not MY ideal place for r&r, but it was also my moms birthday so why not...
so here's this (even though i was gonna post this before i left, oh well)
Matty (from Hawaii and rips super hard) + DJ Shadow = dope
switch flip back tail shove out... nuff said
anyways the rest is just about venting about my experiences there.
Sunday, March 20
flight leaves at 9am but wait, there's something wrong with our plane...
i wasn't really mad at the fact that the flaps didn't work or some shit, but i was mad that it took the pilots and the mechanics 3 hours to make that decision.
to top it off, they didn't have a back up flight for us.
aka, go to customer service and wait about 5 hours in line.
SUMMARY: we spent the first day of vacation in BEAUTIFUL LAX for about 10 hours.
Monday, March 21
we end up getting a flight for Monday at 4ish. stoked.
210W -> 605S -> 105W sounds easy, right? not really.
2 car accidents on the 605 and 2 accidents on the 105.
after all that bullshit, we finally ended up making it there.
4 o'clock comes around aaaannnnddd we find out that our airplane is broken yet again, so we have to wait till 6 for our other plane.
6 o'clock comes, everything is fine, get to Oahu at about 12, go to hotel in Waikiki, sleep.
SUMMARY: spent only 4 hours in LAX this time and 5+ hours on a plane
Tuesday, March 22
shopping... all day...
it was almost as torturous as being in LAX for 10 hours...
NOTE: Waikiki is pretty much one giant shopping paradise.
the main shopping strip leads to a giant shopping mall.
so if you don't wanna go shopping, don't go to Waikiki
SUMMARY: boring as shit.
Wednesday, March 23
family rents a car and drives around the island.
it was nice to get away from the 24 hour madness of Waikiki and go inland and to the other shores.
FIRST STOP: the Dole plantation.
this place was pretty cool, informative, neat, all that stuff.
went on a train ride that showed us the old plantation and what all their tropical plants look like.
after, we went through this botanical garden on a self guided tour with this phone looking thing that gave people a bunch of info on not only native plants to Hawaii, but some of the history behind them.
then, me and my dad went though the 2008 worlds largest maze to try and find 8 hidden stencil things, idk, but and we finished it in around 40 minutes.
SECOND STOP we went to north shore to look at all the "locals" (but they all looked like they were from California...?) and to go eat.
THIRD STOP we went to east shore and went up to Diamond Head park and hiked this trail that took us to old lookout towers and where old WW2 turrets where.
went home and slept.
SUMMARY: first relatively fun day, but this day i started to realize that there wasn't as many "true natives" like, anywhere.
south shore = rich white old people
north shore = young white kids that THINK they're locals, but they aren't.
east shore = mostly grocery stores, golf courses, and forest stuff.
but i mean, i'm in Hawaii, and i see very few Hawaiians... besides the ones that are working, there wasnt very many... idk i found that strange...
Thursday, March 24
woke up early and went to Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona Memorial.
it was pretty cool but also pretty sad and also creepy.
cool cause the ship is still there/sad because pretty much 1700+ people died instantly in that one ship/creepy because all the bodies are still in the ship...
after that we hung out for a little bit then went to a luau. this was fun.
the only thing i didn't like about it was that it was an all-you-can-eat feast, and seeing that 99.9% of the people there were hungry, overweight Americans that haven't eaten all day, kind of diluted the whole "ambiance" imo...
SUMMARY: the luau was held on the west side of the island and when driving up, i saw that HERE'S where all the locals where.
after realizing this, i felt kind of bad because pretty much tourist have pushed natives out into the west side of the island, but idk if this is true, at this point, its only speculation.
Friday, March 25
went to the Polynesian Culture Center on the east shore.
this was easily the best day of the trip.
what it is, is this huge, almost like a park, that teaches people about the 6 different Polynesian cultures and traditions.
all of them were really sick, but my favorites were Samoan and Tongan.
after all the demonstrations and shows they had, they put on this play/theatrical thing that was pretty cool but i still enjoyed learning about the different cultures more.
SUMMARY: This experience left a bittersweet taste in my mouth because after i left with all the information about the different cultures, i realized how shitty my culture is.
being 1/2 white and 1/2 Cuban, they're isn't too many tradition we follow... especial for American/white.
seriously, the only thing that Americans celebrate is being materialistic, fat, lazy slobs... and thats coming from me... and i live in California...
but it was also sweet because i want to be a chef when i grow up and this experience made me want to learn A LOT more about international cuisine and the peoples traditions behind their food.
Saturday, March 26 (mom's birthday)
the WORST day of the trip...
mom wanted to go kayaking, so we did.
got picked up by this TOTAL SURFER BRAH and he took us to the kayak store (which was kind of sketchy) and got all our gear.
we partnered up with each other (i got stuck with mom) and started to paddle out.
probably like, 10 seconds after me and my mom start paddling out, we flip...
now i thought it was funny, but my mom was pissed and then i started to freak out cause i felt like i ruined her birthday...
anyways, after that, we had to go straight into the waves and straight into the wind... which was terrible...
i felt like i was doing all the paddling cause i was already dead tired like, half way there and also, i looked at my mom and she was barely even paddling! -_-
anyways, we made it to this resting point where we hung out and rested so we could go out to this other island... that was twice as far as what we just paddled... going into the wind and the waves again...
so i told my dad that i couldn't do anymore because my arms felt like jello (and also hinting that i wanted to switch with him) but all he did was get mad at me for making my moms birthday bad or something, idk.
so, because it was so FREAKISHLY windy that day (and the instructor said that its never that windy) that we were just gonna go to this other island that was also a bird sanctuary, so i was stoked.
so when me and my dad paddled out, 10 seconds into the water and it was already like 7834957298x easier then with my mom...
anyways, going to the sanctuary was kind of sketchy because we had to swim parallel to waves, which made for easy flipping... which is what we did...
soooooo yea, flipped again, but i didn't care. if anything it was just embarrassing.
i tried to flip the kayak back over witch was near impossible because of 1) im not that strong to begin with, and 2) my arms are pretty much jello at this point.
so while im trying to flip the kayak over, another wave comes and slams the kayak down on my face/nose and then i lose my sunglasses and almost drown...
we end up flipping it back over and by that time, one of the instructors comes over, along with my mom and sister, to help us back in the kayak, oh, but wait, my arms are jello... so everyone has to pull me in (which was super embarrassing...)
after all that i decided that im never 1) going back to the beach ever again (i hated it to begin with) and 2) going to kayak ever again...
but anyways, on our way back to the hotel, our tour guide was raving about how sick this was...
ROFL like... questioning in this guy is for real.
dont really think he took his job too seriously... HAHAHAHAHA
AFTER we went to this one Mexican restaurant for my moms birthday dinner.
SUMMARY: i FUCKING HATE the ocean...
Sunday, March 27
couldnt really sleep because i was so excited to go back to Cali.
get on the plane, get off, come home, so stoked. blah.
SUMMARY OF THE TRIP:
it was fun and all, but not really for me. i like to travel, but for certain reasons. i dont wanna go all the way to Hawaii to go tanning and shop... i can do that here.
but other then that, overall, it kind of made me sad... i felt like Hawaiians are making a living off catering to Americans, and they are because tourism is their #1 source of income, which is sad... at points i felt like, Hawaiians were like jesters and they were putting on a show for us so we can throw them some lose change so they can survive. idk...
Polynesian culture is so awesome and its so easy to fall in love with, which i think a lot of people do. mostly because in Polynesian culture, it is a sign of power to have a few extra pounds on you. so when fat Americans come over, they think "OH HELL YEA I CAN FINALLY FIT IN!!!" but there's so much more...
but all in all, it was cool. Hawaii is cool, but not really for me. it felt to commercialized for my tastes. but im glad i was able to experience the Polynesian Culture Center, because without that, it would have been a terrible trip. hahaha
and here's this just because its relevant and dope.
EDIT: i've been trying to post this but I COULDN'T BECAUSE MY FUCKING INTERNET IS THE BIGGEST PIECE OF SHIT EVER AND I HAVEN'T HAD INTERNET FOR LIKE 3 DAYS AND I'M ALREADY LIKE MELTING I FEEL SO DEPRIVED.
/rant
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