Polynesian Culture Center and USS Arizona

The Polysesian Cultural Center. Spent a pretty expensive day and ended up with mixed feelings. We both enjoyed the bus ride there, despite traveling the same highway we'd covered the day before. The Center provided transportation all the way up to Laie. On the pretty plush bus was a cheerleader of sorts, Leon. He entertained us for the entire hour and a quarter. He told us how Texans took cabs back to their hotels but only remembered that their hotels were next to ABC stores. ABC stores are liquor stores on every block. Imagine a city dependent on tourists and Texans like Arabs are the high rollers.  He told us the 3 leading industries in Hawaii, tourism, military ( 13 bases) and then #3 starts with A, (agriculture not ABC stores). Eat a half a papaya a day (instead of an apple) to keep the doctor a away. A whole one will keep you in toilet all day.
Leon worked us over to understand that this show supports a school; the staff are mostly students. The school is a work study program. It supports students from throughout Polynesia. The Kettering of Polynesia. When they leave this Brigham Young school they leave without student loans.
Finally we got there after hearing a little sales pitch for a lunch and personally guided tour for a mere $25 each. No thanks, not til we see the layout. Besides, Liz had taken the precaution of packing a lunch, having noted the absence in the brochure. Smart girl.

I guess I was expecting a sort of Colonial Williamsburg in Polynesia. We were welcomed with leis made from orchids, no aroma but pretty. I modified expectations to something like a Reniassance Festival after seeing the large number of souvenir shops. Less expensive souvenirs mostly made in China - I checked. Still not so bad. Our first stop, I witnessed a very charming and funny Samoan who husked and split a coconut in 7 seconds flat, using a large sharp stick propped upright and a hand-sized stone. About ten seconds later he'd shredded the meat inside and squeezed the milk from it. Impressive. Even more so, he then actually did the boy scout thing by (sort of) rubbing two sticks together. Actually, he used a medium sized seasoned hemlock log and a very strong seasoned hemlock stick (wood choice is a large part of the secret), along with a very dry coconut husk , shredded for tinder. Again, he took just a few second. Very cool. And we saw a cooking demo where they baked cocoanut bread in a pit. Lots of drumming. That's nearly the full extent of Polynesian crafts I saw that day.

The Center is divided up into seven or so areas, each devoted to its own part of Polynesia. Okay, maybe more like Disney World's Epcot. As we progressed through half hour shows in Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Marquesas, and Aotearoa (New Zealand - Maori) it became more and more obvious there was mostly music, song and dance. Okay, fair enough. Just not quite what I expected or was interested in seeing more of, prompted by several museum trips in the past several days. I.E. How is that stone tool polishing done, why not knapping of obsidian into sharp flakes like the neolithic people of Europe and elsewhere? Can I see someone weave a fish net? Okay, there was a totally impressive big double canoe, made by local volunteer labor, probably very close to the craft these people used to explore the Pacific.  Really clever system of flexible woven masts. On the other hand, the music and dancing was quite entertaining, especially the Maori expressions of fierceness.
Black vampire-like lipstick that drips down to chin. We saw New Zealand's secondary school champions perform.

The Samoan theme of "happy wife, happy life" rings true; the men in Samoa do all the cooking. The women shop. The Fiji show had us rolling with laughter. He called up 3 men from audience, a Californian, an African American, and a Japapanese and had them imitate his howls, yelps, growls and drumbeats. Apparently fierceness is innate; men do not have to be Polynesian to be warriors. The Virginian was African American and added on "Who let the Dogs out". The Samoan reminded him whose show this was.

The luau was buffet. Okay. The food was tasty, exotic and nothing like Sweden House. Stuff like pickled raw salmon, poi, sweet potatoes, taro biscuits, marinated raw beef. Yes, poi is a little like library paste in consistence but not quite the same flavor of library paste that  I remember from kindergarten. You really, really need to mix it with something with a strong flavor. Onion slivers work fine. There was entertainment all through the feast, ukuleles and hula predominating. I kept expecting Dorothy Lamour and the Andrews Sisters to show up. It is real family entertainment.

Now comes the main event, the big show. Ha, the breath of life. Essentially, a child, Mana, is born, grows to adulthood and becomes a father. Dance numbers choreographed in sections reflecting different island styles. Truly a big production. More that vaguely remeniscent of Lion King with a huge nod to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Note that I didn't say I didn't enjoy it! This is one really big, spectacular show. Big production dance numbers, lots of drums.The lighted torch twirling at the end is a dazzling demonstration of skill. Sorry, no pictures of the show, all photography during the show prohibited.

Then a long,late ride home, alleviated by an in-flight (ride?) movie describing the settling of Polynesia. Was it worth a couple of hundred bucks? Not twice. Further than that, I will not say.



Next day, let's do something easy. I know, we can just pop over to Pearl Harbor and do our touristly duty at the USS Arizona memorial. Check the map. All right, the bus ride's less than an hour, no big deal. Get in line, walk through, go home. Maybe throw a lei on the water, take a few pictures. Not quite. It is indeed free to see the Arizona. Most of the other stuff is also free or quite inexpensive. The wait to get on a launch out to the memorial is about an hour and a half and the staff is anxious to make sure our time isn't wasted. I plunked for the Bowfin and the Naval Air museum. The USS Bowfin is a real WW2 hunter-killer sub with an enviable record. The whole experience was fascinating! 80 people lived aboard that cramped thing. Heads bowed to avoid the overhead equipment and squirming through hatches the size of an attic window. For months at a time! Only about a third of the crew could sleep in the available space at a time while work went on all around them. Eating out of a galley the size of the average suburban closet. This and not a great chance of survival. The Submariners of WW2 had the highest casualty rate of any service. 8th Air Force bombers included.

Bunk area - share your bed wit 2 other people

Crew mess - 70 people ate here in shifts

Sub used 4 huge GM V16 Diesels - more than a locomotive uses

5 inch deck gun

Then the obligatory movie dealing with the historical causes leading up to the attack. I wonder what any American of the time would feel about the matter-of-fact explanations of the necessity of Japan's actions. Finally onto the ferry. It was amazing watching the boat handling of these pilots. They do dozens of runs each day and have perfected turning the boat and skidding it perfectly alongside the pier. Why yes, it was moving and saddening. How else could it be? 70 years have dimmed the passion but it's still a sharp break in America's and the world's history.

USS Missouri - moored alongside Arizona memorial

Mooring slip. I seem to have forgotten to get pictires of the memorial itself.

Turret mount? note oil still leakiing after 70 years

That done, we got on the bus for the Naval Air museum. Okay, if you didn't already realize it, I get a huge kick out of WW2 machinery. Simple, not exactly crude but certainly without frills, generally rugged, designed by (usually) good engineers, done quickly. What's not to like for a former journeyman toolmaker. Hell, just look at the photos.

Japanese torpedo bomber - I thenk.

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Circle Island Bus

The Circle Island Bus, the cheap tourist's best friend. For just two and a half bucks, you can ride around the entire island of Oahu, seeing the farms, mountains, jungles fly by. If you have a bus pass, you can get off whenever you like, spend a half hour or so, get on the next bus in the procession and continue on. The actual ride takes about four hours. We saw the ocean on the south, east and north sides (the west is inaccessible) and actually traversed a major city in the time it takes to watch a football game. In short, on the scale we are accustomed to, Oahu is tiny! Not that it seems so when you're standing right here. The mountains are damn well mountains, the seashore stretches out as far as you can see, it's just that you can get to all of that with indecent speed. San Diego and Denver within a mile and Florida all around.

Drawbacks to the bus are that it's almost impossible to get a good picture out the windows (see below). The driver isn't about to slow down to give you a chance to take a picture, and the windows could use a good wash. If you do step off the bus, you're stuck for a half hour or more. You have to follow the map closely to figure out where you are. Your only guides are your fellow passengers and tourists. Good and bad there. We struck up a conversation with a local, a self-proclaimed surf bum (one of many we met) who entertained us with stories about surfing and working in the islands before he got off to go to his second job. (Working 2 jobs is commonplace here too.)

The bus changes at Turtle Bay, a wildly luxurious and expensive resort with lots of helicopters landing and taking off. Bus 55 goes back the way it came and Bus 52 continues west then south. Past North Shore. Okay, I know nothing about surfing, but I have heard of this surfer's paradise. Literally miles of rolling surf. Enough surfboards to floor a factory. If you take off your glasses it looks like the ocean has measles, the surfers are so thick. We struck up a conversation with one of them who decided the surf wasn't up to his standards that day and there were enough people out there to make it too hazardous. After 50 years on the pipeline (yes literally -he started at 7), he could pick and choose. Very interesting, so much so that I clean forgot to get his name or a picture. Damn! His proudest possession is a picture (he showed us on his cell phone - the original is at his place) of him riding out from under a huge wave that was on the cover of a 1975 Surfer Magazine cover.

Best of many out the bus window

Turtle Bay

And now, North Shore

The pictures I didn't get are of miles of farmland with exotic stuff like coffee trees, pineapple, sweet corn (!), lots of horse pasture (still can't figure that out.), other stuff I flatly couldn't identify on the fly. Still, Oahu must be about half urban and a quarter military base with just a little left over for agriculture and the mountains left mostly natural.

Diamond Head

Saturday we moved from our AIRBNB hosts, Brian and Merv's lovely condo to our weeklong timeshare  in Waikiki. Since checkin wasn't until 4 p.m. we had a half day to kill. Brian kindly offered to drive us to Diamond Head. I'd seen this hill in the distance out their condo window and asked what the climb was like. "No problem - 80 year olds do it." Actually, I did see some folks approaching 80. An amazingly fit 80. With lungs like leather bellows. Of course that was on the way down. They might have begun in their early 30s.

Brian slipped us into the park on his annual pass (They go there a lot, lucky dogs) and dropped us off at the trailhead. It really didn't look too bad, maybe a couple of hundred yards up and lots of switchbacks visible along the hillside. Did I say hillside? More like mountainside. My sense of scale had severely malfunctioned. In truth it only took about an hour. The worst slope was softened by stairs no longer than the ones up the Washington monument. Somehow I didn't get many pictures on the way up but the panorama fron the top was breathtaking.

As with any other ordeal in life, we met and befriended some fellow sufferers, A retired Navy Commander, Jeff and his wife Mary. Also a charming pair of Canadians Dan and Carolann. These were a pair of seasoned travelers. She has a travel blog of her own - http://www.maturetraveler.blogspot.com/

Well worth checking out and a whole lot more professional than this amateur effort.

Once the item was checked off our bucket list, we hiked down into town and looked for sustenance. Sushi again. A delicious, inexpensive lunch! The fish couldn't be any fresher and the service friendlier. A  pox on McDonalds.

After lunch we once again did battle with the Oahu bus system. This is a wonderful transit system. Wherever you look, these conveyances are visible, often several at a time. Not terribly cheap - $2.50 a ride, $12.00 for 4 days or $60.00 a month. Since  this will be our main transportation for 14 days we plunked for the big ticket.The main problem lies in figuring which bus goes where. There is even a web site to aid you. Here, try it out for yourself - http://www.thebus.org/   . When I first saw this thing I felt like a third grader looking over a basic calculus textbook. Fortunately, the bus drivers couldn't be friendlier and more helpful. Just give them a vague idea of where you want to go, then listen VERY carefully. Eventually we located a master map (in a McDonald's of all places) and it all started to make sense. On the other hand, I've seen the Army Museum and the Zoo from every possible angle several times, ususlly going in the wrong direction.

We finally stumbled upon our timeshare, Aqua Island Resort. Getting on in years, a little shabby, that little bit far away from the beach, yet completely serviceable. The 43rd floor, the very top. Hell of a view!

Even watched a High School football game across the canal.

Once we were settled in and Brian delivered our bags (Did I mention He and Merv go way beyond the call of duty making a visitor feel welcome?) we called it a night. More later.

History Day

Today we hit the history thing hard. Since we are lodging just a few blocks from the Iolani Palace and the Missionary area, it was easy. We found out that 4 out of 5 Hawaiians died from Western diseases. With so many deaths no wonder the Hawaiians accepted the missionaries and their doctrine.
The trustworthiness and integrity of our great United States during the era of Manifest Destiny is another issue. The US annexed Hawaii. Their Queen was imprisoned. Won't go deeper than that, just let you decide for yourself. Start here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Hawaiian_Kingdom. Amazing what a few wealthy corrupt self-serving people can do to screw up a fine country just to make themselves richer. I'm sure glad we're now a more mature country and above such things.

Enough of that. On with the pictures.

Our self-guided tour began with the Missionary Compound, started in the 1820's. The missionaries mostly from New England taught the Hawaiians to read, write and run a printing press. They translated Hawaiian into a written language. The Missionaries translated The Bible into Hawaiian.

On to the Church, made of coral blocks, removed from the reefs - underwater - by hand, by divers.

We briefly and discreetly spied a wedding in progress. (Almost as exciting as watching filming of Hawaii 5-O the day before.) Obviously the church is not just a historical site.

From there to Iolani Palace.

Guide in period costume.

Statue of King Kamehameha.

Another great statue, a fisherman mending his net.

From there we went to Queen Emma's Summer Palace. The exterior has lush plant life. We met a most enthusiastic and qualified guide and teacher, U'ilani Kalopono.

And to top it off, some of that foliage. Judy, get a load of the Bird of Paradise. See what "Big Bird" might turn into!

Green wherever you look, year round. In fact, two ladies in the Summer Palace gift shop assured us that Hawaii sweet corn is the best anywhere, ever, and available yer around. Heresy to a Michigan boy. This corn I'm going to try as soon as we see a Farmer's Market! The ladies, members of Daughters of Hawaii disparaged James Michener and told us to read Sarah Vowell. They were the second women to recommend author Vowell.

Beautiful Honolulu

Man, this is a nice city. Liz claims it reminds her of Manhattan only with perfect weather. She said she never imagined high-rises with windows that open, much less stay open day and  night.

We arrived at Honolulu airport at 9 P.M. and were picked up by a very gracious host Merv Pinpin, who we met through AIRBNB. We'll be bunking in his and partner Brian's spare room for a few days until the  timeshare Liz arranged (Once again, I married a most amazing woman!) is ready for us. Nice place! A corner apartment on the 18th floor just a mile or so off Waikiki.

How's that for a view?

These are a couple of great guys.

A very nice cat named Rusty and a Parrot Cichlid ( over a foot long, must wiegh a couple of pounds) named Frank.


We spent the day exploring Waikiki. Even happened upon a filming of "Hawaii 5-0. Got massively lost. Not the fault of the bus drivers. I'ts just that we had no idea of the way the bus system works. Residents expressed surprise we couldn't make sense of it, so I suppose in a few days we'll get used to it. Actually saw a lot of the city that way. Of course I saw a few local attractions three or four times, and our intended destinations not once. Finally fell back on old standbys, fired up Navigator on the cellphone and pretended we were driving back.  Less than a mile later, back at Brian and Merv's.

Note the last picture. Don't bother bringing your sand wedge to the beach

Running away from home

In the plane from Detroit to Las Vegas, I had the feeling that I was running away from home. Everything I know left behind, nothing but the new and strange ahead. A little like I felt joining the army or going into a new job. Probably accurate.

Vegas. It seems nearly everyone I know has been here, or knows someone who has. Obviously it appeals to a lot of tastes. We'd already been here once and wandered up and down the strip (On New Year's Eve, for Chrissake).Okay, but godawful commercial and wearing. Elbows everywhere. I find grand buildings full of slot machines and expensive consumer goods depressing. All right, the showy architecture is impressive. For a while.

 However, the last time we were here, we took a trip to Zion National Monument. That time it was in a snowstorm. Like being in a snowglobe, a surreal fairyland. We were determined to find out it was like when we could actually see all the way to the top. Wow! I can supply pictures, but they can't actually convey the grandeur. I urge anyone who comes this way to take a day and see for themselves. A shuttle bus takes you up and down the canyon in an 80 minute round trip with several stops. Get off, look around, visit the restaurant/gift shops, get a crick in your neck looking up,  get back on. The hiking trails vary from an easy stroll to something  only an experienced climber can enjoy. We stuck with the easy strolls - this time. You betcha we'll be back here.

Heck, even the view on the trip in between wes great!

Actually, this is a dry and forbidding area. For a farm boy who's always been in sight of at least a patch of woods, it was more  than a little scary. Part of the attraction of Zion is that it's comparatively lush.
Last night, Liz wore herself out battling the net, firming up plans and reservations in Hawaii. Did I mention we're going to Hawaii? For 5 weeks?  Did I mention that Liz is a GREAT secretary? Let me mention both things again. With her perseverence and dediction to the cause, we may yet salvage something of a budget.

Which reminds me, today we give our pound of flesh to the outfit that gave us our (nearly) free room at the Luxor. They'd dearly love to sell us a condo in this flashy town and are going to fill our morning with high pressure sales tecniques. Sigh. Nothing for it but to point to our previously emptied  wallets.  With a little luck, we can get away in time to go see the Valley of Fire, an hour or so north of here.

Tomorrow, we once again strap ourselves into a tube of soft metal and go hurtling throught the skies to a new destination. Gee, I wish I'd originated that phase.

Tomorrow,tomorrow, I love you etc.

Started this post on my cell phone. We'll see how  that works, typing with thumbs and all that. I just dropped off the AT&T stuff, so for the first time in years am without fast net capability. We're sitting at the forementioned doomed TV tray on two also doomed folding chairs waiting for the representative to inspect the  apartment. Other than that, we've actually managed to empty the place. In a little while we'll be officially homeless with only a borrowed (my brother's -Thanks again,  Fred) address. I guess it's  really happening after all.  As if the last month hasn't been enough of an adventure.

I'd like to take the time here to thank those of you who've commented on this blog. It's   very nice to know someone's reading and enjoying what I'm writing.

Finishing this post up at Detroit  Metro. Oops, there's the boarding call-we're off!