World Country Guide

Social Profile

Food & Drink
All the classified hotels have good restaurants. Chinese, French, Italian and Vietnamese food is served, as well as the Polynesian specialities; Papeete is noted for Chinese and French cuisine. Tahitian food can be found in some hotels. Popular dishes include smoked breadfruit, mountain bananas, fafa (spinach) served with young suckling pig, poisson cru (marinated fish, for example raw tuna served with coconut cream and limes), or poe (starchy pudding made of papaya, mango and banana). Trucks or lunch wagons parked on the waterfront sell steak, chips, chicken, poisson cru, brochettes and shish kebabs. A key to how expensive a restaurant will be is often indicated by dollar signs; for instance, $$$$ will indicate an expensive restaurant, whereas $ will indicate a budget restaurant.
A full range of alcoholic drinks is widely available.

Nightlife
Papeete is full of life in the evenings with many restaurants and nightclubs. Most hotels feature Tahitian dance shows, bands and other traditional entertainment.

Shopping
Facilities are concentrated in Papeete. Special purchases include Marquesan woodcarvings, dancing costumes, shell jewellery, Tahitian perfumes, Monoi Tiare Tahiti (coconut oil scented with Tahiti's national flower), vanilla beans and brightly patterned pareu fabrics that make the traditional Tahitian pareo. Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1130 and 1330-1700/1800, Sat 0730-1100. Shops will sometimes close for lunch, anytime between 1100-1400. Some shopping centres in the suburbs of Tahiti are open 0730-2000.

Special Events
For a complete list, contact the GIE Tahiti Tourisme (see Contact Addresses section).
The following is a selection of special events occurring in Tahiti in 2005:
Jan New Year Island Kaina Tour (island tours in flower buses), Tahiti. Jan 29 Chinese New Year Celebrations, nationwide. Feb 12 17th Tahiti Moorea Marathon. Feb 14 St Valentine's Day Celebrations. Mar 11-13 Pearl Regatta. Mar-Apr Billabong Pro Surfing Tournament. May Arearea I Tahiti Games (inter-island games tournaments); Arrival of the Bounty Commemoration. Jun 4-14 4th Tahiti Nui Cup (sailing regatta). Jun 29 Hiva Vaevae Autonomy Celebration. Jul Heiva I Tahiti 2005 (Tahiti's largest cultural festival). Sep 24 Raid Painapo (mountain team race), Moorea. Oct Tahiti Carnival. Oct-Nov Hawaiki Nui Va'a Outrigger Canoe Race, Bora Bora, Huahine, Raiatea and Tahaa. Dec 20-31 Christmas and End of Year Festivities, countrywide.

Social Conventions
The basic lifestyle of the islands is represented by the simple Tahitian fares built of bamboo with pandanus roofs. Local women dress in bright pareos and men in the male equivalent, but casual dress is expected of the visitor (except in Papeete, where bathing suits and shorts are not considered suitable dress). Traditional dances are still performed mostly in hotels, with Western dance styles mainly in tourist centres. Normal social courtesies are important. Tipping: In general not practised but tolerated, since it is contrary to the Tahitian idea of hospitality.