Hawaii- Oahu Day 2

Day 2, still up quite early.  I think Ryan did some work while I did a quick workout.  Then we headed up north.  We had tickets for the Polynesian Cultural Center.  And just like with Pearl Harbor, I had no idea how it worked or what to expect.  I asked my friends how much time I needed to spend there, and the unanimous response was “all day!”  Ryan was not so sure.  We headed up to Waimea Bay, which the trusty internet had said was a good place to cliff jump.  However, it did say that the beach is completely different in the winter than it is in the summer.  I guess the summer is much calmer and you can jump off the rocks.  When we got there, the waves were SMASHING down on the rocks. This first picture you can see the rocks.  A big one closer to the shore and a couple more further out?

Now you see the wave crashing on them…

Nobody in their right mind would try and climb up there.  There were some surfers that were leaving when we got there, and a few more out further out of the bay.  I think they’re crazy doing that without a helmet at least!  But surfer/skater types have never been known for their caution.

It was beautiful, so we enjoyed it for awhile.  I got pretty sick of selfies after the first couple days…  (why didn’t I bring our selfie stick??)

I had to get a picture of the chicken and the chicks to show my kids.  It’s pretty comical.  And noisy.  I can see how the crowing would get annoying if you were trying to sleep with your windows open.

The road coming in had a really pretty view so we went back up there, climbed around on some rocks, etc.

I found out that PCC didn’t even open until noon.  So I was trying to get us moving to get there close, but we needed lunch and nothing opened until 11.  We went in to Haleiwa, which is a cute place.  My friend had recommended this Thai place saying it was really unique and amazing.  So we headed over there.  But it didn’t open until 11, so we waited in the parking lot for like 20 minutes.  Ryan took more work phone calls.  11 came and went and no sign of life in the restaurant.  I walked over to it and looked around.  An older local surfer gentlemen walked by as we were looking in the windows and he said, “yeah, he probably won’t show.”  So we asked him more and he said he just does what he wants.  Sometimes he doesn’t come in at all.  But the food is really good…  Darn.  He told us if we were looking for Thai food, there is a good food truck by the library.  He told us about a few other places, he was super nice and helpful.  So we took his advice and found the food truck.  It did not disappoint.

Then we headed towards Laie.  The temple was right by the PCC so we made a quick stop there.  Turns out the PCC has a shuttle that does tours of the area, which basically means it takes tourists to the temple grounds and lets them look around and ask questions.  It’s led by the sister missionaries :)  So I wish we would’ve waited to do the temple until later when we were trying to kill time after dinner.  But oh well.  The area is so pretty!!  I love temple grounds!

By the time we made it to PCC, Ryan was not feeling all that great…  I got our tickets and a map and some advice from the lady about what to do (I still had no clue what we were actually doing, other than wondering around.)  So she pointed me towards the show times we could catch before our luau that was at like 4:00 or something super early.  But we were on Idaho time still so that was good for us!  What I didn’t realize is that we would finish with dinner and then have to wait around with no more shows to see for like 2 more hours before the night show start “Ha: Breath of Life”.

We didn’t get to see every show, but we saw Aotearoa (New Zealand), who did the haka dance, the loud, crazy eyes, super intimidating one.  I loved it!  They also danced with poi balls and did this game where they tossed sticks around to each other.  I wish I would’ve gotten more video, but I was under the impression they didn’t want you videoing.  It was cool though.

We saw a little bit of all the cultures on the little river show, where they each come out on a little raft.

Jeff texted me about this time telling me that we HAVE to see Somoa and we need to get a seat up close so they will pick Ryan to come up.  So we left a little early and I tried.  But Ryan wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t try to volunteer.  It was a really funny show.  They have three volunteers come up.  Two white guys, and one Japanese guy.  They coach them on what to do, but it’s still hilarious. 

After that show we went over to our luau.  We were sat across from each other so it was hard to talk, and at the end of a table with some people that weren’t all that friendly.  So we couldn’t really talk, and we couldn’t hear anything from the people that came around to tell us about the food, or sell us fruity drinks served in hollow pineapples.  I did buy a coconut and drank the water, which was on my bucket list to do on the islands. 

I was so full from the water and we were about to eat dinner, so I didn’t really eat much of the meat of the coconut.  I wished Ryan was feeling better and could share it with me.  The luau was pretty good.  I think the papaya was my favorite thing!  I tried a little of everything.  Poi (taro ground into a paste, not sure what the hype is about, it’s not good).  Poke (raw fish, kind of like sushi but not rolled up).  Some other raw salmon salsa type stuff.  They showed the boys pulling the pig out of the pit in the rocks with all the banana leaves.  They put on quite the show there.

Honestly, I had a bit of a gag reflex and my stomach had been testy the night before, but I wasn’t sick like Ryan.  He didn’t eat much.  And shortly after that he came down with a fever.  I felt really bad.  And we had to wait around to see the show.  I offered to just leave early, but he didn’t want to make me miss it.

We snuck out of the luau a little early so we could catch the 5:00 Tonga show because that was another one Jeff said was a must-see.  I’m glad we did.  The guy was basically doing stand-up, and his jokes were often referencing modern things.  He stepped on the flame to put it out with his bare feet, and said, “this is why I’m hot.”  There were a lot of them, but I laughed hard when the guy had climbed up the tree and the main guy with the microphone was saying how hard it is and you have to be tough.  He said they call this “tree-90X”. 

As funny as it was, he also talked a lot about the coconut tree and how they use it.  They had a guy weaving a basket with the leaves and he gave it to a lady in the audience when he was done.  I didn’t see Moana until we got back, but when I did it made me smile to hear them singing about the coconut tree and all the ways they use it since I had just learned about it all.

After Tonga, the only other show going on was Somoa again.  We had walked around a little looking at the souvenir stuff, but Ryan said he was getting chilled and needed to sit down.  He found a pretty nice big chair inside one of the shops that he camped in.  I decided to watch Somoa again.  I sat by myself and still laughed so dang hard.  Same jokes, but still so funny.  It’s the audience participation that makes it so funny, so I saw two different audiences.

The luau that we had was mid-range on the price.  I guess the more expensive luaus are nicer seating and food, but also later in the evening so they had more time to watch all the shows and then enjoy their food and then head over to the Ha show.  It makes sense when you’re actually there, but for me setting it up I had no idea that there were certain times for shows or that there would be nothing to do while we waited.  Like I said, it would be a good time to go do the little shuttle to the temple.  But Ryan just sat in his chair.  I went out the car for my phone charger and walked around a bit.  When we finally got to the show, we were on the front row on the side.  Which is cool, but makes it a little conspicuous when we were trying to take off early…  The show was really cool.  I really liked it.  But yes, it was probably a bit long.  We had already seen most of the dancing at the earlier shows.  They did a “skit” with fire that was impressive, but otherwise Ryan wasn’t all that impressed.  But I liked seeing all the different kinds of dancing.  I told him I was disappointed that the guys got to stomp and jump and do all these fun moves and the women hardly moved.  But I was happy to see a couple of the dances where the women got to do more.

Anyway, I loved the whole thing.  I loved the culture.  It made me think of my friends that are Polynesian.  We left about 45 minutes into the show I think.  And I drove us back to our hotel, which was an hour or so.  Ryan hurried back to the room and I stopped to pick up some Tylenol for him at the ABC store.  Thank heavens he was feeling much better by morning!  Looking back I decided I must’ve had the same bug just not as severe.  Which is why I took a nap and still slept great at night too the day before.  Again, we’re just glad it didn’t interfere with any more of our trip.