ono pipi pupu

Hawaii has been an amazing experience. I have loved every minute of it. To give you a bit of a run down of what happened here goes.

Wednesday. Arrived around lunch time into the hotel, I was stuffed. I had eaten and drank myself all the way over here. It was great. I was really to tired to do much. No laundry at the hotel so I was really worried. However the guys at the front desk advised me that it was not even a block away for a big laundromat. Awesome. So that took up a little while. After that i got back into the aircon, watched some tv, surfed the net and read my book. Around 6pm i headed downstairs to the bar next door for some food and another Mai Tai. Gotta love it! I passed out around 8pm. after like 18 hours awake.

Thursday:

Woke up early (dammit) and walked down to Mac 247 for some breakfast. It was only a short walk away thankfully and this was one of the places that was showed on Man Vs Food. I got in and checked out the menu. Not as cheap as i had expected but the Mac Daddy Pancakes (which was the challenge item) were pretty cheap at $15. So i gave it a go. A few minutes later out they came. Damn they were huge. About the size of a manhole and there was 3 of them.

I made it 2/3 through one pancake but even that was shamefull. I had tried it and thats what counts. I was pretty impressed with the place. I walked back to the hotel and got myself ready for the pick up for the USS Arizona memorial. It was a short ride out to the memorial and we had to wait about an hour but this time was used by going through the museum. When it was our time for the tour, it started off with about a 30 minute movie followed by a 10-12 minute ride over to the memorial by boat. The boats were run by the US Navy as the memorial is on an active navy base.

The memorial is surreal. You are meant to be extremely quiet and respectful and it was a very solemn kind of place. You only had roughly 10 or so minutes on the memorial before a boat was back to pick you up. Once back it was quickly through the gift shop and back on the bus for the tour the Punchbowl War Cemetery and then through downtown Honolulu. Once back it was off to explore for a little bit (afer grabbing a Puka Dog). That night I walked over to try and get into Duke’s Canoe Club but it was PACKED! Bugger that. Back to the Big Kahuna for a drink and a burger. Quiet one again tonight as it was gonna be a really early morning.

Friday:

7am pick up for my tour (the days just keep getting earlier) and it was off on my Lost/Movie Location Hummer tour. It was great! I was sitting up front Shot Gun in H2 as we went all over the Eastern edge of the island to check out the movie sites. Took heaps of photos and lots of fun photos with props to recreate movie locations. Loved it! Once I was back i dropped the camera off and went off to try to get into Duke’s for lunch. Thankfully one whole bar was empty so after a few beers and a sandwhich, I was done.

I managed to do a touch of scouting out shopping spots for the gift shopping i needed to do and then headed back to the hotel to get myself ready for the luau. I think i over dressed a little as most people were wearing thongs and shorts. Dammit! The pick up for the Luau was early. But I didn’t mind. I was looking forward to getting into some Mai Tais! There was a few very stunning looking girls on the bus (two of them i swear were jailbait!) and when we got to the Luau there was even more once the Hula girls were around.

The luau was great. got to watch the sun set, cocktails in hand while I enjoyed it all. Such a good time! I met some really nice people, filled myself with good food (poi tastes like ass) and watched plenty of hula dancing and other polynesian dances. It was a good night and after lugging home my photo, cocktail glass, mug and leis it was all good.

Saturday:
Today was meant to be my bludge day. got up late, skipped breakfast, walked down and checked out the US Army Museum of Hawaii and enjoyed it. The museum was great. It was housed in an old Coastal Battery and was still in places in original condition because they couldnt destroy the place, the wrecking balls just bounced off.

I had been really wanting to try some authentic Hawaiian local food. what the locals eat. I attempted this the first night trying a “loco moco” which is a Hamburger Patty (or in my case pulled pork) on top of 2 scoops of rice, covered in brown gravy and topped with 2 fried eggs. I had heard of a place called the Rainbow Drive Inn. It was apparently what all the locals raved about and they were right. took me a bus to get out there but it was worth it. I had the Mix Plate Lunch which was a piece of BBQ Beef (teriayki beef), piece of boneless chicken, piece of Mahi Mahi (fish) with Tartare Sauce, 2 scoops of rice and a scoop of Macaroni Salad. Omg… Awesome. Thats all i can say!!

In the afternoon i caught up with Cat & Falon and we had a drink in the Aircon and then after that I did some shopping. It was great. I bought all the gifts i needed to buy for REALLY cheap. So awesome. Then last night I was a bit tired after a big day of relaxing so watched a few movies, found another good place to eat straight across from my hotel. Tried the Spam Musubi which is like Spam Sushi. It was pretty good, I didn’t mind it.

All in all, a good quick stop over on my way home. I wish i could stay longer, but I know I will be coming back.

Anyway time to get moving, about time for my flight to Tokyo to board. Its a long way home from here for me. On to Tokyo then 5 hours on the ground and then off to Brisbane. Should be home in about 24 hours 🙁 Next update will be in Tokyo.

Current Location: Delta Sky Club Honolulu Airport
States Visited: 26