Trip to Hawaii Part I

You simply can not jump into a vacation zone after you get off the airplane. It always seems to take a few days before the mind and body start to unwind and relax. With my one-person operation business, I was constantly dealing with business phone calls and emails on this trip. So the so-called vacation qualifies for a tax-deductible business trip. Ah, on my next vacation I will have no luggage, no phone, no TV, no computer or no camera, or nothing to show for.


On the second day we arrived in Maui, there were some dark clouds in the sky early in the morning. Not a beach day. A good time to drive to Hana. Hana is about 3 hours one way from the hotel. Known for the treacherous winding roads leading to it, Hana boasts lush tropic forest and waterfalls, a paradise on its own. We’ve been there last time but didn’t go far enough to the end of Hana Rd to see the 7 Pools. With a convertible 4-wheel Jeep rental this time, we felt more at ease about driving further down to the road. Talking about the rental car, that's another story alone. I booked a Chrysler convertible online before we headed for Seattle airport but by the time we checked in the car rental place at Maui Airport, we were told that the type of cars I reserved were all rented out due to the high season. My husband argued Jerry Seinfeld’s point: It's easy to make a reservation. Anyone can make a reservation. The key is to HOLD a reservation. You get to HOLD it. Anyway, we ended up getting what we really wanted in the first place for the same price: a convertible Jeep Wringler. One striking thing about driving a convertible car is once you go topless, it's hard to go back otherwise. Back with the top on, you immediately feel short of breath and limited peripheral vision. So we decided to leave the top off and the heater on. We hit heavy showers so many times that we had to stop and hide out. We are from Seattle, the capital rainy city of the world. Why the hell do we need rain on our vacation? Believe it or not. We do. Thanks to the rain, we saw so many gushy waterfalls on the Road to Hana. The road for the most part is a one-lane road. We had to constantly watch out at the curves and wait for other cars approaching from the other side to go by at pullover spots. We wondered with so much tourist money pouring in each year and high local property taxes why they didn’t fix the road. Then we realized if the road was improved, there would be less attraction and thus less tourism. A big part of the Road to Hana’s attractions is the road. As they say life is about the ride, not the destination. On this rainy day, traveling on this familiar long and winding road. I couldn’t help singing the Beattles’ song. It goes:

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me her
Lead me to you door

We spent New Year's Eve in Maui. It was so lame. Maui is such a laidback city. Nobody seems to care about New Year celebration. We hopped from restaurants to bars, hopping to mingle with a party crowd to do some New Year's Eve countdown or watch fireworks somewhere. We stayed out as late as we could, watching on TV other countries celebrating their new years first, then it was New York's New Year, and then Seattle's New Year. It was still not midnight in Hawaii yet. We went back to the hotel with a bottle of champagne. My husband woke me up telling me it was a few minutes past Hawaii New Year. My most important holiday-New Year’s Eve this year thus passed me by with those confusing time zones that I didn't know which one to celebrate! For the first year in my life as long as I remember I slept through a New Year's Eve!

Big Beach, one of the best beaches in Maui. It's less crowded than Waikiki. Moloniki in the distance. Next to Big Beach is Small Beach, a well-known nude beach. We talked about going there and checking it out but in the end were chickened out. In our defense, perhaps mostly gays and lesbians went there anyway.

Cruise to Molokini Island - An afternoon cruise to Molokini snorkeling. The weather was cloudy. We didn't see much fish (or fishes) when we snorkeled and the water was a little chilly to me. However, it was a nice cruise trip. Along the way, we spotted turtles and whales. Then again we found it funny people rejoiced at the sight of turtles and whales. Back in my days in China, we ate turtles! We had turtle soup. Now you can buy turtles in Wal-Mart food section in China. Whales, we see them all the time in the waters of the Northwest. Beauty is a rarity thing. If it's rare, it's likely beautiful. Or it's in the eyes of the beholders. If I behold you, you are beautiful. Let me behold you at this moment then, my turtles and whales. The boat had a professional diver and cameraman on board. When they played the video the diver took, we realized we missed so many neat fish (or fishes). You had to dive down deep to find them, something I have not yet mastered. My body only floats. It does not sink. Maybe it's safer that way. We also discovered that day the Hawaiian Hanging Loose hand gesture is the same as we use for calling me, or drinking. That makes perfect sense in this order: Call me. Let's drink. Hang loose.

We took an unknown road on the road to Kula, wandering around aimlessly. This unplanned route winded up in the park dedicated to Sun Yat Sen, the founder of new China, my relative dated back thousands of years ago. Statue of Sun Yat Sen in the park, on the road to Kula. We found out from the locals in a tea house that Oprah has a house nearby. I read the article about Oprah's house in Maui and her house was featured as the cover photo on that issue of the "O" Magazine. I remember it's a modest Colonial house with green roof. However, we didn't spot it from the road.

You can find nice beaches and white sand at any other places, but Hawaii is Hawaii also because of its unique culture, largely Hawaii music. We listen to Hawaiian music so much at home just to feel like we are in Hawaii. We went to listen to the Olomoma band on Saturday night. They play every Friday and Saturday night at the Hilton. We went to their concert on our last trip a couple of years ago. It was as good as we remembered. My husband has been looking forward to this moment for over a year. He emailed to the male musician Jerry Santos before we came. My husband was upset because we missed the very first seat due to my delay in shopping. The fans at the front row were long-time band followers who knew every tune. I told my husband maybe they were more deserving to the front row than us. The Hula girl in the photo is a Japanese Hawaiian who dances traditional Hawaiian Hula. The traditional Hawaiian dance differs from the Tahitian dance in that the dancers' hand and body movement are much subtler. The dancers do not swivel their hips as much. It's less showy, more soulful in my view. The music and the dance are so captivating, so mesmerizing. Towards the end of the show, we advanced from the backseat to the front row. I was nervous seeing the Hula girl dancing in that narrow space between the stage and the first row, especially when she danced in front of us. Being 6.4' tall, my husband's feet stretched out more. She didn't trip after all, to my relief. Or we secretly wished she had tripped to our amusement?!

Hanama Bay is a volcanic cove. It's also a marine sanctuary. We had to watch a 15-minute video before being allowed to snorkel there although we watched it on our previous trip. Lots of colorful fish and corals in the water. A perfect sunny day for snorkeling, or simply lying under the sun.

Drinks at Dukes. Dukes used to be the Barefoot Bar. It still has that old Hawaiian charm with the grass huts on beach. We discover that the drinks are cheaper than other hotels on Waikiki. Drinks here like Lava Flow costs only $6.95 instead of $9.95 in other places. It has the best tasty Mai Tai as well. We drank as much as there was only room left for dinner. Dinner, where to? One thing for sure, I will be back!

Let's move to Hawaii. I can make a living by doing what I'm doing-Real Estate, or better, being a Hula dancer.