I'd better start writing soon about my Hawaiian trip coz it's already been a month and my memories are starting to fade quickly...
So back to the driver from airport. This dude is pretty friendly, being a veteran, he's traveled around the states, but he was obviously annoyed when the other riders casually said "back in the states..." and he said "that's what you all say, back in the states, back in the states... you know we are part of the states, right?"
Paul the nice guy tried to change the subject, and pointed to a union jack flag hanging on the street and asked him what it is. "Oh, we paid the British to design the flag" "Lie!", I whispered to Paul, obviously didn't have the guts to say it out loud. Apparently, Hawaii wanted to join the Great Britain as part of the common wealth. Don't know what the British guy was smoking, but they cordially declined the offer. The British are probably kicking themselves right now. I would.
So the Hawaiians are definitely Americans now, at least for the record, but one certainly wouldn't feel that way when one's in Waikiki. To me, Waikiki is more like a tropical Tokyo more than anything. Cheap and abundant Japanese food, (totally tanned) Japanese tourists in group, all the high end stores selling fur (that's right, fur, under the blazing sun in Hawaii!!!) I wonder if it annoys any Hawaiians like the invasion has never stopped, and most people I've talked to certainly hated Waikiki. But I absolutely love it!! Where else can you find such cultural dynamics anywhere in the world? Sure, it is touristy but aren't we tourists after all? And the delicious Japanese food (including Japanese version of Chinese food "ramen" & "gyoza" at Oh Sho Ramen, and Japanese version of Italian food at Paradiso Bar & Grill, bravo!!) more than made up for the touristy atmosphere.
But once you get outside of Waikiki, you're going to experience all the natural beauty of these tropical islands. hope I'll get to it before the memory fades, but I'll stop here as I have a wedding to go to tomorrow~
Until next time~
1 comment:
I am quite glad that Hawaii didnt become 'the British's' - can you imagine how horrible the food would be?! And there would probably be pubs everywhere full of people who sound like Posh Spice (remember the british family we met in Yosemite NP? :-))
Its interesting with the state identify though. Before I went when people asked me where I was going for my holidays I would have always said 'Hawaii' instead of 'The States' - I think the word Hawaii directly translate to a bloody good time and it is hard not to treat the place almost as its own country. I think the Hawaiians essentially should feel very proud of themselves that people often forget that they are 'part of the States'!
In a way it's like most people wouldnt know Tahiti 'belongs' to the 'country' French Polynesia - I have always thought Tahiti was a country itself! :-)
I was looking at the Hawaii photos again last night and man, we really did have a fabulous time didnt we!
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