Well it’s been a couple weeks, but I’m finally getting around to finishing all my Hawaii entries. (3 down, 3 to go). I have to take advantage of this 4-day weekend to finish these up or else I’ll probably put it off for another month. =P

+++

So starting off fresh with Day 4 - our day of snorkeling. It took a long time to get the hang of the equipment and avoid scrapes off the razor sharp coral, but snorkeling was a lot of fun! Hanauma Bay is breathtakingly gorgeous, probably one of the nicest places to go snorkeling.

That morning we packed all our gear and took the bus towards Hanauma. For a popular tourist spot, there was only one bus going there every hour, so the bus was packed by the time we got out of Waikiki. After a 45 minute ride, everyone unloaded and we finally arrived in Hanauma. Our first order of business was getting in line for tickets, then we had to wait our turn in the theatre to watch a 10 minute educational video on how to preserve the bay. I kept laughing during the video cause there were speech bubbles coming out of the coral saying “Don’t step on us!”. Then it broke into song towards the end. LOL.

Finally we headed down to the beach. We went to the equipment rental and got our snorkeling gear, then picked a spot to set down our beach mats. Jumping into the water, it took some time to get the hang of how to use the equipment properly. I’m not very comfortable in the water, so I was flopping along in my lifebelt trying to coordinate my limbs. (Drinking lots of salt water makes you learn faster.) When I finally got comfortable enough to direct my attention away from my foggy googles to the ocean floor, the view below was just amazing! I’ve never been in such close contact with marine life before. It was such a sight! There were so many multicoloured fish right by my feet. We didn’t even have to go out far to see the fish.

The only downside of snorkeling was trying to find a spot to stand to not damage the coral. Not only that, but the coral was really sharp! Even when I was floating along, my knees would scrape the coral in shallow water. It was painful!

Anyway, we spent most of the morning on the beach snorkeling. The waves were getting higher throughout the day, so we didn’t stay too long. By lunchtime we headed back up to the entrance and got lunch before walking towards the bus stop. We ended up waiting almost an hour for the bus! (Buses in Hawaii are not very reliable on slower routes.) Good thing we were on vacation!

+++

Getting back to Waikiki, we were trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. We already missed lunchtime dim sum in Chinatown, but we thought we’d try to go for dinner later at night. However, according to all the guidebooks, Chinatown is not the safest place to be at night. But since it was only 4-5 in the afternoon, we figured we could still get an early dinner and hightail out of there.

Well -

the moment we got to Chinatown, we realized just how right all the guidebooks were. Honolulu Chinatown is extremely sketchy! The streets were empty aside from a handful of shifty looking people. The majority of the stores were already closed! (Do they go on lockdown to prepare for the night?) We cautiously took a stroll towards the cultural center where it was completely deserted. After maybe 10 minutes of looking around, we decided we had enough and took the first bus back to Waikiki!

I’m going to mark this as the worst Chinatown I’ve ever visited. Yokohama, Montreal, Seattle and London were so much nicer in comparison!

+++

Anyway, it wasn’t a complete loss going to Chinatown. At least we saw it. However, our dinner plans were now foiled, so we had to find another place to eat. Returning back to Waikiki, we consulted our ultra handy Kau Kau book and picked a restaurant on Kuhio Street called Seaside Bar & Grill. I love how restaurants make separate set menus for Japanese tourists! Hehehe. I feel like I get my money’s worth with set menus. =P

Dinner wasn’t fancy, but it was really yummy. I had the battered shrimp with the grilled Mahi Mahi. If you love fish, then you need to get your fill in Hawaii! It’s delicious.

+++

The night was still young by the time we finished dinner (since we scurried out of Chinatown so quickly), so we needed to find something to do. Flipping through the pages of Kau Kau, we found a listing for a karaoke place a few blocks down called GS Studios, so we decided to go. I’ve come to realize that aside from Japan, Hawaii must have the second most awesome karaoke system ever! They had so many Japanese songs! For $10 per person for two hours, it was a pretty good deal too. It almost made me glad that Chinatown didn’t work out! =P

Anyway, karaoke pretty much wrapped up Day 4. Onto our ‘historic’ tour of Hawaii in the next entry!

Day 3 took us back to Waikiki. Armed with our list of touristy things to do, we set off for our first attraction - the Diamond Head Crater. It was smart we decided to do the climb the first thing in the morning, or else we would have roasted trying to make our way to the top in the scorching sun. The sky was clear and the temperature was moderate, so the weather was perfect for the hike.

The Bus dropped us off at the back of the park, then we took the path towards the front and paid our admission fee. The whole way there and back would take a little less than two hours, covering 2.2 km in total. While I don’t mind hiking, the path was very bumpy and uneven. I was already sweating about 20 minutes into the climb. Towards the last stretch we had to cut through a tunnel to get the other side. I’m not very fond of tunnels since I tend to get a little claustrophobic, but what was worse was the 99-step staircase waiting at the end of it! However, we persevered and finally made it to the top. Since words would be inadequate to describe the scene, I’ll let the photos do the talking.

The way down wasn’t as bad as going up. I saw quite a few moms toting their babies in front of them. I don’t know how they did it, since I already had blisters on my feet from the climb!

+++

Next attraction to cover - the zoo!

Honolulu Zoo was pretty small in comparison to the ones I’ve been to, but it had some nice features. I really enjoyed the children’s area in the back cause they had a petting zoo, a dress up area, and even a koi pond. The koi pond had a tunnel through the center so kids and grown ups can crawl through. We made a stop for lunch at a picnic table and we were joined by a flock of pigeons. I’ve come to learn that pigeons in Honolulu are fearless and quite persistent in sharing your food. Pesky little thing almost gave me a heart attack when it landed right on my table!

Next stop after lunch was the Waikiki Aquarium. As we were leaving the zoo, the signs outside pointed in the general direction of the aquarium. However, due to our lack of navigational skills, we somehow ended going in the wrong direction. We had to cut back through three soccer fields to get to the aquarium. I was ready to collapse the moment we got there!

+++

We made it to the aquarium more or less in one piece. The Waikiki Aquarium is very tiny and I would have probably skipped it if I had known beforehand, but I did enjoy browsing through the displays. They had an exhibit on the endangered Hawaiian monk seal which I really liked. I think we made it through the entire collection in just over an hour, but overall it was quite enjoyable.

Heading back towards Waikiki we stopped by Queen Kapiolani Park where the Royal Hawaiian Band was playing a free concert. The band was established back in 1836 and to this day they still perform regularly and have free shows every Friday and Sunday. I was really lucky to catch their performance on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

We ended up spending some time at the beach before trying to figure out where to go for dinner. If you are ever in Honolulu, I recommend picking up a Kau Kau book (if you know Japanese) because they are really helpful. It had lots of good suggestions for eating out, as well as coupons and deals listed by different categories. We ended up at a seafood restaurant not too far from our hotel. I had a funny experience trying to convince our server to speak to us in English. Since we had the book with us, he assumed we were Japanese and continued talking to us in Japanese even though we answered him back in perfect English! It was hilarious.

The set menu we got came with salad, corn, mashed potatoes, steak and lobster. We also got a bottle of beer. I had the Kona Island Lager, while my sister had the Mehana Volcano Red Ale. I think I must of ate too much at dinner because I got really sick afterwards! (I assume the beer didn’t help either.) That must have been the only time I’ve gotten sick from overeating. Let that be a lesson for me in the future!

+++

A bit of a slow-ish day for Day 3, but it seems like we cover a lot of ground (literally). More fun planned for Day 4 when we visit Hanauma Bay! ^_^

I attended Woofstock for the first time today. Thank god the weather held up or else it would have smelt like wet dog throughout Front Street! Woofstock is one of the largest outdoor festivals for dogs in North America. It was my first time there and it was so much fun! I saw dogs of all shapes and sizes. Some with the weirdest haircuts and others with the coolest outfits. It almost seemed like there were more dogs than people at the event!

I found out from the breeder that my puppy turned 4 weeks old yesterday! Only a few more weeks to go before I get to bring him home. Part of the reason why I wanted to attend Woofstock was to see if there were any good deals. However, being dog-less at the event made me feel a little guilty for lugging home all the free samples. Hehehe.

We still need to settle on a name for my puppy. So far we’re leaning towards ‘Toshi’. However, we’re still open to suggestions. Next on my shortlist is ‘Kazu’. This poor dog is going to end up with an Arashi name one way or another! LOL! He’s a shiba inu, so I guess having a Japanese name will be appropriate. =P

+++

My favourite kind of dog - Chow Chow! The hair would be a nuisance to comb but I just love how fluffy they look! If only we had a bigger house. =(

Dogs frolicking in the fountain.

A cute little thing. I kept trying to pet it and it kept inching away from me!

Part dog part butterfly all sleepiness.

I wish I could pull off shades like these!

Picking off from second day we were in Hawaii. It seems it had something to do with these:

I’ll backtrack a little first. Hehehe.

+++

The first stop we made the next morning was to the car rental. We didn’t want to take The Bus (the transit system in Oahu is literally called ‘The Bus’) all the way up to North Shore, so the only way to get there was by car. After getting settled into our Chevrolet Corvette Aevo, we drove off towards the Dole Plantation.

[Side note: I should mention that driving in Hawaii is a little scary. I wasn’t so much worried about the one-way streets in Waikiki as I was the Interstate. First, I had no idea how fast the speed limit was, since everything was in miles. (I know I just multiple by 1.5, but I can’t multitask while driving). Two, because Hawaii has lots of hills and slopes, there were stretches on the Interstate which were really hard to drive on (think rollercoaster). I was probably a nuisance to all the drivers behind me because I had my foot on the brake pedal the entire time!]

We made it to the Dole Plantation about half an hour after it had opened. It was pretty quiet when we got there, so we decided take advantage of the empty Pineapple Express train for a tour of the plantation. The train was quite fun and we saw fields of pineapples throughout the ride. For some reason I always thought pineapples grew on trees. Well…they don’t! There were lots of other fruits and vegetables grown in the fields as well. There was also a reservoir towards the end of the tracks before it doubled-back to the station.

The next thing we did was explore the gardens. There were many varieties of flowers inside, including an entire hibiscus garden. They also had fruits like mango, papaya and bananas growing inside the garden. Later on we decided to skip the pineapple maze (I’ve gotten lost in my share of mazes), and headed over to the gift shop. Nothing like sampling fresh pineapple to end the trip! We also had a pineapple float - it came in a commemorative pineapple cup! Heehee.

+++

Next stop on our list was Haleiwa. Haleiwa is a town famous for its surfing competitions during the winter. Since it was the summer, I didn’t really have any spots marked down that I wanted to see. However, our first order of business was to get lunch!

Afterwards we decided to abandon the car and head out on the streets by foot. There aren’t many shops in the area and most were scattered far from each other. I think I can categorize the shops by two kinds - one, surfing equipment stores; and two, shave ice stores. Since I wasn’t going surfing, needless to say I was paying more attention to the second kind. =P

There was one place my travel guide had recommended for shave ice - Matsumoto’s! (Not that Matsumoto.)

The line up at Matsumoto’s was a little insane. It seemed like it was the spot where all the tourists decided to converge upon. There were other shave ice stores on the same block like Aoki’s, but those only had a handful of customers. Matsumoto’s was definitely hopping.

I have to insert my little spiel on shave ice in Hawaii. Shave ice is nothing like the slushies from the local convenience stores. Aside from the usual rainbow flavours (strawberry, lemon & pineapple), they also have outrageous ones like pina colada, honeydew, guava & bubble gum. I’m used to seeing millions of flavours for ice cream, but this was the first time I’ve seen it for flavoured syrup!

Shave ice at Matsumoto’s was yummy. I ended up with a green tea, green apple, lychee flavoured shave ice with azuki at the bottom. Luckily I bought a plastic holder because it would have been really messy dealing with the leaks from the paper cups they served it on! Aside from the shave ice, I must say Matsumoto’s is very market saavy. They also sold a lot of neat graphic tees and a variety of souvenirs. I got a t-shirt that says “the freshest snow in the world”. ^_^

+++

That was about the end of our trip to Haleiwa. We snapped a few shots from the beach before leaving. I didn’t want to pay extra for overnight hotel parking, so we drove back to Waikiki and did a quick grocery run before returning the car. Then we took The Bus to the Ala Moana Center, which is the largest shopping mall in Hawaii. I think it was my first time at an open-air shopping mall, which was really an eye-opener. Of course, I couldn’t actually afford anything inside the mall (Gucci, Prada, LV, etc.) but we made use of the food court for dinner so it turned out to be a nice, relaxing evening.

I am officially back from vacation. Actually, I was back on Friday but I’ve been fighting off jet lag and trying to unpack and organize photos the past couple of days. First, I’d like to say ‘mahalo’ for all the birthday greetings I received. I had an awesome time while I was away. It was definitely less daunting turning 25 when you’re on a beach watching a beautiful sunset.

+++

Hawaii was so much fun and we had such great weather! It wasn’t as sticky humid as I thought. I attempted at tanning but got burnt instead. LOL. My nose is still peeling and the back of my legs have red patches on it. But I’ll take it as a trade off for the awesome weather we had.

We stayed in Waikiki the entire time we were there, only going on a day trip to the Big Island towards the end of our trip. Waikiki is super touristy. Half the tourists were Japanese, so everywhere we went there were signs and posters in Japanese. A lot of restaurants and shop owners even made the mistake of speaking to me in Japanese. It was a little surreal at first, but it seemed like we were in Japan without actually being there. There were also tons of Japanese restaurants within walking distance from our hotel, so we made sure to mentally mark down all the spots as we passed by. ^_^

+++

Our flight arrived in the evening. After we got dropped off at our hotel, we were already famished, so we went out to find something to eat. It was pretty easy spotting the closest restaurant - a ramen-ya! Ramen has totally become my favourite late-night food of choice. Hehehe.

The place we went to was called Gyoza no Ohsho. I tend to always go for the shoyu ramen no matter what selection there is on the menu. Hehehe. The prices in the States were more expensive, but ramen is probably still the cheapest meal you could get if you’re on a budget travel. (That, or hot dogs selling for $1.39 at any ABC Store!)

+++

The next day we headed straight to the beach in the morning. I’m not much of a swimmer, but I loved relaxing on my beach mat. Such a perfect way to start out the day. Afterwards, we went walking down the main street, Kalakaua Avenue. There’s a mix of really pricey brand name stores and some really nifty shops.

By lunch time we had walked over to Beachwalk Avenue to find this soba restaurant called Yabusoba. It was one of the restaurants recommended in my travel book. However, when we got to the street, we found out that the restaurant had closed down!! (It dissapeared!) LOL. So we hopped next door and ate at the Tonkatsu restaurant instead.

After lunch, we started making our way back to the hotel. We stopped briefly at the International Marketplace to browse through the stalls. Somehow I ended up with a parrot on my shoulder. LOL. I also had this intense dessert craving and decided to have some shave ice at one of the shops at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. You haven’t had shave ice unless it’s in Hawaii!

We took a moment to freshen up at the hotel, then we made our way to the bus stop outside the Hyatt. We had already booked for the Paradise Cove Luau before we left Toronto, so I was really looking forward to it. A luau is basically a Hawaiian feast with games and entertainment.

Paradise Cove itself was really lovely. The first photo of the sunset was taken there. That was my favourite moment of the day. There were a lot of activities we could try when we got there (aside from gulping down mai thais). We took a short canoe ride, then tried our hands at some of the games like spear throwing. I also braided a headband for myself and pinned a few orchid flowers to the side. It matched with my seashell leis. Heehee.

Later on, we were ushered back to our tables as they began the buffet dinner. Then it was singing and dancing on the main stage. It was really relaxing watching the sun go down in the background while seeing the sky replaced by the nighttime glow. Perfect way to spend my birthday. ^_^