Saturday, February 06, 2016

Honolulu, Hawaii: February 5, 2016; the lure of the beach, big news in Waikiki

So, the big plan was to go to Chinatown for the evening because my visit happened to coincide with First Friday, which is a monthly event in Chinatown, that includes gallery walks, etc. But, the lure the beach and sitting around doing nothing was too great. I ended up visiting Chinatown in the afternoon instead.

Anyway, to start the day, I hiked up Diamond Head. That's the big peak that's often visible in skyline shots of Honolulu. I headed over there for 7:30 AM, and there were already many people there hiking to the peak as well.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Diamond Head viewed from Waikiki Beach. February 5, 2016
at 5:17 PM.

More....


Look y'all. It's a blue stop sign! A blue! Stop sign!
On the way from the road up to the gate of Diamond Head.

The view of Honolulu from Diamond Head is amazing. I overheard a bunch of people who were there for a hike before heading to the office. So I guess it's not just a tourist thing.

Using my camera's panorama setting. View of Honolulu from Diamond Head. February 5, 2016 at 8:18 AM.

Free exercise equipment in the park near the path to Diamond Head
State Monument. Free working out!!

I ended up not doing much today. I was content just to sit around my hotel.

The weather is throwing me off. I keep thinking it's summer, and when I hear it's February, I get thrown. It was warm today again; it got up to around 28 degrees celsius. The great thing is, though, that the morning and evening are both cool, not like those horrible summer days in Toronto when it's 30 degrees celsius in the day, and only drops to around 20 degrees at night.

Because of the weather, I think it's summer but the sun sets around 6:30. There's cognitive dissonance on my part because if it's close to 30 degrees celsius, the sun shouldn't be setting that early, so it's weird.

Hawaiian food

I went to a luau yesterday. Not sure how genuine it was; I'm told only one that you are invited to by and thrown by a family is genuine. However, there was some Hawaiian food. Here's what I ate yesterday at the luau:
Yum! ("Ono" in Hawaiian).

You'll see, in the small containers in the mid ground are pieces of raw (?) ahi tuna in a dish called "poke" (no vowels are silent in Hawaiian, so it's pronounced close to "poke ay."

The small container at the top of the frame is "poi," which is ground taro, or something. I was told before eating it that not even Native Hawaiians like that. Probably true because it was horrible. This weird flavour and I guess kind of starchy but not like starches I enjoy. 

I've determined that all my breakfasts will contain pineapple, somehow, some way. I will also eat as much coconut I can while I'm here.

The big news in Hawaii right now

Just fyi, here are the big news items, locally:
-Bruno Mars (aka "Hawaii boy Bruno Mars" according to the news) may or may not make a cameo appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show. This is part of the late night newscasts; they've been teasing that they will have an answer "coming up soon" for the whole newscast 
-There's a lot of breathless announcing on the news because it's going to get "chilly" tomorrow and Sunday. It's going to drop to 75 (24 degrees celsius) and 77 (25 degrees celsius) on Sunday. That's cold, apparently.
-Part of Waikiki was closed for filming of Hawaii 5-0 last night. I thought this would happen all the time, but apparently not. People were further disappointed that Daniel Dae Kim would not be showing up for the shoot since it did not involve his character. I'm not even joking--that was a source of disappointment. That's cool....

Hawaii thoughts so far

As much as I've enjoyed Honolulu so far, and there's so much more I want to see, I'm looking forward to getting on the ship tomorrow and seeing other islands.

I've gone on transit a lot, and the experience, somewhat surprising to me, is a lot more like home than Austin or Nashville. As I said earlier, (I think), people in Austin and Nashville, would yell things while getting off through the back door of the bus. Not just "Thanks" but whole good wishes as they exited through the back door and yelled something  like, "Have a good day! Make sure you stay warm!" Someone yelled that getting off the bus in Austin!

Like Toronto, the most people say on the Honolulu bus are a mumbled "Thanks" if they exit through the front door, but no one says anything if getting off a backdoor.  

Every time I've been on the bus, it seems crowded. It feels like transit is too crowded for a city this size. So, a lot like Toronto--except for the weather.

Random thoughts

While on sabbatical, I lost track of the days--a weekend or weekday doesn't make a lot of distance.  Similarly, if do the seasons lose their meaning if weather and sunset or sunrise times are relatively the same year round how do you know, instinctually, what season it is? Do months have any significance where all seasons are relatively the same? I don't know...