We're chatting away about the fire in Tonga and we're just so disappointed for the Pizza Piazza at Tungi Arcade (along with everyone else wrongly screwed by this act of terrorism/vandalism)

When we realise that the Italian Pizza service is also operating out of their 2nd store at Havelu, across from the Hospital.

Fear not pizza lovers. You can still have your full fledged Italian Pizza from the Little Italy @ Sopu-'o-Taufa'ahau, and Pizza Piazza formerly at Tungi Arcade but now only available at Havelu, across from the Hospital.

Our family choice for Take-Away in Tonga is the Pizza Piazza at Tungi Arcade (now only available at Havelu) or Yummi Treats which sells sandwich BBQ type rolls and plates at the Memorial Centre. We were also enjoy the Kami Burgers but they seem to have been smashed up and are inside the exclusion zone so they aren't flipping burgers for a while.

Fakalato's downstairs take-away used to be popular with the lunch crowds. Since there aren't any lunch crowds anymore I guess that's not a problem.

Quality restaurants such as Lunarossa just don't exist anymore so eating out choices have been seriously hampered unless you like to eat out by visiting the relatives? Hey Father-in-law, do you remember us?

Computer Services

Tonga Siliva's InfoTech facilities were wiped out together with the rest of the stuff at Tungi Arcade, but so far as the photos go Alfred & Saia's Dataline escaped serious damage although business is still restricted to some degree because Alfred & Saia's business were at the Kauli bakery at Fa'onelua.

Hair Cuts

I guess it's a good thing we bought some clippers to be taking to Tonga, since Paula Leka's little shack is in the middle of the exclusion zone. Or, right across from Kauli Bakery.

The girls seem to still have a selection with Tongan hair salons (O4 knows them) but quite a few of the salons were operated by the chinese so those are inoperable too.

Phone Service

We're not having any problems calling Tonga recently so it seems (other than 'Amelia losing her phone [or was that hinting at a new phone]) that phone services are reasonably available.

Tonfon's town service was somewhat disrupted but is supposedly back to full peek (their downtown tower narrowly escaped the arson attacks.) Unfortunately for Shoreline/Tonfon and her customers, there are no more phonecards in circulation, or a very limited amount available. Without a generally accessible desk service (something to do with the building burning down?), Tonfon customers are doing hard to make outgoing calls.

With the TCC downtown office likely to be inside the exclusion zone, it looks as if people are going to have to hike it to the Ma'ufanga office to pay their bills.

Evening Entertainment

Finau Twin Theatre seems to be still up, although six months ago they were showing movies in only one theatre and weren't pulling much of a crowd.

Of course, Fund Management's "Star Cinema" is up in smoke so Taimi 'o Tonga can pull their scheduled advertising and likewise movie goers will have to go back to their town video stores for rentals.

Internet Services

The correspondence and communiques we've recieved indicate that the international links for the Internet services seem to be doing just fine (http://www.kalianet.to && http://www.tonfon.to ) although domestic connections seem to be problematic especially for Kalianet wired customers in the fire effected areas (probably some work to be done on the cabling.)

Banking Services

As mentioned by real news sites, banking services are kicking back into gear with the ATMs already functional and ANZ in temporary quarters.

If you've got those loans to repay, then you really ought to visit your bank manager and talk something out.

Photo Processing

The only two photo processing facilities in the Kingdom, that I knew of, were the Fotofix service that has been trashed and the Tonga/Chinese Fuji service that was beside the ANZ Bank (I believe that was part of the fired lane.)

I don't recall anyone else processing films locally, and Fotofix was the only service that had the digital photo kiosks. Of course, only these suppliers really know whether its a viable business to start from scratch but there seems to be an opportunity?

Other relocations from the 'Net and elsewhere.

ANZ Bank (burnt out) is operating temporarily at Ma'ufanga near the Small Industries Park.

Shoreline Communications (burnt out) is operating temporarily from the Palace Grounds.

Vava'u Press (burnt out) publishers of Matangi Tonga are up and operational although still finding resources.

Unfortunately for Shoreline, not only do they have problems collecting electric bills they also have no phone cards left in distribution so their customers can't buy more credits to make outgoing calls (although phones still answer fine.)