Last Saturday I went with Jean on a food tour, the hole in the wall tour. This was quite an enjoyable guided tour to some of the best local places that are off the main tourist trail. I had baked manapua, a Chinese-Hawaiian version of a steamed pork bun; coco puff pastry; hand made rice noodles; longan and rambutan fruit; 5 layers of heaven roast pork (heart attack on a stick, but what a way to go!); and finally malasadas, a kind of portuguese doughnut. The middle of the tour was in chinatown where we had a bunch of things served in succession in what our guides called a "food parade". That has a nice ring to it :) The guides also give helpful advice about what restaurants to go to and other tourist tips. The tour also takes you around the city and gives you a sense of where things are. I would recommend doing this the first day you come to Honolulu to get your bearings geographically as well as culinarily. Some of the places we visited are shown below.
Last Wednesday I took the day off (I really have been working here - honest!) and went to the Polynesian Cultural Centre on the north of the island. I couldn't get tickets for the weekend. It turns out that the centre is run by the Mormon church and is a non-profit outfit that supports students attending the local Brigam Young University. I don't really see the Mormon and Polynesian cultural connection but it seems to work. I had a tour package that took me around the island to get there, getting a chance to see some of the natural sights and also the Dole pineapple plantation (a tourist trap).
The Cultural Centre itself was really worth the trip. It is a kind of theme park with a bunch of villages representing the culture on various island groups. These guys really got around at sea. The replica canoe below (built with traditional techniques - no metal parts) made a recent trip from Hawaii to Tahiti, some 4000 km or so, in 28 days without using any modern navigational equipment. The villages had staggered performances of about 20 minutes - all quite different but all enjoyable. I flagged in photography at this point. I began the day with mild stomach flu and was beginning to fade at this point.
The package included dinner, a luau or traditional Hawaiian meal. The meal was fine, what I could eat of it. People who had visited Hawaii had told me that they had tried Poi, a traditional dish of pulverized tarot root, but that is was not interesting. I figured I should try it but can now confirm what they were saying. It was described as "wallpaper paste without the flavour" by one of my table mates. The entertainment at the dinner was really the low point of the trip. A vegas-style host (who did have a good singing voice) "entertained" us with faux banter while attractive young adult and cute kid dancers did their thing to amuse the audience of mostly old, white people. It was very forced. After dinner there was a much better show in a large theatre, again featuring elements from the different Polynesian groups. Although I had the cheapest tour package I somehow ended up in the second row near centre - it was a great seat. Overall, definitely worth taking this trip for the day, although I would try one of the other dinner options to avoid the luau show I had.
I am touristed out at this stage. Some things I would do next trip are:
- Go to Alan Wong's restaurant for dinner. He is a well-known and well-regarded local restauranteur who is also a proponent of the local food movement here.
- Go to the swap-meet at the Aloha Stadium. I was thinking of going today but it is raining off and on and anyway I am feeling lazy.
- Hike in the Waimea Valley.
- Take a side trip to the Big Island to see the volcanos.
- Go snorkeling to see the coral and tropical fish. I am not a natural for this (don't swim well and sunburn very easily) but it looks really worthwhile.
- Do the tour of Pearl Harbour. I have been told it is interesting even for non-Americans.
- Visit some local farms and get to know a bit more about the local food movement. I think it would take some time to get into this scene.
- Take one of the "booze cruises", catamaran cruises to see the sunset.
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