Happy Birthday to Me

Today's my 65th birthday. I already got one present -- Medicare -- but today I got to do one of the things I like most in the world, which is to swim with the fishes at Hanauma Bay. This is the place I imagine when I'm trying to imagine something relaxing, and even though the water was, shall we say, brisk, I still loved it today. It was a nice sunny day, so a person could get warm after they got out of the water. And notice my Hawaiian Christmas shirt.


We decided to go to Chinatown this afternoon, because we had heard that there was a thriving art district in that part of town. Now here's a really cool thing: Every time you get on the bus and pay your senior dollar, they give you a transfer. So after we left Hanauma Bay, we came back to the hotel, took a shower, changed clothes, and went back to the bus stop and used our transfer to go downtown. We wandered around in Chinatown, where they have some very interesting vegetable an fruit for sale -- tiny bananas, jackfruit, breadfruit, star fruit, papayas, mangos, and some other tropical looking fruit I couldn't identify. We looked inside one shop and there was a whole cooked pig (head and all) in a box, presumably ready to be picked up for a luau or something. Another butcher shop had whole plucked chickens in the case, includng heads and feet. When we finally found the art area, most things were closed, though I think most of them were just closed on Monday, and not because it was after 4 p.m.

We got really lucky, though and just stumbled into a wonderful little Cuban restaurant called Soul de Cuba. I had a wonderful shrimp dish, and John had a great chicken dish. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera with me, so I have no pictures of all the cool stuff we saw today.

And of course, I can't think of a better way to end the day (or begin it, for that matter) than by having a Dole Whip. Dole Whip is a non-dairy soft serve, the best flavor being pineapple.

I can occasionally get a hint of it at one of the yogurt places in Sacramento, but it's not the same as at this cheesy stand here in the International Market in Honolulu. I think it was a really great birthday.

A Hike Up Diamond Head, The Beach, Honolulu Boy Choir

We got up early this morning, headed once again over to Eggs and Things for another wonderful serving of macadamia nut pancakes with cocoanut syrup. MMMmmmmmmmmmm, delicious. Then we jumped on the bus and rode up to Diamond Head. It's about a half mile walk up to the parking lot, then .8 miles up to the top of diamond head. Did I mention there are also about 250 or so stairs, and a couple of tunnels. It's really fun, though, and the views up top are fabulous. After we'd been at the top about 10 minutes, it started pouring down rain, though, and then everyone wanted to congregate in the tunnels. The view on the left is what I think is Doris Duke's place, I think that's her dock that just out into the ocean -- sort of a long black line

Or it could just be my imagination.

After we finished hiking up Diamond Head (with a big rainstorm about ten minutes after we got to the top, and which made the trail down pretty slippery, but there are handrails all the way, so it was more fun than treacherous. But as you can see, we then made it to the beach for the afternoon, had a picnic there and managed go get back to our room, shower, even wash my salty hair, and get to the Embassy Suites in time to get the last table for the concert at 4 p.m.

Getting there on time was kind of a challenge -- my hair is quite unmanageable after a swim in the ocean.

One of the things I always hope will happen when we're in Hawaii is that the Honolulu Boy Choir will perform. This year they were performing twice. We missed the first one, because we didn't get back from the north shore early enough to get to the concert, but we caught them tonight. They are so good, and so professional sounding. The boys win scholarships to participate in the choir and they choose boys from all over Oahu based on talent and whatever else they go for.

A trip to the North Shore

This is the first sunrise we've seen since we got here. And we saw it today because we had to get up early to take the bus out to the airport to rent a car to drive to the north shore. I never like to get locked into things, like car rentals, and this time it came back to bite me in the butt. When we finally decided to go to the north shore, there were no cars left in town. So we had to rent out at the airport. It was a good plan. There's good bus service to the airport, and we got out there in plenty of time. Except, I had forgotten what car company I rented from. I had surfed so many websites I couldn't remember where I finally rented the car. So we're walking around a more or less empty airport at 8:30 in the morning, picking up the telephones at every car rental counter and asking them if we'd rented a car there. And then after all that, I noticed that I had written the number of the car rental agency on the piece of paper with the confirmation number!!! DUH, DUH, and DOUBLE DUH.

Here are a few random pictures from the various beaches we visited on the North Shore today.

I think the reason they aren't very bright is because it was a little overcast -- or I've screwed up some adjustment on my camera.

We basically stopped at every beach we saw. The North Shore is so different from Waikiki, much more laid back, lots of people who seem to be living on the edge, or who only live to surf, or whatever.

There were some pretty fabulous surfers out there today. We are here during the best surf season of the year, but we are here in a trough between two sets of fabulous waves. Not to say these weren't pretty fabulous, probably about 10 feet. Even at the kiddie beach they had surf warning no swimming signs up.


These are two pictures at one of my favorite beaches. It's pretty nice, too rocky for swimming, I'd say, but less than a block to walk to get to good surfing/swimming. (but no today if you aren't a pro.)



Pineapple and Maui style chips. What more could you want for lunch? Yeah, I know. Chocolate. I forgot to take the m&ms.


Oh, you all knew President Obama was coming for Christmas. I saw him down shopping at Waikiki tonight.

Lazy Friday

The Drink Umbrella Christmas Tree is nearly done.
****
One of our favorite places in Honolulu is a little breakfast place called Eggs & Things. They have macadamia nut pancakes that are so light you have to leave your fork lying on them to keep them from floating off the plate. In the past, it has been a busy place, but we were astounded when we went there this morning.
As we arrived, we noticed a crowd of people outside. We went in to register and were told there would be a 10 minute wait until we got a pager. After that, it was about a half hour wait to get into the restaurant. It looked to me like it still only holds about 50 people, but it's all upstairs now and in a location about a block away from where it was a couple of years ago. We thought we discovered this place, in the late 90's but they were selling t-shirts celebrating their 35th anniversary, so I guess we didn't actually discover it.
******

In the middle of Waikiki near the beach, there is a space with some standing stones, surrounded by a wrought iron fence. The story behind the stones is that they have healing qualities, which they were given by four wizards who arrived here from Tahiti in pre history. Before the wizards left, they put forth a plan which involved thousands of Hawaiians moving these giant stones two miles from the hill behind Diamond Head to their present resting place. Over the years, the stones were forgotten and ignored, nearly covered in sand; but in 1997 the City and County of Honolulu surrounded them with the fence and put some plaques to memorialize them. I have walked past them for years without noticing them til I read about this in a brochure.
*****
This afternoon when we got ready to go to the beach, I discovered that last night when I left my wet bathing suit out on the lanai, the bottom blew away. I walked around Waikiki looking for a place that might just sell bottoms, but that wasn't possible. As it turned out though, I found a place that was going out of business, so I got two suits for the price of one.
I can't decide if I really don't look fat in these, or if the fact that there are so many people on the beach here who shouldn't be wearing a two-piece suit, that it just doesn't look that bad. Anyway, the suits are cute.
*****







Of course,
we have to end our day with drinks. I asked so many people in the bar for their umbrellas tonight, that by the time we left, people were coming over to us and giving us umbrellas.

Today's glorious sunset

Wednesday & Thursday -- Doris Duke and Hanauma Bay

We had a wonderful visit to the Doris Duke house this morning. She had an enormous collection of islamic art. She started collecting when she was only 26 and apparently continued with it for the rest of her life. Some things she bought from antiquities dealers, some from individual owners (including the William Randolph Hearst estate) and some things she had copies made of either things she had purchased or things that were unavailable for purchase. Unfortunately they don't let you take any pictures inside the house. I'd been there before and one thing that was different this time is that a fretwork was down over a window that was entirely open the last time we were there. It totally changed the look of the room, since the window is about the size of a double garage door, leaving the whole room open to the elements when it's open, or visible to the elements when only the glass is down.
Whenever we're packing for a trip, I always give John a bad time about taking everything but the kitchen sink for things that might happen. I always say it's not like we're going to a third world country, they have replaceable stuff where we are. I've had several experiences on this trip which make me rethink this. First, I got a blister on my toe and really needed a bandaid, but I hadn't brought any. I knew that it wouldn't get any better, and since we're trying to do a lot of walking I definitely didn't want to make it worse. I knew the prices at the ABC stores, the ubiquitous one-stop tourist shop on every corner, would be prohibitively expensive so I stopped in a little mom and pop shop. A box of band=aids was $6.85. I'm keeping them in the safe.
Secondly, I lost my rubber pony tail band at the beach today, and since I'm having a really bad hair month, it's not a pretty sight if it's not tied up. Again, I couldn't find any except a 10-pack at the ABC store, which was $6.75. So on a whim, I went back to the $6.85 band-aid store, and miraculously, they had some rubber bands for a mere $3. At least I won't have to keep them in the safe.
In the never-ending saga of the Christmas cards, we ended up going to some really cheesy copy shop because somehow I didn't print enough cards before I left home. The copies were awful, but I took them anyway. Now they're done and I've sent them all. We also made a stop at the Goodwill on the way home from the Doris Duke tour, because I needed to buy a sweater. Seems it's colder here than I expected. This necessitated buying a sharp instrument -- scissors, razor blade, exacto knife -- something to do a slight alteration. Anyway, after a valiant effort at various small stores when I couldn't find anything sharp cheaper than some questionable scissors for $14, we sucked it up and went to Wal-Mart. Every time I have ever been to Wal-Mart, I swear I will never go there again. This time was no exception. First of all, it took us 10 minutes to find the entrance. After I found a pack of razor blades and a form for my Christmas tree (to be made of cocktail umbrellas) and stood in an endless line to do the self checkout, the damn machine rang up my puchase twice, and I had to wait 20 minutes for someone to reverse the charges. I wanted to walk home, but John wanted to take the pink trolley, which took about twice as long. I offered to race -- I'd walk and he could ride, but he wouldn't buy it.Here's the beginning of the tree, by the way. The things in the background are the free fans they gave us at the Doris Duke house.
I met a woman on the trolley from Australia who had just arrived this morning. She showed me her great buy from Needless Markup, a pair of True Religion jeans for a baby that she got a great deal on. Only $80!! And since she wasn't sure about the size, she got two pairs, but the second pair she could only get in a set, so it was $150 for s second pair of jeans in a larger size plus a hoodie and a T shirt. This is for a baby that isn't born yet. And not even this lady's first grandchild.

Last night the weather report said it was going to rain today, so we put Hanauma Bay on hold. This morning, it was sunny and bright, so we went out in the morning, hoping to miss the rain. It was a great day at the bay. The water was a little chilly, but we had a great time, and it was warm and sunny enough outside to get warm after being in the water.
And it never did rain today. We were really glad we went, too, because you never know when it's going to be a rainy day here, though you can usually assume it won't rain all day long. I love to swim with the fish.

Today was farmers' market day at the international market. Somehow, I expected a big farmers market like at home. This one was two squares of tables (4 six foot tables put into a square) with a few vegetables, a bunch of fruit, including the jackfruit in the picture, which is about the size of a really big pineapple, and a few booths selling prepared food. .


There were some interesting baked goods, I bought something they were calling macaroons which were made like tiny cupcakes. Good. Later I came by again and they had some really good looking cinnamon rolls, so I bought some of those too. No chance of losing weight on this trip
Here are Wednesday and Thursday's drinks. I'm collecting umbrellas like mad. Today I told our waitress that I was making this umbrella Christmas tree, so she gave me a whole bunch of umbrellas. I'll have a picture when it's done. Not sure why we got plastic cups yesterday. Every other day we've had glass. I'm sure there's a conspiracy there somewhere.


I think this was a pretty special sunset. Not as good as other days, because today there's a north wind, which means there's not a lot of VOG (volcano smog) in the air from the big island.

Lazy Tuesday in Honolulu

So here we are this morning, planning to go to Hanauma Bay this afternoon, and I'm looking up the bus schedules. Turns out Tuesday is the day they close the bay to give the fish a vacation from the tourists.

So we try to change our reservations to go see Doris Duke's place, which is impossible, because Doris Duke's people apparently vacation with the fish on Tuesdays. So we just bummed around. Something we can do here, because we have no obligations, no schedule, no nothing. I love being lazy.


We went to John and Bill's favorite breakfast spot, where they still have a $3.75 breakfast. We watched the buses go by, waiting to see it that's the place to catch the bus tomorrow to Honolulu Art Academy (which is where we go for the Doris Duke tour. After breakfast, we decided to walk around and look at old spots where we've stayed, visited, or whatever, and ended up walking about halfway to the arts academy, but decided there was little point in that walk. We did happen by a charming statue. It was a Hawaiian lady with a generous lap, so I thought I should get in it, of course. She didn't look that big to me til I saw the picture.


With three performances and a party the week before we left, I left home without addressing the Christmas cards. .In fact, I just barely got them made. I brought them unfinished with me and today I sat out on our balcony and stuffed and addressed most of them. I was going to take them to the beach, maybe put a bit of sand into each one... It was a pleasant thing to do in Paradise.






Here's a locator shot of our hotel room from the ground -- I had John go upstairs and wave a towel off the balcony so we could see where it was.





We completed the daytime portion of our day by doing a little shopping for grass mats, and having our daily afternoon drink at the Moana Surfrider. Already the waitress knows us.

Day One in Honolulu

Our plane left more or less on time but arrived late due to having to fly around some rough weather. I slept most of the way, so didn't matter to me.

We arrived in Honolulu and took the city bus to the hotel. Only a buck for seniors like us. What a deal. The bus definitely takes the scenic tour, so we now know where downton, Chinatown, Wal-Mart, Costco, and several other fabulous Honolulu destinations are.

Our hotel is very nice, and we upgraded to a room with an ocean view on the 25th -- top -- floor. It has a nice view of the ocean, albeit at a distance, but Diamond Head is blocked by another hotel across the way. Here's a nighttime view of Kalakaua from our room.

I'm constantly amazed by the new businesses that have sprung up since the last time we were here.

Anyway, here are some pictures from today.

Surfboards at Waikiki beach.











Umbrella drinks












Sunset -- probably not the best, just our first one