dipping our feet in Honolulu

I love Hawaii. Not because of its beaches or sunny weather. But simply because it is a true vacation. You can go there and sleep until noon, and it is okay. There is no guilt--no anxiety about making sure you see and do everything--no feeling that you've wasted the day. After all, what do most people do in Hawaii? They lay on the beach and tan themselves. Not exactly an active activity.

What was the first thing we did? We had brekkie! 

We arrived so early in the morning that we couldn't check into our hotel. Thankfully, the Wailana Coffee House was only a block away. We flew on such a cheapie airline (Jetstar) that we were not served either food or drink for free (and we are such cheapskates frugal people that we refused to pay $3 for water and $15 for airplane food). Although we managed to survive on granola bars and Pringles, we were happy to get some good-ol' American diner food.

It has been 10 months since we've had hash browns. They were delicious.

We should have also ordered the bacon too. Oddly, even though we talked about how much we missed American bacon, we didn't order any on this trip.

You know you're in Hawaii because many people are wearing Hawaiian shirts and say things like "Aloha" and "Mahalo". According to my Hawaiian friend Mayu, "mahalo" means "thank you" and "hello" and "good-bye" and "you're welcome" and whatever else you want it to mean. A very versatile word.

According to Mayu, at McDonald's, the trash cans say "Mahalo" on them. Which led many tourists to think that "Mahalo" means "Garbage." (I wonder now, do the trash cans in McDonald's in Mexico say "Gracias", and in France, "Merci"?)

After brekkie, we walked to the Ala Moana mall where Fede and I used the free wifi at Starbucks to feed our internet addiction.

Then we went into this random Japanese department store, Shirokiya. There was something charming about its randomness--Japanese pastries, Hello Kitty stuff, Japanese rice crackers, Japanese cosmetics, Japanese games, Japanese food court, etc. I was thrilled with the book store--used books for $1.00!

 

For dinner, we went to Yama's fish market, which Mayu had recommended for the kalua pig. We had expected a restaurant--but it is really more like a place where people pick up their food to take home with them. Thankfully, there were two tables outside, so we could eat our dinner with a lovely view of the parking lot.

I got the pork adobo, which was good. I had forgotten that Hawaiian plates often come with macaroni salad. This one was really good--simple and comforting.

Fede got the kalua pig and beef stew. Sadly, the beef stew was not that great. But the kalua pig was really good.

Then there was this funny little bird who kept walking by our table, behaving like a dog begging for food. We eventually succumbed and fed him some rice and bits of meat. We should have video-taped the way he ate--he would fling the food everywhere, but somehow managed to find all of the bits.

Even though we were stuffed, we had to go find some shaved ice. Mayu had recommended a place, but it was closed. So, we ended up going back to the mall.

Sadly, it was not the greatest shaved ice. (Marlene and I had some amazing shaved ice on Kona--this was woefully lacking.)

But we ate it anyway. A refreshing way to end the day.