Hawaii

Hawai’i Part Five: Everything Else!!

Posted on by dbinks93

Usually travelling is rather stressful, sorting out a hostel, planning what to do, making sure your things don’t get stolen etc… But having a base which was a friends home in Hawaii made everything 10x easier. It meant I could leave my things around and not worry, I had an actual comfortable bed, and most importantly, I could while away hours with Theresa watching Friends, Scrubs, Pretty Woman, Moana, Oceans 11, crap Hilary Duff movies, fantastic Haylie Duff movies, and the greatest movie of all time: Christian Mingle! On our more productive days and nights we took a little painting class and painted jellyfish, went to quiz night and game night, and explored Waikiki beach. It was so so nice to just be able to not do anything, to breathe clean air, to see the sea from the sofa, even to feel carpet again! I’m incredibly grateful to Theresa and her family for putting up with me for 2 and a half weeks, driving me around and showing me Oahu.

As well as watching and reviewing every Duff movie on Netflix, we sometimes managed to get out of the house and lay on the various beaches on offer as well as see various natural landmarks such as Chinaman’s Hat. On the drive up to North Shore (which is beautiful) I spotted a seal sunbathing, and when it was too windy to snorkel we sat for hours watching the waves and just relaxing. I was on holiday after all! We returned a few days later when the weather was better so I finally got to snorkel a couple of times. On my last day of snorkelling I followed a fish for a long time and decided it was called Michelle. Whilst I was meeting Michelle a whale was cruising the coast and I managed to see it when I got out of the water which was incredible. On the North Shore we ate from food trucks and managed to actually not get sunburnt! (I won’t lie though, I got sunburnt at the pool in the first week). As well as snorkelling the North Shore had a touristy town called Haliewa where we spent heaps of time walking around, ate some shaved ice, and bought yet more souvenirs. The days spent on the North Shore were so much fun and some of my favourites.

My last day in Hawaii was Superbowl Sunday! We planned to watch it at Theresa’s house and just have a chill day. It started off that way too – the national anthem was sung, the Bush’s came out and flipped a coin, the players ran onto the pitch….and the cable went out. I’m not even joking the second the game was supposed to start the cable went! Theresa’s Dad rang the company who did nothing and we sat around and waited. And waited. Turns out the high winds were causing issues and the power was intermittent too. It was sorted out after the half time show, so although I missed Lady Gaga I managed to catch the overtime and the final touchdown. Hands down it was the best American football game I’ve ever seen! After the game ended the cable went back out again and the wifi with it, so we played a card game and ate food before watching a DVD and going to bed. In the morning when my alarm went off to catch my flight there was still no power so I had to get ready by a camping light and hope that when I’d packed the day before I’d picked up all the small things which had scattered around. I left the pitch black house and headed to the airport which thankfully had power!

My journey back was long, I knew this before going in and yet it was longer than I thought because my first flight was 12 hours not the 8 it had been going! I managed to stay awake despite the cabin crew shutting the blinds and turning off the lights. The food was pretty good too, steak and mashed potatoes. When I eventually landed in Korea for my 19 and a half hour layover I left the airport and got picked up in a 13 seater black mini-bus with blacked out windows to go to the hotel I’d booked. To my delight I’d been upgraded to a suite so had a little entrance way and so much room! After sleeping, waking up at 4 with jet lag and heading to the airport again it was time to go back to China and back to Shijiazhuang.

Hawai’i Part Four: Natural Nature

Posted on by dbinks93

This post will be less chronological than the previous since my days became more varied and rather than being pretty much a list of what I did each day like the last couple, I thought it would be more interesting to write thematically. So this post is about the various hikes/walks I did on Oahu.

Lulumahu Falls

We attempted this hike at least twice before actually completing it. Before we’d either do something else instead or there was no parking. After getting dropped off though it was time to start my hiking adventures. According to Theresa this hike was the hardest she was going to take me on, but it was even harder than expected due to the heavy wind and rain we’d had the first few days of my trip. The weather had felled trees which made it difficult to get across and in a couple of places people had put ropes up to help. In one particularly difficult spot the old trail had vanished and in its place was a muddy, slippy drop. It wasn’t particularly long, around 5 or 6 steps, just slippy and with little grip. There was a rope to help but the first step down was daunting. As we reached this point there was already a group there and a girl clinging to the tree refusing to move. Theresa offered to go first but since she couldn’t get around me I had to go. Rather than using a tree root as a foot hold like the people in front had done, I stupidly decided that I could stretch far enough. The drop was exactly the length of my legs it turns out and by stretching that far I caused myself to be unable to use stairs properly for 2 days. I did it though, and spent the rest of the hike loudly telling Theresa how proud of myself I was, and singing the Circle of Life from the Lion King. Eventually, after a scramble up some rocks, we made it to the falls and it was so worth it. They were so pretty and it was really peaceful, especially after the group before us (clinging tree girl had joined them) left. Before too long it was time to go back, and I was apprehensive because down is always harder than up,  but it wasn’t too bad, and we took a couple of alternative routes which were easier.

Manoa Falls

After a few days rest from the previous waterfall hike, we tackled one which was easier and more crowded. This hike was much easier, but still had a couple of steps where I got a bit stuck and had to be helped by Theresa. Children were doing this hike, which confirms that indeed, I am worse at hiking than small children. Once we reached the waterfall we stopped for a while and people watched the bro’s swimming in the pool, the dog running around everywhere, and an incredibly bossy child demanding where her mother should feed her. The boulders underneath were roped off for safety, but most people were clambering over them. At one point my heart stopped as an idiot started jumping from rock to rock and nearly fell. The walk back down was simple enough once Theresa provided a helpful hand and then it was back in the car for a sing-a-long for the journey home.

Koko Crater Botanical Gardens

Towards the end of my trip I started looking into what could be done on the island in more detail to make sure I did everything I wanted to do. As part of this, we ventured to Koko Crater Botanical Gardens, via a beautiful bay drive. I wasn’t exceptionally smart on this trip, and decided that flip-flops would be fine to wear. This resulted in my foot being impaled with a spike which had fallen from the plants around, thankfully it didn’t stop me exploring the gardens and trying to spot all the plants on the map. It was a simple enough walk, apart from the impaling and a minor diversion when we couldn’t find the way out, but it was nice to be out in the air on a warm day, and it was fun trying to spot the plants written about in the guide. On the way back we stopped at a lookout over the bay which was incredibly windy but worth it because I spotted some seals!

Friendship Gardens

This was the final hike of my trip, and once again required being dropped off and picked up as there was a lack of parking. At the top was a picture perfect view of Kaneohe Bay and the military base which was so beautiful. Unusually, it wasn’t the down which was hard but the up, and I almost fell dramatically but managed to save myself. Aside from this minor slip it was an easy hike, full of narrow turns as we basically walked up the side of a large hill surrounded by plants of various origins. The gardens were originally designed for use by the residents of the neighbourhood only, and as a result of the neighbourhood being planned to contain a diverse range of people, the plant life reflected this mix of people. One minute there were native plants, then bamboo and other Asian plants. This was common in most of the nature places I visited and I like the idea of people settling on the island and bringing familiar plants with them.

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Whilst exploring the nature of Oahu I stretched my thigh too far, waded in water, scrambled up and down boulders, slipped on mud, slipped on dirt, and got impaled. I had a cracking time! Also, getting to the Lulumahu Falls is up there with the greatest achievements of my life 😛

Hawai’i Part Three: Historical Hawai’i

Posted on by dbinks93

Warning you all now – this post will probably bore you if you’re not that into history but I’m not sorry, I had a great few days!

Once I’d had a weekend to recover from jet lag and settle into island life it was time to start checking things off my to-do list. Since I was intruding on Theresa’s life for such a long time she had to work some of the days, mainly in the first week. I took this time to do things easily reachable by public transport (helpfully called ‘The Bus’) and managed to gain a pretty good understanding of the history of Hawaii in 3 very full days.

Monday was the day of the Bishop Museum. As most things, it was located on the other side of the island but it wasn’t too hard to get to, especially because Theresa’s mum came too and she understood the bus system! This museum was so good and definitely worth the entrance fee. We started off with the natural history of the islands which was definitely aimed more towards kids but it was still interesting looking at the impact the settlers had on the flora and fauna. After this we sat through a presentation in the planetarium and learnt about the constellations in the sky, specifically over Oahu on that particular night. Fun fact: Hawaii is the only place in the northern hemisphere where you can see the Southern Cross constellation. Then it was time for a tour around the main building. I’m not usually one for tours but this one was really good and gave you an introduction without demanding too much of your time. It meant that I could then explore the rest of the main building which centered on the development of the native Hawaiian population and Polynesia as a whole. I genuinely could have happily spent all day in the building but it was getting late and we had to leave to catch the express bus home. Definitely a fun day, but very very tiring!

Tuesday was my first (and only) completely solo day. I’d planned various options for my day since the weather forecast was unpredictable and kept changing. It ended up raining heavily so when I got off the bus in Honolulu I immediately ran for cover in a doorway with a couple of other people. Whenever there was a break in the rain I’d venture a little closer to my destination and eventually arrived at Iolani Palace – the only Royal Palace on American soil. With obvious European influences, the building itself was beautiful but I had to buy my ticket in the barracks next door. They made me do an audio tour for crowd control but honestly by this point I was just happy to be inside – the booties to protect to carpet stopped my flip-flops from getting my legs dirty. Did I mention I was in shorts in this torrential rain? Luckily it was warm, and like I said, the palace tour is an inside one. I had relatively low expectations of the palace, but it was actually really interesting. I spent longer than planned walking around and listening to the guide. The guide tried to set the scene for what life was like which was a different take than I was expecting and really fun. Some facts I learnt: the palace had electric lights before Buckingham Palace did, and they were controlled by a guy offsite. When they locked up the Queen after she was deposed one of her ladies followed her and they embroidered a quilt together. Also it turns out the government officials who used the building sold all the furniture so people are still looking for it! I love history! After juice and food it was time to head back – the weather hadn’t improved and I wanted to just relax a bit.

Wednesday was a day of two halves. Theresa was only working in the morning so in the afternoon we did a hike (to be documented in the next post) but in the morning her mum took me to Pearl Harbour. Pearl Harbour is a fascinating place, they’ve really made a point of the memorial aspect of the place and people take it very seriously. I didn’t realise how close to the surface the Arizona is and seeing the names on the wall reminded me of the cenotaphs at home but on a bigger scale. Before you are taken to the ship you have to watch a 20 minute video about the event which goes into detail about the events leading up to the attack and a little bit about it afterwards. They did a good job of putting the attack in the context of both American and Japanese perspectives, both in the video and in the gallery attached. What was cool as well is that outside the gift shops they had book stands manned by the authors who were talking to interested people and telling them about their books. War history usually bores me honestly, but this was handled well and managed to get me interested in the event.

All in all it was a very educational 2 and a half days and I definitely know more about the history of Hawaii than I did before going!

 

Hawai’i Part One: The benefits of being British

Posted on by dbinks93

It’s currently Chinese New Year, which for me means that I have a 3 week holiday known as Spring Festival.Last year I ventured to Thailand  with Charlotte and Elijah (and struggled to blog about it afterwards) but this year I am determined to document my trip to Hawaii, specifically to Oahu and my reunion with Theresa, a friend I met in Australia 3 years ago.

I’m going to start with the beginning if my trip. After arriving in Beijing the day before and stocking up on gifts, I set off for the airport at 6 a.m. to journey on what became the longest Thursday of my life. There’s an 18 hour time difference between China and Hawaii which means that even though I was travelling for a long time, I actually  arrived before I set off. Incidentally that’s my favorite fact ever and I’m telling everyone who is anyone, which now includes all of the internet but anyway…

So at 6 a.m. I left the hostel to the travel to the airport. I arrived at about 10 past 7 which was right on time, as check-in didn’t open until close to 8 o’clock, but I wanted to be there early. Once it became obvious where the line would be people began to queue. However they were doing wrong! Being British I’ve been taught how to queue, so whilst everyone in front of me stood directly in front of the desks and not behind the sign, I stood in the correct place. Everyone looked at me very strangely and the Chinese family  behind me were very annoyed because of the huge gap between me and those in front. However about 10 minutes later I was vindicated when the check-in staff appeared and made everyone else move behind me, so I was the first person in the queue. This turned out to be a good thing because the woman had an issue checking me in due to my lack of visa. Because I’m British I don’t need a visa to enter the US at the moment, just an ESTA. This confused the check-in agent who was very concerned, so she checked with pretty much everyone in the airport to make sure that I was legally allowed to enter the States. Once that was sorted out it was time to find food and wait for my flight to Korea, and then wait some more since the snow delayed it.


As I expected my flight was delayed, but soon I was on my way. Once I got to Korea I had a nice 5 hour wait during which I tried to organise things for my extended stay on my return journey. After discovering that I couldn’t afford the transit Hotel I instead booked one nearby. I also managed to have an amazing shower for free in the airport! Because I was there for a while I found a comfortable place to sit, got stuck into my book, and people watched a Chinese family filling two cases with duty free purchases.

After boarding my plane, flying across the ocean and not really sleeping I was so excited to land! However first of all I had to clear immigration which took more than an hour. I kept being shuffled from line to line, the automatic system didn’t work for me, and all the people on my plane who couldn’t speak English (most of them) were even more confused than me. All of this was accompanied by a video of Santa Claus going through customs, and another one of an annoyingly chirpy man assuring me that the system was designed to be fast. I begged to differ.

Eventually I talked to the immigration person and after being fingerprinted I was allowed into the country! By this point the baggage carousel had stopped moving and everyones luggage was on the floor, so I grabbed my backpack, waved and cheered at the officials on the door and began my Hawaiian adventure. Oh, and after all that, it was still Thursday morning.