Anyhoo...
Originally I started making this a day by day account... I hadn't even gotten through day 1 and I realized this trip was not something I was going to provide day by day memoirs of. I like writing memoirs and I still have some that I actually penned when I used to go on vacations with my family.
Back in 2001 I wrote about our trip to Amritsar, Dalhousie and Dharamsala...and I still have that notebook. The trip to Hawai'i warrants putting an actual pen (preferably ink) to actual paper. It warrants a notebook with a pressed plumeria flower that I got as a bookmark to remind us of the beauty we experienced.
(note to self: look for that flower...it's in one of the guide books. GASPS!! I hope we didn't return them)
I will try to summarize our experience at the beautiful islands of O'ahu, Hawai'i (The Big Island) and Kaua'i and hope to not influence you in anyway. It's a place definitely worth experiencing, but I don't want my experience to cloud your view of the place.
I’ll start by saying…that if you’re expecting to get “lei’d” the second you land in Aloha land…you’re mistaken. Unless you pay to get lei’d of course ;-) (No you dirty minds…a lei (lay) is a garland of flowers). And you’ll find plenty of non-Hawai’ian people sporting leis around their necks…chances are they bought them :-) The first thing you do get however, is myriad shades of blue.
The pacific ocean offers majestic views, stunning vistas and a million shades of blue when you drive around the islands. R and I seem to be of the type that like to "get away". The Andamans offered a retreat...there was nothing to do on Havelock island but nothing. No TV, no phones...just the ocean and white sandy beaches.
In that sense...our first night at O'ahu was anything but a getaway. We drove through not so pretty parts of town to get to the Hotel, which looked like it needed a makeover from it's 60's style (but we expected it since we didn't want to pay top $$ for a few hours to crash). I said...it's just another big city with a beach. Which Honolulu, O'ahu is in many ways.
Wai'kiki Beach is a long sandy stretch that attracts hundreds of locals and tourists alike. We caught the sunset there on our first evening...walked around the strip and ate Koren BBQ at the International Market. Which is a great place to be for some cheap shopping and good quality food. We also got some fresh watermellon juice there...and were disappointed that there was no "naariyal pani" in sight.
That's another thing no one told us until we asked at another Hotel. You get fresh coconut water and the cream inside only if you go to a farmers market in the more local parts of town. So, Waikiki was nothing to rave about (atleast not yet...)
Although for Bombayites, the walk down Kalakaua Ave will remind you somewhat of Marine Dr. or the Chowpatti area.
Our next stop was Hawai'i, more commonly and popularly known as the Big Island (it is the biggest islands of the Hawaiian archipelago). The main attraction for us on TBI was the Volcanoes National Park. This is a must see/must do experience. It's like watching evolution in action, it's like going back to the beginning and starting over.
In March the Kilauea crater wall collapsed on itself and it was spewing huge plumes of toxic sulphur dioxide gas into the air. The park was still open, but several trails and roads had been closed to public. What was open was the Kiluaea Iki crater and the trails around it and the Lava tubes. The 4 mile hike was interesting to say the least and TBI is a land of shocking contrasts. From a rainforest to a lava dessert to a rainforest again. It's something you've never seen before.
I was tired however...and the heat and humidity was getting on my nerves. R kept egging me on so I'd get to the top and a little baggie of MnM's made sure I had enough sugar surging in my blood ;-)
Contrary to what I expected, the village of Volcano was actually cool. Blame it on the elevation - 4000 ft above sea level is bound to be cool. Although the sun on the black cooled lava did make it warmer than the rest of the village when we were walking around the crater. Then again, the crater was a few thousand feet below the normal ground level...which explains the difference in temperature.
The whole Volcanoes experience was not over yet...we had resolved to go watch the volcano in action (a.k.a spewing hot lava) at dusk from a designated viewing area. So far things had gone as scheduled.
We had reached Hilo around 8 am...head to a famous diner/pancake place for a big breakfast and were done with the daytime volcano visit squarely around 1.00 pm. We found a Thai place to eat lunch (Volcano village has only so many place one can eat at :-p) and we had enough left over for dinner.
Our cottage at Volcano was at the studio of Ira Ono (an artist from the area) and we knew it had a kitchen with utensils where the Thai food could be eaten again! (It was spicy...and you know what that means when I say it :)) We got to the cottage only because the owner of Thai Thai restaurant understood who we were speaking of!! The cottage was tiny but quaint, stocked with most essential items, with local banana bread and fruit for breakfast (and yogurt). It was expensive, but the views of the garden were beautiful and it was conveniently located. The drive to Kalapana was interesting, marked with some heavy rain followed by super sunny skies. The viewing area was at a safe distance from the Volcano and we didn't think we'd get to see much, but as soon as the Sun went down, boy did we get a spectacular show!!
Next time...we'll take our tripod and a better camera with sharper night pictures. It's hard to keep up with nature, you know!
The next day we got out of the cottage, drove all around the island's east side to head to Kona. Black Sands beach on the way was interesting...quite unlike anything you've seen before. And the turtles are so cute :)
We stopped and ate at a local sandwich shop owned by a German immigrant...and the dessert (we had a brownie with some praline type thing on it...but she called it a different word that's not coming to me yet) was killer, so was my Tuna sandwich. You can't be in Hawai'i and not eat Poke (Hawai'ian for Tuna)...that's just wrong!
Our hotel at Kona was value for money...atleast for the price we paid I thought it was a steal. We had our first Mai Tai watching the sunset on the beach...after R had had an "incident" with the ocean !! We did also go to a coffee plantation at Kona...and unfortunately I have nothing to rave about it either. The drive from Volcano to Kona was spectacular though. Punctuated by beautiful views of cliffs and the ocean, we actually picked a spot for our vacation home. A huge hill overlooking the ocean...it's free of course ;-) We lived on the Kohala Coast and had to drive around quite a bit for food etc.
R wasn't too happy about the landscape on that side of the island because he finds desert drives boring. And all we had to look at was miles and miles of lava rocks/dessert. We did some snorkelling around Kona...and strangely I was extremely claustrophobic with the mask. Maybe it was due to the fact that we were venturing out into the ocean without a "guide" and I'm not a good swimmer to begin with.
SO I'm generally panicky in vast bodies of water - unless I'm on a boat or kayak or something OR have a floatation device on! The fish were cool ... some of them were almost at the beach. So I didn't have to go to far and I could stand in water to look at them. But R went further in and said he was not happy with the quality of fish. He thought snorkelling at Andamans was way better. Then again, maybe it would be better if we had gone on a guided snorkelling trip and looked in the right spots?
Post snorkelling we managed to get some real good lunch though - the best blackened tuna wrap I ever ate. Made R taste it and he gulped a whole bunch of water after that, so we know how that went :) Kudos to him for trying though, if it were me and I didn't like the smell, I wouldn't have put it in my mouth. He said it was good...but the smell was fishy (it wasn't - if it was I wouldn't eat it. But then he's more sensitive than I am). I also got myself some jade...so that day was a good one!
And at this point I want to say that the one good thing about this trip was that we didn't get bad food anywhere. Sure the guidebook sent us on a wild goose chase at times and we found places had shut down altogether but that was a risk we took with an older edition. Other than that, food was decent and never downright disappointing. My one regret, I didn't spot a single shrimp truck, that I've heard so much about, we never quite did make it to a luau, never tried any true blue local food :-( I had the opportunity, but somehow I was skeptical. Maybe if someone whose taste buds I trust had recommended any of it, I'd be brave enough to try.
I guess this gives us a reason to go back...if we ever get around to it and can afford it. This time was a boon because we paid $10 for tickets and used miles. HA...I wouldn't have made it if I had to pay a couple grand for the tickets.
Next time though, we have resolved to snorkel at Hanauma Bay which is a marine reserve and give it a shot. Possibly we'll have a better time there.
Kauai was spectacular. R and I both loved it from the morning we woke up. We got there kinda late at night and couldn't see much at all. Our hotel was at Kalapaki Beach - R might do a guest post to write about all the things he disliked about the Marriott Kauai Beach Club, starting with the bathroom sink.
The pool was great...we spent one afternoon just doing nothing, wading in the pool. R wanted to use the jacuzzi/whirlpools...but BOILING HOT WATER and I are arch enemies...
We hit most of the usual spots, but decided against the Kalalau trail simply because I was here to relax.
I aint hiking no 11 rugged miles (one way) and being broken boned the next few days. Maybe next time though, we'll camp at the Kalalau Beach on the other side of Napali and come back the following day perhaps. The waters of the North Shore (in winter are) were extremely choppy and surfer dudes made the most of it. We did get a few great shots of them in action. That was super cool to watch and we didn't quite dare to step in the water.
Poipu beach was nice...but even Kauai to us didn't look as pristine as the Andamans promised to be. So it's either been too popular with tourists way too long or we're totally off the mark here and don't know what we're talking about.
Tunnels beach was supposed to be the best spot to Snorkel...but with the high surf, we couldn't even venture down to it. It was inundated. So maybe Kauai is a must visit in the Summer for its north shore beaches.
The drive to Poipu beach was beautiful and each time we went through the Tree Tunnel we rolled the windows down and took in the fragrance of the eucalyptus trees. I remember, whole trip we kept thinking we're some place like India. We didn't feel like we were in USA other than the road signs etc. I even thought of botteling some of the eucalyptus drenched air and bringing it home, a la GE commercial.
The Best day on Kauai was the day we did the Helicopter ride. The best part of the ride, the circle around the Mt. Waialeale crater...we had clouds overhead at the mouth of the crater, waterfalls lining the walls of the crater and us in the middle. It was like we had reached heaven or maybe my interpretation of Heaven would look like that. It was just way too beautiful to describe. I wish I were a bird and just keep flying inside that crater...I think I shed an overwhelmed tear when we were in there...inside my eye of course!
I don't know how all of this has read so far. I know disjointed but I hope it's not too negative. Being our first trip there, we'd read a lot, had gotten a lot of information from near and dear ones and we thought we felt fairly comfortable. But where we underestimated HI was the concept of time...it's relative in Hawai'i.
Trust me when I say things are laid back. I live in the South and this I thought is as laidback as it gets. Well, I was wrong. I think I can safely call this my most relaxing vacation ever (partly because we were not very well organized about excursions and trips, we spent most of the day driving around and taking in the sights and of course taking 792 pictures).
Our honeymoon was not as relaxing because it was short, we were exhausted with the wedding and the immediate trip to Tirupati. This time, we were exhausted with the way the year has gone, but we knew we wanted to make the most of the 10 days and get as much shut eye as possible. And when you're surrounded by beautiful scenery and all that green leafy stuff, you do feel more relaxed.
I don't think I thought about work once! And boy was I ready to forgo everything and be a bum on one of the beaches. But you remember what I said about not being a good swimmer, no?
So well...next trip to the islands will be better planned, we'll know what to expect, we'll probably stick to just one island (because regardless of flying time between islands, you do waste a lot of time packing and hauling, every couple days).
Heck, we might even take an island hopping cruise. But I know we'll come back feeling that time was short and we won't be able to do everything there is to do in Hawai'i.
Time is relative, everything slows down, and the islands leave you yearning for more. I know I skipped a lot of detail here...but then maybe that will keep you coming back here, for more :-)
