Blogs from Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii, United States, North America - page 2

When in Hawaii, you must eat like a local boy, at least once or twice. Food will be a big part of your Oahu experience, and for good reason. Hawaiian cuisine is made up of five distinct cuisines reflecting the diversity of the island’s inhabitants. To make the food hunt a lot easier, these are some top local picks. Haupia: A traditional Hawaiian dessert of coconut pudding at Ted’s Bakery, they combine the creamy coconut goodness with whipped cream and chocolate custard cream for one heavenly mouthful. (Ted's is very under rated, but I prefer Dee-Lite Bakery) Moco Loco: There’s something extra special about The Highway Inn‘s comfort dish of rice with hamburger patties and fried eggs doused in a rich brown gravy. Warning: You’ll likely slip into a food coma post-meal. (Just about everything is ... read more

Breakfast has not been properly thought through; it consists of Everything Bagels, topped with a thick coating of garlic and onion, and blueberry cream cheese. This morning daughter no 1 wants to go on a whale watching trip. On an island with a reputation for big waves. With storms forecast and a wind advisory in place. I cannot be tempted to join her, so she sets off for the marina alone. I am, of course, right and pretty soon she texts to say all boat trips have been cancelled. So we agree to meet at the mall 2 miles away. She has the money belt containing all our cash, so walking is my only option. Instead of sending me a block up and along a street lined with shops, Google maps sends me a block down ... read more

Today we are going to climb to the top of Diamond Head Crater. Starting from the hotel, it is an 8 mile round trip. I’m all for catching a bus to the trailhead, but daughter no 1 will not be persuaded; we are going to walk the whole way. The Visitor Centre is actually inside the crater, so we must skirt around the bottom then walk through a tunnel which passes through the middle of the volcano. Then after purchasing a ticket, we can begin our ascent. The first part is along a concrete path, then as we climb higher and steeper, we follow a trail around the crater. The final part consists a large flight of steep stairs, a tunnel and finally a spiral staircase inside a vertical tunnel. To make it harder, masks are ... read more

This morning we’ve booked a tour to Pearl Harbour. Issy’s still feeling a bit jetlagged, so Scott and I set off and leave her to rest up. The Pearl Harbour Visitors’ Centre includes a museum which gives extensive background to the events of 7 December 1941, a date which is clearly firmly imprinted in the American psyche. It seems scarcely credible in these days of satellites that a fleet of six massive Japanese aircraft carriers was able to make its way thousands of kilometres across the Pacific without anyone noticing. We’re told that around 40 percent of Hawaiian residents at the time were of Japanese ancestry, and the military was far more worried about sabotage than an air attack. In order to reduce the potential damage from sabotage, the US fighter planes were kept in rows ... read more

We’re definitely still in Canada. It’s twenty one degrees outside and the hotel receptionist and a Canadian guest are complaining about the “boiling” heat. We head out for a farewell breakfast with Emma and Michael. We’ve noticed that they seem to go for large food servings here in Canada. I’m not that hungry so I try to order the smallest item on the menu, which I hope is a fried egg on a small piece of toast. It comes out as two fried eggs surrounded by a mountain of fried potatoes, a bunch of grapes, half a pineapple, and a piece of rockmelon. There’s no room on the enormous plate for the two large pieces of toast drowned in butter, so that lot comes out separately. At least some of it’s healthy, and if it has ... read more