Tales from the South Pacific
Tuesday Night, May 24th - Bora Bora
On our first night in Bora Bora we decided to attend the Polynesian BBQ dinner and show. The resorts have special nights where they do big food spreads and locals come in and perform... we decided to skip the Seafood buffet on Moorea (though we checked it from afar since it was on the beach), but we knew we could make this one no problem. No surprise, it was ridiculously expensive ... I think about 6500 CPF per person (again you do the math, 100 CPF = 85 cents US$)... and add a couple of 1500 cocktails (again per person) and you see how it all adds up. But truthfully at this point, we had become pretty numb to the prices (which will probably end when the credit card bill comes in next months!).
The price actually did not end up being all that bad... the food was very high quality and it was all you could eat. The restaurant was beautiful... kind of four arcs that created a lovely tropical courtyard (where the locals would perform). We were given about an hour to enjoy the buffet before the show began. Local men came out pretty much only wearing thongs and did some dancing as well as some "acts of strength." Of course, we were looking for some eye candy -- and while there were a few guys that certainly did not fit the bill -- there was a guy that got our attention. Later the ladies came out and shook their bon-bons quite amazingly as well.
The Polynesian men coerce the audience into participating in the "acts of strength" challenge... and a lovely lady with our nominee for Mr. Bora Bora (Whoops! I think he caught me taking his picture!)
Yes, this show had audience participation as well. I managed to avoid being dragged into the first part of the show, the "acts of strength" part... although I think I seriously pissed off the local guy as I waved him off. The guys pulled from the audience had to doff their shirts (again, good thing not me!) and pick up this heavy rock (an even BETTER thing that it was not me!).
I was not so fortunate in the second half... where each of the show participants picked a member of the opposite sex to do a little dancing... one of the ladies chose me and I had to mimic her moves. So not that there was any doubts, but I am white AND a dork. So it was quite embarrassing, but recoverable... and given option #1, this one was the lesser of the two evils. Some of the audience members really got into dancing with their Polynesian partner... but despite what it may seem here, I am really quite shy and reserved... so I felt a little bad that my lady got a dud!
Ok, time for a W&C first! I have refrained from posting pictures of myself here... but I will give you a hint, one of the people in the picture below is me... can you figure it out? Sorry, no prizes for correct guesses.
The show finished with the guys returning for some fire baton twirling and dancing... no worries they bunched up the extra fabric on their thongy bottoms so it wouldn't catch fire... but I guess their skin does not burn because they were doing some pretty amazing stuff with the flames (like seriously warming up their private areas)!
Managed to get one shot of the fire show (btw, these pix are from my regulary 35mm camera... my digital cam ran out of batteries at the start of the show... pretty much went thru 4 AA batteries a day!)... and since Linda was asking about the fire show, here it is!
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