As soon as Jim and I arrived in Tahiti, my family whisked us to Moorea, loaded the cars and drove on the ferry Aremiti. In less than an hour, we were standing on the turf of Moorea, eating fresh pineapples, green mangoes dipped in bonbon chinois powder and drinking cold coconuts. Life on a small island like Moorea, I can only say “it’s paradise!”
Arriving in Moorea by ferry
We unloaded our stuffs in the bungalows, went swimming, went to the restaurant at night (that’s another story) and we did some of the most popular spots like the Lagunarium and the Belvedere look out where we can see over the Cook’s Bay.
So up the winding road we all went to see the view. Most of the cars driven are not automatic cars, so in second gears, we drove up, third if there was no cars in front of us, but mostly nothing that resembled any racing, for the road is kind of narrow, only allowing one car to go up. If by any chance another car is coming down while we were going up, someone had to drive all the way to the side. Not the time to be driving any big SUV!
Year 2005, we took many pictures of the two bays we admired so much. Was Cook’s bay the one on the left or the one on the right? We weren’t so sure but it did not matter. It was so beautiful.
Cook's bay view from the valley Cook's bay from the Belvedere look out point
Year 2007, Jim and I went back home again to Tahiti and we were back at the same spot, admiring the same view. The sun was at a different position and it gave us a different feeling. But this time something else was attracting our attention. A bunch of chicken or can I say a flock of chicken were busy on the Belvedere look out, clucking around, looking for food, being under foot, and trying to do there business right there on that special spot.
See the chickens?
My kids, having grown up here in the U.S., weren’t used to seeing roosters and chickens in so close a range, so soon, it turned out to be a free for all chase the rooster, run after the chicken. They were all clucking loud and furiously trying to get away from the kid’s feet, sometimes almost taking flight, those brown and red feathers shining in the Tahitian sun, but never, never once did they try to actually run away from that area. Always almost close enough to be touched, but never quite, running in circles with all the kids running in circles behind them. I wonder who had the brain of a chicken that day!
Opunohu bay on the left, Cook's bay on the right on a cloudy day
My girlfriend was with us on that trip that year and the whole time she kept saying “I wish I had a sling”, “I could just use a sling and get one of those and cook it”. She is from Laos and had just experienced her first few nights in the islands. Balmy nights filled with the little sounds that lull each and everyone to sleep. For her, the nightly serenade by a chorus of singing roosters was just too much. She had tried the pillow over the head trick, the cotton balls in the ears trick, the white noise from a standing fan close to her trick, and the radio on all night trick. All had been to no avail, for she could still hear them clearly, every single night, singing their heart out as soon as the sun went down all the way to the rise of the next morning sun. She was a little bit sleep deprived and would have happily make one of them pay the price for all of them. But the roosters reigned over the night, every night, Tahiti, Moorea, it did not make a difference and there was no sling to be had in any part of our trip that year. So, she kept on wishing for a sling, which, I am sure, she must be very good at using by the sound of it!
the Belvedere look out, view of the mounain
Year 2009 visit brought us back to Tahiti once again (I love my family) and yes, back to Moorea and the Belvedere. We like it there!
I did not think that we could beat the year 2007 visit, but 2009 turned out to be a special one. We were again in the car, going slowly up that same winding road, all of us relax to the max. After all, we had seen all that could be seen at the Belvedere and now it was just tradition. We go to Moorea. We go to the Belvedere!
A car was up ahead of us moving real slow, keeping up with a bicyclist, whom I assumed was in training, for who wants to ride their bike up such a steep slope. Certainly the young man was not doing it for fun. None of us were in a hurry, so we were passing the time with lots of chitchats, looking out the window, looking at that strong bicyclist who was sweating profusely in front of us, riding and straining on his bike with the car moving along, side by side with him.
The driver of that car put his arm out of the window, holding in his hand a water bottle, passed it to his friend on the bike…..NOPE!….holding in his hand a water bottle with the cap off, (what a nice thoughtful friend), and shook the bottle for all he was worth, and to our shock, sprayed that guy on the bike with it and took off. The bicyclist swayed sharply on the road. I can assure every one and any one that there was no earthquake on that day, not even a small tremor. The young man, while he almost fell, managed to put his foot safely on the ground and not sprawled himself all over the paved road, and showing a magnificent sense of strength and coordination, brandished his arm out in a gesture I can’t repeat, while he yelled and cursed in the language he felt the most comfortable with.
We passed him, all of us laughing so hard, looking back and watching him continuing to curse and shake his arm above his head. Unbelievable that in such a peaceful and paradise like place, a silly thing like that had happened. Around the next corner was the place of the Belvedere. No too far behind us came the bicyclist, pumping hard on the pedals, dreaming of revenge, and the culprit in his car, waiting to ride back down the road, ready to dart pass the not his friend the bicyclist. Yap, some people are not too smart!
