King "Qwong" and Uncle Ken

Firstly, sorry I don't have any pictures to show yet, but I forgot the cord for my camera. It's one of those laws of travel, that you'll forget something that's useful and causes enough trouble that you end up buying one on the trip.

Anyways, it's now late Friday, (~10pm local time), just got back from a very cool day. But first I should recap Thursday.

After Jenn woke up and we got rolling, we went and had lunch at Da Big Kahuna and I had Da Big Kahuna Burger, which was much like the Big Kahuna Burger from Pulp Fiction. Very tasty.

Then Jenn and I wandered up and down Waikiki beach, which took us from Diamond Head all the way to the marina. I ended up with blisters on my feet. We then went swimming in the pool at the hotel and headed to dinner after that.

We went to dinner at this place that server Okonomiyaki which is sort of a thick pancake with scallions and assorted meats in the middle covered in a special sauce. I somehow managed to spill my entire glass of scalding hot tea into my stomach and thighs. Not cool. I think I nearly had 2nd degree burns. The food was good though, which made up for the "tea incident" as it shall henceforth be named.

After dinner and returning to the hotel to change into dry clothes, we went down to the hotel bar for drinks on which to ponder our next move.

Our next move turned out to be staying in the hotel bar. Jenn had made friends with the bartender the previous night, and with my feet, I was not in a very mobile mood, so we drank. We made friends with Qwong, or Kong, it's somewhat unclear what the spelling and pronunciation of his name is. Anyways, Qwong is a older Chinese man, who's on vacation here, and is apparently rich, as he bought both Jenn and I and many other patron of the bar many rounds of drinks. We also met some locals, who come to this hotel's bar because it is open until 4am, and so they come here after getting out of their jobs. We got very drunk, at least I did, and at one point Qwong offered $300 for Jenn to one of the locals. Jason (the local) got upset by that, and of course Jenn wasn't about to do that, but it was all very amusing.

Eventually, we had to go find late night snacks and found a 7-11 where I purchased a Gatorade and a sewing kit. Jenn got a steam-bun and dim sum food. I had one more drink when we got back and then went to our room and passed out.

I was awoken this morning by the shoe repair place letting me know that my Birks we done, for as much good as they do me when they are repaired in Michigan.

A couple hours later, my Uncle Ken called, offering to tour us about the island. We took him up on his offer. He took us to a bunch of places and as befits my Japanese heritage, took a lot of pictures. Let me see if I can remember all the places we went.

We went to Ala Moana beach park and cruised through, and then went to Panic Point, after which he had to stop by the post office which is next to the cool statue of King Kamehameha. Then we drove past the Aloha Tower, and headed up to Punchbowl, the military graveyard where my Grandfather will hopefully be tranfered to someday. Then we drove up Tantulus Rd, which goes up the side of the mountain, very twistily and narrowly. We stopped for photos at the Manoa Lookout and drove back down to get some lunch at Sam's Delicatessen, which is a Korean restaurant. The food was awesome.

After lunch we drove across the Pali Gap and stopped for pictures at what is a spectacular vantage point. Then we drove down to Kailua, went to the beach, went to another part of the beach, drove up through Kane'ohe, and stopped at other beaches, all the way up the windward coast to the North Shore. We saw sea turtles on another beach, and stopped for pictures in front of the Hale'iwa sign. We wound our was back down to my Uncle Ken's house, where we saw his garden and home renovations. We went to dinner after that at Denny's (which was good, as everything is here) and then he drove us back to the hotel, where I'm dutifully documenting all this.

I may eventually revisit this day with an additional post that includes pictures and better descriptions. Whew.

Beaches. Sons of beaches. And Bingo was his name-o.

Well, I'm finally here. It only took 19 hours. Jenn and I got a 6 AM cab ride to the airport from her place, and the flight from Detroit to Phoenix was fine. It's once we left Phoenix that things started getting hinky.

Firstly, before we got on the plane from Phoenix to Honolulu, they announced that they were close to the weight limit, so they needed some passengars to give up their seats. Bad omen number 1.

We did end up leaving AZ on time, but about 2 hours into the flight the captain announces that we're diverting to San Francisco. On the way towards San Fran, we have to burn off excess fuel and during these manuevers they cancel the beverage cart before it gets to Jenn or I. They were going to refuel and

In San Fran, they decided to let people off the plane. Some didn't get back on. Jenn and I decided not to get off. We would later come to regret that decision. It's nothing bad, but we could have gotten food in the terminal especially as they had said they were only going to let people off for 15 minutes, which turned into almost an hour. So we had to suffer the rest of the flight without food. That made us very hungry by the time we landed in Honolulu at 1AM Detroit time.

Off the plane we waited for what seemed like forever at the baggage claim. I think it might have been at least half an hour. After getting our baggage we took a cab to the hotel and checked in, changed into more tropical weight clothes and went out in search of dinner. We ended up going to this Korean BBQ Japanese Style (their title). It was very good. Of course anything would be good after the amount of time we had been without food. The menu there was kind of funny, so I took a picture.

The last menu item there is what made me laugh.

After dinner we walked to the beach, and then walked the main drag in Waikiki. Jenn got a purse and a smoothie in the International Marketplace. We also stopped at one of the dozens of ABC Stores for snacks, where we discovered that Jenn has her own line of bottled beverages.

We eventually decided to have drink in the hotel bar. After one beer, I was bushed (as it was midnight or 6am Detroit time) and went upstairs to sleep. Jenn stayed up as she had slept a fair amount on the plane. She's sleeping now, so, I should eventually go get her, and hopefully nudge her towards a normalish sleep schedule.

Other random things.

When we landed in Phoenix, Air Force One was on the tarmac there, as apparently Bush was in AZ for something.

The plane we were in is close to the limit of it's range flying from Phoenix to Honolulu. That combined with only being able to take on the minimum amount of fuel to make the flight without going over the weight limit, and strong headwinds and taking the longer northern route to avoid stronger winds on the more direct route all combined to cause us to divert to San Francisco. Being at the point of no return on fuel is commonly referred to as being at "Bingo fuel".

Islands in the sun

All mine and Jenn's lodgings are finally booked. On Maui we're staying in a condo in south Kihei, right across from the beach.

It's the Kihei Kai Nani. Should be nice. It's also very reasonably priced for Hawaii.

As for Kauai, I booked a room at the Islander on the Beach. I reserved an oceanfront room, which from the overhead picture looks like it's an awesome view.

I really have to give a recommendation for the guidebook that Matt (Julie's brother-in-law) suggested to me. The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook:Kauai Revealed, it's proven very useful, and it had reviews of all the hotels/condos that I was considering. I also got the Maui Revealed Guidebook.

Depending on the availability of internet access, I should be updating here with pictures and stories while I'm on the islands, so it'll be like you're right there with us. Except you won't be. Ha.

At least I know where I'm sleeping for a couple nights

I have finally booked a hotel for Honolulu. After much looking, comparing, and fretting I decided on the Waikiki Sand Villa hotel. It's fairly inexpensive, and pretty highly rated. Plus, in my mind at least, the hotel doesn't have to be spectacular when you're in Hawaii. It's a couple block walk to Waikiki beach, and a couple blocks from the International Marketplace and really everything in Waikiki is pretty close and not to bad to walk. Even if something is farther away, TheBus goes everywhere for $2. Now to figure out where we're staying on Maui and Kauai. Good thing I bought those books.

His Girl Friday

Well, as of last night, I have a new traveling companion. Jenn booked her flight, so we're going to Hawaii together. Now we just have to figure out where we're staying and how we're going to get around both on and between the islands. Should be fun though.

Jenn Quote: "People ask me 'What are you going to see?', I'm only thinking 'What am I going to eat?'"

Email from Dad

Mike,

I found some info on Kauai and attaching a pdf file. The saimin shop that we talked is Hamura's. If you like ice cream, go and find a Lapperts. The little town of Koloa near Poipu beach is nice for luch. There is the famous ocean blowhole near also. Just explore the beaches, valleys and canyons. They also have coffee plantations be Ele Ele and maybe a sugar mill has a museum open. Spend at least 3 days there and you can go from one pretty side til the road end on the north then til it end on the south.

Dad

Link

Book 'em Danno

Well, the first, basically the most important part of my trip planning has been completed. I booked my flight. I'm flying to Honolulu on October 4 and flying back on the 17th, which means I get home on the 18th, because of the whole time difference and flight time. Now I just have to figure out where I'm staying and what I'm going to see. I kind of want to go to Kaua'i and Maui. If the volcanoes are doing anything, I might have to go to the Big Island and check that out. I know it's fairly inexpensive to fly between the islands, so I have some more research to do before I go.

This is only a test

Well, since I've decided I'm going to Hawaii later this year, I thought I'd reserve some space for a trip diary of sorts. I'll probably also put up links for things I don't want to forget and also just keep track of what I have planned.