Thinking Aloud

Originally written on the plane!

Monday – Snorkeling Hanauma Bay, Alice in 3D

I do like taking the bus. We took it out to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling! It was a bit of a long run but we got there. The bay itself is very beautiful and the snorkeling was pretty good too! We had some great luck and saw some Moorish idols lots of parrot fish and other tropical types as well as an eel (I think it was a moray eel, but I’m not 100%), no turtles unfortunately, but I think we would have had to go to deeper water for that. The reef is very close to the beach (nice) but the water is REALLY shallow (~2 feet in lots of places) which makes it tough to stay off the reef. The effects are pretty obvious, most of the coral is dead, apparently they have a million visitors each year!! Word up, a million people are very hard to keep off the reef.

Back in town, we decided to head out to a movie. After attempting to go to the $1 theatre, which has apparently been closed for years, we ended up at the Ward 16 on Ala Moana Blvd and took in a quarter pound hot dog and Alice in Wonderland in 3D. What a fun show. I liked it, although I do have a bit of penchant for nonsense.

Joanna’s take: Gorgeous day. I’ve never really been snorkeling before. In the first minute I kept thinking, I need to come up for air. That passed but after the first 10 minutes I realized I was clamping down my teeth so hard it was making my jaw sore. Relax. Breath. I also discovered I need to get sunscreen everywhere. There were a few odd little spots missed that seemed quite baffling.

The $1 theatre excursion was quite hilarious. I’m sure the bus driver wondered why the heck we were getting off at the deserted “restaurant row” but the evening worked out beautifully. After the movie, my first 3D experience, we ate at Boca. It’s a family style Italian restaurant that I would absolutely go to again. Every menu item is either small or large, for 3 or 6. Great party place I’m sure!

Tuesday – Pearl Harbour, Switching Hotels and the Beach

It just seems wrong to come to Oahu and not go to Pearl Harbour, so we did it. I was thinking the my Uncle Rob would probably love this place. Lots of interesting sites with such heavy historical significance. We visited the main site, watched the film, rode the boat out to the Arizona memorial and went on board the submarine Bowfin. I left the place feeling amazed in a few ways, one, just that it all happened seems amazing, I guess I am so separated from war that it feels just crazy that it actually takes place at all. Not to be cheesy, but I really do hope that people can always look for solutions to conflicts that avoid war. Secondly, it’s amazing how quickly animosity has been replaced. The Japanese did the bombing but I didn’t notice any feelings of animosity towards them, not in the exhibit itself or in the people there. Third, boy did things line up well for the attack that day, the Japanese really blew up a lot of American equipment.

We got back to the hotel and had to pack up our stuff and head down to the other end of Waikiki, we had decided to split our stay up between two hotels just for a change of pace. The new hotel was down at the Diamond head end of the beach. Turns out the water is equally warm at the new hotel! Perfect, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and swimming then went out to a Japanese steak house for dinner with Kiersten, John, Nicole and Adam.

On the way back to our hotel we past Yogurtland. 14 different kind of frozen yogurt all for $0.42/ounce. What a heavenly place

Joanna’s take: The video at Pearl Harbour was incredible. It seemed like they had a lot of video footage from the actual events. Who had the presence of mind to get out their camera in 1941? I came away from the day feeling that everyone needs to hold in balance the love for their country and their love for humanity. One thing that globalization and the gift of rapid air travel has accomplished, is giving us friends and family the world over. I just finished reading 3 Cups of Tea which largely takes place in Pakistan and Afghanistan. North America needs a few more friends and relatives there to get rid of the dehumanized Muslim form the American war machine is able to whip up support to destroy. They are our new Japan.

It was great to have some friends from Victoria in town! Our new hotel was much more chic with a distinctly Asian flourish. Even the walls were thin like Asian paper. Very noticeable at night with the rifraf outside and early in the morning with the small children across the hall.

I love Yogurtland! I can’t wait to go back!

Wednesday – Surfing, St Patrick’s Day, Chinatown, Block Party

We were going to rent a car and do the North Shore with Kiersten and co. but it turned out that there wasn’t any rentals available (should have planned ahead a day) so we decided we would try our hand at surfing… Hoo boy, that was a tough morning. Joanna, got beat up on the coral and I ended up ride my board into the reef and damaging the nose…. Let’s just leave it at that. There’s lot’s of people surfing at Waikiki but I think next time I’ll just boogie board. We decided our all day surf rental was over at noon.

Luckily, that’s when the St Patrick’s Day parade started. We watched from our favorite restaurant in Waikiki , Lulu’s (the only one (outside of Yogurtland) to get a repeat visit). Had a good lunch and watched the green and orange walk by.
We bussed it down to Chinatown, seems we timed it a little badly as by 5pm most of Chinatown was closed for the day, but we did manage to find a bead store that was still open and Joanna made a few deals there. We stumbled into a Filipino restaurant for dinner, which turned out to be ultra salty fare. Dear Filipino’s is all your food so salty?

Then the blessing of the IRish must have been upon us as we walked up the block to an outdoor block party. Woohoo, Dueling Rakes started the evening with a little Irish music and the Elephant brought out the sing-a-long rock tunes (as well as some of their own!) it was awesome! A lot of fun to get a chance to dance around outside to some great music!

Joanna’s take: The live music was definitely the highlight of this day. I haven’t been to an outdoor, live concert since Pemberton (I think) and it was a real treat to have a Bud, listen to the bands and watch the people. All types of people come out to that type of thing. There were a few young moms with babies, older couples in their 60s, and everything else in between. I’m also thankful to be out of the meat market. Many young girls dressed to impress, or at least get attention, were bouncing around. There’s an emptiness hidden within the fun. I simply got to enjoy the music.

I really liked Lulus. I really disliked the Filipino restaurant. The latter did have a juke box however and we were treated to everything from Maria Carey’s Sweet Fantasy to a soulful Jesus loves me. Eclectic.

On the way back from the concert we snagged out first Express bus. Note to us: find the Express bus routes at the beginning of a trip. They are much faster! It got us back in time to hit Yogurtland again. Yum.

Thursday – North Shore, Pineapples and Waimea Bay and the Coast

Got up early, we rented a convertible! Mustang Convertible, thank you aeroplan miles! We headed up to the Dole Plantation in time to arrive just before it opened. We paid the big dollar to ride the little train around the plantation. Which served to remind me that, I’ll probably not be growing pineapple any time soon. 18 months to first fruit. Sheesh! It really makes me feel like a chump about begrudging $6 for a pineapple at home.

We buzzed up to Waimea Bay and beyond to grab some food from the local grocery store. Hurray the local grocer. I love seeing what is on the shelves in far off places. We picked up some edible souvenirs and some lunch then headed to Sunset beach to watch the surfers for a bit. Pretty chopped up surf, but they were still getting some reasonable rides. Then we headed back to Waimea Bay for a swim. I love Waimea Bay. I’m sure everyone says that. It was really nice. The waves were fun but not huge (thankfully) so we did a bit of body surfing and beach reading.

We headed back to Hale’wii to check out the market, I got one dynomite snow cone and we heard the Artis family band. That was cool, a family of folks playing funky music in a studio at the side of the market. I like!

We have a convertible we have to take the long way home. So we drove the East Coast, it was great awesomely steep cliffs covered in green. Back into town, we parked around the aqua palms and spa and then proceeded to walk nearly all the way back to our hotel to find some dinner with Kiersten and co. Then… Yogurtland!

Joanna’s take: Definitely a highlight of the trip. I’ve never driven a convertible any considerable distance so this was a real treat. Blaring the heat and the tunes over the Oahu coast with the wind in my hair was exhilarating.

I enjoyed learning a bit about Pineapples. They’re best if the eyes on the outside are uniform and large, the bottom is not brown and the fruit is firm all over. So much for the one trick I had which was to yank on the sprigs protruding from the top! The weather was coolest in the morning so the Dole experience was a little chilly but overall worth it. It’s good to see where our food comes from. 3 pineapples from each plant over 42 months means this fruit, originally from Paraguay, is an absolute treat!

Our lunch was probably one of the best we had due to it’s simplicity and the deliciousness of the guacamole and bread. The town we visited after Waimea beach reminded me of Tofino. I could live there but a quick look at a real estate shop displayed regular homes at around $800,000+.

Friday – Goodbye Oahu, Mahalo!

Today, has been a simple day, get up go swimming in the ocean, pack up head to the airport, say Goodbye to our avocados (see Saturday) and now we’re on the plane!

Joanna’s take: Fastest plane ride ever. I felt like we had been in flight for about 2 hours when we started our decent. I finished 3 cups of tea, the book not the real thing – airplane bathrooms are too awkward to get to – had a short nap, typed and bit and whammo we were home! I love coming into Vancouver. I had been up at 4am due to the loud wailing of a man in the street, which somehow Jeff slept through, and went downstairs to the lobby. I called Fairmont and was able to book us at the Fairmont Airport using a complimentary coupon I had. Talk about convenient!

To sum up, it was a lovely, warm, relaxing, tropical vacation. I would definitely go to Hawaii again, though we should try to hit up some other countries first. I enjoyed the cleanness of the water and streets, and the simplicity of English as the primary language. Camping would most certainly be an option in Oahu. And now, onto the adventure of our regular lives….

Originally written on the plane back from our trip!

Friday – Arrival in Waikiki

Anytime I fly out of Vancouver I’m reminded that it is a plnaes,trains and automobiles affair. After working a half day, we drove out to Ryan and Ali’s place, got a ride to the ferry, rode the ferry to Tsawassen, bus to the Skytrain station, Skytrain to the airport (I love the express to the skytrain, skytrain to airport, feels like it is as quick as driving, and so much smarter) then finally the plane to Honolulu. WE got in fairly late, and stepped off the place to feel the immediate change in humidity and warmth. The airport experience wasn’t completely awesome. As we were walking down to the baggage racks I asked Joanna if she had her passport and we stopped to make sure that she did. She did, ok great. We walked a little farther and headed down the stairs to the baggage claim area. Uh oh, when Jo was looking for her passport she left her book on the table. No biggie, we’ll walk back and get it…. No we won’t. The airport guard who just watched us walk down 10 of the steps of the stair case, won’t let us. He repeatedly tells us we have to get the agent to come up the steps to get the book. sigh… We just about left it and just went, but we got in touch with the Westjet agent, who was indeed able to walk back up find the book and bring it down. So that ended well, but it was a bit of an off-putting start. Anyways, caught the shuttle into town, got to the hotel checked in, hit the local ABC store (how can you not hit one they’re everywhere) and picked up some things for a museli breakfast.

Joanna’s take: omigosh that book thing was frustrating! I wasn’t yet in my relaxed vacation state and the obsurdity of not being able to what back up 10 stairs I just walked down made me feel slightly insane. Jeff, as always, was the picture of calm. The book had been a gift from Auntie Susie and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it on the trip. When Jeff says picked up “some things” at the ABC, he’s partly referring to a bottle of Pina Colada which we went back to the room and sipped over ice on our 7th floor porch overlooking a busy Waikiki street.

Saturday – Farmer’s Market and Hiking Diamond Head

There’s a ton of great info stuffed into these little tourist books that are everywhere in Waikiki. REading through This Week in Oahu, we found a Farmer’s Market was happening at the local College Campus near Diamond head. So we buzzed out there on TheBus and walked around. I love farmers markets! Even though it was only going on 10:00 I still felt it was right to eat some roasted corn and a sausage on a bun. Is there ever a bad time for that? The corn was interesting, it had lemon butter and a not-too-spicy chili powder sprinkled on top! WE bought some big avocados and limes, which as it turned out we didn’t get to eat and had to leave at the airport. Darn no fruits and vegetables on international flights rules…

Then we quite literally crossed the street and hiked up the Diamond Head crater. Pretty neat hike, I was keen to get up in the air a little bit to get a little bit of perspective on the city. Somehow there is something that I feel like I start to understand from looking at a place from a height that seems to elude me when looking at it on the map. I really enjoyed one fellow who had toted his ukulele to the top look out and played a quick tune on it as a celebration of reaching the summit.
Then to the beach and finally to a little Italian restaurant near our hotel, where there was a fellow playing music as we munch through our pizza. We all joined in for a sing-a-long of that classic Hawaiian tune, “For a good time call, 8675309″ and collectively discussed how the many prank calls have been made to that number in every area code…

Joanna’s take: This was a great first day for our vacation. The weather the first few days was the best if clear, brilliant blue skies is what you’re after. To observe this day via beverages, it started with Mango black tea, a delicious iced Kona coffee at the Farmer’s Market, several sips of water from fountains that frequently dot the parks and beaches, a glass of beer on the beach before dinner serenaded by a local musician, a small Pina Colada in the room, and finally some watery white wine with our Italian pizza. I love vacation.

Sunday – Swimming, Church on the Beach, Swap-a-meet, Honolulu Festival Parade

Swimming in Waikiki wasn’t quite as awesome as I had built it up in my mind to be. The beach while it’s sandy on shore turns to rocks/coral chunks almost immediately once you get in the water. (why was I not told?) so going for a swim looks a lot like quickly doing the rock dance until you get to water deep enough to swim in and then going for it. That said the water is very nice and warm. I really appreciated that.

We went to a church service on the beach which was fun and grueling. The heat just kills me at some point, in spite of adequate sunscreen. The service had two good reminders for me. One that worrying really amounts to not truly believing that God loves me. That was a good reminder. Actually that wasn’t even part of the sermon, that was the pre-sermon. The second point of learning, escapes me at the moment, which just goes to show that brevity is sometimes very effective, the pre-sermon was maybe 4-5 minutes, the sermon a good 25-35.

Off to the swap-a-meet, which it turns out is quite a long bus ride from Waikiki, took us roughly an hour on the 42 bus to get out to the swap-a-meet. The Swap-A-Meet itself is held surrounding the aloha stadium and has a ton of stalls, fresh fruit, t-shirts, souvenirs, plants, sunglasses, etc. We picked up a few little things for ourselves and some of the peeps back in Canada.
One long bus ride back to Waikiki later we were just in time for the Honolulu festival parade ( what timing!) we took up a spot just at the head of the parade opposite the announcers. Marching bands, marching bands, I love marching bands!! Also a LOT of Hula groups. I’m hereby coining the term “destination parade” this is a parade where many participants come from great distances to participate (and have a holiday), this was a destination parade. So many groups from East Asian countries bringing their Hula troops to participate, it was nice to see. Joanna and I did have to laugh after listening to the announcers say “this group is very thankful to be hear and very excited to be fulfilling their lifelong dream of doing the Hula in Hawaii” so many times. It’s started a new joke. At any particular experience, you say “Jeff/Joanna is very happy to be here and fulfilling his/her lifelong dream of _________ in Hawaii” where the blank is whatever activity we were doing at the time, ie waiting for the traffic light to turn green in Hawaii. Hmm… it was funnier at the time. Guess you had to be there…

Joanna’s take: The real sermon of Sunday morning did remind us that everyone is aware of their death and they’re not particularly keen on it. The Pastor was summarizing 6 things that are true about all humanity based on the parable of the rich young ruler. What I took from it is that we shouldn’t be shy about sharing God’s love and plan because even people who appear to “have it all” in terms of worldly success and riches, are still looking for true meaning to fill their God shaped hole. I was in a bad mood by the time he finished speaking because it took him 40 minutes to give a 10 minute sermon, it was hot, there was an alter call and his tone of voice made me feel like shouting “talk to me like you think I have a brain!!!!!” Anyway, my attitude sucked about that, and I suspect that Pastor has a deep and true relationship with God.

The swap meet was also our only attempt at the local shrimp, fried in butter and seasoning salt. Totally delicious.

Congratulations to Lindsay and Mike Erez (or Benderez, if you will) on their beautiful wedding yesterday.  I’ve always wanted to be at a wedding where they broke a glass when they said the vows.  It was great!  not quite as loud as I thought it might be.  But there was definitely the satisfying smash as Mike’s foot came down.

And that was just the beginning of a great evening of feasting and dancing.

BC Ferries is having a promotion in May and June to encourage people to get over to the Island or to the mainland via our Tsawwassen – Swartz Bay (Route#1) or Duke Point – Tsawwassen Route (Route #30)

The Details:

* Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay every Saturday in May and June (all sailings)
* Tsawwassen Duke Point every day in May and June (all sailings)

The price points for CoastSaver will be lowered starting April 26th 2008:

The Rates:
Adult Passengers will pay $5.00
Underheight Vehicles will pay $20.00
Overheight Vehicles will pay $35.00
(for all Coast Saver Sailings)

Two people and a car can travel return for $60 that’s a bargain.
All the Coast Saver info is at http://www.bcferries.com/promotions/coastsaver.html
And a Calendar to help you visualize this is at http://www.bcferries.com/promotions/CoastSaver/Calendars/200805.html

Adios amigos and amigas!

Thanks for writing me back to those that did! Well, I got the water sickness. Jeff and I went on a wicked all day tour yesterday into the mountains and jungle areas of the northern Dominican. We swam at an untouched beach, rode horses on the sand, ate a delicious lunch (Jeff's favourite part) and met a few folks from Canada. After we did a little boogie boarding I took a big swig from my nalgene bottle which was half day old water half new water. A couple hours after lunch I started to really feel nautious. The truck ride back was about an hour and a half on a bumpy road and then a exhaust filled road. (There's loads of little two-stroke engine scooters around) Anyway, the long and the short of it was that I almost threw up on the way home but thank the Lord I made it back the room. Jeff's been a wonderful help to me. I spent from 5 to 9pm losing it from both ends and then had a decent sleep. Feeling weak today but MUCH better than yesterday.

Jeff really got some good windsurfing in today. He was on the board more than he was in the water from what I could see. Woohoo!!! At least one of us got to do a little gliding on water.

Joanna and I did manage to escape the snow and have been having a warm and good time time here in Playa Dorada, this place is different. humid, really humid, jungly and green.

We've been on the local busses here, usually four to a regular bench seat, (which is a little squishy) but it has been interesting, fun to be on the local transit. Yesterday we made it to Puerto Plata, for dinner and today we went to a nearby town called sosua, to just check around a bit. It was raining today, which was a bit of a bummer, but we were out there seeing what we could see anyways.

I have had one go at windsurfing. It was a learning experience!

Well, after the last couple weeks I think my body has travelled just as far (and certainly as long) as my European adventures.

Joanna and I had an up island jaunt to see her parents and my sister, and then this weekend we went to Vernon for a wedding, Jonathan Tomm and Sarah Nicolation.

Both trips were a great time, although I have to admit that it has made me weary of travelling and suddenly being at home seems like a luxury and any day where I dont have to drive for any more than ten minutes is a real luxury. It was a great trip just a little tiring!

I gotta get some pictures, I will try and get them up soon!

Well… was a hot fairly uneventful day. I went and fell asleep in front of the King's house, the flag was up, which indicates he was home. I wonder if he saw me out there? Luckily I didn't manage to get a sun burn which seems like it wouldbe very easy to do with so much sunshine!

Then I went wandering and tried to find something real local to do. So I went and had a pizza at this out of the way pizza joint, just past St. Olav's church. It was great, I watched Portugal play England, (Portugal winning in a shootout, while an Indian fellow was making pizzas in the back.

I didn't realize that the France vs Brazil game was on directly after that, so I just went home. After hearing chanting outside my window for a little while, I finally put it together, there was a nother game! When I realized this, I thought, "Oh man… I should get down to the central park where they have the big screen" Apparently many people in Oslo had the same idea and security wasn't letting any more people in to see the game. RATS! So I just stood in line outside the gates… You could still see the game okay from there. When the game was over I went to the main walking section of downtown, Karl Johan's gate and just walked about with the crowds. It's midnight and the streets are still teaming! Actually I think it is busier then midday!

Wow! I had a great dinner last night!!

The fish here is great! Lorenzo and I went out to this restaurant up by Vigelendsparken, (took the tram! Yea, Norwegian public transit!), we arrived at this hole in the wall restaurant, that wasn't too busy, and had a very friendly cook, who came out and gave us the full information about what they had for dinner that night. It was great to go out on Friday night, after all the training was done, nothing to think about for tomorrow, just enjoy the evening!

The cook had those checkered pants that you sometimes see cooks wearing, I am not sure if that means anything officially, but given my experience at this restaurant, if you see checkered pants, then just ask them, what they would order and get that! No fooling around!

I can't really describe the dinner, except to say it was a Grenadier family of fish, and was caught at 1300 meters deep off those Norwegian islands that are WAY up North. A picture really wouldn't do the meal justice, but the taste was great! Norwegians, (or at least this fellow) can really cook fish!

Lorenzo and I caught the tram, back into to town and walked through the main section of town, taking in the atmosphere. It is really a busy downtown, lots of people out and about. Street performers all over the place. We watched a fellow do a hip-hop through the ages, dnace routine, that was fun. Then had the customary taste of Aquavit, and said parted company! It has been great to be here with someone who is also away from their home, its nice to compare notes on the people and the culture with someone who also has an outsiders view.

Did I mention the Viking museum, what about the Fram museum and the Kon Tiki Museum? Wow! They were awesome!

Well, the last couple days have been
a) busy
b) touristy

One of the Shipnet fellows took myself and Lorenzo out to see the sites! It was great! We walked Arke Brygge, which is a ocean front area for eating, sitting out in the sun and watching all the boats go by. And there really are a lot of boats going by. When it doesn't really get dark until 11pm, if you leave the wharf at 6pm you still have plenty of time for a good long trip!

Then it was up to Vigelendsparken (sp?) which is a great big park full of statues. The story goes this one fellow made all these statues and they really had no where to put them, so they created this park on the outskirts of town. It's pretty amazing you, kind of have to see it.

Then up to Holmenkollen, the ski jump! This is one big ski jump! Its also on top of a hill to begin with, so the view from the top is tremendous! The jump is massive and the guys the jump off of it must have to been partly crazy, You wouldn't catch me making that jump. Interestingly, one of the previous kings of Norway was quite the outdoorsman, and he used to use the jump from time to time! Way to go King!