Honeymoon: Huahine, French Polynesia

Travel Dates: November 23, 2012 to November 26, 2012 

Next stop on our French Polynesia honeymoon was Huahine. We arrived at their very small airport where the baggage is wheeled in from the small airplane and tossed on a simple, double-tiered metal rack for us to claim. Among common tourist baggage were coolers and dog-eared boxes of food that locals ship from the more developed Tahiti island.

When we arrived in the evening, we asked the concierge where we could eat locally aside from the Maitai Lapita's O-Mai Restaurant. She told us the village was a short, 5-minute walk away along the beach. "It is dark," she pointed out, "but with the light of the moon, you can find your way." As soon as we exited the lobby, it started raining, so back we went to borrow some umbrellas from the concierge. As we walked along the seashell-ridden sand of the beach, we realized how dark it was. The only lights were two pinpricks of red, the eyes belonging to some wild animal our imagination conjured up before we realized it was just a villager's dog. We got to a few makeshift stone stair steps, guided by "the light of the moon" and Tung's small Swiss Army flashlight, before abandoning ship and doing an about-face back to our hotel to eat at the restaurant after all.

I had the roasted duck for dinner. Expensive, but oh-so-good and worth it.

The fancy, immaculate shower in our bungalow in the Maitai Lapita Hotel

Morning sunlight streaming through the artistically cut designs in our bungalow

Bananas growing on trees littering the hotel's gardens

This was the size of our family bungalow. They ran out of smaller bungalows when we booked, so we upgraded on a grand scale.

View of the lotus pond surrounding the bungalows

Bungalow reflections in the pond

Lotus in bloom toward the middle of the day. In the morning, like the locals, the flowers sleep.

Our swimming pool at the Maitai Lapita, complete with Hinano Beer sponsored sun umbrellas

View of the ocean and the private "Tabu" pier from the beach of our hotel

We had to walk past this patch of uninhabited land on our way to the village. Not so intimidating in the morning, but very dark at night, especially since you don't have a clue as to what you're walking past without any street lamps.

When our concierge told us "the village" was nearby, I imagined a developed plaza named "The Village." It was a cultural shock when we arrived and saw it in daylight the next morning--it was an actual little village whose exterior colors and architecture reminded us of cities in Viet Nam.

The little red-trimmed building is Chez Guynette, a bed-and-breakfast that also opens its doors to the public as a restaurant serving lunch and dinner. Chez Guynette is a good place for lunch on Sundays when almost all shops close in Huhahine.

 

 Tung customized an order of scrambled eggs (no mayonnaise!) in a French baguette. Though the server tripped a little over the "no mayo" request (who doesn't eat a sandwich with some form of cheese or creamy sauce?!), she complied, making Tung one happy camper.

Just past the village are the residential houses and a simple gravel road leading up to them.

The locals open up kiosks selling fruits and handmade crafts in the village square

The Tahitian Hibiscus, whose flowers change color throughout the day: yellow in the morning after it first blooms, orange later on in the day, and red just before it falls from the tree.

Super Fare Nui, or Super U, was our lifesaver supermarket during our stay in Huahine. There, you could find groceries and other household items sold at common stores, and it's blissfully air-conditioned. We liked the sandwiches with different fillings and would make daily trips there to buy lunch. I learned that "Hachis" means minced beef, not "cat" as the local lady told us, who meant well and wanted to help us out as we puzzled over the French ingredients (she meant "cow," or "beef").

Buying fruits from the stalls outside the supermarket was also a fun pantomime of selecting choice fruits and finding out which coin to pay to the vendor. Bananas weren't the same as my favorite Southeast Asian "chuoi su," but they served as a delicious snack nevertheless.

Another lunch favorite of ours was to hit the Roulottes that parked around the village square. One place served "American style" fish or beef burgers with a side of fries and a soft drink. Even the grilled burgers were lathered with a creamy sauce, but the fish burger was very fresh.

The perfect place to sit, relax, and people-watch was a shady pier overlooking the ocean. A steady breeze blew through the niche, and it was also a favorite spot for locals and teen schoolkids to meet up and hang out.

A local fishing family gets ready to take off in their small boat

It was so hot walking to and from the village anytime between 10AM and 7PM that the only way Tung could make it through was to get a cold Hinano beer for the trek.
 

Back at the hotel, we got some down-time to enjoy the pool. Nothing like swimming and being able to look out to an ocean view at the same time.

The shady tree provided a cool relief from the harsh midday sun

Enjoying a beautiful purple sunset near the pier. Huahine's beauty is such that I'd have to stop and gawk during a random walk just to take in the visual feast of rich colors.

Enjoying the sunset from the swimming pool

Cocktail and a nightly dip

As in the custom of the Tahitians, our concierge said hello to us with flowers, and goodbye to us with shells.

One last picture before boarding the plane to our next island

Huahine Takeaways:

• Inter-island flights would sometimes allow you to bring on less weight than intercontinental flights. Plan accordingly when you travel so you meet the max weight for each flight that you have to take to avoid overage charges, especially if French Polynesia is not your only destination and you may have to plan for wardrobes to accommodate temperature discrepancies. You may need to shuffle items around in your luggage to make the weight requirements per bag.
• A popular way to go between islands is the ferry, presuming you don't get seasick like I do.
• Huahine is a leeward island with Tahiti blocking most of the trade winds, so in the dry season, it could get very hot. Average temperatures when we stayed were 86 degrees Fahrenheit, but the intense humidity and lack of breezes made it seem a whole lot hotter.
• Huahine is a great island to visit to experience the local island culture. While we were there, we saw a communal barbecue to celebrate a birthday (it frankly smelled better than any food we could buy), as well as the Physical Education portion of kids attending school; instead of running the mile like we do in California, children are tested on their swimming abilities with buoys roped off along the shore for them to swim around and dive under.
• Most locals in Huahine speak only French or Tahitian and very little English, even if you do not wander far from your hotel.
• Since fewer tourists frequent Huahine than the more popular Bora Bora, it's a great place to go to relax and decompress when you're done with all the fast-paced tourist activities of the other islands. Some days, you'll feel like you got the entire swimming pool or beach to yourself.
• Sandwiches or breads and cheeses bought at a local grocery store could be a great way to eat for cheap or to get food for a picnic. Some bungalows or hotels even come equipped with refrigerators so your food would keep for longer.