About Derek Freiman: World Traveler:
Just who is Derek Freiman?!
Hey. The name's Derek Freiman, world traveler and photography guru. Until now I have simply shared my worldly explorations with family and friends, however I decided it's finally to take my experiences in visiting dozens of beautiful countries around the world and share them with the world!To start, I'm a [30 something] year old who loves to travel and photograph my travels. I've been to islands, mountains, valleys, rivers, oceans, and see some of the best the world has to offer. I believe in getting the most out of the world and the vast beauty that surrounds us everyday.
As someone who lives in a larger US city, I often get stuck in the daily grind and miss out on reconnecting with nature. Through this blog, I hope to take you along a journey that I along with my wife, Emily Freiman, recently had in Fiji. Today I'm going to take you through my most recent world travels to a remote island located off the coast of Fiji.
Fiji & Moturiki: Military Background & Special Forces:
Moturiki is a small island just to the east of Fiji. While we spent much of our trip on larger islands in Fiji, we were fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time on Moturiki all by ourselves (pictures to come).While many people recognize Fiji for it's beauty, what most people don't know about is the militant past that surrounds the beautiful islands. Fiji was often ruled by militant forces (special forces in Fiji) which controlled the island. It wasn't truly until 2006 that Fijian leaders ruled that the military leadership was unlawfully appointed.
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| Militant rule was common throughout the Fijian Islands (Derek Freiman Photography) |
Emily & Derek Freiman's Fijian Journey After Military Rule Was Absolved:
Today, Fiji is a normal country like many of the other countries that have escaped militant or military rule. Instead of focus on the politics that recently surrounded the country, I want to focus on the natural beauty of the islands.We started out identifying that while the island of Fiji is beautiful, we wanted to escape to an isolated area. That's when we heard about Moturiki, which is often considered "off limits" but we were fortunate enough to get there:
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| Derek Freiman's Photo Outside Moturiki, Fiji (Taken By Derek Freiman Photography) |
Monkey's rest in the quiet jungle (Taken by Derek Freiman Photography)
Back On The Mainland:
Back on the mainland, we had a fantastic evening enjoying dinner at a local restaurant in Fiji. While the food was quite different than what we're used to in the United States, it certainly was still delicious to enjoy an authentic meal cooked by a local Fijian chef. While the cuisine wasn't quite as authentic as what we would normally look for, it was still a fantastic evening!.JPG)
Dinner and drink beachside in Fiji (Taken by Derek Freiman Photography)
The following day, we decided to venture into a traditional Fijian town. We first went into the main commerce district, and found a fantastic flea market in which we did much of our shopping for gifts to bring back to the United States. We were constantly reminded by both locals as well as the art that this was an area that just recently escaped from military rule. However with that said, we were still able to find some fun and cheerful gifts to bring back to the US with us!
Venturing into the city, which reminded us of Mexico (Taken by Derek Freiman Photography)
More to come on our trip to Fiji in next week's post where we'll examine the ocean surrounding the islands as well as some more of the wildlife on the islands! I hope you've enjoyed this first post and welcome your comments to encourage me to continue to blog about my explorations!All the best,
Derek Freiman
