We went East, then North

Monday, April 04, 2011
Waikiki, Hawaii, United States
On the road again to explore the rest of the East Coast. This time we took the Pali Highway which runs from Honolulu up the Nu'uanu Valley, up into the Ko’olau Mountains, through a tunnel and down to the plains below. At the top is a lookout point with stunning views over the eastern side of O’ahu to the ocean. Before the road was built there was a sheer precipice with a terrifying, slippery trail winding down. Hamish’s Interesting Historical Fact: this was the site of a key battle in Kamehameha’s wars to unite the islands in the late 18th C. Having pursued enemy forces up the valley to the edge of the cliff some 400 of them either jumped or were pushed to their deaths.

Our first destination was the Valley of the Temples, one of the most beautiful cemeteries we’ve ever seen . Great swards of green grass with exotic flowers here and there and not a gravestone in sight. All the markers are set flat into the ground. And at the back, just below the mountains is a replica of the Byodo-in Temple. The original, built in the 10th century, is in Uji, Japan but this copy was erected in the 1960’s to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese migrant workers to Hawai’i. Very tranquil except for the booming sound of the bell which visitors strike on entering. Well, you strike it once, not over and over again with your other hand clasping a mobile phone to your ear as we saw some do......

The rest of our morning was spending driving along the coast road stopping at some of the beaches along the way. After an unexpectedly delicious lunch at Tony’s Shrimp Van in Hau’ula we reached La’ie Point. Just off shore are five islets, each supposedly parts of the remains of a monstrous lizard that was killed by an ancient hero. One of the islands has a hole right through the middle, blasted by a tsunami in 1946 . An unexpected bonus was to see a school of whales that were spouting columns of water from their blowholes, slapping their huge tails and even jumping out of the water ( "breaching ?").

Rather bizarrely La’ie is a Mormon town with a vast Mormon temple and a campus of Brigham Young University.

A bit further north we came of Malaekahana Beach which we had all to ourselves ! So I had my first swim in the Pacific. Lovely but the waves were strong and there were rocks underwater so had to be careful. The other, heartless souls in our group found it hilarious to watch me being buffeted and rolled over in the surf !

As we followed the road on along the North Shore the sun was beginning to set so we stopped at Waimea Bay to watch it go down. Big waves crashed in but we were amazed to see quite small children totally unperturbed by being completely submerged by massive breakers, then popping up the other side laughing . Wonderful place for body surfing, although everyone uses these modern lightweight boards (wimps!), not the lethal, thin wooden ones that my sister and I had as kids which left red marks on your midriff and gave you a smack on the head if you lost control. Ah, the good old days....

Watching the sunset there was magical – half expected steam to rise when the sun dipped into the ocean (apologies to any scientists who might be reading this).

For foody readers of this blog we finished our day in the little town of Hale’iwa with a scrumptious Thai meal served by a scrumptious waiter. We discovered that if we asked him how big the dishes were we could get him to flex his muscles. I know, I know but at our age you have to get your fun somehow.

Comments

Etsuko
2011-04-05

¡Qué sorpresa a ver Byodo-in en Hawaii!
Por cierto, ¿donde está la(s) foto(s) del camarero en el restaurante?

alan-hamish
2011-04-06

Ah, lo siento! I didn't have the courage to take a photo of him in the restaurant.

2025-02-07

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