Post-tsunami weather sucks

What in the world? IS THIS WINTER I'M WITNESSING?

Today, I woke up to a thick white-- and blinding overcast with occasional showers. I think this is the beginning to my "winter" that I so cleverly escaped from these past months.

Diana and I went out today to have breakfast at this place called Boots & Kimo where they're famous for their macadamian nut syrup. I was actually very impressed and kind of disappointed! After finishing the short stack of banana pancakes with that syrup on it, I decided that I should bring some back home but sadly found out that they don't sell it! Of course they wouldn't sell such a divine topping to the masses-- it's their secret recipe!

Yummmmmy pancakes that Diana swears has crack in it!

Before breakfast, we headed over to the other side of the island where highway 3 takes us through a beautiful coastal and tropical view of the island. Diana suggested we see a look out point called Pali. Pretty, breath-taking and all sorts of awe. The wind, however was another story. We literally felt like our flip flop were going to fly away, but luckily I clenched my toesies. Haha.

The drive up to the look out point

Pali look-out point.

History: It was here in 1795 that King Kamehameha and his warriors defeated the O’ahu armies by sending them over these steep, forested cliffs and claiming his victory and uniting the Hawaiian Islands.

The day was pretty relaxing. I spent majority of it napping and finally beginning to pack up my things. I leave tomorrow night at 11p.m. and will be in San Jose about 12 a.m.

I'm still trying to psyche myself into believing this is it. This is the end of the 5 months of traveling throughout SE Asia and the Pacific. I don't even want to begin with a reflection because I might start crying right now... and Diana's right in front of me doing her homework. She'd probably think I'm being premenstrual right now. Haha.

Anyway, if you guys asked for me to bring any goodies for you, expect for them to be in! You better get them early or else I'll eat all of the ahi poke you asked me to bring you. And I will also eat those macadamian chocolates as well with no effort at all.

Alright, I'm signing out for now. And advanced apologies for abrupt withdrawals from everything. I'll explain why later...

Till then, folks!

Tsunami Evacuation!

Almost Tsunami Showtime in Honolulu Harbor

Crazy, crazy things have happened throughout my trip from events like riding on a motorcycle throughout Bohol island in the Philippines with a stranger, the dangerous river adventure in Laos, and the bum rush train ride in Japan... here is yet another event and actually another natural disaster (like Typoon Ondoy affecting SE Asian countries like Thailand when I was there back in September) making way into the Pacific and into the pages of this very blog.

If you guys have been living under a rock, you should know that there has recently been a 8.8 earthquake shaking the city of Concepcion in Chile just this morning at about 3 a.m. Due to the quake, many aftershocks have been warned to continue along South America and the Pacific rim even including further warning of potential tsunamis.

We have luckily been unaffected by today's events and no damage was done.

Our day, however began as a surprise! Last night (continuing to the early hours of the day) we were informed by the news viewed in my high school friend, Ellen Mae's place that there had been a quake in Chile. Thinking nothing of it, we slept soundly that night, but found ourselves woken up by a siren blaring outside of our house to evacuate Ewa Beach.

Diana actually woke me up, really. I hella slept through the first siren at 6:30 since I slept at about 3 a.m. and was really exhausted! We were given until 11 a.m. to reach a safe area, preferably on the 3rd story of a building somewhere inland. We left about an hour later and packed our things, food and other necessary effects that would help us go through the day comfortably. Driving through Ewa Beach, we kept informed by listening to the radio and observed the reactions to this "state of emergency". We surprisingly saw people going about their days normally, running in the morning and walking their dogs. I was thinking in my head, "what are you guys doing?! Don't you know there's a tsunami coming?" But I kind of figured they're locals and they go through this all the time. I, personally was very alarmed by this, but strangely excited to witness this natural disaster in a somewhat morbid way.

Reaching Ellen Mae's house in Honolulu, we basically staked out admiring the beautiful view of Honolulu city and harbor on the 20th floor of her apartment-- which is so cute and tastefully decorated! Being vigilant, we stayed up watching the news until they declared that the tsunami warning was cancelled and that people should just stay off the beach for the remainder of the day.

Honestly, the whole day was very anti-climactic. Nothing too crazy happened other than the observation of the moat's water in front of Ellen's building often rising higher than usual then draining out time to time. I watched for the first time the Winter Olympics in Toronto on TV. I think Curling is a strange and comedic sport... but whatever is considered competitive sports these days, I guess. Other than that, the weather was great until a few hours later when an overcast blanketed the islands.

Here's a few pictures of our day and a funny video of our Tsunami evacuation:

Interviewing Diana while we were evacuating

Waiting for nothing at Ellen Mae's apt

Way to almost end my trip! Haha. Mother nature, please calm down for the remainder of my stay here. K, thanks.

Missing Vagabond: Lara Estrada

Don't hate me, Lara.

Lara decided to leave Diana and I today because she had to report back home to you know... responsible matters such as grad school interviews in Long Beach. Wah!! I am now here, staring at the cheese her mom bought for her brother that she was supposed to give him. It is now here, symbolizing my very being. The cheese stands alone, Lara... the cheese stands alone!!!!!!!

Moments after she got home:

larab3ar (8:59:43 PM): anaaaaa

larab3ar (8:59:48 PM): im back

larab3ar (8:59:56 PM): it's weird

larab3ar (8:59:57 PM): stay there

anavictorious (8:59:59 PM): ew sad

anavictorious (9:00:01 PM): =[

I leave for home in a week and I still can't believe how unbelievably fast time flies! I really NEEEEEED to soak up as much Hawaii and travel as much as I can. Still, in so many ways thankful for this experience and being able to share it with someone else. I hope you're not missing me too much. Miss you!

P.S. Yes, I will buy that wallet in Waikiki for you. Treasures left behind always haunt you after you turn away from them... totally know the feeling!

Today, I will be a typical tourist

... and wear lots and lots of cheesy Hawaiian paraphanelia like hibiscus and palm tree printed dresses and hats--wait! Don't forget the kukui nuts necklaces. Just kidding. I can't say that for the majority of the population in Waikiki though.

Today, I continue my exploration of Oahu by hiking up Diamond head, a crater that was once used by the U.S. Military. The hike was stunning as usual and not actually very strenuous to say the least. I think the fact that there were so many tourists stopping to take pictures at every look-out point and being quite frankly, out of shape would have made the hike "quicker". Maybe also it's because I've been running lately leaving me feeling more refreshed in terms of physical activity and the fact that I actually find enjoyment in hiking made it somewhat of a breeze.

Once we finished the hike within an hour (it was suggested for roughly 2 hours, which I'm sure is if taken very leisurely) we headed over to the Health Bar and had some delicious acai bowls where I resurfaced memories of ordering this at Cafe Brazil in Santa Cruz.

Diana decided to drop us off along Waikiki's main strip because she had class and so that we could wander aimlessly amongst other tourists. Lara and I decided we'd explore some ABC Stores and other souvenir shops. We also sat at Waikiki beach for only a few minutes because the sun was too powerful and later, becoming bored by the endless numbers of tourists here, we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant for their ultimate, "new and improved" happy hour (a.k.a. Happy hour only closes from 6-10 p.m. crazy!). After hh, we went around to different shopping areas and pretended like we wanted to buy things, tiring us to exhaustion and found ourselves k.o.'ed at a random shopping center's common lounge area until Diana came to pick us up.

What a great day! Haha.

Pictures:

The phone booths are cute here!

Waikiki Beach

Before walking into the International Marketplace.

Random sighting of parrots perched on a trash can.

Surfboards

Coconut M&Ms are so good!

'tis all for today!

North Shore Treasures

If you look closely into the depth of field of this picture, you will see the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

Last week, Diana put her tour guide hat on and took us through the beautiful area of North Shore. The drive was spectacular. We drove passed pineapple plantations, fields and fields of crops, both native and foreign trees to Hawaii and vibrant red, pink and yellow Hibiscus bushes. It feels like the awakening of my senses every time I sit through different forms of transport all throughout this trip. I have so much appreciation for nature and feeling connected to these tranquil moments that they effortlessly influence.

Perfectly greeted by acres and acres of plantations, we made our first stop at the Dole Plantation. The inside of the plantation presented various sites to give the outsider a quick insight on how plantations "actually look" and information about different types of pineapple grown all over the tropical regions of the world. I wasn't fully convinced about the production of this plantation specifically since there wasn't much background given about the work done to harvest the fruit or the people doing it. Ont he flip side, I must admit that I am impressed that the plantation was well manicured, has tons of tasty novelty snacks at their store and boasts the largest maze in the world in the shape of a--- you guessed it-- a pineapple!

Some pictures:

So happy that I could say that I've been to every single one of these places!

Looks like a Troll

I love that this lady who insisted that her husband take this photo because he's a photographer took it waaayyy off-centered. Good thing Photoscape helped fix it for me.

The only person who I know has as many coy fish as this is Danny's grampa. These coys were so huge! Famished and violent, they were literally dog piling (coy piling?) over each other

And now, my favorite part of the day!

Diana and Lara's brother Jonas spoke very highly of a magical shrimp truck tucked away in a trailer park somewhere in North Shore, a truck the "average" person would not immediately prefer based on appearances. Following vague written driven directions, Diana luckily found an area where 3 food trucks were parked in. I decided to try out the shrimp pineapple and luckily came out hive-free!

Shrimp is so good!

And they de-vein and peel it, too!

Lastly, we wrapped up our day with beach visitations to Sunset Beach and another beach I forgot to ask the name of. Today was a good day!

Sunny days in Hawaii

Over the past few days, we have been relaxing at Diana's house, finding ways to entertain ourselves while Diana leaves us to go to class. She feels guilty, but it's surprisingly become an art form to just wait these days. Totally used to it by ways of our SE Asia/Pacific travel experiences. We've kept ourselves preoccupied by watching movies, writing, reading (By the way, I definitely recommend a book by Bell Hooks, All About Love: New Visions to anyone and everyone) and exercising. I've definitely taken pleasure in running near the beach here and throughout the neighborhood, taking time to small talk with Diana's neighbors, petting their cute puppies and most importantly watching the grand view of the sun setting-- total postcard image! I cannot be any happier sweating off calories!

Ah, life is good. =)

This week, Diana took us to a man-made lagoon located in Ko'Olina, beautifully located on the perimeter of several resorts and golf courses. I couldn't help but revel once again in the beauty of these tropical places!

Overlooking the Pacific

The blue lagoon!

Enjoying our "beach" day

Testing out my camera to get the perfect picture... haha

My models

Hawaii weather is amazing! I personally believe weather holds a significant factor in our personal measures for happiness. In my short stay here, I already sense amiable qualities in people. People are really friendly and actually stop to talk to you. The other day, when we were at North Shore, I couldn't help but feel moved that people were so nice to us (I'll post updates on our trip there in a bit!). What happened to people being genuinely friendly without the assumption of them having any ill intention in that very gesture? Or why have we become so jaded a community that by very the act of someone being nice to us is utterly surprising? I guess the walls built by our egos nurtured by our mainstream culture have been subtly destructive in creating this idea that introverted personalities are safe and superior. I am making it a personal goal to myself to be friendlier influenced by the lifestyle here.

I'm bringing friendliness back. =)

Lara's Birthday

On Friday, Diana took the liberty in planning Lara's birthday celebration at a local lounge-- our first official night out experiencing Hawaii's "night life".

Happy Birthday, Lara!

Totally love my self-timer! And you guessed it folks, we "dressed up" for this occasion.

We began the night reveling in Happy Hour specials that included $5 martini's and $5 appetizers! I didn't take any pictures of our food since we scarfed them down so quickly. I will tell you this though, I am beginning to enjoy Poke very much! Sorry, I am way late on this Hawaiian food deal... I'm still learning about the culture and their cuisine here!

Pearl (not to be confused with the night club located in downtown San Jose)

Probably the swankiest places I've been to throughout this entire trip!

Going out in Hawaii was actually quite different compared to back home. For one thing, the club/lounges/bars are not located in the mall.

Our delicious drinks served by a disgruntled waitress. Ugh, how annoying.

Pictures from our night:

Lara rationalizing why she shouldn't take a shot of Patron on her birthday

and failed...

After Pearl, we headed upstairs to another bar/lounge called Mai Tai's where a live reggae band was playing. The ambiance was more local and not to mention, way more welcoming than I'd expected. People are so nice here.

Working female magic that we are always so impressed by, we managed to score 2 pitchers of beer here. The cringe-worthy compromise however, ensued by unwritten female etiquette (or wait, is that just guilt?).

Lol, one of our pitcher-givers. This guy made sure to give his "obligatory" love all around.

Responding to our drunken stupors, Zippy's fast food restaurant helped ease our midnight munchies.

The night was actually pretty fun. I'm usually sold by any sound of live music, especially when they cover Sublime's "Caress me down" so well! I'm beginning to enjoy the Hawaiian lifestyle. Hope you had a great birthday, Lara!

Mahalo, Hawaii