Parade and Historical Sites

Sunday, March 27, 2011
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
March 26th was Prince Kuhio Day. Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole (1871-1922) was a member of the Hawaiian Royal Family who imprisoned after the overthrow of the monarchy and annexation of the Hawaii by the US in 1893 but went on to serve as Hawaii’s first delegate to the US Congress. He also worked tirelessly for land reform and the welfare of the Hawaiian people and was an all-round "good egg" . (You see, this blog is going to be educational as well as wildly entertaining...). His birthday is now a public holiday in Hawaii and every year there is a Parade in his honour with marching bands, hula dancers, charities, city worthies and even the man who should be King – the splendidly named HRH Prince Quentin Kuhio Kawananakoa. We stood in the sunshine and watched as the cavalcade passed then enjoyed a concert of Polynesian music and dancing by some very comely young men and women.

March 27th

Jet lag is still a bit of a problem but with a time difference of 11 hours that is not surprising . We could do without O2 sending us messages at 1 a.m, though....

 After a hearty breakfast with our chums Antony and Virginie we headed off into Honolulu to see some of the sights. First stop Chinatown. Quite extensive and as colourful, chaotic and slightly seedy as they are everywhere. The first Chinese immigrants arrived in the 1850s to work on the plantations but their entrepreneurial spirit soon took over and they flourished. Chinatown burned down twice – once by accident in 1885 and once, not quite so accidentally, in 1900. After a plague epidemic the authorities decided to torch some of the slums but the wind fanned the flames and soon the whole place was ablaze. Ooops.

We were quite surprised to find a Shinto Shrine here – you don’t often find them outside Japan but a substantial proportion of the population is of Japanese descent here, not to mention the huge numbers of tourists and honeymooners from Japan, despite the recent calamities .


Fortified by “smoked Cornish hen”(no idea....) and other local Chinese delicacies we headed for the historic part of the city. The Anglican cathedral, transported in sections from the UK, was inaugurated in 1867. Nearby is the elegant Iolani Palace, former residence of the Kings and Queens of Hawaii (hooray !) before they were overthrown by some very undemocratic American business men who wanted to get their hands on the royal lands (boo !). To the north of the Palace is Washington Place, home of Liliuokalani, last Queen of Hawaii. She lived here from 1893 until her death in 1917, part of the time under house arrest. In contrast to these stately buildings, the State Capitol is an eccentric 1960s construction with columns representing Hawaii’s palm trees, conical rooms to represent its volcanoes and a moat to symbolise the sea. Interesting – I think Prince Charles might have something to say about it. Unfortunately the water leaked from the moat into the foundations and it had to be closed in 1990 for years of restoration. Ooops again.

Comments

Vicki
2011-03-28

So are you seeing cultural similarities between Hawaii and New Zealand? The Maori came from Hawaii.

Etsuko
2011-03-28

¿Estáis en Hawaii por trabajo?, alguna conferencia del japonés por ejemplo, or sinceremente ¿vaís de vacaciones?

2025-02-07

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