{"id":38316,"date":"2014-08-03T03:01:10","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T07:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=38316"},"modified":"2020-08-03T03:40:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T07:40:33","slug":"reminiscing-on-tok-tok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/reminiscing-on-tok-tok\/","title":{"rendered":"Reminiscing on Tok Tok"},"content":{"rendered":"
Written & photos by Alcina Charlie, Vanuatu. <\/em><\/p>\n Time to get back into the normal day-to-day, after a hectic three months of preparing logistics & meeting appointments for 80 plus very important friends from overseas who are our buyers, wholesalers, international media, plus 120 equally as important local tourism operators – resorts, hoteliers, tour operators, and airlines here in Vanuatu.<\/p>\n Well at least, that is what everyone of us at the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO), where I have been working for seven years now, are saying after flying through tirelessly organizing the country\u2019s biggest tourism and trade event, Tok Tok Vanuatu. We had to make sure that the event ran smoothly on 28th<\/sup> and 29th<\/sup> August, pre and post, so well-in-advance preparations were crucial.<\/p>\n After last year\u2019s miss, the event\u2019s come-back felt good by all. You could see it on everybody\u2019s smiling faces like Chief Sam (pictured), and even Candy, the very cute baby goat from Eden on the River tours, also came along as she didn\u2019t want to miss another show. This year, the Tok Tok village was ideally situated on the beautiful Holiday Inn Resort\u2019s private island just across Erakor lagoon where over-water bungalows fringe prettily along the island\u2019s southern point.<\/p>\n As soon as you passed the bridge and walked through the village entrance, the coconut palms, booth\u2019s island-style set up, cooling ocean breeze and tropical sunshine, captivated you with the beauty of Vanuatu islands. Yes this had to be the place for Tok Tok so our buyers could return home with exactly that, a piece of our tropical island paradise so they are reminded to spread the word, and come back with their families and friends.<\/p>\n On Thursday morning, we were asked to start up fresh and early, quick smart, and get to the village before everybody else did so we had enough time to get everything ready for the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n It might have been what I call, and my colleagues know this very well, the \u201cVTO fruity-tutty\u201d (pictured) therapy we have been on since end of last year. Well I still need to be disciplined I must admit, but even working up to 10.30pm the night before decorating two huge marquees, didn\u2019t hold us down for an early start the following morning. Our nervous system kept running on fresh throughout Tok Tok so it had to be those revitalizing goodies we had for lunch every day. So come Thursday morning, staff were present at the village between 7am \u2013 7.30am ready to receive everyone. I, on the other hand ran a little late as I live out a fair bit from town at a village called Melemaat, and getting to the Holiday Inn, especially that morning, I encountered a few delays. But as soon as I got there, I quickly settled in and did what I was supposed to do.<\/p>\n Armed with \u201cRex\u201d, which is the nick-name I have given to my Sony RX100 compact digi-camera (yes he\u2019s my precious treasure), I scooted off to the village site and snapped a few photos for the office, before the light got too bright. Lighting\u2019s usually perfect around 7.30am-7.45am. (In my head I could hear my \u201call-things-photography\u201d mentor David Kirkland, saying this after our recent shoot).<\/p>\n
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