Yesterday had a lot less hiking in it. My foot was still sore from the bee sting so we played it a little more relaxed. While Sam was at the conference I went to the Bishop Museum. It’s a history museum about Hawaii and more broadly a natural and cultural history museum for many things Polynesian.
It’s a really great museum. Architecturally I found it to be the most impressive building I have encountered in Oahu. I found the third floor the most fascinating. That was the political history of Hawaii. It’s an incredible history. I am no monarchist, but the overthrow of the monarchy by the U.S. government backed sugar planters is reprehensible. Then a Dole (like the stupid banana) became the president of the government.
When Sam was done with the conference for the day we headed to Chinatown the Asian fusion restaurant called The Pig and the Lady. It was, hands down, the best meal I have had in Hawaii. It was modern, hip, interesting, and above all delicious. My tofu Bánh mì was amazing, and the pho (a mini) was better than my Philadelphia favorite, Pho 75. If you are ever in Honolulu, this is something you must do.
After lunch we headed to the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve Park for snorkeling and swimming. There are a lot of beautiful fish. I saw a couple of urchin and even, what I would guess was a crab. The water was clear and the reef was teaming with wildlife. On our walk back to the car we saw a 6 or 7 mongoose (mongeese?). They are these weird little beach rats.
We decided to explore the cliffs called the spitting caves. They are not on any maps, but we heard it is a breathtaking view of the ocean. That is an understatement. You can walk to a corner of the cliffs and get a 270-degree view of the Pacific Ocean. It’s amazing. After we left, we stopped by the Koko Kai Mini Beach Park by the China Walls to watch the sunset.
We skipped dinner for a bit of drunken debauchery. We ended up at Wang Chung’s Karaoke Bar around 9 PM for drinks. It is a karaoke bar and a gay bar, so I was shocked at the surprisingly lack of Madonna or Donna Summer in the queue. I converted from Mai Tai to Dark and Stormy for the drink of the night. That storm seems to have left behind some thunder as of this writing. Oy.
When we left the bar we were drunk and starved. Yelp told us about a pizza place, that we could not find so we ended up at a very shitting diner near our hotel. It is called the Wailana Coffee House. Was it terrible? Yes. However, the patty melt was pretty damn good, and Sam was so happy to eating pancakes, fried eggs, and ham at night. Would I recommend to anyone? Absolutely not, did it work out, sure.
Rarely Pure & Never Simple 