Return to Aloha # 4: Helpful Hints for Hawai'i

It's been a remarkably low-key holiday, but I'm in no doubt that this is exactly what I needed. I've been off the property a couple of times, but have no more spectacular photos to share -- far too much pool and chill time this week! And the views....

 

 

What I can share is the following helpful hints, the product of five separate experiences with Hawai'i over a period of 25 years:

 

[1]  Bring lots of money (or credit limit on your cards). Hawai'i is out in the middle of the Pacific, and Honolulu is located farther away from the next nearest city of a million people than any other city of that size on the planet. This map gives you the overview.

 

 

Likely three-quarters of everything you will eat, the linens your hotel will provide, the furniture you will sit, eat, and sleep on, the gas in your car or tour bus, the vehicles themselves, all will have been shipped in from outside. It's easy to take for granted the bottle of Heinz ketchup on your table at breakfast time, but when you stop to think that the ketchup -- like you -- has travelled many thousands of kilometres from its place of origin and crossed up to six time zones to land on your table in time to go with your scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes... well, suffice it to say, prices in Hawai'i are high, and "expensive" is likely the most common criticism levelled against Hawai'i's restaurants, shops, and hotels.

 

[2] Be patient. Hawai'i may be an American state, and it may look American on the surface, but at heart, deep down inside, it is a tropical island culture. Take-it-easy is much more than just a cultural manifestation, it's a survival skill in the tropics, especially for those who work out of doors. The result is that much of what you will see and do in Hawai'i runs on "island time," and there's nothing to gain by expecting/demanding that service personnel keep up to your expected standards of mainland speed and punctuality. And anyway, aren't you here on holiday?

 

[3] Be realistic. You are not going to see everything Hawai'i has to offer on one trip, any more than for any other destination you might visit. My advice? Confine yourself to a maximum of two islands for your first time. Make O'ahu one of them, and pick any one of the other big three (Kaua'i, Maui, or the Big Island) to go along with it.

 

[4] Enjoy the gifts of the islands. These include the fresh fish and shellfish, the tropical fruits and vegetables, and the coffee. Oh, that Hawaiian coffee. Not many people who've never been here have any idea that Hawai'i grows some absolutely incredible coffee beans, and right here is the place to enjoy the results. I've been in heaven for over a week, brewing up a fresh cup of mouth-watering Hawaiian coffee in my room every morning, and then enjoying even more of it with my breakfast. You can imagine how I pity the people who think they're better off walking to the nearest Starbucks for their morning java. Perfume? Clothes? Liquor? Nope -- my shopping is for a stash of Hawaiian coffee to bring home with me!

 

[5] Speaking of shopping, as an American state, you can find all sorts of familiar American brand stores here, ranging from the Targets and Walmarts in the residential districts all the way up to the top-end luxury brands in the tourist areas. But why? It's actually easy to find shops and stalls selling the products of local makers and crafters, and those are the places to seek out.

[6] Lu'au. You probably want to do one, and so you should. Many hotels and resorts in the main tourist areas offer lu'aus. Many of them are good, but light years ahead of them all (for my money) is the one offered at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, on O'ahu. I've been there twice and will certainly go again (just didn't make it on this trip). 

 

The ideal choice is to take one of the full-day tours which picks you up from your hotel in Waikiki, drives you to the center (about an hour away), gives you the day to visit the outdoor exhibits, shows, and demonstrations which sum up the cultures of all the main Polynesian island nations (not just Hawai'i), and then culminates with the lu'au dinner and the landmark evening show, staged in a large amphitheater with full theatrical lighting and sound effects. What makes this entire day event so special is that the participants are all residents of the various Polynesian cultures which they present to you. All have come to Hawai'i as students and faculty of Brigham Young University of the Pacific which is built entirely around the preservation and dissemination of these remarkable cultures of the islands. The PCC wrote the book on authenticity in Polynesian culture, arts, and food. If you can only do one thing on O'ahu, let this be it.

[7] Speaking of tours, Pearl Harbor is one place where a tour is advisable. The number of visitors to the USS Arizona memorial has to be limited each day, and by turning up on your own you might find you need to wait for a long time. On a busy day, especially on the weekend, you might not get in at all if you don't arrive early enough. Tours, of course, have space pre-booked and get in with no waiting. It matters because the memorial is reached by boat from the landside parking, museum, and exhibition.

[8] On being early. Hawai'i consists of tropical islands, and the temperatures ensure that clouds build up over the islands as the day goes on. Every day. Depending on location, if you are a chronic late riser, you might not see much sun at all. Trust me on this. In the tropics, you are far better off to cut your big nights short and get up each morning in a timely way. Case in point: the pool area was filled with gorgeous sunshine this morning; by 3:00 pm the sky was clouding over. Also, there's the rain. Little sprinkly showers can happen almost any time of any day, but are certainly more common, and sometimes more forceful, in the afternoon. Just as a by-the-way, I read years ago that islanders refer to these frequent little showers as "liquid sunshine."

 

[9] Rental cars, like everything else, are pricey. On O'ahu in particular, I recommend doing without your own wheels.  The traffic in and around Honolulu is heavy-duty, not surprising in a city with nearly a million people in the metropolitan area. Now, really, did you have to travel all this way just to sit in traffic jams? Especially this is so when the range of coach tours on offer is so enormous, and when the island's own transit bus service (laconically called "The Bus") runs on an unbelievably cheap fare of just $1.00 per ride.

If you ever decide to go to Hawai'i, I hope these hints will help you. I can guarantee you that Hawai'i is not just "another resort" like Cancun or the Dominican Republic. To close this off, I'm going to wrap up with a collection of useful Hawaiian words that you should certainly know if you are going to come here. Some of them have already cropped up in earlier posts.

 

Well, that's a wrap. Hope I will see you in Hawai'i the next time I choose to go!

Return to Aloha # 3: A Hike Around the Hawaiian Village

In my last post, I mentioned that some guests can probably spend a week at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and never go off the property (except, perhaps, onto the beach, which is of course a public beach and not private to the hotel). Some readers may think, "Isn't that kind of boring?" Well, it is and it isn't, and in this post I want to introduce you properly to this resort which is definitely like no other I've ever visited. For certain, I've never seen another resort hotel looking like this one!

To start yourself off right, you need a map. These maps appear on signboards in various places around the property, and always include a recommendation that you photograph it yourself to keep a copy. It's very good advice. (this map is a slightly outdated version, but close enough)

 

By the way, if you click on any photo in this blog, it will enlarge.

Calling this walking tour a "hike" is a slight exaggeration, but the distances involved are such that you can get in quite a bit of exercise just going from place to place on this property. As an example, just yesterday I went for a walk after breakfast from Tropics Restaurant at the base of the Ali'i Tower, along the beachfront, all around the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon, back out to the beach and around to the side of the Rainbow Tower facing the Super Pool to go up to my room. Fifteen minutes.

Let's begin with that walk, which shows two of the three main private swimming venues in this resort village. The first is the Lagoon, which can be used for all kinds of watersports opportunities -- SUP boards, giant waterbikes, kayaks, and just plain swimming. This was an early morning walk; the lagoon will get much, much busier as the day goes on. Notice, too, that you are looking at one of the very few private beaches in Hawai'i. Because the lagoon and its beach are artificial, they don't fall under the state's jurisdiction.

 

Now, I ask you: is that a poetic view of the extinct volcano Diamond Head or what? And could there be a more lovely, evocative place to do morning yoga on a paddleboard?

On this walk, you also pass by the Paradise Pool which is fitted very creatively into the limited space between the Lagoon Tower and the edge of the property. It's actually a series of several pools of varying sizes, all edged with natural-looking volcanic rock formations, and with the upper and lower levels connected by a kid-sized waterslide. There are also two bigger waterslides which empty into the upper main pool, and are open at specified hours each day. The entire Paradise Pool is really a kid's paradise, and a must-visit for families with children.

Completing that walk around the lagoon, you come back to the beach front and pass by the Rainbow Tower to the Super Pool -- the heartpiece of the resort. It's actually two pools -- a huge main pool, and a smaller but still healthy-sized shallower pool for "keiki" -- children. This means, of course, that all of the kids are normally in the main pool. This is the pool that features in the view from my "lana'i" (balcony or terrace -- note that this is again a three-syllable word!).

 

It just looks like there are a lot of vacant lounge chairs. Vacant chairs are dark chocolate brown. The grey chairs have grey pool towels draped on them. Just like a cruise ship, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has an ongoing problem with greedy, selfish people who hog lounge chairs for hours on end without actually using them. The real problem, though, is that there just aren't anywhere near enough lounge chairs for the sheer size of the place.

 

Going around the far side of the Super Pool, you come to Tropics Restaurant, my personal favourite among the resort's food outlets. It has outdoor and indoor portions, both huge, and a regular army of servers who work very hard at seeing that their guests are happy at all mealtimes. The outdoor portion is draped with mesh nets to deter the many and aggressive pigeons and gulls which haunt the resort at all hours. Smaller birds have figured out how to get inside the nets and hop around after crumbs, but they do not harass diners as the pigeons and gulls would do if given half a chance.

 

The real delight of Tropics is that it has a number of tables-for-two arranged along the outer edge, with the best views of the beach, the beachfront walkway, and the endless array of people going by. 

 

 Turning inland at this point, you walk past the Ali'i Tower, the resort's most deluxe section. "Ali'i" is a word designating the traditional and hereditary nobility of the peoples of Hawai'i. The Ali'i Tower has its own concierge service, a private bar and food outlet, and a private pool.

 

You then walk into the Ali'i Plaza, between the Ali'i Tower and the Diamond Head Tower. This is the first of several collections of shops you'll encounter as you walk through the resort, although there are in fact shops in every tower of the complex. 

 

 The shops range from high-end clothing, perfume, and jewellery purveyors to ABC convenience stores, and all points in between. Passing through the Ali'i Plaza, bear to the left and you will come to the Village Green and the Akalā Chapel (formerly called the Ocean Crystal Chapel).

It's not hard to guess that this beautiful place is meant to host weddings. But, you may wonder, what about beach weddings? Remember, though, that here in Hawai'i every beach is public property. You can try to have a beach wedding, and the resort will help you to arrange it if you wish -- but there is no legal way to prevent the immediate world from dropping in and watching.

 

From the chapel, you pass by the Tapa Tower (tallest in the resort), cross the driveway, and enter the Rainbow Bazaar. You'll find a great deal crammed into a small space here, from architecture inspired by the traditions of Japan, China, and colonial America to shops and restaurants of all kinds. At one time, the Hawaiian Village was proposing to tear down the Bazaar and replace it with yet another high-rise tower. I hope they've abandoned that plan permanently, as the Rainbow Bazaar is truly one of the most unique features of the property.

 

Here in the Bazaar is where you will find many of the independent food outlets, including a pizza place, a deli, a seafood restaurant, an Italian restaurant, and more. When you've walked through the entire Bazaar, you come out onto the driveway and find yourself again facing the long, low building which houses the front desk, concierge, tour desk, and other such services. It's really a building in name only, for the most part, as so much of it is a roof covering an open-air space.

Turn right, away from the front desk building, pass the Rainbow Tower, and you come to the Great Lawn. In the past, this has been used for receptions and events of one sort or another. Now, it is the venue for the resort's "lu'au" -- a Hawaiian feast with singing and dancing, which is one of the better-known cultural features of Hawai'i. The name specifically refers to the hole in the ground, lined with lava rocks, which is first preheated with fire, then filled with food to be baked, and then covered over with palm leaves, rocks, and sand to trap all the heat and steam/smoke the food. 

 

In the Hawaiian Village's version, there is no lu'au oven -- but there is an excellent mixture of traditional and modern dishes, an ample supply of mai tais, wine, and other refreshments, and a spectacular post-dinner show. I did my best to get some pictures, but without a flash it was tough -- even though I paid a premium price to be seated in the front section.

 

The second picture shows the dancers wearing a traditional skirt made out of ti leaves. I particularly like the last picture because it captures something of the grace and beauty of the classic Hawaiian dance, the sacred hula -- a poem in music, movement, and gesture.