$$ . United States of America, USD
After months of thinking, booking 3 weeks in advance, and crunchy pre-vacation handoff periods at work, Justin and I made our way to the sunny shores of Oahu, Hawai'i. We spent a week spending exorbitant amounts of money on food and finding our way around the island to learn more about the beliefs, the land, and the lives of native Hawai'ians.
Upon arriving and waiting 1 hour for a rental car, we sped to the Ala Moana Center to get poke (Foodland) as an afternoon snack.
We then checked into the hotel and went to Marugame Udon for our first official dinner.
We started our day with a delightful breakfast at Musubi Cafe.
(I highly recommend the eel, egg, and spam musubi. The combo of textures and tastes is unreal.)
We spent the rest of the day browsing local markets/malls, such as the KCC Farmer's Market and Aloha Meet Swap.
We also spent time walking the aisles of Costco, and explored the open-air concept of the Ala Moana Center.
Over our weeklong stay in Oahu, we went back to Ala Moana Center almost every other day, but mostly for food (aka poke) and/or parking.
A non-insignificant population in Hawai'i still prefers in-person shopping, which keeps the megamall alive and and flourishing.
We started our day with a 2-hour surfing lesson: an excellent workout mixed with mouthfuls of bitter seawater.
Post-surf, we made our way to get more musubis, find loco moco (Cafe Kaila), and line up for some sweet, fluffy malasadas.
We ended our day at Ka Moana Luau, where we watched history x dance performances while feasting on local Hawai'ian delicacies.
We took the day easy by joining a day tour that would take us to Byodo-in temple, across the North Shore, and down to the Dole Plantation.
We started by stopping at some scenic lookouts: Diamond Head Lookout, Halona Blowhole, and more.
The Byodo-in temple is a replica of a real temple in Japan. This is not a practicing place of worship. But it's a popular tourist attraction in its own right.
The fruit stands were unreal in how sweet and colourful their produce was.
We bought some apple bananas to try, and despite our dislike for cloyingly ripe (normal) bananas, these ones remained tart and tasty.
After years of mouth pain from pineapples, I discovered that Hawai'i's low-acid variant was an absolute delight.
After watching Netflix's "Street Foods: America (Hawai'i)", we tried out Da Bald Guy's plate truck. The food was hearty and delicious, and we scarfed down our lunch before heading to the Polynesian Cultural Center.
A joint venture with BYU, the Polynesian Cultural Center employs students who showcase their cultures from Samoa, Aotearoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, and local Hawai'i.
They also highlight the role of (LDS) missionary work within Hawai'ian history.
We ended the day with dinner at Liliha Bakery, where we got an oxtail soup saimin and a miso butterfish.
Our day started with snorkelling down by the south shore, where we slathered ourselves with layers of mineral sunscreen and swam with turtles and fish.
Post snorkel, we rushed to Ono Seafood for poke and drove to the Lyon Arboretum for a small picnic.
While the arboretum is beautiful, the picnic was not a good idea. We didn't bring bug spray and became a picnic for the mosquitos.
Kualoa Ranch is a 4000+ acre nature reserve that is a local farm, place for movie sets, and host to tours and activities for visitors. Students often visit it as part of their school curriculum.
We joined the farm tour, which was interesting but underwhelmingly hands-off. We only wished we could see more of how produce and aquaculture are grown, harvested, and processed.
A pass for the PCC allows you entry for 3 days. We returned for a second day, as our first day was too rushed to see the second half of the islands.
We ended our night with a Samoan fire knife dancing (Siva Afi) workshop, where we got to learn basic movements and twirl the fire by ourselves.
On the day of our departure, we squeezed in an açai bowl for breakfast. We then spent 2 hours at Iolani Palace, which was built in 1882 by the last reigning royal family.
Quite notably, the tour highlighted themes of colonialism and the effects of the coup d'etat that ended the monarchy after Queen Lili'uokalani.
As one final hurrah, we picked up takeout: pipikaula, kalua pork, laulau, chicken luau, and haupia at Helena's Hawai'ian Food.
We went through security with a large tray of food, bringing a smile to the airport staff's face.
