Tahiti - South Pacific Island 13
Well after suriving the likes of India, and other dubious asian destinations, we really thought that we'd faced the hardest backpacking destinations. That is, until we reached French Polynesia!
We thought that this time we'd been clever, having booked both our accommodation and airport transfers prior to our arrival here. However, this country is run by the French and it appears true that, even though we're in the middle of the South Pacific, these people hate the English just as much, if not more, than the French people in France!
Tahiti Market
We thought that this time we'd been clever, having booked both our accommodation and airport transfers prior to our arrival here. However, this country is run by the French and it appears true that, even though we're in the middle of the South Pacific, these people hate the English just as much, if not more, than the French people in France!
Firstly, there was no airport transfer and, even in Tahiti, 18pounds for a 5-minute taxi ride, seemed a little steep. Second, after our short, wallet-draining taxi ride, we arrived to our supposedly pre-booked accommodation...only to find that the booking had never actually been made, despite our email confirmation! In fact the only accommodation they had for that night was two beds...in a lovely bedroom...outside! Yep, our deluxe room had no walls, nor even a roof! We were in the flamin' garden! Even that came at a cost of 4000 Pacific Francs - a whopping 24-pounds. It might not sound like too much, but 24 pounds for a back full of mosquito bites, is expensive, even by French standards!
This was not our only inconvenience in this place, since everything we did proved either impossible, or at least, extremely difficult. One example was asking a Tahitian directions to somewhere, to which she replied in perfect English, "You don't speak French, so I don't speak English". Damn French!
Indeed it was true that a very small percentage of people didn't speak English, but it was obvious that many did, but just refused to!
Tahiti itself would otherwise have been quite a nice town. In fact the abundance and inexpense of French baguettes and cheese certainly didn't leave us hungary. Even the French beer wasn't expensive...provided you bought it at a supermarket! The same beer that was a pound in the supermarket, was about 5 pounds in the cheapest of bars!
Needless to say, we looked pretty quickly into where in French Polynesia we were heading. Despite the expensiveness of this place, we had both previously decided we wanted to see Bora Bora, home to the rich and famous...and us, for a few days!
Unfortunately our wallets had been too stretched by the taxi's and "garden accommodation" for us to consider a flight. The only other mode of transport was, believe it or not, a cargo ship...
This was not our only inconvenience in this place, since everything we did proved either impossible, or at least, extremely difficult. One example was asking a Tahitian directions to somewhere, to which she replied in perfect English, "You don't speak French, so I don't speak English". Damn French!
Indeed it was true that a very small percentage of people didn't speak English, but it was obvious that many did, but just refused to!
Tahiti itself would otherwise have been quite a nice town. In fact the abundance and inexpense of French baguettes and cheese certainly didn't leave us hungary. Even the French beer wasn't expensive...provided you bought it at a supermarket! The same beer that was a pound in the supermarket, was about 5 pounds in the cheapest of bars!
Needless to say, we looked pretty quickly into where in French Polynesia we were heading. Despite the expensiveness of this place, we had both previously decided we wanted to see Bora Bora, home to the rich and famous...and us, for a few days!
Unfortunately our wallets had been too stretched by the taxi's and "garden accommodation" for us to consider a flight. The only other mode of transport was, believe it or not, a cargo ship...
Les Roulottes (food stalls) and our delicious steak baguettes!
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