Sunday, December 24, 2023

We finished packing early in the morning and caught our 11:30 flight from SFO to Oahu. We funnily enough met a family from my middle school on the same flight, and said hi to them. It felt awkward for me because I didn’t really talk to that family, but we socialized a bit. At the airport, we rented a car and drove to our airport: the Hyatt Place on Waikiki Beach. It had amazing views of the coast and was right in the downtown area. After freshening up, we walked along the Waikiki Beach to the Monkeypod Restaurant. They had delicious, albeit slightly expensive food, and were good at accommodating dietary restrictions for me. I had some delicious vegan tacos they made for me, and then walked back with my sister while our parents paid the bill because of how tired we were from the whole day. We went to bed, ready and excited. for the next day

Monday, December 25, 2023

In the morning, while I ate breakfast, I downloaded the Gypsy app for Oahu, which would give us an audio tour of the island as we drove around. We took the counterclockwise loop so that we would be near the ocean the entire time of our tour, and on the way stopped at some viewpoints. We spent a lot of time at the blowhole viewpoint, which as a blowhole like a whale hole in the rocks. There was a small lagoon beach you could walk to from there, so since we were already in our swimsuits from the morning, we pulled on flip-flops and walked down. My skin was still incredibly sensitive from eczema, so I couldn’t spend long in the salt water, unfortunately, since it made my skin burn. It was gorgeous, however; we even saw a turtle swimming around right near us, close enough to touch, though you shouldn’t! We changed after our beach time and drove to the Kalapawai Market and Grill for lunch. It was amazing: I cannot recommend it more, especially for people with allergies. They accommodated all my allergies, and working off the vegan beyond burger, made me my own burger with a purple sweet potato patty to replace the soy one, added cucumber, and cleaned the kitchen for cross-contamination! It’s the first place I have loved enough to leave a review online for. At lunch, I tried to buy Pearl Harbor tickets, but bots bought them all up before I could grab even one: it’s a genuine flaw of the system, that even though you can get them for practically free on the government website, touring companies use bots to grab them all first. As we kept driving, I napped a bit, but woke up when we stopped at

Laniakea beach. There was a large sea turtle sunning himself in the middle of the beach, and even though there was tape so we couldn’t go too close, it was still an amazing experience to see turtles that up close. His name was Honu, he was 30 years old, and he was the first wild sea turtle I’ve seen. We drove even further down the route and stopped at the Waimea Bay Beach to look at the ocean, and then from there to the aptly named Sunset Beach to watch the sunset. The sunset was gorgeous on the beach, the water clear and light, and the sunset in shades of red and pink and yellow. We took photos and laid out our picnic blanket and enjoyed ourself on the only slightly busy beach; there was plenty of room to breathe. Once the sunset was over and it was dark, we started the drive back to Waikiki. The restaurant we were originally eyeing, the Tiki Grill, had a 1.5 hour wait, so we grabbed food at a nearby Lulu’s instead. They had delicious food and big servings: I ordered beet poke, chips, and guacamole, and my sister got a giant vodka penne she shared with my dad. My mom wasn’t that hungry, so she went to bed early while the rest of us grabbed dinner, and we followed shortly after.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

I woke up after my dad and sister, who had gone for a morning walk along the beach to watch the sunset. We left the house and stopped at Leonard’s Bakery to pick up masaladas: Portugese donuts the island is known for. I could unfortunately eat them due to dairy, but my sister and mom loved them. We drove from there to Paradise Cove, where we were planning on spending the day. Parking took a while, but we finally found a paid parking lot nearby, and

while my mom and sister headed down, my dad and I grabbed some food from the Farm to Barn Juicery and Cafe: a vegan bruschetta toast, a mango smoothie, and some mango guava kombucha. I found the food quite delicious, personally, and it’s close enough to the Cove. Paradise Cove was a small lagoon with clear water in a very secluded, quiet area. It’s not the easiest or most obvious to get to, which I enjoyed: less commercial. There were turtles again swimming in the shallows. One of the turtles swam in the shallows and was so close to me that I could have pet it if I wanted to. The snorkeling was amazing as well; still shallow, but deeper with coral and dozens of colorful fish everywhere. The water was so clear it was easy to see. One of the turtles, funnily enough, started chasing a kid around, and since you aren’t allowed to touch them, he got quite scared. After the beach we packed up and had a late lunch around 3 at the Mekiko Cantina, which was quite good. It was also walking distance. We shared veggie fajitas and chips, salsa, and guacamole around the table. We then walked to the Disney resort that was right there to check it out, and while it was very pretty, we preferred what we had. The Disney Resort was very isolated, and is the kind of place you would go to if you didn’t want to leave the resort for your vacation, instead of travelling the island. The resort even had its own beach. We stopped at a nearby beach to watch the sunset, then drove back. We were originally going to grab dinner at a fancy French restaurant called natuRE, but they were incredibly slow and not ready for us half an hour after our reservation time, frustratingly enough, so we left and went to a food court. I got onion rings and veggies dumplings, which were delicious, and after, we went back to the hotel.

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

I woke up a bit after my mom and sister had left for a surfing lesson. There wasn’t enough water, so they ended up stand up paddle boarding instead, and while they did that, I had breakfast and got ready for the day. We left for the Polynesian Cultural Center around 10:30, ready to spend the day there. On the drive, we stopped at the Byodo-In Japanese Temple, which was gorgeous. We bought some fish food to feed the koi fish in the pond, and even saw some turtles and a black swan. I had never been to a proper Japanese Temple before, only the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, which is not the same. After lots of photos, we left and made it to the PCC. Our tickets were for the day and the nighttime Breath of Life Show, not the luau, because the main luau dish was pig. We also didn’t have tickets to the Gateway Buffet, but there were around a dozen food trucks and another small restaurant with delicious food. The PCC is divided into sections based on the islands: Fiji, New Zealand, Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti. There were activities, like weaving a toy out of coconut tree leaves, and presentations, like watching people climb a coconut tree, hula dance, tell the story of migration, and more. I learned a lot throughout it, and it was a lot of fun. The park closed at 5:30, and we grabbed dinner at the food trucks after. We got burritos, pizzas, and a veggie crepe, and I also tried out a dark chocolate coffee truffle from a sweets store. At 7:30, it was time for the show, which was amazing. It was fire based, with lots of fire twirling and tossing, and many different forms of dance from the different islands. I was highly captivated. I do love fire: used dance forms, music, and culture from all six island cultures mentioned above to tell a singular narrative. The show ended around 9, and we drove home from there and went to bed.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Today was our last day in Oahu. We had a redeye at night. We spent the morning packing up, and then around 11, took a tour shuttle to Pearl Harbor. Our luggage was left safely in the hotel lobby so that we could pick it up later in the day. It was a Double Decker orange bus with an open top, but it was bad luck that it was a bit chillier that day, and we all had jackets on. Our tour guide was really nice; we wandered around and checked out the museums. What interested me the most was the way this American memorial wrote about it; it hugely emphasized the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but barely discussed the US response, and Japanese Internment Camps from WWII got a single plaque in a corner and were barely mentioned. It was a really interesting observation of how narratives of history can be written, especially by the victors. I have no doubt that in Japan, the history emphasized is vastly different; maybe Pearl Harbor is just a plaque in a corner. We didn’t have to stand in line since we had a booked time for our tour, and after watching a short film, we took the boat over. It was very cool; you could look down and see the sunken remains of one of the boats, and the oily quality of the water from the sunken wreck. It was a very respectful setting, especially considering it was the grave of many soldiers. After the memorial, we took the bus back, picked up our luggage, and headed to the airport. Vacation was over. I loved the entire trip; it was short, perfect, and lots of fun. It is also my second time in Hawaii, and I hope to eventually hit all the islands!