French Polynesia

[Hugo]

Hey Raymen, Raywomen and Raynon-binaries,

I've had the incredible fortune to visit French Polynesia, one of the world's most idyllic destinations. I know the history is complicated and probably ugly, but from what I can tell, the French have made it a priority to protect the natural beauty of this place. I truly hope this place will remain protected, as places like this could easily become overrun with tourists and fall into decline. Much of the natural beauty of the world has already fallen to industrialization.

I hope you like my photos and let me know if you have any questions! (Unless you're actually from here, in which case you can school me!)

Edit: fixed images not displaying properly

Edit 2: fixed again...

[Greengoop]

I’ve a question; did you visit any villages? If so, what did the locals say about the islands?

[Hugo]

I’ve a question; did you visit any villages? If so, what did the locals say about the islands?

There were 2 tour guides who were very informative.

The first was Paul Atallah, an American archaeologist who lives there and does tours of Huahine. He showed us the simplicity of the infrastructure and brought us to a sacred site (a stone altar). Paul said work life is slow there, but indicated that it didn't need to match the demanding pace of other countries.

The second was actually native to Polynesia and he showed us Moorea, which is a contender for the most beautiful of all the islands. It has ancient, stunning land formations which make me think of New Zealand or the Grand Canyon. Basically he treasures his paradise home, and not only that, he has a detailed knowledge of it, for example the various plants that grow there. You can see in one of the photos a sort of mishmash of trees that look like they belong in different countries, and this is actually true because many came from overseas.

As far as I can tell, Tahiti is the only island with substantial development and the other, smaller islands offer an extremely remote and simplistic lifestyle.

[Greengoop]

That’s nice to hear a country that still has simplistic life in it! Thank you for sharing and great pics!

[Hunchman801]

Edit: fixed images not displaying properly

Unfortunately, it looks like they're still broken?

Anyway, I'd really like to go to French Polynesia one day. One of my goals is to travel to every French overseas territory, because why not.

A friend was lucky enough to go there for work for a month or so, and he said it was like paradise on Earth. The sheer geographic isolation makes it a really unique place, and they're doing a good job of minimizing the impact of tourism by focusing on the high end of it.

What you said about the trees reminds me of La Réunion, an incredibly beautiful French island in the Indian Ocean. There, every time I looked up a local plant, it turned out to come from a different corner of the Earth. Truly fascinating!

[Hugo]

Unfortunately, it looks like they're still broken?

Yes, I had fixed them but I suppose the host I used has an expiry date. Maybe I should stick them in a personal website.

Anyway, I'd really like to go to French Polynesia one day. One of my goals is to travel to every French overseas territory, because why not.

A friend was lucky enough to go there for work for a month or so, and he said it was like paradise on Earth. The sheer geographic isolation makes it a really unique place, and they're doing a good job of minimizing the impact of tourism by focusing on the high end of it.

I completely share your friend's sentiment. It's not a personal paradise of course, like an AI using your data and putting you in your ideal VR simulation, but when you are there, you are captivated by its surreal beauty. It is as though you have just walked into a painting.

On the flip side, anywhere outside Tahiti that isn't simply a tropical island is intensely rural and cut off from the regular conveniences we are accustomed to. Maybe a month was the perfect duration, but I wonder how your friend would've felt about staying longer?

What you said about the trees reminds me of La Réunion, an incredibly beautiful French island in the Indian Ocean. There, every time I looked up a local plant, it turned out to come from a different corner of the Earth. Truly fascinating!

Would you be willing to live there? It sounds breathtaking.

[Hunchman801]

Yes, I had fixed them but I suppose the host I used has an expiry date. Maybe I should stick them in a personal website.

I'd love to see them! If you update the first post with new links, I can host them here to make sure they don't expire this time.

On the flip side, anywhere outside Tahiti that isn't simply a tropical island is intensely rural and cut off from the regular conveniences we are accustomed to. Maybe a month was the perfect duration, but I wonder how your friend would've felt about staying longer?

I'll ask next time I see him! But I think he said he'd like to live there, but maybe not indefinitely?

Would you be willing to live there? It sounds breathtaking.

I think I'd love to! The nature is breathtaking, the food is delicious and the people are lovely. The only thing is that it's a really long flight to metropolitan France, so I couldn't see my family so often.

I've got a lot of pictures, I'll try to share a selection soon.