Thursday, November 30, 2006

on that old hawaiian shore with you

Aloha!
(Dial-up does not agree with this post)


--

Hawai'i was pretty much everything I thought it would be.
Amazing weather, Plenty of Family time, the unmistakable Aloha spirit, and oh.
Like 84 ABC stores on every street corner.

Being me,
I was completely clueless about the fact that there was a 2 hour time difference between Vegas and Hawaii.
So I only arrived 7 hours later, instead of 5 like I thought.
Nevertheless, I arrived to the beautiful warm sunshine and the familiar chatter of Family.

Day 1 was leisurely.
We walked the divine Waikiki beach and basked in the insanely fantastic weather.
We bought beach mats and Mom finally caved and bought flipflops.
See, people are a-changing' a-lready.
I officially love Hawai'i.


And Thanksgiving dinner was..

Heh heh.
Yup.

Unconventional, sure.
And we even had goose in place of turkey.
Even I can't make that up y'all.
But it was a great meal and besides, it just doesn't get more Chinese than the Glowing Dragon.

Amen.
__

DAY2
..Was phenomenally exhausting.

Okay. Y'ALL.
VA, LIKE, TEH MOST UNATHLETIC, INDOLENT SLOTH IN THE UNIVERSE.
You might not believe this.
But I FRIGGIN' WENT SURFING MAN.

Or at least I tried.

Photos to be developed later from a trusty 27exposure watercam.
And I'm pretty sure I look like a dead whale in all of them but:

Suffice it to say that I am very happy I can still feel my arms after all! That! Paddling!
Jie and i are probably the most untalented, uncoordinated students Mark has ever had. We're the kind of students you go back to HQ and make fun of. ("Dude today there were these 2 horrendous Asian chicks....")

It's us, not him.
--


Oh my first taste of Spam Musubi!
It's easy to make, value for money, and tasty as heck.

The flash went a little nuts in this one, but the musubi really is quite large. And yes i find the ad in the background strangely amusing.



--

Hanauma Bay in the afternoon for more beach time.
It really is breathtaking.


..Although I was very comfortable in my shady spot with my apple,
Just taking in the sights, sounds, and the scent of the seawater.

Jie and I got a little excited.


Mexican dinner at Uncle Ray's!
Fabulous margaritas, carnitas, and the best nachos to ever nacho. Ever. Ditto for the salsa.
Ole!


Way too much walking before and after dinner,
Watching the Thanksgiving parade and going shorts-hunting for Sara at (where else?) ABC stores around O'ahu.

--

Day 3
Much more laid back, felt much more like I was living in real Hawaiian time.
Even had time to go for early morning breakfast with jie, and have insightful conversations over Toffee nut lattes.


A good part of the day was spent at the overwhelmingly heeuge Ala Moana.




I mean, seriously.
Just look at the amount of stores listed in the directory!
It's almost rude.

We literally walked ourselves silly.
And my favorite part was the great food court like nothing here in the mainland. Yay for me finally getting to eat locomoco for the first time since freshman year!




With nightfall came,
A LUAU!




Yep,
A real Luau.
We are tourists and not ashamed, y'all!

We loved the singing, dancing, and staged acts.
Even the diluted drinks, cheesy corsages and overpriced icecream.
Yeah, we just lapped it all up.



__


Hawai'i is the kind of place where you go to let go of everything else.
It's the kind of place where you find yourself thinking, "Has the sky really always been that blue?"
It's the kind of place you go to start breathing long, proper breaths again. Instead of the short stilted ones you didn't even realize you were taking.
And really realize what a truly wonderful world God has given us.

Family ties. We are Family. Happy feet.
Okay, Enough entertainment references already.


Mahalo, Hawai'i.
For a Thanksgiving well spent.

No comments: