The Road Less Traveled : Tongan Cars

Cars are a special type of breed in Tonga. In America, it is rare to see cars that are especially old or in particularly bad shape. You might see a car in need of a paint job, or with a window replaced with duct tape and cardboard, but for the most part the cars look pretty decent. That is not the case in Tonga.

Here the cars are an interesting hodgepodge of Japanese and European vehicles, inevitably in various stages of disrepair. I rarely see a car that has both 4 unbroken windows and 4 doors that open from the inside and out. Many of the cars don’t need a new paint job as much as would benefit from any semblance of paint at all. Numerous cars are missing a bumper or a rearview mirror. Air conditioning is a mere dream.

I have ridden in cars that wouldn’t start without a few of us having to jump out in the back to push and I am familiar with cars that start only after their engines guzzled a few liters of water. I can vividly recall watching one car jumpstart another from the side of the road, and seemingly every house has the shell of a car, wheels and any reusable part removed, collecting rust in the front yard.

And yet…riding in these cars is one of my favorite experiences in Tonga. Due to my weekly excursions hitchhiking into town, I have sampled a large number of cars. Rarely has everything worked, and never has it mattered. We always ended up where we needed to go, usually gaining a story or two in the process.

Some of my fondest memories are sitting in the back of a flat bed truck, cooled by the breeze as the truck moved up and down the hills of Vava’u. Sometimes in these situations I am alone or with a few people, the space plenty ample for us all. Other times, like last week, I returned in back of the truck with 20 students, all of us crammed in like sardines. It was certainly less cool, but no less of an experience.

Of course there are nice cars. Occasionally a new car or van will arrive in Vava’u on the ferry from the main island, New Zealand, or Japan, all decked out and shiny. But that is not what matters. Instead, what I enjoy is that I can identify every car in my three villages – and many other cars on the island for that matter – simply because all cars have one mark on the inside or out, usually something broken, an interesting choice of color, or some odd design, that distinguishes their car from all the others. When I see a certain car I know who drives it and everyone of their family members who may be riding with him or her.

Some of my favorite cars in my three villages? Great question. We have one low-riding car that has the Tongan flag painted over it and the words of the national rugby team written on the doors. Another van is lime green and barely gets over 30 kilometers an hour. A third van has had its entire inside gutted and replaced with benches along the sides to serve as a type of school bus for the high school kids from one of my villages. The last truck is missing a door on the driver’s side, giving it the appearance of a dilapidated postal truck.

In my mind these cars have character, representing Tonga in some strange but always different way. I love the experience of riding in these cars, and wouldn’t trade it for anything…except maybe for some AC.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos.