Arriving super early at Hilo (before 6am), we pick-up our rental car (PT Cruiser). I will never buy a PT Cruiser in my life, that thing had quite the control. Since we didn’t have much to do so early in the morning, we decided to try and check-in at the hotel. Luckily, they had a room for us and we were able to drop off our baggage and washed up. We hit the Walmart to pick up some snacks and ate breakfast at McDonalds.

At about 9am, we had a helicopter tour booked, but half way through the safety training, they said it was too cloudy and the trip was cancelled. We got a free upgrade and re-scheduled for the next day.

Due to the cancellation of our heli tour, we had to switch our itinerary around. Instead of hitting the waterfalls after the heli tour, we were forced to go down to the Volcano national park.

The national park was a giant loop of about 11 miles. There were many points of interest, but after about half way, everything started to look the same. It was definitely neat to see the crater of the volcano. There was still steam coming out of the craters with a strong sulfur smell. Some of the steam was yellow in color.
There was a road that leads down to the ocean (Chain of Craters Road), but since we were quite exhausted, we decided to pass on it.

After our tour of the Volcano national park, we decided to hit up the black sand beaches. The sand was definitely black and a tad coarse compared to that of the North Shore. Nonetheless, it was a nice to experience black sand, too bad we were afraid to bring some back.

Arriving back in Hilo, we washed up and got ready to go out for a new Year’s eve dinner. We went to the SeasSide Restaurant. It was a good 5mile drive and felt like it was in the middle of nowhere since there seemed to be only street lights and the odd refinery. The service was definitely very slow and the food was good. Fresh fish always taste better than frozen as Amy could tell you.

On our way back home, we heard many fireworks go off. Some of the people playing with them were dangerous enough to throw them at passing cars. I guess when people get to into the festivities, they don’t think before they act.

Back at the hotel, we watched a marathon of a “shot at love” with tila tequila. After a few episodes, I was totally knocked out. Mind you this was New Year’s Eve and the second year I couldn’t stay awake till midnight. Darn time zone differences and waking up at 4am. I even missed the winner of a “shot at love”.

Our Circle Island tour with Amy’s cousin didn’t start till after lunch. We initially had plans to hike Diamond head in the morning, but getting up early after a late night wasn’t ideal for a “relaxed” vacation.

Our first stop of the circle island tour landed us at Halona point. There is a blow hole here where water would blow out when the waves crash towards the rocks. Depending on how strong the waves are determined how high the water would blow through the hole. Apparently, we were there on a milder day as the water can blow quite high on a windy day.

Our next stop took us to a scenic point right before Makapuu beach park. Apparently this lookout was quite new as it was the first time Amy’s cousin visit this place as well. I found this lookout out be one of the surreal lookouts of the Circle Island route. You must see it to be believe it.

Our next stop after was the Pali lookout. This gave a nice view of the coast and some of the northern towns of Oahu. I found the last scenic point more stunning than the Pali lookout. This may have been due to the grey clouds that were lingering in the mountain area.

We made a stop at a fruit stand and had some coconut juice. It was a much needed break and the coconut was quite refreshing. The only bad thing about standing around a fruit stand is the number of flies around the area. They might of been mosquitos, but all I know was we couldn’t stand still for too long as they would swarm you.

The next spot we arrived at was a rock in the middle of the ocean with a hole in the middle of it. I don’t know the name of the place, but if you were heading from the Polynesian center way, you’d have to take a right at the Anemoku street and then another right at Naupaka strret. This will lead you there. It was definitely neat to see a rock with a hole in the middle of it. It makes you wonder how it was created.

As the sun slowly sets, we stopped at a few shrimp trucks, which are parked along the side of the roads. The price for a place of shrimp is about ~$12 and some the wait for the food is usually a good ten minutes. Giovanni was one of the famous ones, but apparently the food isn’t as good as it use to be after they switched owners. We also tried a place called Romy’s. Instead of having shrimp, we decided to get prawns. They were huge and very tasty.

As we continued our trek along the island, we’ve finally hit northshore. As the sun has almost set, we see a lot of surfers and others walking back to their cars. The waves didn’t look too big, but I believe today was a milder day.

After northshore, we headed back home to Amy’s aunts place for a x’mas party. On the way home, it began to rain again and this time we actually saw lightning. One notable event that occurred were two scooters riding in the rain. As they were going about 40-50km/h, they were holding traffic bad. Definitely not a fun ride for them.

When we arrived back at Amy’s aunts place, it was nice and dry. There was plenty of food to eat. It was delicious. There were salad rolls, shredded chicken and cabbage, pokki (raw ahi tuna), crab legs, and durian dessert. It didn’t take long for me to get full yet again.

When we returned home, we had to pack as early the next morning, we’d be flying out to the Big Island to visit the volcanos.

We started off the day by having some good old dim sum in Hawaii’s chinatown. Chinatown is located just south of Vineyard Blvd, after you exit H1. The dim sum was relatively cheap. We ate at a place called Taipan and their dim sum was about $2 for each plate, but you get about three pieces instead of the usually four in Canada.

After dim sum, we started our trek to Pearl Harbor. Having an idea of what roads I wanted to take to get there, I soon find myself missing the exit I wanted to take (Nimitz way), I decided to follow the road signs which had Pearl Harbor written on it. At an exit, the next road sign ahead didn’t have Pearl Harbor written, so we decided to turn off. Another road sign said USS Arizona Memorial 1 mile ahead. After going about “1 km and a bit”, it didn’t seem like there was anything more ahead, so I decided to turn back and try the Nimitz way.

What’s funny was Nimitz way runs parallel to H1. It’s so parallel that it runs right under H1. After a good 15-20 minutes, we find ourselves on the same road I made a U-turn on. I decided to follow the road this time and eventually we hit a traffic light to turn into Pearl Harbor.

With no guide book or much information on Pearl Harbor, we had a decision to make. Check out what’s on the left or what’s on the right. Apparently what’s on the left, which would be the USS Arizona Memorial was where we were suppose to check out first and people were lining up to get a ticket to see the memorial site. They give out 4500 tickets a day. What we decided to check out first was what’s on the right, which was the USS Bowfin (submarine). We lined up to purchase tickets to see the USS Bowfin and the USS Missouri (battleship). This ran us $24/person.

I’m amazed at how long the submarine was. It felt like I just kept walking and walking and it’d never ended. It was quite an eye opener to see how the Navy lived in these submarines. The Kitchen and washroom areas were pretty neat to see too.

Our next stop was the USS Missouri. You need to take a shuttle bus to get there. Along the way, they take you inside the US military base and they show you a few points of interest like the runway that Amelia Earhart tried to take off from before she ran into engine trouble.

Once we got to the USS Missouri, it was crazy to see such a enormous piece of engineering as it casted a shadow over me. Like the USS Bowfin, it was neat to see what they had inside the ship. A lot of the places like the cafeteria, locker room, and some of the hallways reminded me of a school or the older part of the university. They had some areas in the battleship where I was surprise to see such nice furniture keeping in mind I’m thinking this is a battleship and not a luxury cruise line. It was definitely neat to see both the submarine and battleship.

Once we arrived back at the USS Bowfin, we decided to stroll over to the USS Arizona Memorial. Talking to the rangers at the information desk, we find out about the ticket giveaway for the free boat ride out to the USS Arizona. Luckily, the ranger told us about people getting the tickets, but not everyone ends up showing up for it. He said we could stand by the ranger that lets people in. If the show is not full, they’ll wave us through. Thank goodness we got let in for the first show we waited for.

At the USS Arizona Memorial, it was quite an eery feeling to see the sunken ship beneath me. One end of the memorial was a dock for the ferries and the other end had a wall of all the names of the people who died on the USS Arizona. It was quiet at the memorial as people reflected on what had happened the day Pearl Harbor attacked.

Our tour of Pearl Harbor was complete after returning form the USS Arizona Memorial. Our next destination was Ala Moana Shopping Center. We had lunch at the food court as I had a zaru soba and Amy had a udon and curry rice. What brought us to Ala Moana was I was meeting up with a guy who I bought Rock Band off of over Craig’s list. After lunch, Amy shopped around at a swimsuit store and I strolled around Macy’s since that was where I was suppose to meet the guy, but due to the poor phone reception in Macy’s, I missed his call and I had to meet up with him at a place called Samsung plaza, across from the walmart, where he was going to watch UFC. Before I could meet him, I had to wait for Amy. Apparently she got lost find her way back to Macy’s.

Once I met up with Amy and met up with Jason, the rock band guy, we picked up Amy’s aunt and headed home for supper. After supper, Amy’s cousin brought us out to Waikiki.

Since it’s hard to find parking and you’d have to pay for parking, we parked at Ala Wai Boat Harbor and walked over to Waikiki. There were many designer stores here and lots of hotels around the area. After a good hour of walking and not having adjust to Hawaii time yet (3 hours behind), I was quite dead tired. It didn’t take long before I was knocked out when we got home.

Day One: Dec 28/07

With my sister down for a visit the night before our flight to Hawaii, it looks like I’ve found a ride to the airport. Despite the early flight, my sister agreed to drive us to the airport.

After spending most of the night packing and probably about a good 2-3 hours of sleep, we found ourselves up at 5am eating breakfast and getting ready to head out to the airport.

The flight to Hawaii required a transfer at Salt Lake City. The flight to Salt Lake City was quite rough. The plane was very small and with the lack of sleep the night before, the ~2h flight felt a lot longer (to those who went to Mexico, the plane was like that.)

Once we arrived at Salt Lake City, the gate we got off at was super ghetto. It felt like I was at a bus depot. There was a long corridor that was walled off, but there was no heat. Since there were many gates along the corridor, you’d get the cold wind blowing into it making it a rough walk to the main terminal. Luckily we made it unscathed.

After a few hour wait and lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (I recommend the BBQ Chicken, although i’ve only tried two of their pizzas), we found ourselves on the plane again for Hawaii.

Arriving in Hawaii, the weather was definitely a lot better and it was definitely nice not seeing snow. Despite it being a bit cloudy, I didn’t find it to be as humid as i’d thought.

We met Amy’s uncle (Uncle Paul). We got “leid”, as Uncle Paul gave us the famous flower necklaces when you arrive in Hawaii. Uncle Paul lives really close to the airport. He lives on Middle Street and it’s about the first exit after the airport on the H1 Highway. We unpacked and then went out for supper.

Tonight we went for all you can eat Korean food. It’s about ~18/person and the kalbi (short ribs) were amazing especially for an all you can eat place. I don’t recall the name of the place, but I remember it being close to King St and between PunchBowl Ave and Ward Ave. Other than the kalbi, they had raw ahi tuna, a good selection of meats and salads. I’d say it’s similar to Ginseng up in Edmonton, but they had more salad selection and the kalbi doesn’t cost extra money.