The peaceful yet commercialized Hawaii

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hello-
well I recently took a trip with my family to hawaii for christmas. My parents and my older brother that I do not get to see too often because he lives in California stayed in Oahu for seven days. We stayed in the Ko Olina resort area and it was absolutely beautiful. Ko Olina was not very populated and was a very private area that was very peaceful and free of the city of Honolulu. I would walk along the lagoon on which was in my resort area, the view to the ocean was breathtaking and I did not feel any sense of industrialization around me, until I looked to my left. THere was a large powerplant about 1 mile off the resort area, which really bothered me to see this powerplant right near this gorgeous peaceful area. My family the next day went on a hike with a guide up in the valley on the other side of the island. There were so many different kinds of trees, flowers, and vegetation. THe guide was telling us all the stories of all the polynesian people used their surroundings without any industrialization around them using the flowers and coffee trees to make a living. About 1/2 mile into the valley we came across 4 abandoned houses that had been taken over by the vegatation. During the early 1900s a whole family had made a living off harvesting ginger and coffee beans until a mudslide had taken over their houses and they were forced to move on. It was such a nice little area not surrounded by any of the increasing industry especially during that period of time when american industry was becoming a big influence. The fourth house that we came across shocked me. A group of "hippies" had found these houses in the 1960s and found one that was still liveable and they movied into it. The thing that kind of bedazzled me was we found outside this house in the middle of a industry free valley. A vaccuum, a telephone, and some kind of fax machine computer or something, I was not quite sure what it was. THey also left their volkswagon bug next to their house. It was obviously all abandoned and has been for thirty years or so. The thing that shocked me a little bit was that these were the people that were trying to escape their growing culture of industrialization and here they are with vaccuums and telephones. It struck me that industrialization is spreading drastically even to areas of the world that are so lovely to escape to and enjoy the peace and quiet of nature, but you still find industry. I have a couple pictures of hawaii showing some of the industry but also some of the peaceful places on this beautiful island!

-Val

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Photos

Peaceful hawaii
This was a gorgeous view from one of our hikes in the valley on Oahu

commeralized hawaii
Here you can see some of the powerplants and the indsutrialized city of honolulu but still a gorgeous view