Holiday in Hawaii

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Who would have thought that the airport would be crowded on Christmas Day? Everyone should already be with their families, opening gifts and planning the meal for the evening. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. We were surprised at the lines at the airport, especially if you were checking bags through the economy check-in line at United. Once we cleared through security, the crowds seemed to follow us. The seats in the waiting areas were full and there were passengers lying along the railings. Whereas we thought the plane would be half-full, the airlines had overbooked the flight. The flight attendants they were scouring the plane in search of all of the empty seats. After all said and done, they were able to accommodate only one passenger off their waitlist. With that, we were off to the beautiful sands of Oahu.

Again, who would have thought that most of the restaurants would not have any availability on Christmas Day. We called Hokus, and they were booked, even at $90/person for a set menu. The economy must definitely be on the mend. We called Orchids and they only had a 9:00 p.m. reservation available. Alan Wong’s was booked. Bali by the Sea didn’t have any availability. Most of the steakhouses that we tried were completely full, including Hy’s and Morton’s. It was crazy. Finally, we were able to get a reservation at the Hau Tree Lanai, which happened to have great lamb chops at reasonable prices. The seating was awesome, just a few feet from the ocean, with tiki torches keeping the night aglow. It was paradise….warm and cozy, with the gentle sea breezes and kamaaina hospitality. The hau tree was like a canopy, blanketing the lanai and creating a very romantic setting for the guests. What followed was the moment of the evening, as we asked, “What’s the name of this tree?” After our waiter quietly whispered the name, we had to laugh. “Duh!” How could we have asked that question? What were we thinking...or were we not?

The next morning, we woke up early to the sounds of chickens and roosters. We got adventurous and decided to figure out how to walk from Palolo Valley to the Koolau range. After many false starts, we thought that we knew how to do it. As we approached the end of the public road, there were a number of signs with the word "kapu", or sacred on them. This was apparently private property that we were entering. After taking a step or so into the private drive, a huge muscular dog came running at us, barking and showing us some canine. We tried to calm him, but he was fearless and for our safety, we decided to retreat. Immediately outside of the private property was a small trail leading down to the riverbed. At first, we questioned if that was the way down. It was very steep and it didn't look as though it was a path that was well traversed. We asked some of the local residents and they confirmed that was the way down. However, after having walked a lot to get to where we were, we decided to defer our plans and to make the attempt another day.

On our way back, we stopped at a beautiful Korean temple that is very well maintained. We took a few interesting pictures, very zen-like, with different patterns and textures.

That evening, we ate at Golden Duck, a local Cantonese eatery with family. Having eaten at a number of high-end Chinese restaurants, Golden Duck doesn't take a back seat to any of them. It may not have the ambience that the others have, but the food is good and the service is fast.

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