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Published: July 13th 2008
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This entry is more of a supplement to the last one. Since we left out important events like 4th July and visit to the sea life park.
4th July The day started pretty late so we missed the parade in the morning, but everywhere we go, one can taste the strong sense of American patriotism. Of course we did our bit of support as well... all attempted to wear white, red or blue. Even Tim was wearing his stripy blue shirt (although he will deny it and say it's pure coincidence).
The highlight of the day was picnic by the kailua beach, which is about 10 min walking distance from our accommodation, to watch the fireworks. Although we were all in high spirits, the weather let us down for the first time with it's ferocious wind. So most of the time our previously divine picnic food got covered in sand. Nevertheless the firework show was stunning. They lit up the fireworks from a barge that was about 500m from the beach, so that the ocean could reflect the light from the fireworks. But of course with the wind making the water very choppy, we didn't get the full
Doughnut
With yummy red,white,blue choc sprinkles effect. We thought the show was rather nifty and it looked amazing. Not sure how many times we went oooh, or aaaah, but you could definitely tell who the locals were and who wasn't. There was a big pause at one stage because the barge caught alight (definitely not part of the program!), because of the wind and the vast amount of fireworks.
Sea life park We couldn't have chosen a hotter day to visit Sea life park. It was also our first time making use of the local transport - Da BUS!! It was really convenient and we managed to find the right bus stop too (well, I had my doubts, but Tim was pretty confident. I guess I need to have more faith :P). Thanks to that little outing with Tim, I now make full use of the bus everywhere I go. When in doubt I ask, though Tim seems to find this rather difficult (I believe it's a gene deeply rooted in men). The locals here are very willing to help, everyone seems to wanting a bit of a chat on the bus any case.
At the park, we saw some tropical fishes (must
admit the Aquarium back home is soooo much better) and fed some Honu (turtles). Even though a little cup of lettuce was 2 dollars... (yes stingy Ting is cringing again, wait till I tell you how much we paid for 2 hotdogs!!)
Then off we went to check out the dolphin show which Tim was
VERY VERY excited about - think he was competing with other little toddlers there watching the show. It was amazing to see just how intelligent those beautiful creatures were and how they communicate to their trainers. The one maneuver that impressed us the most was the trainer surfing the dolphin.
The day ended with Tim surfing too (well, attempting to body surf anyway, he mostly got tossed around by the waves but seemd to be loving it) at the nearby beach. The water was this beautiful, crisp turquoise color , so amazing that you almost could almost believe that the word turquoise was invented to describe it. The funny bit is that while Tim was being thrown around by the waves, I tried to take some photos of him. At first I thought it would be rather difficult to spot him amongst the crowds,
but I soon found out just how easy it was to spot him, cos he is
BY FAR, the fairest of them all (and of course I dont mean pretty... :P )
Since that weekend, Tim's days have been filled with work, work , work (actually most nights till 12 at least), with me on odd occasions hopping onto the bus to experience Honolulu city life. One thing worth mentioning was Bodies exhibition. Where real cadavers were on display, shown in a rather artistic, educational form. I was a bit stunned and amazed by the exhibition. One of the exhibits, was a man with no skin, just bone and muscles, in upright position with a basketball in his hands as if he was going to shoot the ball. It was specifically to illustrate various muscle involvement during sport, but it took some time to get used to the idea that it WAS an alive human not so long ago. Another one was blue ink dyed veins and red arteries in a tank, in the shape of a human body. What the'd done is they injected the whole cadaver with these dyes and waited for it to harden, then eroded
rest of the flesh. It illustrated how extensive our veins and arteries are through out the human body - even till the tip of our finger point. I don't think my description can match up the impression that specific exhibit made on me.
Another odd random interesting note is there are more asians here than any other ethnic group !! Kinda weird since it's one of the American states, guess we're just everywhere. Also, most of you know that the Americans drive on the wrong side of the road :P But more odd (actually I think it makes perfect sense) is that you can turn right and join the ongoing traffic, even when the robot is still red. How about that! I am sure the taxi drivers at home would love to practice some of these stunts - but they probably do it already anyway!
Last night, as most of you watched it on telly was the big Bokke and All Blacks game. Because Mark and Tim are such absolute rugby fans, this place felt like a mini version of the American's 4th July. We had boboti and beer... need I say more? But it was rather nice
to see the boys unwind a bit. The winning was definitely the cherry on the cake to end this perfect "Africa in Hawaii" evening.
Lastly, it was really awesome to see so many of you checking our blogs out, especially encouragements from families to write more entries. Really promoted us to keep updating this blog, thus recording some invaluable memories that we would later treasure.
Hope you all well back home and please update us too. We'd love to hear from you all.
T'nT
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beastiecat
Bridget
Sarong
Glad to see that you are getting lots of use out of the sarong. More pictures please!