Hawaii...Aloha!

---

Day 1: Thursday

Just when I felt the sight of another snow flake would make me scream and another icy winter storm would make me curse, we were all set to go on our much anticipated vacation to Hawaii for a week of sun n’ sand. Hooray!!!

Our flight was from Newark and we reached Honolulu, Oahu on Thursday morning. We took our rental car and headed out to our hotel - Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, right across the street from Waikiki beach. Rajesh felt Honolulu reminded him of Singapore - the streets, the walkways, the sights and sounds. When we reached our hotel, the friendly receptionist noted that we were from NY and introduced us to another guy from NY, who asked us if we had heard of what happened in NY and we said no. He told us about the emergency landing of an aircraft in the Hudson River. He was quick to assure us that no one was hurt and the pilot was a hero. Immediately we went online to cnn.com thru the iphone and read the news - what a miracle! The first thing Niki said - Thank God we were not on that plane!

After a refreshing shower and a short nap, we couldn’t wait to go and check out the famous Waikiki beach. We walked along the beach while Niki played in the water and Meg wet her legs. The weather was gorgeous - clear blue sky and dark blue waters. It felt great to be wearing summer clothes and beach sandals as well as Neutrogena sunscreen spf 85 (I hate getting tanned). There were lots of Japs around, both locals as well as tourists. It was really nice to see coconut trees and banyan trees. The sun set around 6 pm, so we headed back to our hotel, washed up and went back again to witness some night life.

This time we went past the pool entrance (back side of our hotel) into the shopping/restaurant filled streets of Waikiki beach. The International Market place was right next to our hotel. It was entertaining to walk past all the stalls selling jewelry, funky T-shirts and souvenirs of Hawaii and to sit back and do some people watching. We decided to get a bite at the food court there that sold Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and other oriental cuisine. I got the Vietnamese platter and Rajesh got the Hawaiian platter. The food was too greasy and I didn’t like it. So off we went to an ice cream place and bought mango shaved ice served with fresh mangoes, kiwis and pineapples…that was ultimate!!!

---