Three days in Hawaii seems like a really short trip, but we are part of a fairly crazy group of people who try to accumulate as much mileage as possible, especially when long distance fares are offered for cheap prices. From NYC, Hawaii is almost as far as it gets while still staying in the US; many people have made same day returns from Honolulu, but we didn't want to fly all that way to such a beautiful place and not spend at least some time exploring, so we stayed for a long weekend. This wasn't our first time here, so we skipped a lot of the obvious tourist attractions that we'd seen before such as Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, etc. while also revisiting some of our favorite spots.
05/09/2013
Do:
Waikiki Beach: One of the most famous beaches in the world, this is the central stop for all tourist activity in the state of Hawaii. In spite of that, the beach itself is very nice to relax in, and it never really felt too hectic or crowded. Due to its proximity to most lodging options, it's the easiest to get to, and provides nice views of Diamond Head Crater as well as Urban Honolulu set against the ocean. We spent some time in the ocean here to unwind from our long flight (and let's face it, no matter where you're coming from, it's a long flight here).
Waikiki Downtown: The main drag is more or less Times Square in the middle of the Pacific, with lots of chain stores and designer apparel. Filled to the brim with mostly Japanese and American tourists, it's worth a walk through, but there's no real need to spend too much time here. However, there are some pretty decent eating and drinking options to be found in the area--but good luck finding parking on a Friday or Saturday night.
International Market Place: A little mall-ish area with stands selling the usual cheap junk. There was a sign for a farmer's market that attracted us in here, and I think we spent about $8 for two mangos. Enough said about that.
Eat:
Palace Saimin Stand: We headed straight here after we picked up our car from the airport--it's about halfway between the airport and Waikiki. This place is totally no-frills, but the food is cheap and extremely tasty. It's a tiny mom and pop joint with about 2 parking spots. We tried the saimin and the BBQ sticks, and both are highly recommended. This place doesn't have an air-conditioner--I was still in jeans from the flight (hey, it was pretty chilly back home), and they were soaked and stuck to my skin by the end of the meal.
Leonard's Bakery: Famous for their malasadas (Portuguese donuts), this place is a must-stop when you're in the area. They have different seasonal custard fillings (Passion Fruit when we went) as well as some standard ones (Original, Chocolate, Li Hing, etc).
Waiola Shave Ice: Shave ice, a Hawaiian specialty, is (as the name implies) a finely shaved ice with a texture very similar to snow, and topped with your choice of flavor. We tried the Azuki bowl (Azuki beans, mochi, condensed milk--tasty) and a vanilla flavored shave ice (boring!). Service here was pretty gruff, especially compared to the rest of the places we visited.
Drink:
Yard House: Seems like your generic American-style bar/restaurant from the outside, but if you are in any way a fan of beer then this is the place to go in Honolulu. The bar has a massive selection of beer with a row of taps that wraps around the rectangular bar. If you can't find something you like, then beer is probably not for you. We shared a plate of Ahi Sliders which was quite tasty.
Money Spent:
05/10/2013
Do:
Hiking - Mariner's Ridge: A short hike with moderate elevation gains (it's really not too intense) with breathtaking views of Waimanalo throughout the entire hike. The hike can be done fairly quickly, but we were taking our time, practically in awe around every corner. We were walking alongside a full double rainbow for the majority of the hike, something that we had never experienced before in our east coast hikes. It got a little muddy and slippery near the top due to passing clouds, but the view at the end is worth it. There's a "No Trespassing" sign at the entrance, but most people (including us) seem to ignore it. We passed about 3-4 other groups when we were going up in the early morning, and passed a lot more on our way down.
Byodo-in Temple: Deep in the Valley of the Temples lies this recreation of a Japanese Buddhist temple. For a $3/person admission fee, we wandered the grounds, rang the huge bell, and paid homage to the big Buddha by lighting incense. Fish and bird food is only $1 and watching the massive koi gulp up provides some entertainment. Note that if you hold your hand out with food in it, the birds here will walk up your arms and hands to grab it (I'm not showing any bird flu symptoms...yet).
Puu Maelieli Digging Hill: The entrance to this hike is right across from the Valley of the Temples, right off Rt. 83. There are a bunch of forks on the trail which we kind of guessed at the right direction (just keep heading up), and the trail was a bit overgrown at parts, but eventually we reached the Pu'u Ma'eli'eli sign at the top. There are some World War II era pillboxes in which soldiers would keep an eye on the coast, although it certainly looked like some homeless guys were living in there now. The view of Kaneohe Bay at the top was extremely rewarding.
Makapuu Point Lighthouse Trail: We weren't quite done hiking for the day yet--we headed to Makapu'u Point for an easy hike to finish the day as the sun was setting. This "trail" is very easy, as it's paved all the way to the lookout at the top. Once we got to the lookout point, we kept going up as it seemed like there was a trail even further, and we managed to get all the way to the top near the bunkers just as soon as it was getting dark. It gets suddenly windy near the top, so hold onto your hats, literally--we almost lost ours. If you go during the middle of the day, make sure you wear plenty of sunscreen since there's almost no shade.
Eat:
Breakfast @ Holy Crepe: It's a truck that serves crepes, located in a food truck lot called "'Lota Trucks". We were up and out pretty early, around 7am, and this was the first place open that we passed by (that wasn't a McDonalds) so we decided to drop in. We shared a Sunrise crepe and a nutella crepe--not bad.
Pakeles Hawaiian Food: I'm not going to lie, Hawaiian food in general just doesn't sound too appetizing to my palate. But, when in Rome...we saw a sign advertising "Authentic Hawaiian Food" off the highway across the Valley of the Temples and decided to drop in. It's next to the DMV where there were a bunch of potential new drivers sitting nervously on a bench outside. We shared the chicken katsu plate lunch (chicken was very tasty, mac was just alright), the pan-seared ahi (pretty good), poi (maybe I just don't get it, tastes pretty bland to me), and some sort of spinach-y soup with squid in which I can't recall the name of (didn't like it).
Izakaya Tako-No-Ki: Back to Waikiki for the night, we decided to get some Japanese food--we were craving okonomiyaki, a Japanese pizza/pancake originally from Osaka. We looked up a few places and decided to stop by this place. The default menus on the table were in Japanese and we had to specially request English menus, which seemed like a pretty good sign. The okonomiyaki was a little burned, which I like, but my girlfriend does not so this place gets mixed reviews from us. A big plus is that they serve 1 liter mugs of Japanese beer.
Money Spent:
05/11/2013
Do:
Snorkel Bob's: We dropped by Snorkel Bob's in Kamuki to (you guessed it) pick up some snorkel gear. While we were there, we chatted with the friendly clerk who is originally from upstate NY, and we were upsold on the "premium" snorkel gear for another $2 more. It worked pretty well enough, and interestingly enough when we came to return the gear the next morning, the presumably new clerk said we could purchase the gear for only $7 more. That seemed like quite a steal, so we were about to pay when the more experienced guy came by and said that's not right, it's actually $60 or so to purchase it. $60 was a bit out of our budget, especially since we didn't know about snorkeling back at home--I'm pretty sure we don't really want to see what's under the water on the Jersey Shore...
Lanikai Beach: This beach was absolutely beautiful, with bright white and soft sand and warm and pleasant water. This place was great for beginner snorkelers like us, as there were plenty of reefs and fish to see not too far from the shore. We heard this area is notorious for jelly fish stings, but we didn't spot any while we were there.
Ko Olina Lagoons: There are four fairly nice man-made lagoons in a resort type area on the west side of the island. It's nice and relaxing, and there are plenty of fish to be seen near the rocks. We swam in the fourth lagoon, and then walked over to the third lagoon to have a refreshing drink while watching the absolutely gorgeous sunset behind the palm trees. All in all a short but memorable vacation.
Eat:
Breakfast at Panya: An Asian bakery that serves bready type items. We grabbed some sweet and savory items, I am a huge fan of the "chewy" bread that you don't usually get in European/American style bakeries.
Lunch @ Saigon Noodle House: A tiny, unassuming place (like a lot of the good eats on the island), this Vietnamese restaurant's lunch plates were pretty good and relatively cheap. The fact that it's in a generic American strip mall and has music from the 80s playing in the background certainly creates a unique atmosphere.
Dinner @ Jimbo Restaurant: Our second time here, we actually initially read about it randomly in an in-flight magazine (it was either United or Hawaiian airlines) about a chef that makes his own udon--if the udon is not served within a certain period of time, it is discarded, so what you get is always super fresh.
Money Spent:
Oahu Photos @ Imgur
Useful Resources:
Tropical Snorkeling
Next up: Memorial Day Weekend in The Great State of Alaska!
