Honolulu

I have four Honolulu trips this month, with a London sandwiched in the middle.  I am just kicking back and enjoying the warm Hawaiian weather, and appreciating the cooling tradewinds.  I have had my favorite room for the first two trips, overlooking the beautiful Moana Surfrider Hotel.  The best sunset views on Waikiki Beach have been from my balcony.

I always enjoy walking along the beach, and something about the light this month has made for spectacular photos.  All of my beach shots look like postcards!

Everyone was out enjoying the sunshine and the water.

The flowers were actually more colorful than they appear in this photo.








I had planned on taking the trolley to the Farmer's Market at Kapi'olani Community College, erroneously thinking that it was there on Sunday.  I guess I missed the part about it being the Saturday Farmer's Market.  Duh.

http://www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/object/farmersmarket.html

I decided to take the bus to Chinatown instead, and check out the markets there.  I went early on Sunday morning, but the streets were still very crowded with shoppers.  I took the #2 bus on the way there, and returned on the #19 bus.  The way home was much more scenic, passing by the Ala Moana shopping center, and much of Waikiki Beach.  The #2 bus seemed to pass through the industrial part of town, without much of interest along the way.  It does pass by the Asian Cultural Plaza, which would be interesting to check out sometime.

My friend, Erika, who grew up in Hawaii, had told me to sample  the delicious manapua.  I had no idea what these were, so my side mission was to discover what they were and where they were available.  I had searched them out online, and discovered that they were part of the Chinese heritage of Hawaii.  This is probably the best website about their history on the islands,

http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/dining/manapua/

and, of course, Wikipedia has more info about the baked version which I purchased in a Chinese bakery in Chinatown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_siu_baau

The Hawaiian baked version is larger than the original steamed dim sum types, but filled with the same sweet delicious pork.  I guess there are other fillings, but I didn't see any.  

I loved the soft, sweet type that I ate, but I will look for and try the steamed version on one of my next trips this month.

I sat on my balcony before our Sunday evening pickup,  and ate the manapua, with a glass of guava ginseng green tea.  I watched the surfers and sailors enjoying the waves.  I saw at least a dozen beautiful Japanese brides and their tuxedoed grooms arrive, pose for photos on the entrance steps to the Moana Surfrider, get married (I guess) and leave in identical white limos.  It seems to be the thing to do, as I see the same parade every weekend. 

I will be back again on 24 June to repeat this drill, and do something more energetic........or not.