2012.12.08 Hawaii, Hawaii (Day 2)

I woke up the next day, completely refreshed and ready to tackle the world. First, I couldn't wait for breakfast. 

Say what you will about the Hilo Seaside Hotel (think charmingly rustic), their complementary breakfast is simple but top-notch. There are three options to select from.

I chose the oatmeal+papaya. The papaya was sweet but not mushy (yum!) I stole tried some of my brother's homefries and it was really good too.

After the scrumpcious breakfast, we headed out to the Richardson Beach Park, as recommended by S&L. The beach itself was fairly small but the water was clear and the fish abundant. 

Crippled by my fear of deep water Paying my due respect for the occasionally wrathful ocean, I stuck near to the shore. As I snorkled in circles, I noticed a rock floating (?!?!!!) in the ocean.

Oh my sweet... TURTLE!!!! (there may have been some underwater screaming at this point. In case you didn't know, opening your mouth underwater will cause a sudden influx of ocean water, which can inadvertently lead to choking)

The next few minutes involved trying to find my brother (he would have kicked himself so hard if he missed the turtle) and document this monumental moment. Whisper screaming as not to frightened the turtle away (ridiculous I know. The turtle is underwater, it can't really hear if I raised my voice), I managed to get my brother's attention and conveyed, in very gibberished words, what I just saw. 

After a few frantic moments of "where's the turtle? Did it swim away already?" we saw it again, lazily chomping seaweed. 

It's very important to note that you should never, ever touch wild sea turtles. And trust me, you really don't want to - they are pretty dirty. (Okay, dirty is a poor choice of word. Mossy/lichen-y is more apt). 

None of it matters. We saw a frickin' wild sea turtle, in the ocean! 

It really was the best day. And it wasn't even noon yet.

2012.12.07 Hawaii, Hawaii (Day 1)

The largest of the Hawaiian isles, the Island of Hawaii (or the Big Island, to avoid confusion) continues to expand geographically. Its growth contributed by the island's active volcanoes.

What kind of crazy people choose to live on an island with two (!) active volcanoes? Well, turns out my brother knew two such crazy people.

Our 6:30am flight (because who needs sleep when you're in Hawaii) from Honolulu to Hilo took about an hour. It was my first time boarding a flight right from the tarmac.

We picked up our rental car promptly headed out to explore the island.

Akaka Falls State Park
I'm a sucker for falling water. The first place we headed was Akaka Falls State Park. There are actually two falls in the park: Kahuna Falls (which is mostly hidden from view) and the park's namesake.

The shy-looking Kahuna Falls

Wild orchids! 

And the alien-looking wild fiddlehead (furled fern)!

Akaka Falls beckons!

Puuurty.

We shot a few "pretending to drink from the waterfall" photos, which required a lot of bending backwards. I learned something new about myself that day: I am no longer as young or as flexible as I think myself to be.

And I'm okay with that. Maybe.

Onomea Trail

Like many good things in life, we stumbled onto this trail completely by accident. We opted for the "scenic route" off Highway 19 on the way back to Hilo. To be honest, the route wasn't exactly scenic as promised - most of the coastal view obstructed by trees. After passing by the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens, we finally saw a clearing and a couple of people taking photos. We decided to follow suite.

After we parked, there it was - the sign for Onomea trail. We figured we'd check it out and if there's nothing spectacular after 15 minutes, we'll turn back.

And I'm so glad we took the time for this trail.

Because this was what awaited us.

We stocked up on water and other necessities at Cost-U-Less (a distant cousin of Costco?), where I was completely mesmerized by a jar of cheesy puffs the size of a small child (note, I wrote "child". Not "baby", a small "child". God bless the US of A). A part of me regrets not buying it but had I finished the entire thing, I probably would have turned fluorescent orange.

Lunch with my brother's friends, S&L, at the Puka Puka Kitchen was fantastic. The ahi was cooked to perfection. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Both S&L work in the field of astronomy (their job is to look at the frickin' universe! how cool is that?) and they were kind enough to offer us a not-for-public tour of the telescopes on Mauna Kea.

So we all piled into the rental and headed up the monstrosity that is Mauna Kea.

Fun facts about Mauna Kea: It is twice as high as Everest when measured from its oceanic base and is over a million years old. It is one of the most sacred mountains in Hawaii and houses (not without controversy) the Mauna Kea Observatories, one of the best in the world.

As our car climbed the Mauna Kea, the landscape started to change.

I don't think we're in tropical Hawaii anymore Toto.

We took a brief stop at the visitor information station. It gave us a chance to rest, put on our jackets (it was getting really chilly) and somewhat acclimate to the altitude before heading for the summit.

Left: Donation box at the station (some intern/volunteer clearly had too much free time on their hand).

Right: Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian-American to travel to space. He is from Hawaii and the visitor station is named in his honour.

How could anyone resist taking a photo of this sign? Hehe. Invisible cows.

Okay, technically, it's frowned upon for rental cars (actually, any non-4WD vehicles) to head up the summit. Simple reason, the road is rocky and very steep. There were times I thought we weren't going to make it. Gotta give props to my brother who kept a straight face as he literally put the pedal to the metal and our little rental slowly climbed the winding roads. 

Our little Mazda (zoom zoom) came through in the end though. Thank you, Japanese engineering.

Hello R2D2-lookalikes, I mean observatories!

Don't they look like something ripped right out of science fiction? 

Btw, they shoot lasers too. Seriously. Repeat that to youselves: THEY SHOOT LASERS.

 

The Gemini Telescope

The true summit of Mauna Kea. 

Inside the Germini Telescope. 

On the right: the back of a really, really big (and expensive) mirror.

While I wish we could have stayed until it got dark, the night sky of Mauna Kea is suppose to be spectacular, I was starting to feel the ill effects of the high altitude (Curse my weak predisposition!!!)

Seriously, Google "Mauna Kea Sky" and be prepared to lose at least two hours of your life.

Mauna Loa in the distance.

Mauna Kea silversword, a rare succulent species only found in Hawaii.

My memory is a little fuzzy from this point on. I remember walking around downtown Hilo, then nothing. Based from my brother's account, I pretty much passed out the moment I touched the hotel bed. (So I went to bed without any dinner?)

2012.12.06 O'ahu, Hawaii (Day 5)

Koko Head Crater Trail
While researching hiking trails on O'ahu, there were a few trails everyone raved about: the Haiku Stairs, the Olomana trail, and Koko Head Crater trail.

The problem with all three trails was that they are "not officially open to the public". While weighing the feasibility of the first two trails (photos/videos posted by other hikers looked amazing), they were too challenging/high risk. Entrances to the Haiku Stairs and Olomana trail are both restricted due to unsolved issues with the surrounding neighbourhood. Hopefully, the Hawaiian government can work something out in the future so that these trails can be safer and enjoyed by the general public.

Using the online directions provided to us by other hikers, we made our way to the base of the trail. Despite the towering mountain, I remained supremely confident in my capabilities.

Bring it, Koko Head! (Sometimes, my foolhardy confidence scares even myself)

Confidence going strong. To the top!

The trail is actually an old, now defunct, military railroad track. 

See that sudden incline in the tracks at the edge of the photo?

Confidence starting to waiver.

Now we started to climb.

Beautiful views along the way (also, an excuse to catch my breath)

Hanauma Bay

Oh my...  the track bridges over a 20ft wide chasm in the ground. 

Panicpanicpanic. My legs wobbled hard, much like my confidence. But screw it, I've already come too far to turn back.

Whew. Made it across.

Look how far we have come. Not quite at the top yet though.  

I should note that there were people who ran the whole way up. I remember my legs were shaking so much by this point that I had to take a breather every 20 steps (seriously not exaggerating). My brother, on the other hand, wasn't even out of breath.  

I'm glad that the weather was nice and breezy that day. I can't imagine climbing this trail on a hot summer day.

Forty minutes and 1,048-1,500 steps (depending on your source) later, we finally made it! Yay!
At the top was a military bunker + satellite(?) tower. Sorry, this was the only photo I could find.

 

The view was absolutely amazing. Every direction offered a postcard-worthy view. 

You have the crater on one side...

... scenic Hanauma Bay on the other...

.... Hawaii Kai and the Ko'olau mountain range...

There are no words, except, "Totally worth it!"

It was also a great opportunity to try out the panoramic feature on my brother's camera. So cool! I wish my camera has a panoramic feature....

Online comments by hikers also directed us to Kokonuts for shaved ice. To add a bit of prestige, this place used to be frequented by Obama

I had the coconut and lilikoi (passionfruit). Satisfying but not mind-blowing.

Starving, it didn't take us long to find Teddy's Bigger Burgers (a local chain) just around the corner. Just follow the smell of fries. The whole restaurant had a 50's vibe, which I thought was pretty neat. I can't really recall how the burger tasted (don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing) but the fries were pretty good. 

After a well-deserved nap back at the hotel, we headed down to the famous Waikiki Beach.

You'll note that it's cloudy in this photo and looking like rain but clear blue sky in the very next photo. Oh, the wonders of Hawaiian weather.

 A Waikiki Beach sunset. How could you not?

For dinner, we checked out the Farmer's Market at the International Market. A couple was selling authentic Polynesian-rooted Hawaiian food. Intrigued, we decided to try it. Rice with butterfish+pork and a side of poke. Poke (pronounced "po-kei") is raw tuna marinaded with salsa. Despite not being a fan of raw food, I did try it and it was pretty tasty. The butterfish+pork were wrapped in taro leaves, not unlike a zongzhi, and steamed. I have never had butterfish before but what I assume to be butterfish tasted like fishy jello (okay, bad analogy). It did keep the pork really nice and moist though. 

Washed it all down with some locally-brewed beer. For future travels, I hope to be able to try the local beer whenever possible. There was quite a bit of selection in the convenience store but I think I made a lucky selection.

A good ending to our last day on O'ahu. 

P.S. Just found out that this beer (Bikini Blonde Lager) is retired and no longer brewed by the Maui Brewing Company.