June 2005
06.30.05, Thursday:
[04:30am] Hi!!! Back from Hawaii!!! It was so awesome! ^_^ So, I'm finally back to update, muah ha...I came back to find that kobun did a neat job renovating gummychild.com. Woo hoo! ^_^ It's not completely done yet, but at least I can blog back on here again, instead of xanga. I still have to catch up on what I missed for xanga in the past week though, heh heh...=)
So, as you know, this probably won't be short. It's gonna be full of words...but full of fun things from all the goodness of Hawaii. Are you ready? =)
Monday: Rosalyn and I arrived last Monday, finding that Oahu is 3 hours behind from what we're used to. After picking up our rental car, we took off to the Dole Plantation. Pineapple heaven indeed!!! The place was just splashed with that delightful pineapple scent all over, and after the train ride through the plantation, they even gave us some of the sweetest, most yummiest pineapple pieces to nibble on. Of course, we had to try their Pineapple ice cream! ^_^ After the tour, we ran through their Giant Maze, which is supposed to be the 2001 Guinness World's Record largest maze. It took us about half an hour to get in and find our way out. =) After that, we went to Stan and Bel's, and had Zippy's with them for dinner. Mmm. =) Back at the LauLau's, we at some yummy Hawaiian Papaya...I'm not one to like papaya...in fact, I usually shun it...but Hawaiian papayas don't have that funky smell...and I liked it! ^_^
Tuesday: USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Took the audio tour and ferry to the memorial. It's crazy to think that the battleship is still there, under the memorial, and that the bodies of those that died more than 60 years ago are still there, inside the ship...it's crazy to still see patches of oil on the surface of the water - oil that is still coming from the ship, more than 60 years ago. Not only does it make me think of the environmental repercussions of war, but the tragedies that come with any war that happens, for whatever reasons, valid or not. And is war ever valid? Hmm.
After the tour, we drove on up to the Polynesian Cultural Center, passing by the Likelike (lick-ey-lick-ey) Highway and Kane'ohe area on the windward side of the island. My goodness! Kane'ohe was the most beautiful part of the island that I've seen...full of lush green plants and jungles on huge mountains on one side, flanked with the blue, blue ocean on the other side. What a place to live! Although I'm sure there's more mosquitoes, as it's the moister part of the island...=Þ We also saw the little island called Chinaman's Hat. =) At the PCC, we learned about various islanders, like Samoans (go Angela!), Tongans (we always have a few as students at school, and they're always great people!), Fiji (ah, Manpreet from back in da days of elementary through high school), and a few others as well. It was like Disneyland, but without the rides - they taught us a lot about each island, we got to make crafts (weave headdresses, make a fish), learn how to play the ukelele, ride a canoe, and various other fun things. =)
Wednesday: We stopped at the Aloha Stadium in the morning to check out the swap meet!!! How I love swap meets, ha ha...it's fun to get to bargain! =) However, our visit was cut short...I got sick to the stomach, and ended up throwing up...twice! Eww! I hate throwing up...those that know me know I can stand anything gross, and have no trouble with blood and guts and dissections and what-not...but vomiting??? It's like the worst thing that I can face. I haven't thrown up in yeeeeears...but anyways, we think it was some type of stomach virus/flu, or I ate something bad. Either way, I'm sure it was from something that I put in my mouth, as later, I threw up again because my stomach couldn't even hold chicken noodle soup. =( Thanks to everyone for their concerns/emails/phone calls, heh heh...I didn't really get a chance to use the internet after that day (I pretty much slept the whole day away, had some chills and a slight fever, and didn't eat anything) to let you guys know that hey, I felt better the next morning! I was able to hold food after and was still a little frazzled the next day, and though I didn't throw up, let's just say that the bad stuff still had to get out...uh...one way or the other...>_<
Thursday: Visited the Honolulu Zoo! Queen Kapiolani (Hawaii is the only state that had its own king and queen) had loved birds (yay!), so the zoo has a lot of birds, as it was a gift from the Queen. Very cool. Since the Zoo is in the Waikiki area, when we finished, we meandered over to the beach shops and visited a few places, before heading home to change for the luau. But guess what??? The directions we got for Paradise Cove were online, and they directed us to the office back out in Waikiki, instead of Ko'Olina, which was completely on the other side of the island. Since we were more than late, we had to change the luau date to Saturday...which was probably better for my stomach anyways. =) So instead, we went to Waikiki again, and meandered here and there till the wee hours of the night, and also checked out the Ala Moana Shopping Center, where we saw (but didn't eat at) Jackie Chan's restaurant! Heh heh. =)
Friday: We woke up early to beat the rest of the tourists at Hanauma Bay, an old sunken volcanic crater in the ocean, teaming with marine life. I went snorkeling for the first time here...and WOW! You can see SO much!!! And snorkeling was fun! I loved it! I got to see soooo many fish - schools of fish, colorful fish, and even the state fish, humu humu nuku nuku apua'a (the reef triggerfish) - swimming amongst the coral reefs, simply living their live, eating and moving about. After about 2 hours of playing, we went to the Koko Marina area to play some more in the water! We went Jet Skiing (eh, fun, but okay, as all we did was go around in circles out in the ocean), Scuba Diving (which was...AWESOME! I so am not a water person...but Hawaii has changed that a little. Scuba and snorkeling, I would do over and over again, any time!), and the Bumper Boats. Scuba diving was kinda scary at first, but once I got the hang of it, I wanted to keep scuba'ing! We went to one spot where they usually feed the fish, and though we didn't have food, all the fish swarmed around us and wouldn't leave! It was so cool!!! =) Bumper boats aren't all that fun...we wanted to go on the Banana Boats, but since they didn't have enough riders, they bumped us to the bumper boats, which is basically you holding on to an inflated boat for dear life, because the speedboat actually tries to turn hard enough to make you fall off. You don't actually get to bump and chase other boats, as the name would make you think, heh heh...I'd go back to try parasailing one day though...! ^_^
After, we headed to Sally and Beth's, where we washed up and, and joined Edith (who just flew in then!). Us five hot chicks went out eat at the Taste of Honolulu, a food festival that was going on for the weekend. Mmm. Such good morsels everywhere! =) 'Twas fun to hang out with all of these wonderful friends! =)
Saturday: Went with Ros and Bel up to Diamond Head to hike all the way to the top! After, we stretched out at Ala Moana Beach Park, where the waters were almost completely still and at peace, because a natural reef system would insulate that area from the waves coming in. The edge of this peaceful beach was Magic Island, and at the boundaries between beach sand and grass were lots of weekend beach barbeques! Awesome! =) The rest of Saturday included Waiola's Shaved Ice (the BEST shaved ice I've ever had in my little lifetime of 26 years! Oh how I miss lilikoi, pineapple and coconut flavored shaved ice with ice cream and mochi balls already...! Heidi, you would LOVE this!) and Dirty Lickin's volcano chicken wings. After all that, Ros and I went to the Luau at Paradise Cove, in the right direction and early (just in case). =) There were all kinds of fun things to do at the Luau, which was right up next to the beach, located in a sea of palm trees at the Ko'Olina Resort, including making your own headdress, bracelet, anklet, getting a Polynesian tattoo, and even playing games (like throwing a spear! Which I did! Ha ha...rather unsuccessfully...). The food was alright, and poi...oh gosh...POI...was downright naaaasty. There were some native Hawaiians next to us though, and they LOVED it - so I guess it's an acquired taste...like bad...rotten...bittermelon...*sigh* They called it the best wallpaper paste that anyone could ever taste though. Hmm. =) The shows were fun though - those hula girls can REALLY shake them hips like a salt shaker, ha ha...and yes, all them island men had those hot, oiled bodies that one grandmother next to us was REALLY enjoying (she was whoopin', hollerin' and screaming most of the time, hee hee). I think the most impressive thing to me was the fire stick dancing, where the guys were flipping these sticks that were lighted with fire on both ends, and twirling them super fast, in the air, under their legs, break dancin' (okay, not really, but kinda?) with it, and all that good stuff. 'Twas cool. =)
Sunday: Went to church with Stan and Bel - wow. It's nice to have a church right up next to the forest! Very cool. Ours is au-natural too...um...with horses and chickens and roosters running about in the back anyways. =) After church, we met up with Edith at the Pearlridge shopping center to eat lunch, before heading back to Aloha Stadium, where I could finish bargaining (fun fun!) and souvenir shopping. =) Word of advice - don't buy your souvenirs at the touristy places, unless you really want something from that particular place...you can bargain (and DO it, don't be shy! ^_^) for them for way cheaper at the swap meet. =) We met up with Stan and Bel, who took us on a wonderfully cool island tour! =)
In short, the island tour consisted of: Driving through lush and beautiful Kane'Ohe again, seeing the "Stairway to Heaven", passing Kualoa Ranch (we wanted to ATV here, on the Jurassic Park set, only it was all booked up), eating from Giovanni's Shrimp Shack (mmm!!!), bought and shared a fresh coconut from a vendor on the road (though the juice was alright, I really liked the meat of it!), and ate at Matsumoto's (yummy shaved ice, but not AS good as Waiola's!) in Haleiwa. We stopped by Shark's Cove to do some more snorkeling, and besides seeing all the cool fish, I also got to come FACE TO FACE with a sea turtle!!! Aghhh! Stan, who was not snorkeling, had spotted it first and was telling us about it. Suddenly, he saw it again, and I stuck my head in the water, and it was coming straight at me! It was no more than an inch from my head! I popped my head up and screamed briefly (becauseh WOAH! I didn't know it was right there, and coming at me!), but quickly put my head back in to look. It just kinda looked at me peacefully (it's such a gentle looking thing!) before turning left and going on. Rosalyn still had her fins on, and actually took off chasing after the turtle so that she could take a picture of it, and touch it, hee hee. =)
We also checked out the North Shore surfing beaches, and at Waimea, saw a bunch of people jumping off a big cliff. Some went down forward, but a few went backwards, and one belly flopped (ouch!). At first, only a few, but in the end of the few minutes that we were there, a whole bunch of them jumped off at the same time...like the grand finale of a fireworks show. Awesome! =)
The day ended with "Sunset at the Beach" at Waikiki. The movie of the night was "A Series of Unfortunate Events", which was rather good! =) A few minutes after the movie started, they paused it to point out the alignment of the planets for that night! Wow. What a view - the city lights in Waikiki, the dark night sky filled with stars (way less pollution there than here), planets aligned to the left, with the massive ocean stretched out below, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore, soothing your ears and senses. Neato, indeed. =)
Monday: Our last full day included a tour of the Waikiki Aquarium (lots of cool fish, seadragons, sharks, and all that good stuff!), and eating good stuff off Kapahulu: went to Rainbow Drive-Inn for a Loco Moco, Waiola's for one last shaved ice dessert, and Leonard's later for a fresh and hot guava custard Malassada. =) Sometime between all the good eatin', we stopped at Waikiki beach and got in the water to play, float on our backs, and enjoy being pushed by the waves, hee hee. Needless to say, I'm tanned enough - and I didn't even care about getting tanned, as I'm dark enough, right? =) We got back to the LauLau's, completely tired from having too much fun and eating too many good things (is this POSSIBLE??? hee hee...) for the week, and ended up going out to Aloha Towers for dinner with all of our homeboys and homegirls out in Hawaii: Stan, Belinda, Scott, Sally, Edith, Rosalyn, and I. We ate at Gordon Biersch, with a must for their garlic fries, and finished off the night at Bubbies (what a fun name, eh?) for some ice cream to finish off our trip.
Tuesday: Flew home...goodbye Hawaii! Shelton picked us up, and I came home to pass out gifts and not sleep until late. Kinda like what I'm doing now, ha ha, except I was more unpacking last night. I'm all vacationed up - sleeping late, not tired at all, and yeah...it's summer time all over again, and I get to play, play, play...^_^
Wednesday: Today (yesterday, technically), I actually got to read some email (got more to go) and update this thing. =) Woo hoo! Pictures are on my computer, but there's like a million of them...and another million on my regular camera...it'll be a while to upload, so y'all will have to be patient with that. =) Shelton came over today too (I didn't wake up till almost 11am!) to grocery shop and cook dinner with me, and to simply hang out with me cuz he's that awesome. =) He has a mini-vacation, until work starts up again, so we get to play and cook together. Fun fun! =)
Hawaii was awesome! In fact, I'd totally do it again, and try our more things, like parasailing, scuba diving more, snorkeling everywhere, and try surfing. I'd check out horseback riding at Kualoa, and visit some places that I didn't get to visit this time, like Kailua beach. It'd be even neat to go in the winter to check out their surfing competitions up in the North Shore, kayak to Chinaman's Hat, or hike to a waterfall. =) I also liked that it wasn't burgers everywhere for fast food - they had saimin/ramen noodles or rice for almost any meal available, and so I never lacked rice on this trip. And the shave ice...you already know that Waiola's is to die for...! ^_^ Hawaii is costly though - to play is expensive. I'm glad I saved well. It ain't cheap, but it was worth it. =)
Oh yeah! Some fun Hawaiian terms that I learned while there: Puu Puu = appetizer; Kao Kao = to eat, or eating; Ono = delicious (thus "onolicious!"); to Talk Story = to Chat; their W's are actually pronounced as V's, like "Ha-vaii" for Hawaii and Israel "Kama-ka-vivo-ole" for Kamakawiwoole; many like to say "yeah" at the end of their sentences, like how them Canadians or Australians kinda say it, hee hee. =) It's that whole pidgin talk - and it's quite interesting and fun, actually. =)
Mahalo for reading so far...and till next time...Alooooooha...! ^_^
*** The rest of the June can be found on xanga, as gummychild.com was under renovations during most of June 2005 ***