{"id":18,"date":"2013-10-10T04:13:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T04:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/the-spirit-of-samoa\/"},"modified":"2022-04-20T22:20:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T22:20:22","slug":"the-spirit-of-samoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/the-spirit-of-samoa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spirit of Samoa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cIf you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home\u201d \u2013 James A. Michener<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Beyond the perfect white beaches, coconut groves and calm turquoise waters, Samoa is also one of the richest cultural regions in the world.<\/p>\n<p>A combination of culture, people and the untouched landscape has drawn the attention of photographers and intrepid travellers, especially over the last few years.<\/p>\n<p>From the sounds of tropical birds chattering in the lush green jungle to the ancient and captivating fire knife dance, Samoa is a tapestry of natural beauty and ancient cultures. The minute your feet hit the fertile soil, the spirit of Samoa can be felt.<\/p>\n<p>Like many fellow Expedia Travellers, I travel with the purpose to explore, experience and learn. I\u2019m curious about the lives of the local people. I choose to get off the beaten tourist path and walk through the villages, willingly observing the local customs and participating in village life.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s now time to take a journey to\u00a0<a title=\"Expedia Samoa Travel Guide\" href=\"http:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/Samoa.d6055281.Destination-Travel-Guides?brandcid=blog.gallery.samoa_17102013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Samoa<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the land of happy people, rich culture and natural wonder.<\/p>\n<p><em>Images by Claire-Maree Charters<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home\u201d \u2013 James A. Michener Beyond the perfect white beaches, coconut groves and calm turquoise waters, Samoa is also one of the richest cultural regions in the world. A combination of culture, people and the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/the-spirit-of-samoa\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Spirit of Samoa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,2,4,30,6,11],"tags":[46],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-destination","category-experiences","category-explore","category-food","category-oceania","category-relax","tag-samoa","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Spirit of Samoa | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/the-spirit-of-samoa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spirit of Samoa | Expedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cIf you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home\u201d \u2013 James A. Michener Beyond the perfect white beaches, coconut groves and calm turquoise waters, Samoa is also one of the richest cultural regions in the world. 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