In Tahiti there is a limited number of bars and even less nightclubs, it is a little like a small village where it is almost impossible not to meet someone you know when you are out having a drink. It can be annoying but you always keep in mind that you can’t really get mad at someone.
If you split the bars and clubs in categories you will have the following:
- places with only popaa (white people)
- places with only local population
- places with only people below 20 years old
- places with only people above 30 years old
- places with military personnel
You can have fun by mixing two categories together but be careful because some of them just don’t match.
When you go out you usually have a fixed schedule which will change only depending on who is going out with you, for some going out is a little bit like a ceremonial: first you will go have a bite at the mobile restaurants which are parked on place Vaiate and/or you will go have a drink at the 3 Brasseurs brewery, then you will move to another café to have another drink until it closes and you conclude the evening with a nightclub till 3 in the morning. Here is a small list of places that belong to a category:
- For popaa: the Ute Ute (means red in Polynesian language) is located close to city hall; this is a lounge bar sporting an all red design, the place is cosy but when they decide to pump up the sound to force people to dance it is time to move to another location.
- For the locals: the Kikiriri is the place to be to discover traditional Polynesian music and dance. I highly recommend to spend an evening in this unique place, there is no real need to try and dance if you don’t feel like it just looking at people dance is enough to give you a good time.
- For people below 20: the Quai de la Gare will give you your mandatory ration of the latest hits with the young and rich youngsters of the island. No one has a care in the world in this place is pure.
- For people above 30: the Villa Gourmande will welcome you with live bands playing good music while you change the world on the patio. You might have salsa one night, funk another night and jazz the day after, the Villa is always a nice surprise and you always feel welcome there.
- For military personnel: the Paradise will provide you with an unbeatable choice of single ladies looking for a guy for 6 months (time a military spends on the island). The only problem is that if you are a woman and you are not interested in military men, they are interested in you and then can ruin your evening.
- Special Category: the Tikisoft cafe is the best place to have a drink in Papeete simply because there is live music every week-end and mostly thanks to the family vibes that you get when you are there, the bartender Step is the reason for that.
3 months ago, the clubs were still closing at 4 in the morning but as the clubs are in the city you need a car to go have fun, as the inhabitants of Tahiti love alcohol there is a lot of car crash after the clubs close their doors. The authorities decided that the clubs had to close one hour earlier which is totally stupid because instead of having drunk drivers at 4 in the morning they now have drunk drivers at 3 in the morning. If only they had banned the consumption of alcohol after 3 and left the clubs open till 4, the people would have 1 hour for the alcohol to leave the body; that would have been far more efficient.
When Polynesian people are drunk their resentment for the French reappears, you have to be careful when you go for a drink with a colleague. It can become pretty unpleasant at one point because you will be accused of being the source of any problem the island has. I will explain more in the next post.
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