Well it's been 6 years and it's been fun. I've just got my "second and final" notice from blogger to migrate my blog – they're moving away from ftp... After looking at the instructions I decided it's not really worth the hassle. I haven't been updating and no one is following. So this is it folks! Zong's blog is now officially closed. Long live Zong's blog! :)
And here are some photos documenting Ma and Ba's visit to SF. This probably will be my last picasa web album too – I'm getting close to my limit and it cannot be viewed in China anyways – so much for my usage of some google products...
Waking up at 7 in the morning was not easy, given that we did not go to bed till 3am, tagging along with the crew in their pub-crawl. But we didn't want to miss the Marché de Pape'ete, which is supposed to be more happening early morning when the locals come to shop. It was a colorful sprawl of fruits, vegetables, fish, fish juice, coconut products, BBQ pork, and people (most of the knick-knack stands for tourists were not open at this hour). I eyed the papayas packaged 3 to a pack, but knowing that we only had a day on the island I refrained from buying any.
The islanders are all decked with flowers in their hair. Except youngsters, the islanders tend to be quite big. The kids are all extremely cute, with the most winsome smiles. One of the obvious differences between the Society Islands and Hawai'i is their people. Whereas there aren't many Hawaiians on Hawai'i these days, the Society Islands are still peopled with mostly Polynesians, plus some French and Chinese and "demis" (mixtures of Polynesians and other races). As the biggest town in French Polynesia (islands occupying an area roughly the size of Europe), Papeete attracts immigrants/workers from all over: the Austral islands, the other Society Isles.
The time had come to say goodbye to Star Flyer. This being Sunday morning, the streets of Pape'ete were deserted (everyone's in Church). Luckily there was one working taxi to take us to our hotel, operated by "the first woman taxi driver in Tahiti", a youthful 78-year-old vegan lady, originally from Bora Bora.
Still swaying after 7 days on a ship, we spent a relaxing day lounging at the hotel, napping, taking a dip, sitting by the pool facing the black sands of Lafayette beach. A group of Tahitians sitting next to us were playing their guitar and ukulele and singing island tunes. Mingled with the sound of the waves, the music of the south sea was lovely. There was a spectacular sunset that evening.
We decided to rent a car to drive around the island the next day. Matthew got to reacquaint himself with driving a stick-shift after a 10 year hiatus, in a seemingly perpetual Papeete traffic jam. Not just in Papeete but almost all around the island there was a constant stream of traffic, and drivers here seemed to be particularly fond of tailgating, which did not help to alleviate Matthew's anxiety. I could not help, having never driven a manual car. He did a good job, and we made it around the island safely and in good time, although we could have started earlier – the days in the tropics are short, and we didn't see anything of the south part of the island in the darkness.
In the darkness we left the island, with a tiare in our hair. Such a small flower, with such a sweet perfume, just like the islands, jewels in the South Pacific. The fragrance accompanied us all the way through the 8-hour flight, back to LA.
A week in the Society Isles: Huahine, and Opunohu Bay, Moorea
A beach day on Huahine, I had it planned out: I would snorkel a little, and lie on the beach and read. If I feel adventurous enough, maybe I'll try to windsurf. But this was to be my relaxing day.
It didn't go quite according to plan, but in its own way it was relaxing too, and I attribute it to the island of Huahine, which exudes a kind of calming energy – relaxing but not at all lethargic. Even our shuttle from the ship was different: as we sped towards shore, a couple of outrigger canoes approached us, and proceeded to ride our wake, surfing in the waves behind us. That looked like so much fun!
Fare looked like a perfect South Sea town (or more like a village), right beside a beach. The water here is like liquid glass – you can see right to the bottom just looking down from the pier! Kids were playing around the pier and there was music drifting from the houses. A short walk took us to the end of this stretch of beach, where the Sports Team had set up their little operation. And Matthew immediately signed us up on the water-skiing excursion.
The bay was dotted with a few visiting yachts along with Star Flyer, like birds resting on water. The green hills, though not as steep and dramatic as the higher islands, slopes gracefully and form a perfect backdrop. Trying out water-skiing was thrilling, though I didn't fully stand up. Matthew had a blast zipping around the bay on the skis though, and was on such a high that he proceeded to do all the water sports available: sailing (while we were still on the zodiac, he gallantly offered to switch with one of the sailors who were struggling to sail), windsurfing (with hardly any wind), and kayaking (I participated in this last activity, jumping boat at one point to snorkel as well). With all the activities it could have been a frantic day but it did not feel that way at all, it was actually rejuvenating. I was extremely hungry though by the time we got back on board, and wolfed down 2 tacos and a sandwich in no time.
Back to Moorea the next morning, this time we moored at the spectacular Opunohu Bay, surrounded by fortress-like mountains. We caught a ride with Tahia Collins pearl boutique to admire their black pearl jewelry (tried on a fortune around my neck – quite heavy), and took a walk to the beach. Along the northwest point of the island the waters are very shallow along the beach and we half walked and half waded for about a mile, to the Hotel Tipaniers, passing the abandoned Club Med (a strange sight). Two motus beckon just off shore, and this being Saturday, there was a lot of activities along the beach and on the water – much different from our last time on the island. The water here isn't the clearest, but there's a good amount of fish. A big stingray almost swam right up to me, just a few feet from the beach. While I snorkeled a bit by the pier at Tipaniers (more wading than swimming), Matthew enjoyed a latte at the restaurant.
Back on the shipping there was sobering news (a gentleman had a heart attack while snorkeling). We sailed on to Tahiti. Life is fleeting, so you've got to cherish what you have. The crew all cherish the only night on land they have – partying to the wee hours in the morning in Papeete's smoky bars, dancing the night away.
Of Bora Bora, there seem to be two opinions: 1. Paradise on earth; or 2. Overblown tourist trap. At first approach of the main town Vaitape, the second opinion looked a more likely winner. The spectacular peaks were hiding in clouds, and the town wasn't much – a dusty road and a bunch of touristy shops, a church, some food stands; and we spotted a couple of Japanese tourists (first ones I saw this trip). It was hot (the only place I felt hot in the whole trip). We rented two bicycles and embarked on a semi-circle-island trip. The road was pretty good for biking, mostly flat and not much traffic. The view soon improved as we left the town behind, and I felt much cooler. In half an hour we were at Matira beach. Spreading out in front of us, was a lovely stretch of white sand, and a luminous lagoon. And "Paradise" started to look like a good assessment after all.
I read somewhere that on Bora Bora, none of the hotels on the beach has a swimming pool, because the lagoon makes it redundant. Not sure if that's true, but a look at the lagoon and it makes total sense – the beach slopes into the water so gently it's like a wading pool, and the water is so beautiful and calm, a light turquoise as far as the eyes can see. There were just a few sun bathers: some locals, some tourists, a Tahitian beauty... There were also a few dogs on the beach (they are ubiquitous on the islands), but unlike the humans, they were all in the shade, most of them napping (this reminds me of the dogs in Thailand), except one very cute little puppy named Max, who was playing with some kids in the water, and then decided to follow us for a while, snuggling up to Matthew's ankles.
We lingered on the beach for a while, then biked on down the road. Rounding one corner, I screeched to a stop. We were now next to some fancy hotel, with those famous over-the-water bungalows, but it was the color of the water that caught my attention – so many shades and hues, from the lightest aquamarine to the deepest cobalt. We stood there, half stunned.
The way back was a little harder against the wind. But we made it back in time for a quick bite before our dive. I was a little skeptical of the concept of diving in sharky waters, and given our dive the day before, didn't have very high expectations. Nevertheless I thought I'd give it a try, just so that I could say I'd done it. Little did I suspect that I would experience one of the best dives of my life!
As soon as we jumped in the water, just outside the reef at the "Tapu" site, we could see tons of fish, and a shark below. And when we descended, the magic truly began. Gliding along in the clear water, I recalled the euphoria that I felt many years ago in Palancar reef in Cozumel – that feeling of moving freely in 3 dimensional space, like flying. We were among numerous colorful fish, some almost came right up to my mask. A few large lemon sharks were roaming the reefs, swimming slowly, just a few feet from me, and I felt completely at ease! That was the strangest thing, being at peace in the presence of a large predator – I had imagined that my reaction would be fear or repulsion.
Our local guide, Delphine, knew this place inside out, she took us on a tour of the reef, pointing out lionfishes hiding in caves, and colorful Christmas tree worms with plumes like flowers on the coral (they're so pretty!). She has a trick of clicking her fingers to attract fish (they're used to getting fed, and the sound attract them), and it was quite magical to watch. For a while she stopped in front of one coral rock and tried to entice something out of its hiding place with her regulator, and out came an enormous moray eel – by far the largest one I'd ever seen. If I was not breathing through the regulator my mouth would have been wide open out of astonishment! Later on we came upon a titan triggerfish, one big ugly looking thing with funny eyeballs, and big front teeth (in truth I was a little wary of it when it came very close to me). Though the coral wasn't super impressive, the abundance of fish and other creatures was amazing. It was a beautiful dive.
We were so excited after the dive that we almost immediately took off on the next snorkel trip and happily jumped off to swim with more fish. This time we tried Delphine's clicking trick and were successful at attracting a big group of fish ourselves (Matthew's theory is that once you attract a couple of fish other fish would all come to investigate, much like we humans' tendency to join the line up in front of seemingly popular restaurants). That was fun. And then a spotted eagle ray came by, a beautiful creature, with its wing-like fins and long tail, gracefully glided in the water, looked around and left.
It was a short day, but to us, it was a short day in Paradise. (Some of our fellow shipmates had different opinions, as they saw a side of Bora Bora that we did not venture to.)
a motu, is Polynesian for an islet, which is basically a small parcel of paradise – in this case white sands shaded by graceful coconut palms and Casuarina pines, with a lovely view of the vanilla island of Taha'a, surrounded by the aquamarine waters of the lagoon. That is where the shuttle dumped us, with a wet landing – and all the castaways happily waded up the last few yards to the beach.
Just sitting on the beach after a dip in the water would have been heavenly enough. I brought my book along just for that purpose. But other activities beckon... the Sports Team had brought their collection of kayaks, windsurfs, and sailboats, and they were hard to resist. So we took out a dinghy – by "we" I mean Matthew took out the boat with me perching on it, ever vigilant to dodge the boom. The wind was blowing strong, but pretty constant and in a good direction – parallel to our take-off beach, so it's quite enjoyable for sailing, with just the right amount of thrills. I was genuinely impressed by Matthew's sailing skills, especially considering the last time we did this was around 10 years ago, in a placid lake. After zooming across the lagoon a few times I dumped myself in the water and got back to the motu, thinking beach time. I hardly opened my book before Matthew returned, ready for lunch. The crew had been working hard setting up a barbecue on the motu, bringing all the food and stuff with multiple wet landings, so that we could have a perfect picnic. Such is the harsh life of castaways on a deserted island...
After stuffing our faces, it's almost time for our first scuba dive. It had been 3 years (almost to the day) since our last dive on Maui, and I was again, nervous – guess it's normal if one dives only once every 2-3 years. As our fellow divers turn out to be just infrequent divers as we are, we were promised an easy and pretty dive. It didn't go smoothly – first the dive boat broke down, so we waited; then we realized we had more divers than weight belts, which necessitated a trip to the ship; then we realized ... something else, and by then I was all suited up and carrying a heavy tank on my back, which was no fun at all as the zodiac bumped around the waves. It was a relief to be finally in the water. And further complications ensued – a fellow diver could not equalize, so we hovered in the water waiting... Turned out that we drifted and missed the dive site altogether and consequently did not see much (except a moray eel with electric green spots, which was cool). And our camera memory card went haywire somewhere under the water, so no more underwater pictures (I'm still kicking myself for not bringing extra cards)! As chaotic as it was, this dive did serve the purpose of getting me reacquainted with diving again – I could do this. There would be a much recommended dive in Bora Bora tomorrow, featuring shark sightings (that's a feature I felt rather ambiguous about). To go or not to go, that was the question. We pondered this as Star Flyer sailed into another sunset – with the legendary Bora Bora silhouetted on the horizon, and in the glimmering waves, we saw dolphins...
Had we not just been to Moorea the day before, we would have found the island of Ra'iatea very striking. But after the dramatic landscape at Cook's Bay, any vista would have seemed an understatement. Still, the many high cliffs and lush valleys look entrancing. The island has an unassuming air and an aura – Ra'iatea is the second largest island in the Society group, and according to my guidebook, the cultural, religious, and historic center of Eastern Polynesia. As legends have it, it is from Ra'iatea that the first Polynesians set out for Hawaii and New Zealand, colonizing the far reaches of the Pacific.
Our ship parked alongside at the docks in Uturoa, the second largest town in all of French Polynesia. It consists of a couple of blocks of shops, many ran by Chinese (who have been here a few generations). In the market there's green Chinese veggies alongside tropical fruits and taro. Grocery is quite expensive here – I saw a box of Tofu, for example, cost at least $4 (the same thing sells for $1 in SF). Tourism isn't as big here as in the other Society Islands.
We had a 4x4 "safari" that took us from the coastal road to the rugged interior, through a copra plantation (with shorter coconut trees that can withstand cyclones), traversing jungle paths lined with red ginger and hibiscus. Our guide (originally from the Austral Islands, the southernmost group of French Polynesia) informed us of the many traditional uses of the hibiscus leaves: cooking wraps, serving plates, and toilet paper, to name a few. (He collected a few leaves himself, presumably for dinner.) At the mention of food one of our fellow passengers produced a green pomelo from her bag – a souvenir from her tour of Moorea and we divided it up, it's very juicy and tasty, with thinner skin and less spongy rind than any pomelos I knew before.
We stopped by the vanilla farm "La Vanillère". Among tables full of drying vanilla beans, (which is by the way very fragrant,) one of the owners, Yannick, gave us a little lecture about the plant. We learned that Tahitian vanilla beans make up less than 5% of the world market, but they are more expensive than the other vanilla for their unique aroma. The vanilla is actually an orchid that blooms once a year and must be hand pollinated within the day – this is because the vanilla orchid originally came from Mexico, where a local bee would do the job naturally, but wouldn't work elsewhere – and the resulting beans won't be ready for harvesting for 9 months (like a human baby!). Then there's the drying, and hand sorting... Sounds very labor intensive, no wonder it's so pricey!
Our final destination was the famous Taputapuatea marae (temple) complex, on the southeastern coast of the island. This is the sacred temple, the starting point of the great migrations fanning out to the 3 corners of Polynesia, taking with them stones from this marae as foundations of new maraes in far-off islands. Ringed on one side by a gorgeous beach, there are several restored stone platforms on the grounds with standing stones and sculptures. The main platform is backed by a long rock wall – an altar. Wandering around the site, in the bright sun by the shimmering lagoon, I tried to imagine the solemn scenes acted out here long ago: the rituals and ceremonies, the sacrifices, performed on this platform; the emigration parties, facing long and uncertain journeys, and returning canoes paying homage to their god, coming through the pass just offshore... The place was very quiet, aside from our group and a grounds keeper, the only creatures moving about were the many crabs (coconut crabs?) burrowing throughout the grounds.
In the late afternoon we went out for another snorkel – the wind had whipped up some waves in the lagoon and there was a strong current near the reef, so we didn't stay long. Back on deck I had a lovely treat – a Thai massage by a Thai masseuse – and was in a very relaxed state for the rest of the evening. Our next destination was the neighbouring island of Taha'a, located in the same lagoon as Ra'iatea, so there was no rocky ride this day. At dinner, all the plates and cutlery stayed in their proper place; and everyone slept soundly that night.
Bye bye blogger 
