Our lovely week on the NCL ship over, we disembarked and headed for our hotel in Waikiki Beach where we would spend the next three days. Luckily, our room was available - at 9:30 am! - so we could move right in. When we opened the door, I audibly gasped at the roominess of our new quarters. Even if we hadn't just come from a postage stamp-sized stateroom, this would have been considered spacious. Billed as a "junior suite", it was the size of two typical motel rooms, and, being located at the corner of the hotel, had two balconies, one with a view to the north, the other to the east.
How nice to be able to move around without bumping into one another! A nap, lunch, and wandering around a bit to get our bearings filled the day until time to get ready for our luau.
A tour bus took us to Paradise Cove on the other side of Oahu. At the entrance we were greeted with a lei and a Mai Tai (virgin for minors), had our picture taken, and were guided into the luau site. This place knows how to manage a crowd! Seven hundred people were in attendance, yet it never seemed crowded.
There were arts and crafts tables, lei-making, games, and canoe rides while we waited for all the buses to arrive. A conch shell announced events and demonstrations as they occurred: hula lessons, coconut husking...
coconut palm tree climbing and shower of flowers...
throwing of the fishing net and the hukilau ceremony...
presentation of the Royal Court...
and, finally, the removal of the pig from the imu where it had cooked in the pit for 6-8 hours. Pretty cool!
The luau feast was pretty authentic: lomi lomi salmon, kahlua pig, poi, fish with macadamia nut sauce, macaroni salad, taro rolls, cake with coconut frosting, and haupia were all represented on the buffet. I even convinced Sarah and Emily to try the poi. In typical fashion, they were underwhelmed. Tropical drinks flowed the whole time, of course!
After we ate, and the sun began to set.
Then the stage show started. It was a spectacular night of Hawaiian music, singing, and hula dances, as well as a history lesson on the cultures contributing to Hawaii as it is today. Dances represented Samoa, Tahiti, and many other Polynesian islands.
Of course, the grand finale was the traditional fire dance. Very effective in the total blackness of the night.
Though Emily declared that it was way too touristy, the rest of us found it to be quite enjoyable and educational, and, in my opinion, a must-do while in Hawaii!
August 28th
The next day we set out for Pearl Harbor. Since we'd decided not to rent a car, we again headed out on a tour bus. As we started out, I feared we were going to a dry, boring military exhibit about a war from another generation, but one that we were expected to visit while in Honolulu. I couldn't have been farther wrong. I was totally unprepared for the emotional response I had to this memorial.
We opted for the audio tour - always a good way to go, in my experience - and, as we proceeded through the museums, our headphones filled with sound effects, personal interviews, and background on the people affected.
By the time we entered the movie, I was feeling pretty pensive. But it was the film itself that got me started. The sheer numbers of people killed and wounded really affected me. I was surprised when I teared up.
From there, we rode the tender to the USS Arizona Memorial site.
The Japanese woman who was my seatmate looked to be in about the same emotional state I was; she looked at me and said, "So sad!" At the memorial, it was really sobering to realize we were standing above the ruins of the ship and the remains of so many of its crew members.
Once back on land, the culmination of it all hit me full force at the Circle of Remembrance. Looking at the names and ages of the innocent civilians who lost their lives, even young children and babies, I lost what little I had left. Tears started flowing, I began to sob, and I had to walk away to another section to pull myself together. So powerful!
On the way back, our bus took us on a city tour of Honolulu.
This guide told us (and we'd heard the same thing from an earlier tour) that there is no longer a middle class in Hawaii. People are either very wealthy (the big, fancy houses on the hillsides), or struggling, and that many of the latter rent because they can't afford to buy homes. Indeed, we'd noticed as we drove through town that the areas outside of touristy Waikiki Beach looked pretty depressed.
The tour took us into the Punch Bowl area where we visited the national military cemetery there. The entrance road was lined with Chinese banyan trees. I loved the designs the serpentine roots made surrounding the trunks of the trees.
We drove through Chinatown
and downtown Honolulu. We saw numerous historic buildings, including the Iolani Palace, an old mission church and its outbuildings. Government buildings included the Police Building with its impressive golden statue of King Kamehameha and the Governor's Mansion, both prominent in scenes from the new Hawaii Five-O, if you've seen it. Indeed, it looked as though crews were filming a scene next door to the Police Building as we drove by.
Back "home", after a treat of Hawaiian shave ice,
Larry and the girls walked to the beach while I stayed in the room to try and reduce the swelling in my feet. By dinnertime, they were looking better, but I'm bothered now by this condition that persists in interrupting our vacations this summer. I didn't have this trouble on the ship... While sitting on the balcony reading, I was amused at the people I saw walking down this city street carrying surfboards. I've often seen them on the roofs of cars en route to the beach, but it struck me as funny to see a huge board tucked under someone's arm on a city street.
I also watched as a shopkeeper across the street swept the courtyard of the shopping center - with a palm frond! A truly Hawaiian scene...
By the way, Sarah left her new color-changing Del Sol sunglasses at the luau the night before. I called Paradise Cove, and not only did they have them in Lost and Found, they sent someone to deliver them to us. Now, that is truly above and beyond the call of duty.
August 29th
Beach Day! Our morning started with a beachside breakfast at the Hula Grill, purported to have the best breakfast in Waikiki. The food was delicious, and the setting and view just lovely.
I ordered pineapple coconut pancakes with coconut syrup and Portuguese sausage. Emily's pancakes were topped with bananas and macadamia nuts. I'm not sure which was better; both were tasty indeed!
Afterwards we headed straight to the beach and spent the next four hours alternately swimming and lounging on beautiful Waikiki Beach. The water was a lovely green, shallow enough to safely go way out, and so clear we could see the bottom. Good thing, because we soon found out how important it was to watch for pieces of sharp coral on the sandy ocean floor. After Sarah cut her foot (ouch!), Larry went back to the room and retrieved our water shoes. What a guy! Playing in the surf was much more pleasant after that.
This is where all those surfboards were headed. Surfers and surfer wannabes were prolific. Larry rented a boogie board and he and the girls practiced riding the waves. I'm surprised they weren't run over by the real surfers!
It rained on us off and on, and I was grateful for the beach umbrella. In all honesty, we were probably saved from being badly burned by the fact that the sun came and went the whole time. No thunder or lightning, though, so swimmers just kept on swimming!
Lunch was a Puka Dog, a Hawaiian hot dog tucked into a hole-drilled bun with onion sauce and such mustard and relish flavors as coconut, mango, guava, and passionfruit. Now, I'm not a fan of traditional hot dogs, but this was good!
I had another uniquely Hawaiian experience that afternoon. To reward myself for getting packed and ready to leave the next morning, I booked a foot massage. While I 'd been unable to find a salon that offered pedicures, foot massage places were everywhere! So, I decided to give it a try. I have to admit, it was a lovely experience. Very peaceful and relaxing.
While I was being pampered, Larry had other priorities. He headed off on a city bus and hiked to the top of Diamondhead. He entered a tunnel which took him to the inside of the volcanic crater. The hike inside the crater went through switchbacks, two more tunnels, and a spiral staircase before emerging at the top. Pretty impressive!
Dinner and one more walk around this bustling tourist spot ended our visit. We've been struck every evening by the number of people out and about until all hours of the night. Music could be heard everywhere, and we soon understood why earplugs were left for us in our room. This could be called the city that never sleeps. We also realized that not all these people were tourists. In fact, a number of young women were looking for business among the visitors. Kuhio St., where our hotel was, seemed a popular spot for these ladies of the evening, easily recognized by their uniforms of: a skintight knit dress with plunging neckline and a hemline just below the butt; see-through acrylic platform shoes with 6 inch heels; and a purse slung over one shoulder, presumably to hold her evening's necessary supplies. Quite an education for our teenage daughters - especially when one approached Larry!
Our trip home the next day was uneventful, and a bit sad. While we needed to get back (school was to start in less than a week), we'd gotten pretty spoiled there in paradise. We were amused on the shuttle bus en route to the airport when a fellow tourist asked how homes are heated in the winter. The driver said, "What winter? It's like this all year round!" Now, that, I could learn to enjoy!
