Tag: Travel

Yesterday (April 11th) was a pretty light day for us. In the morning we went to the Maui swap meet, which is like a farmer’s market plus flea market. It is held each Saturday and is pretty big. We bought some fruit and veggies, and browsed around the other stalls. We had to keep in mind that anything we bought we’d have to carry for the next 4 months.

We came home to our villa, and Yanmei decided to have rice for lunch. I thought she was joking when she said she didn’t know how to cook rice without a rice cooker. Even I know 2 cups water + 1 cup rice, boil in a pot, then cover and simmer until done. I come over to the kitchen to find her playing with some semi-cooked rice in a dry frying pan! After that fail, she searched the kitchen and lo and behold found a rice cooker on the top shelf of a cupboard. She then happily said, “Now I can cook rice the Chinese way…with a rice cooker.” Anyway, we’re really happy with the place we’re staying, it has everything we need. We’re probably getting spoiled.

In the evening we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. It is an outdoor dinner, with traditional Hawaiian food, buffet style, with hula dancing and music for entertainment. They started by digging up the pig that had been buried in the fire pit slow cooking since that morning. Overall it was pretty good. I didn’t bother with many pictures since it was dark.

Today we went to Hana. It is about 2.5 hour drive to Hana from where we are staying. The road goes along the coast and is narrow and windy, with a lot of hairpin turns. The scenery is beautiful, but unfortunately it is difficult to appreciate it while driving because you really have to focus on the road. There are a lot of blind turns and the road narrows to one lane in several spots. There are lots of sights to see along the road, but Hana itself was disappointing. There was a farm Yanmei wanted to visit, but it was closed Sunday, and the Cultural Center was closed as well.

We continued beyond Hana to the National Park, where there was a nice hike past some waterfalls and a bamboo forest. I didn’t get many good photos today. One of my goals on this trip is to improve my photography skills. Yanmei has a knack for capturing good shots, and she is becoming a master of selfies.

All the photos I’ve posted so far are straight from the camera. I’m doing all this with my iPad and I don’t have any photo editing software.

 

We flew directly from SFO to Maui on April 8th on Hawaiian Airlines. They're apparently the only domestic carrier that still serves free in-flight meals in economy. The flight was not uneventful. After the meal a flight attendant came on the intercom and asked if there was a doctor on board, like you see in the movies. A lady sitting 2 seats over from me identified herself as a nurse, and the flight attendant hustled her off to the rear of the plane. She did not return.

About half an hour later, they paged for a doctor again! This time the afflicted passenger was sitting one row behind us. It was an older lady complaining of nausea and faintness. I was starting think about that House episode where he is on a plane and everyone starts getting sick. A flight attendant brought a cold compress and an extra large barf bag. The nurse from the back came forward with another passenger to examine her, they then took her forward to the lavatory. At this point Yanmei dug through her bag, found a surgical mask and put it on :).

Anyway there were no further incidents and we didn't turn back, so I guess it wasn't serious. We landed at 1pm Hawaii time, and it was sunny, windy and 82F.

We ended up sharing shuttle van to the rental car agency with a younger couple (30ish) from Victoria, BC. There was a funny conversation that went like this:

Driver: “Have you been here before?”

Me: “No, this is our first time.”

Husband: “We come here every year.”

Wife: “Yeah, this is like our second home. We plan on retiring here.”

Yanmei: “Wow.”

Me: “How many times have you come here?”

Wife: “Twice.”

Yanmei and I laughed about that later. We got our car and drove to our villa. It is one bedroom, two bathroom condo in Wailea. It has a full kitchen so we can cook our own food and not eat out all the time. Here is a picture from the balcony.