day 6: Polynesian Cultural Centre. Go Native!
it was a day to go native and to be immersed in polynesian music and dance. we visited the 7 different villages, namely Samoa, Aotearoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Marquesas, Tahiti and Tonga, watched the performances before the main night show where all the different villages come together for a night of beauty.

mom and i at the entrance, after being "lei-ed" with a string of seashells

acting cute at tahiti

playing with my camera at tonga

they blow the flute using their nose!



HAWAII!!!!! and the hula girls dancing..
well fact of the day.. hula is a slow dance which tells a story with the hand actions, the 'typical' hawaiian straw skirt dance with vigorous shaking of the butt is from Tahiti..

with the people of marquesas

the tree climbing champion of samoa!
our bus guide told us that it is impossible to finish exploring the whole village in one day, that's why entry is free for the next 2 days, but with my skillful planning, we managed to watch the presentations of all 7 villages, the canoe paegent, took the canoe tour and watched the imax show before dinner and the main performance at night.

acting silly on the canoe ride..

an interesting coconut tree we saw during the canoe ride
that basically sums up the day..

day 5: Flea Market
the flea market opens every wednesday, saturday and sunday. so the shopaholic me decided not to give it a miss on this trip! it was held at the Aloha Stadium and the stalls were set up ALL around the stadium. most of them were selling similar things, like hawaii t-shirts, souvenirs, bikinis, etc etc. and due to the conflict of interest between my parents and i in shopping, i ventured around the stadium on my own and yes, i lost them and spent half an hour at the place we entered waiting for them..

headed for chinatown after that for lunch and shopping for cheap food, especially fruits. according to our tourguide yesterday, chinatown in hawaii is made up of 60% vietnamese and there's quite a few vietnamese restaurants around. and of course, we had a filling and healthy lunch there..

the day just had to end with more sand and sun..

day 4: surfbabe learns history
started the day early with pearl harbor trip. yes, pearl harbor is in hawaii, in case you didn't know that. we took a bus there and queued up to get our tickets for the video presentation and the tour to USS Arizona Memorial. We walked around the visitor centre to look at the exhibits and learn about the whole incident that triggered WWII.

the pretty rainbow taken from the bus.. yes, a rainbow has 7 colours

my mom and i while queuing for the tix..

the anchor of the ship

the clock stopped short on 7 Dec 1941, 8:06 a.m. when USS Arizona exploded and sank with a crew of 1,177

a Pearl Harbor survivor cum volunteer at the centre
we went to watch a historical video on the whole incident which triggered US to go into WWII. A very touching video i must say, and indeed heart-breaking to see how cruel war is, the cruelty and vulnerability of mankind.. and the bravery

the USS Arizona Memorial, with the flag at half-mast. it is built directly on top of the ship and some of the remnants of the ship can still be seen.

the list of people whom the ship took..

part of the ship that remained..

oil still seeps out of the sunken ship, even more than half a century later.. it is said to be the tears of those who lay underneath..
it was history taught again, and so much better than textbooks. isn't it sad that it is through history where man learns not to repeat his mistake, but it is good to know man can put history behind during everyday-life and different nationalities can exist in peace together..
what an enriching morning..
after leaving pearl harbor, the bus brought us around downtown honolulu for a city tour..

punchbowl national cemetary, where all the heroes are buried..

king kamehameha statue and the state capital..

that was all for the morning, and the sun was still good when we got back, so it's back to the sea!!

walking through the streets on my way to the beach (that's a boogie board by the way, not a surfboard)

going out for my first surfing lesson. it's a cool sport which you can't do here. not that hard, managed to get up on my second attempt, partly also because i was using the biggest and most stable board. the most tiring part of all was paddling out to the sea, because the waves kept coming and your efforts will all be wasted if a big wave comes and topples you or washes you towards the shore.. definitely a good sport for toned arms and tanned body. and gliding with the wind and wave was an incredible experience!!
too bad no photos of me in action because i was out in the sea and the photos the surfing kiost that provided the lessons were selling at 20 bucks for one photo.. madness.

day 3: enjoying Waikiki
didn't plan any tours for the day, so just spent the morning at the beach suntanning, enjoying the waves and playing in the water and afternoon was none other than my favourite... shopping!!
and at night as we were watching tv, slacking around, we heard what sounded like explosions in the far.. yes, fireworks!! really pretty and colouful fireworks that lasted for at least 15 minutes.

if only everyday is like that..
island life.. loving it totally

Day 2: Round Island Tour
disclaimer: all photos are unedited (for the simple reason that there is no need to and i don't know how to)
we've decided to start knowing Hawaii, and O'ahu, which is the name of the island that we were staying on better by going for a round island tour. It's a one-day tour where the bus takes us one whole round around O'ahu, and stopping by significant places for photo-taking and walking around. the bus left Waikiki and went around diamond head and stopped over at hanauma bay, which is a good place for snorkeling, of course, we just got down to take photos and enjoy the beauty of nature..


and i'm just there to blend into the blue background

cute car we saw at the carpark..

see the water coming out from that hole?


the picture say them all.. seems like the nuts do have benefits, but it's like 80 percent fats!!

yes, that's how the raw nut looked like.. yummy


isn't the beach just soooo pretty and surreal??

the cooling and relatively healthy pineapple ice cream at dole plantation.

mutated pinapple??

small and cute one..

more sceneries to see

and the wind was so strong that it felt we're flying!! or rather get blown away

and i got my dose of exercise that day by walking half an hour to the convention centre, to use wireless, only realising i forgot to bring the adaptor, so walk back, get the stuff, and wanted to walk there again. oh well, a big thank you to my lousy sense of directions and wanting to find a short cut, i ended up walking another way at the junction cos there were roadsigns for the convention centre for cars pointing that way. and so, i walked and walked and the signs disappeared, and i just got further and further. i actually ended up in honolulu already, the main town area. in the end i just gave up, turned back and walked..
i think i walked a total of 3 hours!! best thing is during the time i was walking around lost, 2 ppl actually asked me for directions!! do i look local and knew where i was going??

i'm back home, back from paradise and shall update the journal slowly..
day 1: a big ALOHA!!
it was probably the longest day ever, due to the 18 hours time difference and the 14 hours spent in planes and 6 hours at narita airport doing absolutely nothing.
left home in the wee hours to catch the 6am flight to tokyo where the stoning began before another 7 hours plus to honolulu.

yes, i'm bored

and i'm hungry

and i'm sleepy.. yes i'm a pig
and so we waited and waited until it was sunset..

after all that long wait and stoning, we finally arrived in honolulu, at 8am on the same day.. hurhur..
the weather is great, blue sky, white clouds and totally sunny early in the morning. best part is that it is a lot less humid and so even under the same temperature, you don't perspire much. we got into a limo cab which took us to the resort in waikiki where we spent the next week.

the little one in the pretty big limo..
and because the check-in's only at 4pm and we arrived pretty early, we deposited our luggage at the resort and went out to explore the little town of waikiki. indeed quite a small town just beside waikiki beach and people walk on the streets in beachwear, and yes, i mean bikinis and boardshorts only, carrying with them surfboards, beachtowel, mats etc..
had lunch at a japanese restaurant, cos this place is filled with japanese.. went back to the resort after that for our big ALOHA and then a big ZZZZZZZ...

ALOHA with fresh flower 'lei's.. the hawaiian style of greeting..
the rest of the day was basically spent on exploring the shopping centres, beach and planning what to do for the rest of the week...
and although it's only the first day, i know i'm going to love this place!!

ALOHA!!!
greeting from waikiki, omg, i can't believe i'm actually here! it's totally a paradise. the resort which we're staying at is right in the middle of waikiki town, across the road is the main town area cum shopping district. LOTS of beach wear, bikinis, everything you need on the beach and LOTS of macadamia nuts!! and walking through the shopping area is waikiki beach!! surf babes, surf hunks, yes exactly what is seen on tv, in pictures, that is what hawaii is like! ppl walk around the streets in bikinis and surf boards like nobody's business..
today's only day 2 and haven't really gone down to the waters.. more to come.. i can't wait!!