As self-proclaimed foodies, we love to dish about good eats.
My friend Megumi hosted a lovely Sunday brunch this morning at her apartment in San Francisco. Check out the fabulous spread…
…and the beautiful ladies who were at the brunch! 🙂
Thank you Megumi for being the best hostess ever! I feel so lucky to have our very own Giada among my girlfriends. Gochiso-sama deshita! 🙂
On Day 7, our first full day in Kaua’i, we woke up at dark o’clock to drive over to Eleele, where we boarded a catamaran for a seven-hour tour that would take us up the Na Pali Coast and to see Niihau Island. Neither of us is a morning person, but we fought our sleepiness and embarked on the boat, banking on the promise that we would see some of the most stunning views of the island of Kaua’i.
The catamaran parked itself near Niihau Island, where passengers got the opportunity to go snorkeling for an hour before lunch. Here are some nice underwater shots that Dan took while snorkeling!
Here’s some video footage that Dan took with my camera while snorkeling…
After snorkeling and lunch, it was time to head back to Kaua’i. The crew purposely gave us a very bumpy and exhilarating ride back! You can see more photos from the Na Pali Coast and Niihau Island in this photo album. If you are ever in Kaua’i and are considering a catamaran trip to see the Na Pali Coast, we really recommend Holo Holo Charters! They had top notch service and were really knowledgeable and skilled, and very personable, too! 🙂
When we got back to land, it was still the early afternoon, so we had plenty more things to do and places to see…
Jo Jo’s Shave Ice was strongly recommended as the best shaved ice in Kaua’i, so we stopped by while we were in Waimea.
Jo Jo’s Shave Ice was really good and was very refreshing, especially on a hot day! I personally still liked Waiola from Oahu better, but Jo Jo’s was definitely the best shaved ice we had in Kaua’i. (And we got shaved ice pretty much every day while we were on Kaua’i… haha* It was so hot there!)
After making our way through winding dirt roads for over half an hour, we finally reached our destination in Waimea: The Waimea Canyon!
For dinner, we stopped at the Shrimp Station in Waimea. If you know how much I love shrimp, you can imagine how psyched I was to go here….
We then drove back to our hotel in Kapaa to kick back and relax for the rest of the evening.
Dan cut open this mystery fruit that he picked up at the roadside vendor. To this day, we’re still uncertain of what it’s called, but we were curious so we decided to try it out. To be honest, it was not very good…
After waking up super early in the morning, we were totally pooped by the end of the day! We got to see so many amazing sights though, both along the Na Pali Coast and at Waimea Canyon — these are definite must-sees if you are ever in Kaua’i. 🙂
After spending our last full day in Oahu, we woke up early the next morning to get ready to drive down to Honolulu Airport to fly over to the neighboring island of Kaua’i. We were sad to leave Oahu, but were excited to see what was in store for us over at Kaua’i.
We stopped by the Paalaa Kai Bakery in Waialua (North Shore) to get some breakfast before we drove down to Honolulu Airport.
The flight went very smoothly, and we arrived at Lihue Airport in Kaua’i in about an hour. 🙂
We stayed at the Aston Islander on the Beach in Kapaa while we were in Kaua’i. The hotel was close to the airport and right on the beach, which was really nice. 🙂
After checking in and getting all of our luggage settled in, we were hungry for lunch and made a beeline for Hamura’s Saimin Stand, which was recommended to us by a few of our friends. (Thank you Rumi, Bryan, and Dan’s coworker Jay!)
Saimin is a type of noodle soup that is unique to Hawaii, and is sort of a fusion of Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino traditional noodles. It’s made out of soft wheat egg noodles… I’d say that in Japanese noodles, it most closely resembles ramen, but the broth has a much more subtle and light flavor.
A lot of people recommend the lilikoi chiffon pie, but we were too full at the time and decided against getting it. But if you ever get a chance to go there, apparently the pie is pretty darn good so give it a try! 😉
After driving around Lihue, we were starting to melt (it was a really hot day), so we stopped at Shaka Shave Ice (a random shaved ice place we found along the road) and got some shaved ice.
Oh, a funny side story: Some of our friends had strongly urged us to rent a convertible while we were in Kaua’i, insisting that the experience would be so much better if we were able to drive around the island with the top of the car down. Despite my persistent prodding to do so, Dan said it was too expensive and so we reserved an economy car instead when we booked our rentals a few months before the trip. But when we we got to the vehicle rental, the economy compact cars had been overbooked, so they upgraded us to a convertible with no extra charge! I got my convertible after all. 🙂
For the rest of the afternoon, we returned to our hotel and spent a couple hours relaxing on the private beach at the hotel.
We eventually migrated over to the hotel pool, which was also pretty nice.
After freshening up, we headed out to have dinner. We were pretty exhausted by this time, so we decided to go somewhere close and chose to eat in the local town of Kapaa. Being the carbnivore and pasta lover that I am, I selected Kauai Pasta as the dining place of our choice.
Dinner was very satisfying and was the perfect way to end the long day of traveling and familiarizing ourselves with Kaua’i. We only had three days left in Kaua’i, so we were determined to make the best of it! 😀
On Day 5 of our Hawaii trip, we spent the whole day in the North Shore area and for once didn’t have to do very much driving. After sleeping in a little, we headed over to Haleiwa to Waialua Bakery to get some brunch!
After the scrumptious brunch, we stopped at Waimea Bay to spend the late morning lounging around the beach there.
After the beach, we were hungry for a cold dessert and what better place to go to than Matsumoto’s Shave Ice in Haleiwa? The place is famous for supposedly being the first shaved ice place in Hawaii.
I personally thought that Waiola Shave Ice in Honolulu (which we went to on Day 1 and Day 4) was better than Matsumoto’s Shave Ice (the ice was finer at Waiola and the syrup was a little too sugary for my taste at Matsumoto’s), but it was still very good and refreshing.
We then went back to the hotel and freshened up to get ready to spend the latter half of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is a living museum which serves as a showcase of Polynesian peoples, featuring cultural displays from Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Tahiti, Samoa, the Marquesas, Easter Island, and Hawaii through simulated villages. It was uber-touristy, but we figured we should go check it out since it was our first time in Hawaii. 🙂
One of the first things we saw on the guided tour in the Polynesian Cultural Center was the “Rainbows of Paradise” show. The lagoon inside the center hosts a “parade” of canoes that showcases the signature dances of each of Polynesian culture.
My favorite show that I saw while walking around the different “villages” was the coconut husking show. The guy who was demonstrating the husking was hilarious!
After enjoying a few shows, it was time for dinner! We went to our very first luau, right there at the Polynesian Cultural Center. (Not the most authentic experience, we know….)
After thoroughly stuffing ourselves at the luau, we wandered around the center, browsing gift shops and taking silly photos:
The evening spectacular, “HA: Breath of Life” is a $3 million show that uses new technology, animation, music, dance and great storytelling to bring to life the diverse cultures of Polynesia to visitors. Apparently the local community of indigenous peoples on the North Shore contributed a great deal to the development of this show, which showcases the values of many Polynesian societies. To make it as authentic as possible, each universal theme is portrayed by the respective culture, illustrated with dance and music that harken back to the 1960’s before much of the island culture was diluted by tourism.
Here’s a video clip I took during the night show, in which performers dazzled the audience with amazing feats of fire.
The “HA: Breath of Life” show was really impressive and was a great way to end the evening and our time in Oahu. We returned happy and full to our hotel, so we could get some restful sleep before heading to the airport the next morning to fly over to the neighboring island of Kaua’i.
On Day Four of our Hawaii trip, we started the morning off with breakfast from Ted’s Bakery, a popular bakery in Haleiwa.
We then drove down to Honolulu (yes, again) to go hiking at Manoa Falls. Since we couldn’t hike Diamond Head the previous day, we were evermore determined to make sure we went on this hike!
After the hike, we were definitely hungry for some lunch, so we drove into the more commercial area of Honolulu to get some food.
After lunch, we headed over to Waikiki to Ty Gurney Surf School. Located in the heart of Waikiki, right by the beach, the surf school is one of the clients at our web design company. We recently launched their site at the end of the last year, and they were so generous as to offer Dan and I complimentary surf lessons when I told them that I was going to be in town on vacation. The owner, Ty Gurney, has given lessons to the likes of Cameron Diaz, Adam Sandler, and Ray Liotta. Pretty awesome!
We unfortunately didn’t get to get any photos of ourselves surfing, but it was an exhilarating experience! Dan and I had both never surfed before, but it was really fun! (I was able to stand up on my board and actually surf!) I got exhausted pretty quickly, though, and called it quits after about forty minutes. Dan was a trooper and stayed out on the waves in Waikiki Beach for a good hour and a half. The surf lessons were definitely one of the highlights of our time in Oahu. 🙂
After the surf lessons, we headed over to Waiola Shave Ice again for a refreshing afternoon snack. We’d already gone once on Day One, but it was so good that we just couldn’t stay away.
We then drove up to check out the Pali Lookout, where you can take in a breathtaking view of the sweeping landscapes, that seem to stretch up the whole Windward side of the island. You can get a view of the lush vegetation and tropical rainforests of Windward Oahu.
For the late afternoon, we drove to Lanikai Beach in Kailua to just spread out our beach towels and relax by the beach.
After a couple hours at the beach, Dan and I drove back to Honolulu to get some dinner. We took our friend Bryan’s recommendation and ate at Ono Hawaiian Food. (Not to be confused with the California chain Ono Hawaiian BBQ… this is the real deal, canoe-style Hawaiian food!) It was a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but had a line and there was a significant wait before we could get a table.
Big thanks to Bryan for the recommendation! I’m so glad we consulted people who were from Hawaii before going — we were able to eat some really good food while we were there! 🙂
If you know me, you know there’s always room in my tummy for dessert, so we drove over to Bubbies, an ice cream place known for their mochi ice cream.
All of the flavors we tried were awesome — my favorites were the lychee and green tea! After we finished our dessert, we drove back up to the Turtle Bay. Our last full day in Honolulu was pretty tiring but definitely memorable and a lot of fun. 😀