From Fiji to Hawaii...a little bit of a change.

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17/4/09 = Groundhog Day arriving in Hawaii.

So, it all gets a little confusing from here. Got off the plane at 6am Hawaii time on the same day that we had just woke up in Fiji and gone to the mud pools. Had gone back in time by a whole day to relive the same day all over again like Groundhog day. Pretty wierd. V.v.v.v sleepy as trudged off to collect luggage - really shouldn’t have watched film - and with 5mins, encountered loads of annoying Americans. Sorry Scott. 1 really rude airport lady was hollering at the top of her voice to move people along - rather than walk the 5metres it would have taken to be able to talk at a reasonable value ‘ and the second American guy we met said. “England ay...I bet you haven’t met the Queen. Our president has hugged the Queen.” That said it all I think. Strolled out unimpressed with the stark contrast to the lovely Fijian people just spent 2 weeks with and desperately hoping to find an i-site.

Hadn’t accounted for the fact that it was only 6am, so therefore most things closed. Oh no! Had nowhere to go, no hostel names, no directions to follow...were literally stuck! But as always, we landed on our feet. A really nice English couple must have seen us looking a little panicked and asked us where we were staying. They were going to the YHA in Waikiki and did we want to go? Obvious answer really. Love YHA’s anyway! Had to trek right to end of airport to get some money out of bank - only to be totally disgusted at a $2 withdrawal fee - then trekked all way back up to get on shuttle to take us to hostel. Hope they have room.

As bus set off, realised Hawaii was nothing like I had imagined it to be....a.k.a. nothing at all like Fiji. Had imagined a tropical island type place, all beach and isolation. Hawaii = just about as far away from my mental image as it could have got. Drove along road and even after several minutes, all could see were the clean, white lines of hundereds of skyscrapers...hotels...shops...malls...fast food places. Business, industry, commerce and tourism, that = Hawaii. Didn’t once sea the beach and could barely see the Ocean. This island = so built up and modern it looked just like I would imagine Los Angeles, California would look. Did not resemble the ‘traditional’ island at all. Not a bad thing...just a bit og a shock.

Pulled up outside of hostel to locked gates. Man came to let us in and said he didn’t think he had room for me and Deb...oh no! He did say that bhe had an ‘emergency room’ though and that he would be willing to let us stay in that until something else came up...hallelujah! Was too early to check in at 7am, so left bags and went for a walk around town. I was so tired, don’t actually know if have ever felt that tired before without falling to sleep. Trapsed round only half alive and realised Ohau was a pretty big place. Streets and streets full of rows and rows of shops...expensive shops. Couldn’t believe how not like Fiji Hawaii was. Walked round in a daze at it all and then decided to go for food; maybe that would make me more alive. Guy at hostel had recommended a cheap place, so went there. Wasn’t really cheap, quickly gathering that nothing is cheap here, but it wasn’t too bad at $5 either. Got v.yummy pancakes with blueberries in and they were gorgeous. Just deciding price wasn’t too bad because were so tasty when lady came over with bill. 15% service charge...hadn’t even thought of that...and it wasn’t even good service. You don’t get that in Fiji!

Ate, then went back to hostel. Lucky the ‘emergency room’ was ready early, so we got to check in. V.happy with room. It was a private room for just 2 of us with an en suite bathroom. Can definitely live with this. Not bad for $25 per night, although in comparison with all other countries visited, is actually v.expensive. Got changed and ready for beach, hoping could have a nap there. Didn’t want to go to bed and throw body clock out and napping on beach = totally different to properly sleeping. Asked hostel man where to go and he directed us to Waikiki Beach = 2mins away. Had never even heard of Waikiki Beach, but turns out it’s a pretty big deal in Hawaii...one of best places to be. V.lucky. Walked across main street and onto beach to join the thousands of other people sprawled in sun. Never seen a beach quite like it.Waikiki = a long, thin strip of sand with hotels and skyscrapers lined all the way behind it from top to bottom and an amazing bluey/green ocean sprawled out in front of it. Reminded me a little of Surfers Paradise in Oz, only 1000times more holiday like. Never laid on a beach so narrow. Hotels and skyscrapers jutted so much out onto beach that it left only a couple of metres of sand to lay on between buildings and sea. And that couple of metres was full of people. Hawaii = v.holiday.

Was a nice beach though. Great sand and amazing water. Found a space - wasn’t too busy at 9am - then laid down and conked out. Unbelievable heat already…a bit too hot for snoozing really. Did try, but every area of body sweating and was sweat dribbling into my eyes that finally removed all chances of sleep. Dozed desperately on and off for a few hours, then when opened eyes, witnessed the transformation of the beach. The 9am slightly crowded beach was now absolutely packed with golden bodies basking in sun and so many water babies in sea, don’t think I have ever seen so many people in water at any one time. To say this is shark capital of world, you wouldn’t think it looking out into ocean. Surfing is as natural here as breathing…even I contemplated it…only for a few seconds though!

Lazed on beach until early afternoon, then felt so tired and drained from sun that went back to hostel. Asked about visit to Maui. Only got a week in Hawaii, so needed to decide where we wanted to go and quick. Maui seemed like obvious choice, v.popular and supposedly v.beautiful. Lady behind reception gave us a quick indication of price and that pretty much ended that thought process…we were staying in Ohau. Went to supermarket, bought sandwich things for lunch - even supermarkets add on extra money for tax = a joke - then came back to hostel to write diary and fight off sleep. Decided to spend our evening at the pictures, especially since a hostel guy had told us about a $1 cinema showing slightly old films. Awesome. Haven’t been to cinema in so long that they would all seem like new to us! Got showered, then headed off to cinema at 6pm. Catching bus was an experience in itself. Had 20mins to wait before a bus came that we could catch and in that 20mins, saw more crazy people than have seen on whole trip. Ended up sitting next to one of them…the ‘bus lady’ we called her. That lady knew everything about buses and her sole purpose in life was to share that knowledge with everyone around her, whether they wanted to know or not. Asked everyone where they were going and then reeled off all the bus options they could take. We all did same = 1) pretend we were grateful and that we didn’t already know our options 2) move swiftly aay from her praying for one of buses to come.

20mins later, got on next bus. Then moved from crazy people to nasty people. Turns out that you need the exact money for buses in Hawaii, they don’t give change. Obviously we didn’t know that and when Deb seemed confused as she went to pay, the driver got angry. She didn’t want to give him more money and lose change, so we tried to scrabble it together for both of us He did not appreciate the slight delay and proceeded to shout at Deb. He got even more angry when he realised I had given my last bit of change to Deb and so didn’t have enough for myself. Just threw anything in in end so could get away from him. Deb wasn’t happy. To top it all off, didn’t have a clue where to get off and was getting dark. This driver was no friendly Fijian; he wouldn’t be stopping anywhere special for us. Lucky that the only good thing about buses was the sign that flashed up with all ‘stop names’, so always knew where to get off.

30mins and hundreds of stops later - Hawaii = full of over keen traffic lights - finally got to cinema. Paid our $1 to watch He’s Just Not That Into You accompanied with v.tasty peanut M&Ms that munched down during viewing. Defy anyone to not eat chocolate whilst at cinema. Film was v.good and a v.American experience, complete with lots of laughing out loud, just like a live studio audience. It finished sometime after 9pm and didn’t have to wait long for a bus to take us back. Half expected bus lady to be waiting for us; glad she wasn’t. Was a long and dark journey home and as soon as got back, went straight to sleep with a belly full of peanut M&Ms. Yum 😊.

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Photos

Lovely sea
Crazy amount of surfers; never seen so many all at once.

Still amazed by surfers
No wonder is shark attack capital.