Remembering

I think Ah Ma is back from China today.   So the Hawaii posts will now resume!

There’s a side of Hawaii that is as far removed from the laidback, pleasure-seeking beach city as seen in my previous posts as possibly could be.  The sad, sombre side that remembers those who perished at Pearl Harbour.

As befitting an excursion to a place of such regret and loss, it was raining and dismal the morning we went.

This is the USS Bowfin which was a submarine deployed in WWII.

If you look on the left of the pic, there is a really small, long bit of white.  That’s the USS Arizona Memorial.

We were really lucky to get tickets to a 10:00 tour considering that we arrived around 9:20.  I’d read on the net and we were also informed by the tour desk at our hotel that there was often a 3 hour wait for the tour.  But we only had to wait 40 minutes!  In fact there were very little people there, and no Japanese people at all.  Pretty much the only place we went to in Honolulu that didn’t have any Japanese tourists about.

On the back of each ticket was some information on individuals that served America during WWII.

At 10am we were first shown a documentary about the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941.  It was very moving; I got a big lump in my throat and I heard sniffing from people near me.

After the documentary we boarded a boat which brought us across the water to the USS Arizona Memorial.

The memorial is built on top of the sunken USS Arizona battleship so parts of the ship are visible through the water.

Apparently to this day oil still seeps from the wreckage and rises to the surface of the water.  This oil is sometimes referred to as “the tears of the Arizona”.

The names of all the servicemen who died on the Arizona are inscribed on a wall in the memorial.

Back in the museum there was a bookshop where a few survivors were on hand to share their experiences and sign copies of their books.

GM and I almost didn’t make it to Pearl Harbour because our first couple of attempts to go were thwarted by the long travelling time and confusion over its opening hours.  It was only after reading an email from Ah Ma saying that Ah Pa asked if we’d been yet that we really set our minds to it and made a gargantuan effort to get there, regardless of having to get up at the crack of dawn, the hour or so bus ride and fears of having to wait around for hours before getting to go on the tour.

I’d say it was worth it.  Those people died protecting their land.  The least we could do is go there, understand what they did and pay our respects.

In the end the long bus ride was even rather fun.  We got to ride through Chinatown.

Look, Chinese medicine halls, just like those we’re used to.

The inside of the bus.  I liked the buses in Honolulu, they were clean, on time and their drivers were friendly.  Even the passengers were friendly – there was an old Chinese woman who didn’t know where she wanted to get off and practically half the bus was helping her.  I was also majorly impressed that the buses had bicycle racks in the front of the bus so that cyclists could take the bus together with their bikes if they wanted.  Wow.

This was the US Department of Homeland Security.

In downtown Honolulu there were quite a lot of buildings with this sort of architecture.  It reminded me of Kuching, the part near the waterfront.

We got to go on the Pearl Harbour tour so early that when we got back to the hotel after our excursion it was only around 1pm.  Our hotel had all sorts of different free classes everyday and that day it was ukelele class so seeing as how we happened to be there when the lesson was starting, GM went for the class.

I think it’s impossible to make any song played on a ukelele sound sad!

SAD In Grey

I think I’m suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

It can’t be a coincidence that come every winter when the light in the days are quickly devoured by the dark a restless, dissatisfied and highly irritable mood overcomes me.

Spring’s fresh buds are greeted by the birds.

Summer buzzes with radiance and anticipation.

Autumn’s leaves whisper when they fall.

Winter sits shrouded in soul sapping greyness and speaks to no one.

Although when I was taking photos of the dullness outside this morning to illustrate the dreary weather we’re living through at the moment I caught this:-

A rainbow against the grey, giving us all a little hope.

You’re a Star!

I’m interrupting my Hawaii posts because I need tell you guys about my new addiction!

It’s a ceasar chicken salad by Pret.  It’s sooooooo yummy I’ve been eating it practically this whole week, ever since I had it for the first time on Tuesday anyway.

It consists of slices of fresh cucumber, tomato, lettuce leaves, some slices of roasted peppers and chopped olives.  Sounds pretty standard so far right?  The star of the salad is meant to be the generous helping of ceasar chicken which is nicely moist, coated with light mayo and truth be told, it is actually really tasty.

But for me the true star of the salad is the smattering of pistachios across the top.  Oh my god, it’s absolutely genius!  I can’t even begin to describe the dimensions the pistachios add to what would be just a bog standard chicken salad.  Each time I got a pistachio in a forkful I reveled in the substantial crunch it added to the texture and even better still, the fragrant, nutty flavours it released in my mouth.  Gorgeous.

Anyway.  Enough gushing over a sad pitiful work time lunch.  That’s work for you, so dreary that a mere salad becomes some kind of golden highlight.

It’s Friday evening guys!!! (^___________________^)

I’ve been waiting for this time the whole week and finally it’s here.  Phew.  It’s been a long week.  Although yesterday things were livened up by the arrival of a parcel early in the morning!  Thank you Heri!!! =)  I had to wait till I got home at the end of the day to open it though but it was nice to have something to look forward to during the long work day (besides the salad that is).

It was filled with lots of cute goodies like some really fantastic cookie cutters, I love them!  Ugh I love getting packages!!!

But the best thing of all was the Star Beauty lamp, oh my god, it’s so pretty!!!  I love it so much!  Thank you Heri!!!  It’s like a planetarium in my living room, so peaceful and soothing to the soul =)  Absolutely fantastic.

 

Living The Life

I’m really very fond of Hawaii.  So is GM.  Whenever we think back to the holiday we say, “We have to go back again”.  I think it’s because we were so carefree and happy when we were there.

The feeling of waking up in the morning to be greeted with sights of brilliant blue skies, knowing full well that there were more days of such delight to come was honestly amazing.  I just couldn’t help the big grin on my face as I turned to GM and exclaimed, “This is the life!!!”

During those days GM and I just felt like doing nothing at all because we had time to waste – the days felt like they’d never end and we were free to waste them if we wished!  Is there a more liberating feeling than that?

So on days in which we felt like doing nothing we went to the beach.  After all, it’d be a travesty to waste all that good weather by staying indoors.

Do you guys recognise the shark??

I love going to the beach, it’s like a reward given to us from up above for all the crap we have to live through on a daily basis.  You know, stuff like cancelled trains, horrible co-workers, housework.  We trudge through all that most of the year and then we get two weeks off in the sun with the waves that sweep our stress out to sea and the endless blue horizon that our spirits soar towards, leaving our old tired selves behind to be reborn as shiny new invincible beings.

Honestly, going to the beach is one of the most healing experiences ever.  I even feel happy thinking of what I did.

I laid on the sand and looked up above me.

Or looked towards the shore at the waves that never cease to surge and ebb and the sand that will always be remade pristine every day, regardless of what else is going on in the lives of us little humans.

Sometimes I checked out the guys surfing the waves.

Watching people do watersports was really entertaining.  This was someone paddle boarding.  I’d never seen paddle boarding or even known about it prior to this holiday.  It looks great though, I’d like to go back out and do it next year.

I loved Waikiki Beach because there was so much activity on it and in its waters.

Lots of surfing obviously.

Body boarding.

And of course lots of swimming.

GM and I both bought big rubber rings and it was so fun floating in our rings on the water and letting the waves push us.  In fact, that’s one of my best memories of this trip.

After a long morning at the beach we’d go out for a late lunch.  One of the days we went to this restaurant which was decorated with a Hawaiian theme with “Aloha” on the wall.

Hawaiian place names on the backs of chairs.

Hula girls on the tabletops.  Cute.

Unfortunately the food wasn’t as good as it looked.  I had a Kobe beef burger which name was already questionable as the beef wasn’t from Kobe but was meant to be like Kobe beef, i.e. wagyu.  They should just call it a wagyu burger – after all you can’t call all sparkling wines champagne even though they also contain bubbles right?

Anyway even though the food wasn’t great we still had a nice time.  It was pretty much quite hard to not have a nice time.

After our lunches we’d walk around Waikiki.

Remember that patch of serenity that I showed you yesterday?  Like I said, lots of people took pics there.

Sometimes we’d go shopping.

I didn’t buy any of these signs.  They were nice though.

The shopping center right next to our hotel conducted free hula lessons at certain times during the week.  There was a big turn-out the only time I caught one.  The students were pretty much 99% Japanese ladies.

This was another shopping complex which I thought was very pretty.  It was like a little village.

It was really nicely decorated and very quaint.

Unfortunately it was really very small and didn’t have a good variety of shops so it was really quiet.

I did manage to find out some information on historical Hawaiian figures from reading the numerous plaques they had on the wall though.

Did you know Obama was born in Hawaii?  I didn’t but I do now.

And here is my souvenir from my days on the beach – a tantoo!  Isn’t it pretty?  I used a decal sticker bought from ABC Store on my arm and it turned out great!

On Waikiki Beach

I know you all want to see my Hawaii pics and read about what GM and I did there but I’m really struggling to blog about the trip.  Why?  Because I don’t know where to start!

It’s not that we did a lot in Hawaii, nor that we did too little and there’s nothing to blog about.  It’s more like our days weren’t very structured; during this holiday we truly just went with the flow and did whatever our moods fancied.  Some days we did nothing more than go to the beach, swim, sunbathe and go for late lunches, other days we went exploring in the many many shops and yet other days we did the traditional “tourists in Hawaii” activities.  It was a truly relaxing and fun holiday but for blogging purposes it’s just a bit difficult to figure out how to organise my posts.

But obviously I’m going to try.  Haha =D

Okay first up I’m going to introduce our hotel and the surrounding area.

We went to Waikiki, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and our hotel was in the bestest location ever.  It was absolutely fantastic, I think the location really contributed a lot to our enjoyment of the entire holiday because it was smack bang in the middle of everything so it was never a bother trying to get anywhere at all.

We couldn’t tell at all the night we arrived though because we arrived late at night, around 11pm, so it was too dark to check out the surrounding area.  But when I first stepped foot into the lobby I was secretly relieved and impressed because the lobby was really spacious and posh looking.

Our room was lovely too!

Really spacious!

This was the night time city view from our balcony.

Our room was decorated traditional Hawaiian plantation stylee with pineapple lamp…

……. pineapple print sofa……

…… orchid print bedspread…….

……. hula girl lamp….. you get the gist.  We liked it, it was a solid, not trying to be flashy, comfortable type of room.  Really really comfortable.

That’s my hat btw, one of the first things I bought in Hawaii.  I had to buy it because the sun was blazing and it was so hot.

The next morning we got up and were greeted with this sea view from our balcony.  So basically if we faced one way we got the city view, and if we faced the other way we got the sea view – best of both worlds!

We went down to one of the restaurants in our hotel for breakfast and were given a table overlooking the beach.  How lovely!

GM ordered a loco moco which is a typical Hawaiian dish.  It’s white rice topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg and brown gravy.  Yum.

I’d heard about the banana macadamia nut pancakes so I had that.  The waiter asked me if I wanted a short or tall stack and I didn’t understand so I asked him what the difference was.  A short stack is apparently 2 pancakes, and a tall stack is 3.  The waiter recommended that I have a short stack and good job too because even though I only got two pancakes, they were so thick and the portion so huge that I only managed about one third of it.  They were very good though, thick but fluffy, perfectly done.

This was our hotel from the beach.  It really was right on the beach which was brilliant.

This was our hotel from the other side – the street side.  There were shops right outside our hotel.

It was also next to a big shopping complex.

One with lots of nice posh shops.

Across the road there were more shops!  Including an ABC Store where we bought all our drinks and snacks.

This wasn’t our regular ABC Store but was one further up the road.  ABC Stores were everywhere in Wakiki.  They sold drinks, snacks, cheap clothes, toiletries, beach accessories like beach mats etc…. everything really.  I loved looking in them and visited one after the other because even though they all more or less stocked the same stuff, sometimes there were variations of the items and it was just a pleasant way to pass time.  Plus their air-con was good haha.

The local Burger King had surf boards on the door.

The International Marketplace was right across the road from our hotel.  I didn’t like the marketplace much as it was filled with lots of little souvenir stalls that sold stuff I wasn’t interested in.  The worst thing though was that the people running those stalls were quite persistent in trying to grab customers which was really off-putting.

There was a pond and little waterfall in the middle of the marketplace and that was nice.  A little patch of serenity in the midst of hardcore commercialism.

There was another patch of serenity across the road along the beach front walkway.

Isn’t it pretty?  A lot of people took photos here.

That cute little hut was the Honolulu Police Station.

There were statues like these dotted around Waikiki.  They were all of famous and prominent historical Hawaiian figures.

This was a statue of Duke Kahanamoku who is a Hawaiian legend considered as “the father of modern surfing”.  There was a restaurant/bar in our hotel named after him which apparently is one of the most popular eating/drinking establishments in Waikiki.  We went there for buffet breakfast on our second day and had the best Portuguese sausage (another typical Hawaiian food) that we’d had the entire trip there.

Tourists can get around Honolulu on these trolleys for $2 per journey.  They were extremely convenient and were run really efficiently.  Lots of tourists travel to places on them.

Another view of the trolley.  That’s a police car next to it.

Most days GM and I would walk around aimlessly, just looking at stuff and generally exploring.  We saw this gecko statue in front of one of the hotels and I had to take a pic of it.  Yucks.

A fire engine.

On our first morning GM and I walked all the way down the beach front walkway in the direction of Diamond Head mountain.  We got to Kapiolani Park and sat looking out to the sea, just enjoying the sunshine and beautiful views.  If you look at the buildings our hotel was right next to the short pink building so you can see we’d walked a fair way.

We met an ah pek whose back view you can see in the right of the pic.  Americans are really friendly and he stopped to chat with us.  Actually he told us two jokes.

1.  Q:  What would happen if all the cars in America were painted pink?

A:  We would have a pink car-nation.  Get it?

Oops we’ve forgotten the other joke because it wasn’t very good nor memorable.  Haha.

That’s Diamond Head mountain in the distance from our hotel’s beach.  We were going to trek up the mountain and actually set out to do so one day but then we soon realised that to walk from our hotel to the bottom of the mountain would take ages.  So we gave up.

In my next Hawaii post I will introduce something else – I don’t know what yet!

That structure is a life guard station btw.