San Francisco to Sydney - Day 26

Day 26 : Honolulu, Oahu

There was no storm last night, just a few showers, so today was like yesterday : humid and overcast.

This is the first hotel room we've stayed in on this trip that has had cooking facilities, so this morning we made use of them. Debbie made French toast, which we had with Vegemite, making for a breakfast that's about as close to at-home as it's possible to get while not being at home.

Afterwards, we headed for the nearby Ala Moana Shopping Center, digesting egg and Vegemite with every step. The shopping centre is huge, and has as a centrepiece on its lower level the fountain that you can see in the photo at left. The fountain weighs 2 tons (about 2 tonnes), is 15 feet (4½ metres) high and gushes 1,000 gallons (250 litres) of water every minute. Fish inhabit the pool in which the fountain sits and they swim around its edges. It makes the Raindrop Fountain at Roselands (a shopping centre in the south-west of Sydney) look positively wimpy.

One of the more obvious differences between Hawaii and California is what passes for street-wear. In Hawaii, for both males amd females, clothes patterns tend to floral and colours drift towards the brighter end of the spectrum. Shoes come in startling variety. So far, I've seen feet clad in high heels, in sneakers, in sandals, in thongs and even in nothing at all. This tendency to shoelessness has become so prevalent that the Ala Moana Shopping Center has posted signs advising shoppers that its escalators should not be ridden by people with bare feet. Restaurants, too, post signs advising that shirt and shoes are required for entry (pants, I suppose, are a given).

Late in the afternoon, we felt that it was about time we found the nearest beach. About five minutes walk away is Ala Moana Park, which has a path that leads walkers, runners, cyclists and skaters through the park and alongside the beach. The photo on the right is taken from this path and shows Waikiki. You can't see our hotel because it's tucked behind those large buildings on the left of the photo (hence we have only ocean glimpses as you saw in yesterday's blog).

We could also see downtown Honolulu from the path and it's closer than we thought. It's probably within walking distance but, given the heat and humidity, we think we'll travel there instead by bus.

On the left is another photo taken from the path and shows nothing in particular. I just like the layers in the photo, so I thought I'd include it in the blog. If nothing else, you can see how overcast it is here. This photo was taken at about five in the afternoon, but it felt like twilight.

Walking back to our hotel, I was watching the traffic and noticing just how diverse the fleet of taxis is here in Oahu. It's like a couple of thousand people suddenly decided that the taxi industry was the way to go, grabbed whatever vehicle was to hand - limousine, van, family car - stuck a yellow light on top, and launched themselves into the taxi business.

The name of the island's taxi company is great too : The Cab. Guess what the bus service is called? That's right : The Bus. I don't know if there's a rail service on the island, but I reckon I know what it'll be called if there is one.

Finally, as a follow up to yesterday's blog, I've been thinking about the airlines' plight and their obvious need to lift revenues (such as they're attempting to do by charging a $5 rental fee for headsets). I think I have another money-making idea for them : make the overhead luggage bins coin-operated. Why give this precious storage space away for free? Make people pay for it! And charge them again if they open the bin in-flight. And make it so that people can't fit anything under the seat in front of them, so then they have to use the overhead bins.

(I sincerely hope that the previous paragraph is satirical and not prophetic.)

Originally posted by TC