Monday, January 12, 2009

Mahalo!

Honolulu, HI

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Funny story about Mahalo... My co-worker came from HI and he told us this story... He had a friend who visited Hawaii, and that friend thought that "Mahalo" means trash... since he kept seeing Mahalo written on trash cans all over Honolulu... hehehe! BTW, Mahalo mean Thank you!

Around Other Places in Oahu

Honolulu, HI

Okay, since I have already started about 50 first dates, (hehehe!) Here's SeaLife Park! It's more like a very small Sea World... They do have an interesting tenant there, the wolphin (hybrid atlantic bottle nose dolphin and false killer whale) Kekaimalu! She doesn't look like a bottle nose dolphin that much since she's bigger than the bottle nose, but she's also smaller than a false killer whale... Ooh... I also cracked up a little when I saw the milk fishes in the tank... just because I have eaten a milk fish before... heheheh! Plus, I've never seen milk fish in an aquarium before! heheheh!

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No, this is not in Philadelphia, this is still in Oahu, downtown Honolulu to be exact! That's a replica of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia given to Honolulu as a gift! And yes, even the crack was duplicated! hehehe!

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Just a short walk from where the Liberty Bell replica is, you'll find the Iolani Palace. I didn't know before that there were Hawaiian Royalty even before the English came to the Hawaiian islands! (Think about Captain Cook!) It's a nice Palace/Museum to go to to learn some more things about Hawaiian history and what happened to the Royalty.

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What's a visit to Hawaii without seeing pineapples, right? So, we went to the Dole plantation in Oahu! Interesting fact, they don't farm pineapples there anymore! They just have the plantation there as a tourist attraction and ooh, they have a pineapple maze there!

And of course, here's the famouse Diamond Head.

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We hiked up to the top and the views up there was nice! Of course the view of Diamond Head here in the picture is also nice, since we were on a boat trying to find some whales and dolphins! The spinner dolphins were cool! They were putting on a show while we were cruising the shore, doing spins in the air and there was like, 20 of them in the group!

Big Waves!

North Shore, Oahu, HI

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It was winter time when I was in Oahu, and when we went to Sunset Beach in North Shore, boy those waves were big! They told us some of the waves we were seeing were around 20 feet high! Ohh... I learned a hawaiian word: pupule! We saw a couple of surfers riding those gigantic waves! One word to describe those surfers was: "pupule" or crazy! I've been in like, 2-3 feet waves and when you get thrown by the waves, it feels like you're inside a washing machine! I can't imagine how it must feel if you got thrown by a 20 foot wave!!!

Remember this place from a movie?

Honolulu, HI

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Does this place look familiar? If you've seen the movie 50 first dates, this is the place where Adam Sandler was dreaming (after he got whacked by a golf club) that Drew Barrymore was coming on to him! I also saw the other places they used for the movie! Hehehe!

Snorkeling anyone?

Honolulu, HI

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I guess Hanauma bay is a popular snorkeling area in Oahu. There was tons of people there when we went! The depth is only around 5-6 ft and I did get to see lots of colorful fishes but I was a little disappointed I didn't see the green turtle that the other snorklers told me they saw! Hehehe!

Finally!

Honolulu, HI

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I got to see Waikiki Beach in Oahu, Hawaii in person! The sand was nice and fine and the water was warm!