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Honolulu - A Hard Days Walk

There was no time to waste.

As we had detailed plans for every day of our stay in Hawaii, this first full day on Oahu was no exception.

We had spent the morning getting familiar with Waikiki Beach by walking along the main street, Kalakaua Avenue.

The afternoon was reserved for exploring some of the sights which the center of Honolulu has to offer.

High on our list was Chinatown which is described as being "fascinating".

After a 45 minute bus ride from Waikiki, we got off bus no. 2. The only hint that we were near Chinatown was a statue of Dr. Sun-Yat Sen (1866 - 1925), who is considered to be "the father of modern China".

He earned this distinction by being instrumental in bringing about the fall of the Quing Dynasty in 1911. The end of the monarchy created a republic of which Sun Yat-Sen became the first leader in 1912.

China however was headed for chaotic times as the Great Revolution of 1914-1918 sowed the seeds of communism and the eventual rise of Mao Zedong.

In 1949, communism was imposed on mainland China and Mao Zedong became the leader of "The People's Republic of China".

The opposition forces led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island of Formosa (off the east coast of China) to establish a non-communist government in Taiwan under the name of "The Republic of China".

That situation has not changed to this present day.

There are "Chinatowns" all over the major population centers of the U .S. and Canada. The largest of these are located in New York, Flushing, San Francisco and Vancouver.

Geographically relatively close to China, Honolulu should have had the mother of all Chinatowns in the U.S. and Canada, if not in size then in intensity.

This did not prove to be the case.

Having seen the Chinatowns in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco and even here in Victoria, BC where I am blogging today (February 11, 2008), I was impressed with all of them. The same could not be said for Honolulu's Chinatown. It was relatively small and subdued and rather underwhelming.

The more photos I take of a place, the more I am enthralled by it. The dearth of photos taken in Honolulu's Chinatown speaks for itself. But even so, I am somewhat perplexed that I took only two photos, it wasn't that bad, after all. If it would have been the first Chinatown I had ever seen, I would have been impressed.

Chinatown is centered in the downtown area, near the intersection of North King and Smith Streets. The markets, stores and restaurants in the area reflecting the Chinese culture leave no doubt that this is a different part of town .

Chinatown did provide a great starting point for walking back to our hotel in Waikiki Beach. That was a distance of about 5 kilometers and there were a lot of interesting sights along the way during our six-hour walk, including stops for sightseeing and supper.

As I write this blog, it becomes apparent to me that we should have taken a walk south of Chinatown to Aloha Tower Market Place next to the Hawaiian Maritime Center. It is located on the historic waterfront and features 70 shops and restaurants. Never mind the shops and restaurants; its setting on the waterfront near the piers would have been interesting enough.

Instead we headed east from Chinatown through Honolulu's classy financial district towards Iolani Palace and the Hawaiian State Legislature.

Honolulu's financial district is a clean and modernistic part of town due to an impressive collection of steel and glass high rise office buildings.

On the other side of the financial district we came upon Iolani Palace.

Once in Hawaii, it doesn't take long to realize that this is a land with royal roots . References to this proud heritage are everywhere - in statues, in palaces, in street names and in song to name a few.

Iolani Palace, located at the corner of King and Richard Streets was our first close encounter to this royal heritage.

It was the residence of King David Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani who built this beautiful palace in 1882. Its last resident was Queen Liliuokalani who was deposed by the American sugar barons in 1893 to end the Hawaiian royal tradition. They had other ideas for Hawaii's future.

http://www.iolanipalace.org/visit/map.html

Nearby is the impressive state legislature with its majestic capitol dome characteristic of all American state capitols.

Other than the interesting architecture of the buildings, I was fascinated by three things.

Firstly, there was the Hawaiian state flag flying proudly in front of the state legislature.

It would make for a good quiz show question which would go like this. Which American state flag has the Union Jack as part of its flag? I must admit before my visit to Hawaii, I would have been stumped by this question . Considering how the American Revolution was fought to gain independence from Great Britain, the chances of the Union Jack appearing on a state flag would be quite slim. Hawaii joined the United States of America in 1959. Perhaps by this time any hard feelings about who fought whom would have been dissipated.

So, why is the Union Jack on the Hawaiian State flag? Simple, the first white man to set foot on Hawaii and to plant the Union Jack was Captain James Cook in 1778. As it turned out, he was also killed on Big Island, in Hawaii on a subsequent return in 1779).

Perhaps another quiz show question could be: which American state flag has eight horizontal stripes?

That would be Hawaii since the state flag has eight horizontal stripes representing each of the eight islands that make up Hawaii.

An impressive statue near the Capitol is that of King Kamehameha I. It merits placement near the seat of power to commemorate his feat of conquering the Hawaiian Islands and establishing a kingdom in 1810. His influence on the islands was so great that he was referred to as King Kamehameha the Great .
(......more to come on the royal family in a later blog)

Finally, one cannot help but be touched by another statue in front of the Capitol. It is dedicated to Father Damien, a Belgian, Roman Catholic priest. In 1878 he volunteered to serve alone in the leper colony situated on the island of Molokai. He must have known that he was condemning himself to in this selfless act of courage. He somehow served for 16 years before the disease carried him away (......more about Father Damien in a later blog).

Update: February 21, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090221/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_saint

As we walked back towards Waikiki we passed city hall decorated in its full Christmas regalia. The decorations were expansive, over the top and totally out of place. I say "out of place" in the context of a pre-set mind frame which dictates that Christmas should be celebrated in colder climates with lots of snow. Anything else is just playing games and not to be taken seriously (remember this is a personal opinion).

I kept muttering to myself, it is hard to be pious at Christmas time in this tropical climate .

I would not have had difficulty getting into the Christmas spirit if I had been in Zermat, Switzerland or Heiligen Blut, Austria as the snow was gently falling down over a pristine winter scene. But downtown Honolulu, with an overabundance of decorations at Christmas time, as John Stossel of the ABC program 20/20 used to say: "give me a break!"

Along our walk back to Waikiki, we passed a BMW dealership which had an innovative way of dealing with their lack of parking space. This dealership had cars stacked three high each stored in its own steel pigeon hole. I would have loved to see how the system of removing a car functions. I looked and looked but could see no obvious clues as to how the process works.

Speaking of cars in Honolulu, there is an overabundance of luxury cars. The taxi of choice is the Honda Odyssey. This van is not available as a rental car and much less as a taxi in other parts of North America. The Ford Mustang convertible, which is hardly noticed elsewhere, is common here as it seems to fit the mentality and needs of many visitors .

I am not much for shopping. I had to think yesterday as I was walking around in downtown Victoria (February 11, 2008) that the economy would go into a deep recession if it was dependent on my purchases of personal items. My father lived a very Spartan life and I think I must have gotten some of that. Having said that, I obviously have no reservations about spending money to travel - in a Spartan manner, of course.

I am however not above walking through shopping centers even if it means dragging Barbara away from one window only to be glued to the next one, especially if it is a quilt shop. We often separate to avoid this problem.

Whether one likes shopping or not, a walk through the Ala Moana Shopping Center is a must. It is rated by some sources as the number 1 thing to do in Hawaii. I wonder who these sources are?

It is a complex of over 200 stores arranged in a labyrinth like fashion which rivals the Metropolis in Metrotown (Vancouver) for its convolutions. It is cleverly designed to feel like an indoor mall while having no enclosing walls .

I was fascinated by the creativity of some of the window displays. There is no limit to the imagination.

The huge International Food Court caught our attention as a place worthy of hanging out for something to eat after a long day of walking. With over 20 restaurants there was something for everyone.

Speaking of night fall, at this time of year the sunset is around 18:00. That was fine considering the time of year but we were amazed that even in the middle of summer the sun sets at 20:00 in Hawaii.

When we finally had returned to Waikiki Beach after many hours of walking, the bright lights and buzz of activity made it impossible to return to our "new and improved" hotel room (...see previous blog).

We had to see Waikiki Beach, or at least the promenades along Kalakaua Avenue, at night. Full of beautiful people and street performers, it was a pleasure to amble along this delightful street.

So it was that our first full day in Waikiki/Honolulu came to an end. It was the beginning of a fabulous holiday in these magical Hawaiian islands .

Coming Soon: Honolulu - Pearl Harbour

New Entry: Vancouver : Blog 10 - Whistler - Two Years till D-Day