Friday... second to last day in Hawaiian Heaven

James again... (Ruthie is currently engrossed in the latest US magazine... :o)

Friday was our last full day in Hawaii. Our plane is due to leave at 8pm on Saturday so we wanted to make the most of the day.

First on the list was breakfast, which has become a sacred time for us here in paradise. It's time to wake up, shake off the Mai Tai's from the previous night and plan the day ahead while tucking into something egg and bacon like. Today we tried the most famous dining spot on O'ahu (apparently), Anna Miller's 24 diner.

Apparently this place hasn't closed for business since sometime in the 70's and given the decor I wouldn't be surprised! The food was great though. Eggs Benedict for Ruthie, a spam omelette for me and we split the world's most incredible blueberry pancakes. God bless these yank-tastic combinations (not so much the portion sizes... I'm back on veggies and the weight pile on Monday!).

After breaky we hit the road and went up through the middle of the island, through the valley, to the Dole Plantation. A little put off by the number of tourists emptying out of their cars in the car park and the line for the ticket booth, we sneaked into the pineapple fields that line the side of the highway to capture a few snaps of the fruit... the fields looked like they went on for miles and miles and miles... millions of pineapples. Here are a few of them...

Next... from pineapple plantation to sugar plantation... Down by Pearl City and the ocean is a museum and tribute to the sugar plantations of the 19th and 20th centuries. For 30 mins we watched a video presentation of the history of Hawaii's sugar industry, it was absolutely fascinating. 1000s of years ago sugar cane had been brought to Hawaii by the early settlers from Indonesia. Along come the Europeans in the 18 and 19th century and see an opportunity. They leased acres and acres of land from the Hawaiian royal family for $300 a year (!) and created the first Hawaiian sugar plantations. 43,000 locals started to work on the first sugar plantations however the majority of them died from the new diseases brought to island by the Western Euros (classic). So like Britain and many of the other European countries did back West with the contract workers from India, Pakistan and Africa, the Hawaiian plantation owners contracted in cheap labour from China, Japan and some of the other Polynesian islands. This was essentially the beginning of today's multi-cultural Hawaiian society... My Dad (history teacher) would have LOVED this place, as we did, I'm sure.

There were replica houses and working areas, but the tour was 2 hours and we didn't have the energy or the stamina! We took in the presentation and the museum, took and few snaps of the village then hit the road once again... next stop, the only Royal Palace on US soil...

Now... forgive me for being the cynic, but the Hawaiian Royal Palace wasn't very Hawaiian. It looked like a Victorian mansion, the type you would find in Oxfordshire or anywhere in the England for that matter, that was built in the late 1800's. Also, the paintings of the Hawaiian Royal family had them all dressed in Price Albert like clothing... but the building was beautiful none the less and seeing any royal building has a kind of humbling effect...

After the palace it was time to chill for a little while at the hotel before our last night out on the town... a 5 course tasting menu extravaganza at another so-called famous eatery... Alan Wong's.

This place had the look and feel of a Gordon Ramsey restaurant, and the food wasn't bad either! It was delicious in fact. We had 5 courses, each more impressive and delicious than the last! Example - 'soup and sandwich'... this was toasted brioche with gruyere cheese and fois gras, served on a bed of toasted cheese on top of a martini glass which had a cold carrot and tomato soup, mixed together in the glass in a ying/yang shape. Sensational. 

Completely stuffed and half regretting the moment we started eating the first course, we bailed on the restaurant and went back to the hotel for an early night! :o)

Thrilling Thursday...

James' turn again... after last night's ridiculously LARGE feast at Side Street Inn (but ooooh baby was it amazing!) I was in no way hungry for anything at all come the morning. All the same, we had been driving past this little bakery where all the local appeared to go each morning so we stopped for a bite on our way out of town. 

They had an amazing selection of pastries and the like - everything you'd expect to find but with a Hawaiian twist. Pinapple danish pastries, crossiants stuffed with mango flavoured cream... HUBBA HUBBA. We bought the smallest sized pastries we could find then we hit the road.

After paying for our pastries and taking a few snaps like the diligent tourists we are we were on the road to the Macadamia Nut Farm on the eastern coast...

Let me tell you - this place was incredible. A tropical farm that grows / produces / sells macadamia nuts, coconuts, cocao beans and coffee beans. There were plump little Hawaiian (Samoan actually) guys in red skirts wielding machetes and a sick sense of humour who give tours of the facility - hilarious.

Our tour guide was a Samoan guys called Mickawalla-something, which got cut down to Mickawalla, which got cut down to Micka, which by the end of the tour just got cut down to Mike. Great bloke, full of chat and only a minuature red scarf-like thing to protect us from his little Samoan family. 

Besides Mike's tour and getting see all of Nature's fruit on full display in only slightly contrived patches of the landscape for our viewing pleasure, the best part for me was the movie trivia. This place gets rented out by movie and TV production companies... below is the building they used as the Hukilau Cafe in 50 First Dates (they lied to us damn it, LIED!! I wanted to actually eat at the real thing... breath James, breath...). 

Others to note... Pirates of the Caribbean 4 just spent 2 months filming in the lagoon. The opening and closing scenes on the beach from Along Came Polly were filmed here. Lost is practially camped out here 24/7 and a few other movies like Godzilla and Jurassic Park were filmed here too. I was the kid in the proverbial candy shop. Loved it!

Why am I hugging Mike? Hmm... I don't know... what with all the movie trivia, his supple arms and that little red skirt... what the hell. I'm on vacation people!! To be fair, he instructed me to pose that way, I like a moron fell for the one-liner that was coming afterwards about me wanting to propose to him and not Ruthie... anyway, I thought it best not to squash the little half-naked chap in front of his half-naked friends. I thought it wouldn't have been very sporting of me. :o)

Next came the coconut show (and I'm not talking about what happened to Mike's little Samoan family when a gust of wind rushed him from behind...). Mike showed us how to open coconuts, how to squeeze milk from the white coconut meat and the best part...?? He made fire from just two bits of wood and a modest amount of elbow grease. Great display!

And of course the fire ceremony:

After saying goodbye to the Nut Farm (there's a double-entendre there without having to think on it too hard :o) we went to track down a BBQ joint that was recommended to us by the Nutters... Uncle BoBo's... another gem of a find. Ridiculously cheap, ridiculously tasty! Yummmm... I'm doing a Homer Simpson right now with my tongue hanging out of the side of my mouth as I think back to how good the slow pulled pork with BBQ sauce and coleslaw on the side tasted... 
Mmm... Slllllow Pullllled Poooork... arrrrghhhhh.... amazing.

Photo below? Don't ask... like the good boyfriend I do as I'm told...

Next on our trip up the eastern shore was a bit of a let down, the Polynesian Cultural Center... $40 each to walk around a few grass/mud huts with only a modest number of sound-bites about the 7 polynesian cultures and a dancing show on water (which was actually pretty good but nothing we hadn't seen before). 

But... I did try to learn how to swing my balls like the Tongans do it... see the video clip... shortly afterwards I smashed my white balls into my actual balls and all Ruthie could hear was me yelping, "man down! man down!"...

The canoe show...

This is the face I get when I put my foot down and say no McDonalds for lunch...

Yes... and there's more....! The day wasn't over yet. 5pm at the Turtle Bay Resort we checked in for our couple massage... by the beach, side by side, sounds (and views) of the ocean and the monster waves crashing at the shore. Nice. But the robe didn't really fit my 6ft 6in frame... and just 50 yards away, directly in front of the open faced massage area, a bunch of dudes on their boards getting a pretty good show! 

Not a big of fan of massages, I have to admit, but the whole experience was pretty terrific and it gave Ruthie an amazing glow (although part of that might have been the blushing from trying to not show her girls to the surfing out front! ;)

Sunset at Turtle Bay, post massage, post first cocktail of the evening... 

Finally...! To end the day we took in a good old fashioned, 100% yank-tastic cheeseburger and fries... LOVED IT!! 

Another great day with you Ruthie Baker - bring on the next!!! xoxo

Lazy Wednesday...

Well, we had a lazy Wednesday after our whirlwind tour of most of Hawaii.  Plus, after our experience with the Honolulu rush hour we wanted to stick close to Waikiki.

In the morning we woke up at 9:30 and did something I've never done before - we ordered Room Service!

It was just delightful!  I got lovely corn-flake crusted french toast (try it at home - it's lovely) with loads of fruit.  James got an omlet with mushrooms, ham and cheese - yum!



After a delightful Room Service treat I decided to take a little nap.  My little nap turned into a long nap and I woke up at 1pm to find James blogging.

We decided to do different things that afternoon - because sometimes it's fun to spend time apart and come back and share...  James worked out and I went on a walk to the International Market where I mailed postcards and got a couple of goodies for myself!

On the way I got some lovely flower photos in the hotel lobby...

After our time apart we decided to meet up on the Waikiki Beach.  I took a picture for my hometown newspaper - the Edina Magazine.  James was my photographer - turned out pretty good, right??  He's so talented!

We also got a delightful view when we laid out on Waikiki Beach of the lovely palm trees.

I also got  lovely view of a tall handsome Ginga on the beach...

After a lovely sunset we were off to the Side Street Inn where we met up again with my awesome friends Dietra & Jason!  Side Street (featured on No Reservations on the Food Network) is a local hole-in-the-wall place with a long wait to get in, a fantastic atmosphere and an awesome waitress who had a voice like mickey mouse!  No joke!

Here was the beginning of our food journey at the Side Street Inn.  

This was our final amount of food:

After much belt un-buckeling, laughing and eventually moaning we found our way to the end of the meal...  Side Street Inn was truly an authentic Hawaiian Cuisine experience.

Food, Beach, Shop, Sleep, Food, Sleep. Repeat.

On Tuesday morning we high tailed it out of the hotel room in search of the perfect local breakfast: spam and eggs.  James had found this little hole-in-the-wall place in Waianee called Hannara's Restaurant.  We're talkin' booths that hadn't been updated in 20 years, florescent lighting and waitresses with less teeth than I have fingers.

It reminded me of one of the local diners in Queens, but with awesome Hawaiian breakfast food.

James had the spam and eggs and we split an order of the Macadamia nut pancakes.

Ohmygod - those were the creme de la creme of pancakes I've had here so far!

After the wonderful filling meal we had some serious food coma.  We had to work it off at the beautiful Kaena Point beach by "the point" on the north east tip of O'ahu.  The waves, OH MY, the waves at this beach - they were taller than James.  Which is pretty tall.

So after a great morning on the beach we decided it was time to shop.  And shop we did!  At the Waikele Premium Outlet Mall.  All the stores your little heart can desire. * side note: like the Albertville Outlet mall in MN or the Woodbury Commons in NY*.  James hit up the Adidas store and I happily tromped through the Banana Republic factory outlet store, the Coach outlet and the Nine West outlet - to name a few...  

Then we were off to the Botanical Garden in the middle of the island.  Not gonna lie - it was pretty craptacular.  No flowers.  Lots of roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing and one pink tired Ginga.  Here's a few photos we took.

Total success?  Not really.  Good attempt?  Yes.

Onto the second beach of the day!  James was really pumped to find our second beach - a beach that was fabled by travellers to be the best beach on the island.  Laniki Beach on the eastern shore. But Lanaki, like the Botanical Craptacular Gardens, was also quite lame.  

Now we are not picky people, but this was hard to find, had little shoreline, cold water and pretentious 20's college kids lining the beach.  But it had a great view so we took a picture and high tailed it back to the hotel.

We were both in need of a cocktail after running into 2 hours of Honolulu rush hour, so we went to the trusty ABC store and got some classy pre-dinner drinks and enjoyed them on our little patio.  Brilliant way to start the night off right.  

Then it was off to a posh trendy Italian place for dinner - there were more LOST sightings here.  

Jin (Michael Kwan Do) from LOST and Boomer (Grace Park) from the movie Battlestar Galactica were sitting right behind us.  James was in a twitter.  I wanted to ask them about their health care options in SAG and AFTRA and if they got dental.  But we just sat and stared instead.  

After dinner we went to a great tiki bar called Tiki's where we got ridiculously strong drinks in take home Tiki glasses.  We only got 2 out of the set of 4 glasses.  We're going back to complete our collection before the trip is over!