Friday, October 10, 2008

Finally decided to blog on my Hawaii trip as its really been backdated. We boarded the 5 hours long flight to Oahu (Honolulu) on the 21st of September from San Francisco airport. The night before was spent planning the entire trip (as we had been too caught up with work and projects) and it was a mad mad rush to the airport.

21st September
Arrived at Honolulu international airport where I felt the humidity of Hawaii immediately when we landed. The first bad news was that the car rental and insurance prices was freaking expensive, almost 2 times that of California. We had no choice but to pay that high price and it took us 2 whole hours just to settle the stupid car rental. The first stop in Oahu was the USS Arizona Memorial aka Pearl Harbour. There was this film screening at the theatre about world war 2. Basically, the whole place felt really like a history lesson and it was quite cool as we took the ferry out to the floating memorial which was built over the sunken hull of the USS Arizona. There were like 100 plus names on the war of those who died that day.

It was late evening by the time we settled everything and on the way to the Waikiki area, we grabbed a late lunch combined with dinner and went to several shops to shop around. Thereafter, we checked into the hotel and went walking around the Waikiki district where the nightlife was really vibrant and crowded.

22nd September
The day was started off by checking emails in the hotel room. Yes, tons of emails to clear everyday and I couldn’t believe that I took like 2 hrs in the morning just to finish checking everything. We then drove to scenic places like Pali lookout as well as famous beaches on the North shore as well as Kailua beach. The beaches were really quite pretty with crystal clear waters and coconut trees, something which I do not get to see in California. Had lunch at this place called the Shrimp Shack which serves BBQ shrimp from a bright yellow bus. It was pretty yummy considering that it was featured in many of the tourists magazines we got free at the airport.

We managed to catch the sunset at the Waikiki beach and it was really a pretty sight, one of the nicest sunset I’ve ever seen. The Waikiki beach is really cool, in a sense that it’s a beach separated from a really high class shopping district (imagine Tioman in the middle of Orchard Road). It gets really crowded at night, with people lighting the torches, hanging around the beach and tourists walking around.

23rd September
Caught the first plane to the Big island. As you may not know, Hawaii is actually made up of several islands (Oahu, Big island, Maui etc.) which are only accessible by flights, and that was why our plane ride only took 45 minutes. Visited Hawaii Volcanoes which actually has 2 active volcanoes. We embarked on the Kilauea Iki trail which descended 400 ft through rainforest floor and crossed the still steaming crater floor which was really cool. The hike took us around 3 hours but the feeling of walking on the crater of the volcano was really exciting.

At night, we drove all the way to the lookout where we got to see the lava flow from the Kilauea volcano in the ocean. It is best to see the lava flow at night as it would be glowing red in the darkness. We did manage to catch the lava flowing but it was pretty far away as we had to keep a safe distance from the volcano.

24th September
Had brunch which was termed as plate lunch in one of the Hawaiian restaurant. Apparently, this is something everyone should try when in Hawaii and true enough, it was really yummy. We went to this fruit farm where we bought 7 papayas for US$1, a pineapple for US$3 and 5 guavas for US$1. All the fruits were really dirt cheap and really yummy.

Spent the rest of the day back at Hawaii National park where we explored the Jagger museum, steam and sulphur vents with more hikes around the crater and volcanoes. Traveled down to the Dole plantation (pineapple plantation) where we got a tour of that place and had yummy pineapple ice-cream at the plantation. Talk about earning tourists money!

The night life on the big island is practically nothing. Its more of a laid back place where shops closes really early and after 7pm, there’s basically nothing to do. We didn’t mind this too much as the main objective of this vacation is to chill and do nothing.

25th September
The most exciting part of the trip was definitely this morning. We decided to take a helicopter up to the top of the volcano to see it from a better view and hopefully catch the lava flow. What was most exciting was that the helicopter was one without any doors and we could feel the heat from the volcano. It was a really small helicopter which held only 4 people including the pilot but it was really fun. The whole journey lasted 1 hour but was pretty memorable as we got to see the steam puffing out of the volcano, lava flow and even pretty waterfalls on the way back.

Rented an SUV in the afternoon as we wanted to make our way up to Mauna Kea , the world’s tallest mountain (measured from ocean floor). I am proud of myself as I managed to drive all the way up:p Mauna Kea is actually a dormant volcano which erupted 4000 years ago and is even taller than Everst. As it is at a high altitude, with clean air and absence of light, Mauna Kea is home to many international observatories. In fact, the WM KECK observatory on the summit is home to the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes. The bad news was that we were unable to catch the sunset at the submit (we did see it along the way) but the good news was, we got to stargaze at the top. There were countless number of stars and we even got to see Jupiter through one of the telescopes!

26th September
Initially planned to catch the sunrise from the top of Mauna Kea but we overslept !!!@#@$ The day was then spent visiting some beaches along the coast of the Big island followed by a Macadamia nut farm where we had yummy ice cream again (this time in Macademia flavour!) We had a tour of the factory and tasted raw macadamia nuts. Big island also had this coffee (Kona coffee) which is apparantly quite famous and it was indeed delicious! Then we had to return the rental car and made our way to the airport for the flight back to Oahu.

The moment we reached Oahu and went down to our hotel which is as usual located in the Waikiki district. I could really feel how different Oahu and Big Island was, Oahu was so much more happening with so much night life.

27th September
Started the morning with hiking up Diamond Peak. It is basically a pyroclastic cinder cone and at the top of it, you get to see this amazing view of the entire island. however, the 200 plus steps were irritatingly tiring though:(.

to be continued.