October 31 - Northshore

It was storming in Waikiki this morning but had planned on going to the north shore unless the waves were crashing on the road up there.  As I made my way out of town and onto the Interstate H1 and H2 (technically, I think you have to be able to drive OUT of the state for it to be an INTERSTATE) and actually saw lightening. Oh well, what else could I do.

So, I did make it back up to the Banzai Pipeline.  Parking a couple hundred yards away from the beach park I slipped through a lesser known path to the Pipeline where I had watched the Backdoor Shootout surfing competition several years back.  Apparently, it's still ongoing.

There was a lot of misty element to the air and the sun didn't come out regularly so it was pretty hit and miss for the right light.  Red flags lined the beach but that's pretty much an every day occurrence up there.

Anyway, here's a few surfer pictures I took.

Full Moon

No, it's nothing to do with some tourist in a thong.

We just had another full moon here and couldn't resist going out on the Ala Wai Canal again in hopes of taking a different full moon shot.

These are not the best in the world but I'll keep on until I get what I am hoping to achieve.

 

Behind the clouds more than out

 

Finally

 

 

The End Is Near

On Darlene's last day here, we spent time walking around in Waikiki, had breakfast at Eggs N Things and enjoyed watching the huge variety of people all over the place.

At one time, we discussed how skimpy bathing suits have become over the years and talked about how we did not see that back home.  I remarked that it wouldn't surprise me if in the near future, men would start wearing a male version of the thongs that were in such abundance here.  Ms Darlene dismissed that notion and the subject was dropped.

We made our way down the street to the Moana Surfrider hotel where you could sit out under a giant Banyan tree and have dinner, drinks or just sit under a hundred year old Banyan tree and enjoy the ambiance.

 

Admittedly, I have the attention span of a lightening bolt and so Ms Darlene and I decided to take one last tour up the beach before going back to our room, collect her bags and make our way to the airport.

Since I had not brought my Nikon and had played on my cell phone until the battery was down to zero, I had no way of taking a picture but that was no big deal...right?

Well, as we were making our way out onto the sand I looked up and saw this dude in the tiniest thong I'd ever seen.  Darlene had not noticed so I motioned for her to look (as discreetly as possible) in a certain direction. 

"Take the picture!", I exclaimed.  "My phone is dead and can't take it!"  She fired off this beauty.

So, our final and parting shot should be entitled, "The End Is Near".

The Northshore Pipeline

We took a little drive up to the north shore of Oahu to see how the waves were.  For the most part, the Bonsai Pipeline was pretty tame but still, it was nice to see surfers out there.  In the late winter and early spring, the waves can be awesome and the dream of serious surfers everywhere.

A few years ago, while working here on the island, it was a favorite place of mine and visited it and the nearby town of Hale`iwa  (pronounced "Ha-lay-ee-vah") often.  You pretty much need to be looking for it to find because there are no glaring signs pointing to it saying "TURN HERE".  In other words, just Google it and click on the map.

Here's a few pictures.

Pool close....open 8 o'clock

My daily routine it get up around 5:45 A.M., make myself a really sturdy cup of espresso roast coffee in a french press, watch a little local news and check my email before getting ready for the day.

As I start the day, I go down to the first floor at 7:00 A.M. to take part in a hotel's continental breakfast at the Aqua Aloha Surf.  Well, this morning I got a few minutes late start so when I arrived, the place was wrapped up with Japanese tourists and seating was pretty sparse.  With virtually no place to eat my breakfast, I headed for the pool area where I'd eaten several times before.

A pool guy was inside the gated area wiping the tables after just hosing them off.   As I reached for the gate to go inside, he looked up and said, "Pool close...open eight!"

"No sir, I am not swimming.  I just want to eat my breakfast at the tables."

 "Pool close...open eight!"

Clearly he could see I was dressed in business casuals (aloha shirt, slacks, brown leather shoes, etc.), definitely did not look like a swimmer and sorta important.  Besides, I didn't even have a towel.

"No sir, I'm not going swimming. I only want to sit at the tables," I said forcefully and reached for the gate latch again.

"Pool close...OPEN EIGHT!"

There is no argument if the one you argue with isn't speaking English and I don't know Portuguese, Micronesian or Whatever so I just gave him a blank stare, rolled my eyes and chose to eat my boiled eggs and orange slice standing.

He was simply doing his job, was effective at it and honestly, I can appreciate his boldness to stand by his instructions and not be swayed or bullied to abandon his mission. 

I mumbled, grumbled and sulked in English though.

Oahu - Honolulu

A couple of weekends ago, before the rain, I checked out Manoa Falls here on Oahu.   From the parking lot, it's just less than a mile up to the falls through groves of bamboo and a rocky and somewhat muddy trail.

Well visited by locals and visitors alike, it's not all that difficult and little keikis (local word for children) running ahead of their parents who continued to yell at them to be careful.

Honestly, I pretended to stop a lot to be courteous and let other travelers pass on the narrow trail so I wouldn't appear out of breath.  I was grateful I had brought along my tripod to stabilize myself in fear of slipping on the rocks.  They had gotten very greasy after hundreds of muddy feet had plastered mud on them.

I won't even try to tell you it was the most outstanding thing I've seen on Oahu but it was a better venue  than hanging out with the tourists on Waikiki.

Also, on the trip back, I stopped off at a couple of waysides to get down and visit some small flowing streams.

I had planned on visiting the arboretum near there but ¾ the way down, it began to rain so I opted to speed up and visit the Treetops Restaurant adjacent to the parking lot.  The food was a so-so buffet of Asian/Fusion dishes with some good old mainland bread pudding as a comfort food.

This weekend, I took a tour around the NE side, trying to see if I could find the old Magnum PI TV show location.

 

Failing to find the home of Magnum and Higgins, stumbled onto several hang gliders working the cliffs.

A couple of them really got off on buzzing the half dozen bystanders positioned by the road overlooking the bay.  While looking toward the sea, you could hear a little breezy sound and look up just in time to see them zip over you.  Sometimes they approached head on.

So, after church Sunday, I felt a little guilty just sitting around at the hotel so I strolled on down to Waikiki to see if it was still there. Sure enough, it was crowded with the usual surfers coming and going, old tourists trudging around in shorts, flowered Aloha shirts and sandals with socks on them.

I know I will not get a lot of sympathy from anyone but the temperatures were in the low nineties with high humidity making the real feel at 103°.

So I headed back to the hotel to sit under the air condition until late in the afternoon when I would go out.  The light will be better for photos later...yes, that's it.  The light's better.

So just east of here is Hawaii Kai.  Nice sunset.

Early on the Ala Wai

I'm living at the Aqua Aloha Surf hotel on the corner of Kanekapale and Ala Wai Avenue in Waikiki.  That's a mouthful, huh?

Anyway, I woke early and looked out to see a crescent moon reflection on the Ala Wai Canal and it seemed right and just to grab my faithful Nikon and take a short stroll.  At 4:30 in the morning, I pretty much had it to myself, save a few other insomniacs, joggers and walkers.

 

 

Hard as I tried, I couldn't make the camera produce the beauty I saw with my own eyes.  As the morning brightened, more and more walkers and runners began to take advantage of the early morning beauty.   Being careful to keep my lens pack on my back rather than putting it on the ground so I wouldn't be an easy target for purse and pack snatchers (we have to have our stuff), I squeezed off a hundred or so images hoping to produce "the one" that I was looking for.

I was so enthused about the crescent moon and later the sunrise that came from the same direction and I began to reflect on how God produces miracles served up daily and our only job is to recognize them.  It's like an Easter egg hunt where many eggs are hidden and the children have to search for them, occasionally asking the father or mother for hints to where they can be found.

After feeling all holy and blessed, I observed a man still sleeping on a bench and wondered if his observance of beauty and miracles would be like mine.  I just don't know.

As fate would have it...

I've had my share of great assignments and quite a few have been in Hawaii.  With that said, I figured my luck had long run out and I'd never see the islands on the company ticket ever again.  So, as fate would have it (thanks Mr. Jones) I find myself on Oahu once again.

It's not that working in San Angelo, Texas and Eunice, Louisiana wasn't some of the highlights of my life but Hawaii...?...it's what dreams are made of.

I've been here about 3 weeks and taken quite a few pictures but somehow my laptop started having issues downloading Windows 10 and I've pretty much been without a function to upload pictures with.  So without deep narratives, I present a quick photo journal of the past 3½ weeks.

After a red-eye flight to Honolulu, I found myself dealing with traffic like no other place I've been unless it was New York or the 605 in Los Angeles.  At least I got a rainbow in the deal.

 

There's not many places to stay within your budget other than downtown Waikiki, complete with zillions of tourists, street people and more traffic.

The annual Aloha Festival

 

  Raining on the parade

 

 I suppose if you're going to be homeless, this is the place. Rare is the night below 60°

 

  Life in downtown is living in a cube.  A view from my 220 square foot hotel room.

 

 My first week here, the place was swarming with tourists but over the recent week, they have thinned out a bit.

 

 Getting away from Waikiki, you can find less people

 

 Or strolling around later at night.  Here's the marina where the Ala Wai meets the harbor

 

 Looking toward Diamond Head at dusk.

  I always love a slow drive around the island.  This time it was counter clockwise.  Who knows, next week I might go for clockwise.

 

 It has been said that the best food on Hawaii is the after taste of the peanuts from the flight over.

 

 The place is synonymous with surfing so I spent last Saturday afternoon on the northeast side watching the surfers

 

 Waves crashing on the lava rocks

 

  More waves, more rocks

 

 More surfers.  He looks happy enough.

 

Later on, I'll upload my trip up to Manoa Falls.

YEAR OF THE RAT

Ah so, Grasshopper.

February 7 begins the Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat. but Honolulu kicked it off early Friday, February 1 with Lion Dances in Chinatown.

After changing clothes at the office in Aiea, I headed back toward Honolulu & Chinatown. Already, the street department had placed "No Parking" signs along the streets, so I drove around several blocks looking for a place to park. Finding a Jaycee parking lot just off River Street, I wandered Chinatown for an hour or so checking out the stores, restaurants and the curiosities.

Vendors were beginning to set up food booths along the streets and shop owners worked toward bringing in boxes of merchandise still on the sidewalks. I bought some food in a little restaurant while waiting for something to happen.
Troupes of mostly young people gathered on the sidewalks trying to stay dry while showers of rain intermittently blew across the city.

Six O'clock came and the police began blocking off streets while more people began to thicken the sidewalks. The adage, "It's better for people to think you're stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" came to mind, so I didn't ask what or how all this "Lion Dance" thing worked. I had assumed there was going to be some kind of Grand Marshall with a formal parade but as it turned out, groups gathered all over the area on Beretania, Hotel and River streets. Somebody said, "there's the mayor" so I figured I must be in or near something official. I turned and saw an entourage with a very tall man in the middle of it. He stood at least a head taller than the nearest Chinaman around.
Within a few minutes a lot of noise began. Trust me it was A LOT OF NOISE. Firecrackers like you have never heard being nearly drowned out by drums, cymbals and gongs sounding much like pots and pan from Mama's kitchen.
Two young men donned each of the many Lion costumes and danced in the area, amidst the smoke of the firecrackers and deafening sounds of the drums, gongs and cymbals.
The dancers went to various businesses where they frightened the evil spirits away by dancing vigorously around the firecrackers and eventually entering the business itself. I watched as they went to all the banks and several other businesses. I wondered if there was a bank around that wouldn't let them in.
Between business blessings/dances/enchantments or whatever they truly were, lions would accept gifts from individuals in the streets. They stepped up and offered gifts of money to the dancer by handing it to him through the mouth of the lion. Feeding the kitty, so to speak.

It was a very friendly and non-intimidating evening.

Saturday morning was much of the same except more food, more people and much better light.

After a couple of hours of this, it was apparent that I'd be filling up my hard drive with more and more photos.
Here's a link to a YouTube video. It is not by me.

With that in mind, I made it back to my car and had lunch. What you ask? Panda Express of course.
Ironically, it was going on the same time people in New Orleans were kicking off Mardi Gras and much safer, streetwise.
These photos are posted at http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=51473102%40N00&q=yearoftherat&m=tags or the slideshow at http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=YearOfTheRat&m=tags&w=51473102%40N00