From: dbucklin@sdf.org Date: 2018-02-12 Subject: Hawai'i 2018, a travelogue First Night in Hawai'i Thursday, February 1st, 2018 We expected to arrive in Oahu 4 to 5 hours earlier than we did, but we had to switch planes before taking off from MSP. Just after push-back, it was announced that there was a problem with one of the engines on our plane. While that was being sorted out, one of the passengers had some sort of medical crisis. The flight atten- dants called out over the PA, asking if there was a doctor or nurse on board that could assist them. Helpless, Kim and I browsed the movie options. Kim watched an episode of Huang's World and I got through the first 25 minutes of Blade Runner 2049 when the an- nouncement came that, due to the engine issue, the plane would not be taking off. After killing a couple hours back in the terminal, we boarded another plane and were finally on our way. Kim was glad the mechanical and health issues happened while we were still on the ground and that we didn't have to turn around or land somewhere random. 9 hours later, we landed in Honolulu. The Honolulu airport is open- air and feels very dated for an international airport, especially compared to MSP, but we both appreciated the warmth and humidity. There were a ton of lei stands there for tourists. We checked in to our hotel around 9:30 p.m. We felt a little apprehensive when we saw that the weather forecast included rain for most of the week. Waikiki Friday, February 2nd, 2018 We got up and helped ourselves to the complimentary breakfast. The hotel coffee is surprisingly good. We walked to Waikiki Beach -- just a couple blocks away from our hotel. Almost all of the hotels and resorts in Oahu are in Waikiki so it's basically a tourist zone. You can see why it's a popular area -- the beach is well- maintained and there's an amazing view of Diamond Head. A paved walkway runs along the street and is separated from the beach by low berms and retaining walls. Many of the beaches on Waikiki are hemmed in by low walls that tame the waves. In places there are large statues. We were drawn to the statue of Duke Kahanamoku standing in front of a surfboard, his arms outstretched and com- pletely covered in leis. Before lunch, we went to the Ala Moana shopping center. It's an open-air mall with a ton of luxury shopping. The high-end stores reminded me of Westfield Mall in San Jose. These places are usual- ly empty except for the bored sales staff and a bored-but-suspect- ing security guard. We stopped by Sephora to get some moisturizer. (Kim is teaching me some skin-care fundamentals.) We had lunch reservations at Piggy Smalls, but we were both on the verge of hangry, so we decided to get some food. The food court had some familiar names, but we settled on the place that was busiest: Charleys Philly Steaks. We got a basket of their Ultimate Nacho Fries. It was the best thing we had eaten on Oahu so far. We walked off some of the calories at a Target which had some cool Hawaiian murals and a ton of tchotchkes. When it was time to go to lunch, we got in the car and drove just a few blocks. After guiding the car into a parking stall with surgi- cal precision, we walked to Piggy Smalls. Along with our later dinner at Pig and the Lady, this was the best, most modern food we had in Hawaii. The restaurant has American, Vietnamese and Hawai- ian influences. We ordered Laotian Fried Chicken Wings [super crunchy and tangy- yum! -Kim], umami potatoes, chicken pho, a "phostrami dip" sandwich, a pineapple slush and some donut soft serve ice cream. Way too much food but so, so tasty. For dinner, we stopped by Ono Seafood on Kapahulu Avenue. It was recommended in a roundup of best poke places in The New York Times. Kim said the area reminded her of Eat Street in Minneapolis. There were about a dozen poke varieties to choose from. Kim got the shoyu and I got a wasabi flavored ahi poke. All the best food here comes in Styrofoam boxes. We also got these canned Hawaiian soft drinks that are ubiquitous there and range from strawberry-orange to guava and lilikoi. It was a long-time dream of mine to eat poke on the beach, so we found a spot where we could eat and watch the waves roll in. After poke on the beach, we walked to the Hilton Hawaiian Village up the coast to see a hula show and fireworks. It was all very touristy and there were tons of people everywhere. The show fea- tured an emcee that would alternately sing and deliver bits of Waikiki history. The dancers were clearly skilled and changed cos- tumes frequently. Kim said that it made her a bit uncomfortable, and that it felt like an American-ized 1950s interpretation of Hawaiian/Polynesian culture -- really cutesy and sanitized. We left early and got decent spots on the beach for the fireworks show. They shot off tons of fireworks within the space of 5-7 min- utes - it was very intense but fun. North Shore Saturday, February 3rd, 2018 We went to the North Shore today.On our way to Banzai Pipeline, we stopped by Aloha Shrimp for some famous North Shore garlic shrimp. It had good reviews on Yelp and seemed less crowded than some more famous shrimp trucks. I got pork tonkontsu and Kim got garlic shrimp. Each dish came in a Styrofoam box with two scoops of rice, some salad and a slice of pineapple. All of it was super tasty. We ate on these kinda janky outdoor picnic tables which were sur- rounded by roosters and chickens, all angling to get some food from us. We stopped at Laie Point, a little finger of land that juts out in- to the ocean, surrounded by unique rock formations. It is beauti- ful here. The mountains are lush with green and their peaks mingle with the clouds. The water is blue-green and amazingly clear. Kim and I sat on the basalt and watched the waves for a long time. Ocean waves, like fire, have a primal hold on my attention. We read a placard that told a Hawaiian legend -- that the rock forma- tions were the bones of a giant reptile that was killing sailors until it was cut apart and cast into the sea by the hero Kana. After that, we drove up the road to Banzai Pipeline. It was super busy with people attending the Volcom Pipe Pro surfing competition. Photographers here and there on the beach set their cameras with telephoto lenses on tripods. The waves were very large and it was fun to watch pro surfers catch some waves. The pace was very slow, but the spectators and announcers got very excited when one of the surfers would grab a wave. It was like watching golf but, you know, with the possibility of death. We left the surfers behind and went up the road to Matsumoto Shave Ice. It was also very busy here, but the service was fast. The ice at Matsumoto is very finely shaved and they have a ton of dif- ferent flavors you can choose from. Kim loved her shave ice and we both got a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom. I also got some chocolate-macadamia nut cookies (there are so many cookie places in Hawaii). Outside, we were treated to live music featur- ing these tiny little girls hula dancing with their teacher. It was cute and felt less exploitative than the Hilton show. For dinner, we went to Roy's in Waikiki. We were both pretty unim- pressed. It felt like average but overpriced food that we could get anywhere. The food also seemed very old-school and my poke had a ton of membranes in it - gross. The lesson seems to be that, if you want quality food, you have to get out of Waikiki. Most of the large buildings in Waikiki look like they were built, hastily, in the 1970s or so. They are all the same color and fea- ture the same unremarkable architectural style. I think if Waikiki were built today, it would look a lot more like Las Vegas or Disney World. It also makes me think of Florence, the way everything is preserved for the tourists. Hanauma Bay Sunday, February 4th, 2018 We got up before sun-up and went to this cafe down the street to get some coffee and something to eat. Kona Coffee Purveyors and b. Patisserie was amazing. Then we hopped a shuttle down to Hanauma Bay, bought our tickets, watched a video about conservation, and then they just set us loose in the preserve. Hanauma Bay is the most famous snorkeling spot in Oahu because it's shallow, good for beginners, and has tons of coral and fish. There are also many stray cats and mongooses in the preserve which was weird and unex- pected, but it turns out that there are a lot of feral cats on Oahu. There are also chickens and roosters all over the place, just wandering around. Snorkeling was a little scary at first! Neither of us had been snorkeling in the ocean before. Soon after starting out, Kim and I got separated from each other accidentally and each thought the other had been swept out to sea. Once we figured out a system to stay together, it was really fun and interesting. Kim got some cool video of the underwater coral formations and fish (including the Hawaii state fish - humuhumunukunukuapua'a). I saw lots of anemones hiding in the crevices in the reef. We took a shuttle there and on our way back, this Southern lady was telling everyone about seeing a Moray eel and also about a weird story of a tour guide faking them out about driving past President Obama's house. Naturally, Kim and I couldn't stop imitating her later on. After we got back from snorkeling and had a moment to recover, we got a late lunch at the Rainbow Drive-In. It's a stand-by in the area. I got a cheeseburger and a rootbeer float that slowly ex- ploded on me. Kim got a crispy chicken plate lunch with a straw- berry slush. I thought it was good food for just $20. Kim thought it was just OK, but she liked her slush a lot. We hid from the rain in our hotel room for a while. The rain re- minds me of Seattle; It doesn't rain all the time, but it's more likely to rain at any given moment. For dinner, we went to the In- ternational Market in Waikiki, another open-air mall close by our hotel. We ate at a place called Yauatcha. We had high hopes for their dim sum, but it was a disappointment. Kim and I have a high bar for dim sum after eating at Din Tai Fung. Overall, the food scene we observed was only OK; Minneapolis is much better by com- parison. Kailua Monday, February 5th, 2018 We went to Kailua and did sea kayaking with a guide, Alivia. The beach at Kailua has a commercial ban, so we had to walk our two- person kayak to the beach, now in pouring rain. It was not a quick jaunt to the beach. We wheeled the kayak on its dolly down the street for a couple blocks, onto a bike path, and then into a chan- nel -- basically a swamp. The water was brown, stinky, and filled with debris like coconuts and various plastic trash. We trudged through the swamp to the beach. Then we had some help from another guide getting onto the kayak and into the ocean. Once we were on the water, though, it was so gorgeous. At this point, the rain had cleared up and the sky held the most vivid rainbow either of us had seen. Below us, the shallow water was clear the bottom was laced with coral and sand. On a normal day, our guide would have been leading a group of six or eight, but it was just me and Kim today. Our guess is that the torrential rain this morning scared other, less hearty folks off. We paddled to Flat Island (Popoia Island) with Alivia. She parked our kayaks on the beach and and gave us a tour. She's also a ma- rine biologist and had lots of interesting information about life on and around the island. Many soft-shell crabs and snails live there. The soft-shell crabs are able to sense movement from sever- al feet away. As we walked along the island, I could see crabs running for cover about eight feet in front of me. The island is also a breeding ground for birds during the spring. We tasted the leaf of a succulent-looking plant that grows all over the island. Our guide told us that Hawaiians used to bring these leaves with them on trips for water and electrolytes. It was super salty and good but we only ate one leaf each because apparently they're a laxative! The island includes many small tide pools. Our guide described how Hawaiians would catch fish in the ocean and store them in the tide pools. We also got to get into one of the larger tide pools and walked around. I saw a tiny Fiddler crab that was no larger than a spider. We got so many awesome pictures on Flat Island. Then we kayaked back to the beach and reversed the kayak transport process. Somehow, slightly worse this time. Kim and I grabbed some pizza for lunch and decided to go snorkeling on the beach. We got some gear from the rental shop and found parking a block away from the beach access at Lanikai. Snorkeling was a little less eventful than it had been at the preserve, but it was still a good time. After that, we just sat on the beach and watched the waves roll in. We dropped off the gear and got shave ice at a surf shop nearby. I think it was easily as good as the stuff at Matsumoto. We also stopped by Leonard's Bakery for a malasada, a Portuguese sugared donut. It was hot and fresh when we finally got it and it was pretty good. Later, we decided to go out for dinner and Kim found a place, Gina's, where we got tasty Korean(-American) food in Sty- rofoam containers. It was a very full day for us and I'm leaving out so many little details. Really, you should just come out here for a week. Waianae Tuesday, February 6th, 2018 We started off the day at Iolani Palace where Hawaii's last queen lived. The palace is beautiful. It was initially the home of the monarch and, later, became an office. It has since been restored. The treads on the staircase are still original, and were walked on by Hawaiian royalty. The tour gave me a new appreciation for Hawaiian culture and history, but the tour itself was a little awk- ward. Kim is a little more direct. I hated the tour. We opted for an audio version (versus docent-led) and basically got treated like a nuisance and second-class citizens by this burly security guard. Eventually, I lost my patience and ripped off my headset and left. It sucked because I did want to see the palace and learn about the history but couldn't put up with the poorly run BS any more. After Kim and I aborted our tour of the Iolani Palace, we drove up to Waianae for a whale-watching tour. Our captain Liz and guide Noelle took us out with a couple of other passengers. Again, we seemed to luck out with a small group. It was amazing! We saw a humpback whale, several pods of spinner dolphins and we snorkeled next to a giant sea turtle. Swimming with a sea turtle may have been the highlight of the week for Kim. At times, the dolphins were swimming next to the boat, just feet away from us. The cap- tain and guide said that the dolphins were playing with the whale. We didn't get close to the whale, but Noelle dropped a microphone in the water and we could hear the whale singing. It was really a surprise. Because there was only one other couple on our boat, we got a lot of attention and face time with the crew. Noelle took Kim and I snorkeling by an electric plant. The plant uses sea water as a coolant and expels warm water which attracts a variety of sea life. It was fascinating and there were so many fish around. Kim said that she doesn't think she's a super strong swimmer, but she felt pretty comfortable throughout. Unlike our earlier snorkeling at- tempts, the water here was both deep and clear, and we were virtu- ally surrounded by fish. I also saw what looked like a crow's nest from a boat on the bottom of the ocean. If I recall, Noelle said the water where we were was about 30 feet deep. I could see the patterns in the sand at the bottom, it was so clear. We got back in the boat and headed back to the marina. I was starting to feel a little seasick, so this was a welcome change. We ate at Pig and the Lady for dinner. It's in Chinatown ("a mod- est area" as our snorkeling Southern lady would say) [blighted is more like it. -Kim]. It was straight-up one of the scariest places we've ever been - dirty, graffittied, abandoned looking, etc. We were pretty nervous walking through there which is saying something since both Kim and I have lived in urban areas for a long time and have seen some shit. However, the food and vibe at the restaurant made up for it. We had this amazing ahi Spanish toast appetizer that Kim would eat every day if she could. I had a couple cock- tails. We split a plate of squash and ricotta ravioli and a plate of sliced ribeye with potato gnocchi. The food was excellent; right up there with the best in Minneapolis. Pearl Harbor Wednesday, February 7th, 2018 This morning, we were able to sleep in a bit and got breakfast at the hotel. I still think their coffee is pretty good. After breakfast, we went to the Aloha Stadium flea market. We paid $1 each to get in and were pretty excited to see what was going on. The first stand we saw was selling cheap trinkets and baubles orga- nized into plastic tubs. None of it looked interesting to me. I kept thinking of different ways to define "garbage." I quickly learned that this stand was one of just a few types of stands that encircled the stadium. I would say there were about 12 different types of stands, each selling a variety of cheap: * t-shirts and dresses * swimwear * stickers * carved wood * purses and bags * jewelry * cheaper jewelry * cruises and hotels * fresh fruit * knives (for carving wood?) * trash * garbage I bought some stickers, but we were, on the whole, unimpressed. We decided to get something to eat at a restaurant on Pearl Harbor. The food there was actually pretty decent. Again, the downmarket food outside of Waikiki is at least as good as the upmarket food inside Waikiki. The USS Arizona experience was a somber one, but that didn't stop some less mindful tourists taking duck-face selfies or doing a split on the Pearl Harbor sign. It was fascinating to learn more about the military history of Hawaii. The tour itself was super organized and well run - no surprise since the Navy and Parks De- partment play a big role in running it [looking at you, Iolani Palace -Kim]. Seeing the wreckage of the USS Arizona under the wa- ter was spooky and sad. About 3,000 people were killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Almost half of all casualties that day were on the USS Arizona. After visiting the memorial, we came back to the hotel to chill out and pre-pack. We went out for pizza at a place called Barley and Flour. It was pretty good, but not as good as the better pizza places in Minneapolis. Last Day in Hawai'i Thursday, February 8th, 2018 Our last day in Hawaii. We both got lots of sleep, maybe 10 hours, and went for breakfast at Kona Coffee Purveyors and b. Patisserie. This was the first time we've seen a line there. It's also the first time we've been there past 7 a.m. The pastries there are so amazing, and the coffee is excellent. After coffee, we did a second round of packing, called the car, and headed out to see the Halona Blowhole. Tide was low, so it wasn't doing anything, but the view from the lookout was amazing. It was also full of tourists and tour buses. After a short stay at the lookout, we went to check out the Makapu'u Lighthouse. It was com- pletely choked with visitors, so we abandoned that and continued driving along the coast. We soon saw another lookout with a great view and room to park. We walked around a bit and took some pic- tures. We kept driving all the way up to Kailua before turning west. When we got back to Honolulu, we stopped at Ahi Assassins for some poke. It was amazing, of course. We gassed up at Costco and made for the airport. We are very sad to leave -- it's such a stunning place. It is crazy, full of tourists and tourist attractions, but the land is beautiful and the wildlife is fascinating. Even though our vaca- tion is coming to an end, we are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed. Birds There are a lot of interesting birds here. Most recognizable are pigeons; a lot of them are albino. Just as common, if not more so, are myna. Myna are dark blue with light patches around their eyes. They have patches of white under their wings that create an almost figure-8 pattern when they flap their wings. There are red-headed cardinals that have bright red heads and pointy crest feathers. There are a few smaller birds that are smaller than a finch with dark feathers. Some of them have light markings on their face or chest. Also, there are the aforementioned chickens which our kayaking guide confirmed were originally brought here for food, but have been allowed to roam free. We haven't seen many predatory birds, but I learned that the palace Iolani is named after an Io, a hawk. The suffix, lani, means "royal." So, the palace is that of the royal hawk. I've seen a few seagulls, but not as many as I ex- pected. KUMU There are some fun radio stations here. My favorite is KUMU. They play a fun mix of pop from the 80s through today. I heard a lot of The Jets which I love. There was a lot of music that Kim liked, too. I've never heard Kim sing along with the radio so much. I plan to listen to it online or just crib their playlist for my own ends. Demographics Kim was struck by how many Asians there were. Hawaii is majority Asian (Around 57% of the population). More than half of the tourists were also from Japan, by our reckoning, and there's a big tourism segment aimed just at Japanese visitors which is interest- ing. The rest of the tourists seemed to be from the mainland or Australia.