One morning we hiked up Diamond Head, a medium-sized mountain in Honolulu. It was packed with tourists which made it hard to hike up and down the mountain. I took some pictures at the top of the mountain.
Here are some of them:
Category: hawaii
Pearl Harbor. Thanks, Tim.
I hadn’t really realized what a good historian Tim is. I asked Misha if we should have him be our guide in Pearl Harbor, or do a tour. Laughing, she said, “Well, he already corrected one of the facts on the summary of the tour, so I think maybe we should just listen to him.” We took a taxi across town and he lined us up in front of some sign with pictures on it. He started to tell us about Japan and the US, and the Pacific. And it was HOT! After a couple minutes we moved to the shade – and I’m glad we did, because we were there, talking, for an hour!
So let’s see how much I learned. I’m going to try to recap what I gathered from our history lesson…. Tim explained Japan had a modern army, had learned from the French, Germans and Prussians how to do modern warfare – and were systematically taking over the APAC region. Manchuria, China, and on and on. Their Samurai warrior class demonstrated Japan had a deep history of warfare and knew how to fight.
The Japanese had allied with the Nazis, and when the Nazis conquered the French, Germany put their own governments into French Indochina. Japan had wanted those territories for a long time, and after Germany took away France’s authority in those areas, Japan thought it was a good time to go try to take control of French Indochina, and expand their empire further into the South Pacific. The US, who had been supplying a lot of oil to Japan, didn’t like the idea of Japan getting so large in the Pacific area. So, the US government stopped selling oil to Japan in order to slow the expansion of the Japanese empire. We also moved our Pacific fleet to Hawaii in preparation to defend our Pacific territories like the Philippines and Midway Island.
The Japanese had seen examples of successful surprise air raids to take out an opponent’s forces (can’t remember where), and adopted this idea for Pearl Harbor. They were afraid the US would not let them expand their empire, so the Japanese military planned a surprise attack on the naval forces in Pearl Harbor. They thought a weakened US military would give them a few years’ time to accomplish their goals. They also thought the US might get demoralized from the attacks and sign a treaty with Japan after being so badly wounded. Unfortunately for Japan, the opposite happened. The event formally launched the US into the war, and less than 4 years later, our country dropped two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They suffered four hundred thousand casualties for the ~3,000 they inflicted on us. Woah. They surrendered the war because they feared the extinction of the Japanese race — their first surrender in the two thousand year history of their people.
I asked Tim why the US occupied the Pacific region in the first place. Why did the US care what Japan was up to in the first place? Why did the US government send all out troops out to Hawaii and threaten them? I noticed he didn’t really talk about it, and the movies at Pearl Harbor didn’t either. He mentioned it would not be discussed at the memorial because a critique of war would be too painful and too sensitive a topic to discuss; people could only bear to remember their lost ones. But he got into it a bit. Tim explained we were allied with the French and Great Britain, so the Nazis were the enemies of our friends. This made Japan our enemy by association. But larger issues of colonialism were also at play, and the US were colonialists too. The US controlled Midway Island, the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, the Philippines, etc. And the US didn’t like the idea of Japan being a colonial power there too. Tim explained there existed really deep seated racism against Asians in the US in those days (really still, but it’s not as strong today, especially where I have lived). He mentioned tariffs and other exclusionary practices specifically aimed at Asian nations and said he thought it stemmed from deep seated bigotry that was common among Americans. We didn’t like the idea of an Asian superpower. I guess maybe that notion has not changed entirely, despite over 75 years since the start of the war. Some progress, but probably not enough.
The girls were great listeners. After the lesson we headed in to the park and miraculously got walk-in tickets, despite it being after 11 am already. We spent some time looking at the USS Missouri and having a quick guided tour there before watching the memorial movie. The movie consistently put images to many of the things Tim had already taught us, and added a rather somber tone of loss to the experience, a reminder we were about to see a war memorial. Then we embarked on a short boat ride to the memorial, a hauntingly simple and tasteful hallway slumped over the USS Arizona which it commemorated. We spent our time there, considered the ship sunken beneath us, the names of the dead engraved on the wall, the throngs of tourists around us, and the gentle Hawaiian breeze that tempered the blistering heat. And then we ambled back to the boat, back to land, off of the naval base, and back to a hopefully peace-full world ahead of us.
Hawaii Paradise
Hawaii (n):
Definition: Palm trees, coconuts, ocean, sun, markets, health food.
Synonym-Paradise
As soon as I stepped foot off the plane, a blast of hot, sticky, and humid, yet comforting air hit me. I was greeted by my grandparents and two cousins in their dusty Toyota Highlander with the rainbow license plate by the gate.
Our first stop was the gas station. Even the gas station is perky in Hawaii! Next stop: Kukuliula Market and a salad. My salad had perfectly cooked purple sweet potatoes, fresh and crispy kale, quinoa, toasted almonds and a nice balsamic vinaigrette.
From the market we drove straight to Waimea plantation cottages and stayed in a cozy, authentic, Hawaiian home. By then, We were tired and went right to bed. We woke up to screaming roosters. Following breakfast, (sausage, eggs, and a pineapple smoothie) we went down to the Black sand beach and my cousin Leyla and I played in the waves. As soon as we got tired we started digging holes. We started with a little hole, then a bigger hole, then a bigger one, and finally when we thought it was huge, the ocean had huge in mind too, and sent a huge wave coming our way. We tried to block the hole with our bodies, but it was too late. Our crater had turned into a puddle. After our defeat, we went to the pool and swam for a couple of hours. By then, it was dinner time and we ate leftover soup from the night before. We were exhausted and went right to sleep.
Only one hour after we woke up we had to pack up all of our stuff and leave the Waimea Plantation Cottages. From the cottages, we went back to kukuliula market. This time I got the same salad I had gotten before, and a poke bowl.
From kukuliula market, we drove to the Hyatt Kauai. We were immediately greeted at the door with orchid lei’s. The next two days we spent completely in the pools, lagoons, and on the wonderful waterslide.
The last night, we went to my favorite restaurant in the whole world. The Eating House. For starters we had some edamame with toasted dark sesame seed oil. Yum. Then for appetizers we had some pork dumplings with a crispy exterior and soft, moist center. We also had light, delicate calamari with a creamy and fresh aioli. Mmmm. Then, for dinner came the butterfish. Its flaky, delicate, moist, and flavorful body complimented the bed of crispy rice, stuck to the hot and sizzling cast iron skillet, with fresh roasted veggies. Delish. Then, came the best part. The dessert. It was served to us on a sparkling clean, white plate with a raspberry drizzle. It was small, but had big bursting flavor in every bite you took. Gooey peanut butter chocolate lava cake. It had a crispy exterior and a soft, moist, gooey interior.
Then we drove to the hotel and went right to bed. As soon as we woke up, we went down to the pool just for a few hours. A little while later, we ordered lunch. I got fish tacos. They were crispy and fried, with avocado and lettuce. Then we drove to my grandparents house on the north side. On the drive there is a special tunnel made entirely out of naturally grown trees. When we go through that tunnel, we hold our breath all the way through and make a wish.
As soon as we got to their house, Leyla and I read in the hammock and set up the tent where we would sleep the following nights. Then we drove into town and went to the bakery for dinner. I had a salad and a small piece of meat pizza.
That night, we slept in the tent outside. When we woke up we walked down 280 steps to get to secret beach which is a beach connected to my grandparents house. We swam in the clear water and found many shells. The waves were very calm and it was a really nice swim. Then we walked back up the 280 steps to the house. Then Leyla and I made some for a few hours. We set up a slime table in the backyard with glue, tide, baking soda, contact lens solution, shaving cream and water. After we finished, we spent the rest of the day back down at secret beach for some birthdays. That trip was the shell jackpot. I found so many pretty ones. My uncle took many really amazing shots with his drone. We walked back up the 280 steps and made more slime.
Then came the feast. We had a delicious freshly grown salad, Thai coconut soup, basmati rice and freshly grilled eggplant. For dessert we had delicious macadamia nut pie and fresh homemade mango sorbet.
Then we went to bed. We slept in the tent and that night it poured. The water leaked into our tent a little bit, but overall, we were dry. The next morning we got up and went to this pool. We had French fries, shave ice and a lot more junk food. We played in the hotel pool and on that hotel water slide. Then we went to Hanalei beach again and body surfed some more waves. We also boogie board.
After we got home we ate leftover soup, made some slime, and went to bed. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast feast that contained sausage, eggs, eggplant, and a selection of freshly picked papaya, pineapple, and bananas.
We drove down to kalihiwai and figured out that the waves were huge. We swam for a little bit, but then it became too much and we got out of the ocean. When we got home and relaxed, made some slime, played in the hot tub and read. Then we went to sleep.
It was the first night that I was sleeping alone in the tent. It rained a little bit but the tent didn’t get wet on the inside. Then it was back to Hanalei and mini golf. Nobody got a hole in one but we got very close many times. Right before mini golfing, we went to a nice beach called Hanalei. I surfed and body surfed and caught a lot of waves. Adventure in Kauai and now it is off to Cayucos.