Written By : PETER LOMAS. Miss India Earth 2010, Nicole Faria, is happily sharing the experience of her trip to Fiji with people in India.
Fiji is now one of her most favourite places in the world, she told the popular Miss India website.
“It had everything from adventure, a peep into a different culture, to meeting people, great food and great locales,” she said of this month’s visit.
She praised the warmth of people here and added: “You don’t feel like leaving ever.”
And Miss India World Manasvi Mamgai told the website how impressed she was when she met Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama. She called Commodore Bainimarama a jovial man quite unlike her perceptions of a prime minister.
“He had a fun side too,” she said.
The popular Femina Miss India website is run by one of India’s top magazines, Femina. It is part of the big Times of India media group.
Air Pacific, Tourism Fiji and Nadi-based inbound tour operators Tour Managers teamed up to organise the visit of the queens.
Pantaloons Femina Miss India World Manasvi Mamgai, Miss India International Neha Hinge and Miss India Earth Nicole Faria arrived on Air Pacific via Hong Kong.
The aim was to promote Destination Fiji in the potentially visitor-rich Indian market now there is an easy connection through Air Pacific’s Hong Kong flights.
It was also to help lay the foundations for a possible Fiji bid for the Miss India contest to be held here.
The initiative has certainly already given a major boost to the country’s profile in India.

THREE THINGS
FROM FIJI

Here’s what Miss India Earth Nicole Faria had to say to the Miss India website:
Three things that would take you back to Fiji…
The skydiving experience for sure. It has been the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life, the awe-inspiring locations and the warm people, whom you don’t feel like leaving ever.
Three things you wanted to bring home…
The beautiful and colourful starfish have to be the first.
Since I love snakes and we saw some exquisite species, I would have loved to bring one back with me. Last but not the least the greenery as I am a nature freak.
Three things you enjoyed doing in Fiji…
Sky diving, beach walks and last but not the least, shopping… we had a blast!
Three special things you shopped from the islands…
Kava bowl, which is meant to drink Fiji’s traditional drink, some beautiful skirts, which even men wear there and loads of bikinis.
Your three favourite places that you have visited so far…
Fiji, Hong Kong and Colombo.

SKYDIVING
AT 14,000ft

Meanwhile, Miss India World Manasvi Mamgai told more about skydiving over Fiji:
“Man…we jumped from a height of 14,000 feet! Even domestic planes fly at a height of 10,000 feet. After a free fall of 75 seconds, the parachutes opened. It was completely crazy, but I truly enjoyed it.”
Asked to reveal the fun she had, an excited Manasvi said: “It was a complete trip.
“It had everything from adventure, a peep into a different culture, to meeting people, great food and great locales.”
Manasvi revealed: “It’s not just a beautiful country but a happy country as well. Other than scenic locales, sparkling blue water and beautiful coral reefs, the people of Fiji are a happy lot.
“Whether they know you or not, they’ll shout out a welcoming ‘Bula,’ which means ‘Hello’ to you when they see you on road.”
Apart from all the fun and frolic, work made a great part of the trip, revealed Manasvi.
“We had to shoot for our calendar there. So, most of the time we were busy in that.
“But, whenever we had free time, we skipped out on the beaches to have fun.
“We also met the Fijian prime minister. He is a very jovial man.
“Quite unlike the perception of a Prime Minister, he had a fun side too. He cracked many jokes with us. It was a light-hearted interaction we had.”
# The Femina Miss India website is: http://feminamissindia.indiatimes.com.