ALOHA and MAHALO !!! (Day 3)

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say ALOHA !!! I am in HAWAII!!!

It is a Tuesday, and we woke up slightly later at about 7. Think we are adjusting to Hawaii time already. Today, after our customary breakfast at the lounge, we departed for the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbour Memorial Museum and Visitor Center

As the memorial was rated as one of the must see things in Honolulu, it was not surprising that we got a one and a half hour queue to visit the memorial. To burn time, we decided to take some pictures and of course eat some ice cream!

Finally, the wait was over. Before we took the free ferry to the memorial, we sat through a ten minute documentary on the destruction that the Japanese wreaked in Pearl Harbor. The date was December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor was asleep and the Americans were literally caught with their pants down. More than 300 Japanese war planes launched a suprise raid on Pearl Harbor and surrounding military installations. In a few hours, the US Pacific fleet was decimated. 2388 people died. On the USS Arizona itself, 1177 navy sailors died. This marked the entry of the US into World War II.

Luckily, Malcolm is a little bit older now and could understand when we really needed him to be quiet. Like his natural curious self, he asked a lot of questions during the documentary, like, “why is there fire on the ship?”, “who put the fire on the ship?”, “why they want to bomb the ship?” etc etc. You get the idea. An elderly couple next to us politely asked us to be quiet, and I had to tell Malcolm that I would explain to him later.

Navy sailors in smart white uniforms operated the ferry that brought visitors to and from the memorial. Perhaps it was pride and symbolism that prevented the US Navy from outsourcing such a simple job to a private enterprise. As we approached the memorial in the ferry, you could see parts of the USS Arizona sticking out of the sea bed. Actually, it just looked like rusty metal. If no one told us that it was the tomb of more than a thousand people, we might have just thought why did anyone not clean up this rusting oil bucket? Like most memorials you find in the US, this memorial was beautifully crafted, and it evoked a sense of respect for the those that passed that fateful day. The names of every sailor that died on the ship was etched in stone on a wall in a room. In this room, everybody naturally fell silent, and the only sounds you could hear were that of the wind and the waves.

After the visit to the memorial, we decided to walk over to see a submarine that was berthed a few hundred meters away. We did not miss the opportunity to take pictures of torpedoes and cruise missiles etc etc. When we got there, we were aghast that they were charging like US$27 to look at a frigging decomissioned World War II submarine! Naturally, we walked off.

Time to look for something to eat. The ice cream did not quite fill our stomach, and Malcolm was hungry. So we stopped at one of the local fast food joints – L&L Drive Inn. Decided to try one of their local dishes Lau Lau (pork wrapped in leaves and steamed), Kalua pig (shredded pork). Turns out that the Lau Lau was actually like our mei cai kou rou, except not as nice.

After our lunch, we changed out Malcolm’s diaper in the car, which was loaded with smelly “stuff”, and drove to Haleiwa , the surf capital of Hawaii. After reassuring him that we were going to the beach so that he can make sand castles, Malcolm fell asleep on the half hour drive. Unfortunately, it also meant that he missed the ice kachang, or shaved ice, at Haleiwa.

After the kachang break, we continued the drive to Waimea Beach park. Waimea is situated along the famous North Shore of Oahu. In December, the sea would have 20-30 foot swells. In these conditions, only the sucidal or the very best surfers would head out. According to the guide book, the very best surfers meant the best surfers in the world would be here. A lot of tourists and locals would also camp out at the beach to watch the surfers do their stuff. Unfortunately, the sea was also not quite tame that day. Swells about 6-7 feet high routinely pounded the beach, and the lifeguard constantly warned that people not equipped with boards and flippers to stay out of the waters. However, we did manage to catch the antics of some beach bums as well as some brave surfers surfing next to the rocks!

It was coming to dinner time, and we headed along the coastal Kamehameha Highway to the town of Kahuku, where the famed Shrimp trucks were supposed to hang out. Not long after we started driving into the agricultural lands did we find a few shrimp trucks parked together. We decided to stop at Fumi’s Kahuku Shrimp Truck . Like many things in Hawaii, the Japanese name is misleading. The owner is actually a Taiwanese lady. The good thing is that the shrimps were fresh (apparently harvested daily from the shrimp ponds they own) and delicious. Malcolm ate something like 6 or 7 shrimps by himself!

It was time to go back to the hotel. We decided, based on the recommendation of the Shrimp truck owner, to drive back the way we came from and try to catch the sunset at Sunset Beach. Unfortunately, clouds occluded the sunset somewhat. We did however manage to get a few good shots.

When we finally got back to the hotel, it was 8pm. After showering for the first time that day (yes, including after dipping in the waters at Waimea Beach), we sat down to have a delicious chilli shrimp dinner, washed down with Heineken! What a great way to end the day!

it’s breakfast time again!

healthy breakfast…these baby papayas are sweet! can’t remember when was the last time I had papaya, so I loaded my plate with these before attacking the rest of the buffet spread

Mal has waffles for breakfast almost everyday when he is at home. We were glad that they have waffles at the buffet spread

another Mal’s favourite…fresh omelette with lots and lots of mushrooms!

this is Daddy’s favourite…sunny side up! I will prefer half boiled with some soya sauce and pepper like those serve in coffee shop back home
at Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum & Visitor Centernotice our t-shirts? Mummy no longer needs to wear lovers’ t-shirt with Daddy!
tablets marking the names of those killed in the Pearl Harbor attack

waiting for our turn to watch the documentary on Pearl Harbour attack

Mal finds ways to entertain himself

an ice cream to reward Mal for the long wait

he can finish one by himself! we end up getting another one for ourselves

Mal 1st ferry ride…enjoying the view

the tomb for more than a thousand people
on board the ferry
Battleship Missouri Memorial
the USS Arizona Memorial
the entrance to the Memorial
the USS Arizona that is beneath us
the stone etched with all the names
you can see the side of USS Arizona in the water right down the hole behind me
the wind was especially strong and chilly here…I thought it was kind of eerie…
the big rusty piece of metal is the gun turret of the battleship
very unique looking memorial with openings overhead to see the clear blue sky
while queuing up to board the ferry back to shore
here comes the ferry….on the ferry ride back to shore…guess what he was looking
the very smart sailor with his super huge ‘steering wheel’! We were seated right at the 1st row but Mal was too shy to step forward to have his picture taken with this smart sailor
we decided to walk over to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum. This huge missile was at the entrance
Mal thought that it was a rocket, which didn’t surprise me…cos I thought so too
Regulus I Missile…this missile can actually send letters….read more
green torpedo….clueless what it is called
super long black torpedo
upon reaching the entrance, we realised that we were too cheapo to pay for the expensive admission fee…so instead we took some pictures with the submarine from afar.
Mal, Daddy and the USS Bowfin Submarine
Hawaiian local food Lau Lau at L&L Drive Inn, our mei cai kou rou taste much better!

Haleiwa , the surf capital of Hawaiione of the things that the guidebook recommends is this old shop, Aoki’s Shave Ice at Haleiwa. there is actually a queue at the store, but further down the road, there was another shave ice store with even longer queue
this is the menu, they have syrups of different flavour and when they asked me whether I want adzuki beans in my shave ice, I looked at them blankly. Only after I was showed the sample that I realised that Adzuki beans = Red beans = Ang Dao !
this is our 1st shave ice = ice kachang, will taste even better with condensed milk added! I found out later at another store that we can actually ask them to add that with additional 50 cents
enjoying the USD $2 shave ice while Mal was sleeping in the car
when he saw this picture, he was asking…’what was that?’ ‘ how come I never eat??!!!’
at Waimea beach park at North shore of Oahu
changing at the carpark
safer to just sit here and watch the experts and hunky surfer boys do their stuffhome of the largest, most dangerous and spectacular surf in the world
body surfing in actionmore actions..
wish we could join in toothe dare devils
surfing towards the rocks
where the water is calmer…a surfer rowing out in his surf board

the shrimp truck at Kahuku
there were a few trucks …
but we chose this
they have a shrimp farm right next to the truck
something different
cooking in a truck! this cook is from China
it was super windy that day…we were told by the Taiwanese lady boss that it was rather unusual. We thought the wind might just blow down the make shift eating area
Mal was the guinea pig to try out the shrimps as we were both still quite full. He ate almost all the shrimps! We decided to order another set to bring back hotel, this time, spicy shrimps!
locals selling fruits along the road side…just like those you see in Malaysia!
at Sunset Beach
we were told by the shrimp truck lady boss that this is a perfect place to catch the sunset
sure enough, there were already people waiting at the beach with their portable
chairs
too bad it was abit cloudy
so this is it for Day 3 !