readers.

When Elsie isn’t doing the robot with me on Taufa’ahau Road, she’s practicing with our other cousin Teresa

Another cool thing at TK is the sun dial on the outside wall, facing the road. It actually works!

No, it’s not graffiti! It’s the sun dial at TK…

If you are ever in Tonga and need the internet, graphic design services, large format ink jet printing, movie editing, Tau’olunga Komipiuta can do it all.

Tau’olunga Komipiuta’s store sign..thanks Anapesi for the pic!

A deep, heartfelt thank you goes out to Kik Velt, Trish and to Sione for your help and allowing us to use TK as our work center and giving us the edge over the local media…(yup, our stories and pics were always up first, even though they they were always butting in front of me at all the events……woo hoo

We love you!!

Check out their website HERE

PS…thank you Sione for my Tongan fonts!!

(Sione and I at the blowholes)

My cousin Sione took Anapesi and I to Houma to look at the blowholes. It was such a beautiful day and it was towards the evening…so the sun was setting, it had just finished raining and the clouds had just began to disburse, allowing the rays of the evening sun to pierce through the clouds. It was truly breathtaking.

I told Sione, “You know, if I wanted to end my life today, it would be right here…just jump into the blowholes and let it blow me up in the air and slam me on the rocks. It would be the most beautiful way to go.” Knowing my luck, I would probably clog up the hole and and get pummelled by the ocean into bits and pieces.

But alas, it wasn’t my time to go, just a twisted thought, and I have many of those.

(I stole this from Anapesi’s blog…tee hee hee)

So, when Anapesi and I got out of the car, we started screaming things like:

“Dang, that’s so AWESOME!”
“OH-MY-GOSH……..this ROOOOOOOOOOOOCKS!”

(OOOhhhh, I felt that one up my back!)

And then, when one of the waves crashed upon the rocks, spraying water upwards, we started screaming:

“Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, that was SOOOOOO FREAKIN’ AWESOME!!!!” while jumping up and down and screaming in amazement.

We noticed our cousin Sione was very very quiet. He waited until we were done screaming and then he said:

“YOU TWO ARE SO DAMN AMERICAN! You are driving me nuts! Get in the car!”

hahahaha!

We love you Sione!

(Thanks for the pictures Anapesi)