2 posts tagged “oahu”
Even though we didn't check in luggage, we still managed to overpack. A gazillion ounces of sunblock? Not needed - didn't end up putting that much on. Laptop computer and memory card reader to transfer photos? Didn't bother. Extra memory cards and batteries? Didn't take that many pictures. Actually, this was a part blessing in disguise. I usually document everything (like when I go to Disneyland - how long we stood in line, etc) but this time, I didn't. I didn't plan not to, but it was nice to enjoy the vacation instead of keeping tabs on everything.
Also brought a camcorder but didn't see anything worth filming. Some people videotaped the radio personalities doing the hulu during the welcome dinner, but I don't listen to the radio station (my mom does) so I don't really know them anyway.
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The sun sets in Hawaii earlier than it does in Los Angeles. This surprised me.
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My mom wondered how Japanese tourists (there are a lot that visit Hawaii) feel when they visit Pearl Harbor, since it was their ancestors who attacked the naval base. I asked her how she feels that her ancestors took over the island of Taiwan and pushed the aborigines/indigenous people into the mountains. She didn't quite get my point.
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Listening to tour guides speak in Chinese (both the ones from the local Hawaii travel agency and the docents at the Polynesian Cultural Center) is pretty funny. Although, I don't really know the Hawaiian names for some of the places we visited, since the guides just said the Chinese names. For example, Hanauma Bay is translated into Kong Long Wan - aka Dinosaur Bay. The land does kind of look like a dinosaur head, but you would never guess "Hanauma" was the name of the bay (also, Hanauma doesn't mean dinosaur).
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My dad is fascinated by plants/trees and by seafood (I guess that's what happens when you grow up in the southern port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan). He would be constantly pointing out this plant or that tree - to be honest, I and my sister have no interest in flora. My mom was somewhat interested, but then sometimes impatient.
At one point of the PCC tour, my dad was pointing out some breadfruit trees and part of our tour group followed him. Prompting Angela, our docent, to say "where are you all going?" She was nice, though. Later when we were riding the canoe and we passed by some breadfruit, she asked - where's that uncle (the polite form in Chinese) who likes breadfruit? Just so she could point out the trees to him :)
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After returning from Hawaii, I've been reading on Wikipedia about Hawaii and Polynesian cultures. I do kind of agree with those that say Hawaii was illegally seized by the U.S. I've read that the Hawaiian monarch was overthrown by American (and others) businessmen. Um, that's not really an "overthrow" - that's more like a foreign invasion. It's only an overthrow if the overthrowers are natives, not foreigners.
So I went to Hawaii (Oahu) last Saturday through Tuesday - first vacation ever. Flew back on the red-eye flight Tuesday evening and surprisingly was not too tired the next day. I went right from the airport parking lot to work. At least I wasn't one of the people on the prime flights (which were scheduled to leave HNL around 1pm, arrive in L.A. at 9:30pm) - the Delta flight was delayed for five hours! Those people had to sit in the airport the entire time.
We did go on an additional circle island tour on the last day (since our flight was so late), which we had to pay extra for. Not a problem for us. Our bus chipped in $1 per person for our tour guide for the day Aaron. I heard from someone on the other bus that their guide asked for $3 per person. How tacky is that? (Although, prior to going to HI, I had read that some guides do ask for tips, and may specify amounts so it wasn't too surprising. Then again, not sure how well that went over with Chinese-American tourists though).
After that, we headed off for the Polynesian Cultural Center. I know it's supposed to be cultural and educational, but I couldn't help but feeling it was all a bit hokey. Not that people of those cultures don't continue some of the practices (like how they shell coconuts or make coconut milk) but it was almost as if they were playing into the whole "exotic", "the other", whatever. It was like I was the narrator in The Heart of Darkness, exploring the savages or something. It was just a weird feeling.
Surprisingly enough, we didn't go do to the beach in Waikiki. We did have some free time where we could have gone (other people did) but I spent most of that free time napping. Yes, I went to Hawaii to nap :)
We only spent about 1 hour on the beach. Some people went snorkeling, but I just waded into the water about thigh-deep.
We didn't spend much money while in Hawaii - as I mentioned before, everything was pre-paid. We did buy a few souvenirs/gifts (including macadamia chocolates) but it was kind of disappointing not being to find souvenirs that weren't Made in China. Not that there is anything wrong with China (well, that's a different blog post) but if it's made in China, we can probably find it in L.A. too. Why go all the way to Hawaii for that?
A friend from work thinks it would have been insane having 260+ Chinese-speaking people all together. It wasn't too bad. People were speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, maybe even a few lesser-spoken dialects as well. There were a couple of non-Chinese-descent guys - mostly boyfriends or possibly husbands. I felt a bit sorry for them as they didn't understand Chinese, but hey - you chose to come on this tour knowing full well it was a Chinese-language tour
