Da North Shore

Wild, untamed, and vastly unpopulated, the North Shore is truly the picturesque island paradise envisioned by minds seeking a tropical escape. With it's astounding 40-foot waves during the winter, it's also heaven for elite surfers and casual onlookers. Divided from the bustling, urban, hotel and tourist-filled Honolulu by sprawling green mountains, the North Shore is really like being in another world. No Zippy's on every other corner (the Hawaii equivalent of Denny's), no plate lunch places on every street, no mess of hotels and tourists, no bars and late-night eateries, and quite frankly not many roads. However, pineapples, lush greenery, beautiful beaches, and astounding sites are plentiful.

But, my story of the North Shore begins in the most unlikely of places...a place that, if anything, is the antithesis of the North Shore. My story begins in the Ala Moana Shopping Centre between Waikiki and Downtown Honolulu. The massive shopping complex is the biggest (and probably most expensive) shopping center in Hawaii- complete with 3 floors of shopping ranging from Japanese department stores, to Macy's, to Armani and Gucci, and the fast-food of McDonald's to the fine-dining of Alan Wong's "The Pineapple Room". The size of the shopping center is quite massive and the number of Japanese tourists within the shopping center is even more incredible. But...i didn't come here to shop.

The largest mall in Hawaii and home to tourists from around the world, the Ala Moana Shopping Centre

Nope, I was there for taiko. And...actually, unless I was wearing a wig, I couldn't be in this performance because it was an all female performance for the Cherry Blossom Festival. I went as a roadie and to watch (something I don't do often enough) the performance with a new friend of mine by the name of Aya, who recently moved to Hawaii with her husband to open up a Tonkatsu (Pork Cutlet) restaurant in Waikiki. I actually met Aya through Kelsey and Kaoru (the one who sold me the fue) because Aya also plays taiko. In fact, Aya played taiko with the same group that Kaoru started playing with in the United States- St. Louis Osuwa Daiko.

All girls performance. First set of pieces, Oroshi, Shiraume, Matsuri (OSM for short), three pieces that are always played as a set.

It was great getting to watch a performance for once, and it's definitely quite different being the audience. All in all, (despite having to make some last minute changes to accommodate an equally last minute request for a shorter program) the performance went pretty well.

More OSM, a piece of the Oedo Sukeroku Daiko group in Tokyo.

Introduction of Yodan Uchi, another piece from Oedo Sukeroku Daiko that features solos played on both sides of the center drum. Sensei played with their performing group for several years when he lived in Japan.

Yodan actually means "four sides" in Japanese, so all four hitting surfaces are used in the piece.

Kirsten, a member of KETE (Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble), soloing in the piece. This piece actually involves hitting both drums simultaneously.

Ai-chan (on the right) taking the final solo of the piece. I actually knew Ai-chan from when I was a kid because she played with another group in Hawaii that my LA group was really close with.

This part is called the "Bridge", and as you can see, it's aptly named.

The ending to the piece involves four people jumping around the center drum and changing directions. it's really cool to watch and it's definitely quite scary because it looks like people are always about to crash into each other.

So...from the hustle and bustle of the Ala Moana Shopping Centre, I went slightly north to Aya's apartment, where we would meet the other people going to the North Shore with us, Greg (member of the intermediate TCP classes), Matt (member of the beginning II TCP classes), Cara (member of KETE), Kelsey, and Yoko. Aya's apartment is actually in a high-rise on a hill overlooking downtown and the Waikiki hotels, so the view is pretty incredible. I stood on the balcony for quite awhile taking pictures and admiring the scenery.

Incredible view from Aya's apartment

Views of the Waikiki hotels from Aya's apartment

And now the real journey begins....but in the rain. What started off as a beautiful sunny day in Honolulu, turned into a monsoon as we headed out of Honolulu and north toward Wahiawa (where the pineapple plantations are) and eventually the North Shore. It was luckily only slightly monsoon-like on the North Shore, but still not the beach-perfect weather I envisioned (especially a downer because I was in my swimsuit).

Oh well...so the weather was kinda rainy, but that didn't stop the North Shore from impressing. First stop was Giovanni's, a shrimp truck (yes you read right...truck) that the North Shore is famous for. In fact, the North Shore is famous for many of these mobile shrimp providers, and especially the deliciousness (and garlickyness) that is the shrimp they serve. We ordered several massive plates (I actually shared a plate because I ate lunch only an hour and a half earlier) of garlicky goodness- each had 12 jumbo shrimp, two scoops of rice, and cloves of garlic everywhere! Despite being full from lunch, it was delicious! And I somehow still managed to eat in the double digits of shrimp.

The famous Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. The scribbles all over it are actually the names of people who partook and enjoyed the garlicky goodness

Greg and Aya about to enjoy their shrimp

Me and Cara fighting for a piece of garlic soaked deliciousness

Next stop, Cholo's, a Mexican restuarant known for their Margaritas. So, we partook in their specialty, each having a pretty exotic Margarita with some chips and salsa as an after lunch/dinner treat. To give you an idea of the Margaritas they had, I had a peach and strawberry margarita, Aya had a pineapple and lilikoi (passionfruit) margarita, and Yoko had a (prepare yourself) li hing mui margarita (li hing mui is a plum powder that Hawaiians basically put on almost anything). Pretty incredible and pretty delicious.

Enjoying some Margaritas at Cholos (which to my understanding is the Spanish term for "gangster"[?])

Up until this point, it had been raining pretty much non-stop, not always heavily...but never really stopping. However, after finishing our margaritas, the rain stopped and the clouds were beginning to clear, perfect timing for a most beautiful sunset. We drove to the beach to go watch the sunset, and we stopped at a beautiful and quiet beach well-known as a haven and resting spot for sea turtles. We made our way onto the beach surrounded by trees and coconut trees and were greeted by nothing other than...well..sea turtles!! Three of them...all sleeping on the beach.

Sea Turtles!!

Me, Aya, and Mr. Sea Turtle

This turtle had some kind of tracking device attached to his back. Kind of sad in a way, but I guess its so they can ensure their survival, they are endangered afterall.

Yoko and Kelsey enjoying the beach

A close look at our sleepy friend

So...with our new sea turtle buddies, we watched the sunset from the sandy shore. Actually...none of us actually sat down because we would get all sandy, and actually the sea turtles didn't watch the sunset with us because they were asleep. =P But we did watch the sunset, which was nothing short of beautiful. Glowing orange and casting a faint orange and yellow glow on everything. It was really amazing, and even more amazing to be watching this amazing sunset under the shade of coconut trees next to sea turtles!! Yes indeed, quite amazing.

Incredible sunset

I don't think words are necessary for this one.

Orange and yellow glows on everything.

beautiful colors from the beautiful sunset

Yup...

Paradise indeed.

From left to right: Kelsey, Matt, Yoko, Aya, Me, Greg, sunset, and of course...the sea turtle. By the way, it's a federal offense to touch a sea turtle so we couldn't take any pictures riding the turtle. =P

After watching the sunset..which unfortunately anti-climatically ended behind some clouds, we drove to Waimea beach, home of professional surf competitions and 40 foot waves. The big wave season is (also) unfortunately coming to an end, so the waves at Waimea beach didn't even come close to hinting the greatness that was only a few months before. In fact, the ocean was unbelievably calm! But I could see how the bay itself played host to surf competitions and best surfers in the world. As a looked at the bay from the highway which went above and around the beach under the waning moments of sunlight, I could picture the giant waves and crowds of people watching in amazement and awe at both the power of man and nature.

Waimea Bay is not only famous for it's surf, but also for a giant rock. Okay, okay, that sounds kinda dumb, but it's not just any giant rock, it's a giant rock that you jump off of into the ocean. And while that seems kinda crazy (especially given the height of the rock and how close it is to shore), the water in Waimea Bay gets very deep, very fast. In fact, it drops off like a cliff only a few feet from where the water hits the sand. It's a bit of a daredevil thing to do, and you have to muster up a lot of courage to do it, but I'm definitely all for the challenge.

I didn't take this picture, but this is THE rock at Waimea Bay

Unfortunately, however, it was getting pretty late, and I was so full of shrimp that if I did jump in, I probably would've sunk straight to the bottom without the slightest chance of being able to swim back up. So, I never did get to the put the swim trunks that I was wearing all day to use. :\ But, I did see some amazing sights and eat some great food. In a way, it seems almost absurd how much amazing stuff you see out here, but as my Uncle Bob put it (not actually my Uncle by blood, but), "In Hawaii you just see amazing things all the time." And you know what, he's right. You see amazing things all the time. Like the following:

I saved the best for last, this is my favorite...the money shot. Simply amazing

Officially a member of KETE

This is gonna be a reeeeeally short post, but I just wanted to announce that I am now officially a member of the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble!! You have to be invited to be a part of Sensei's performing group by Sensei himself, and he'll only ask you if he thinks you're a capable player. Anyway, last week Sensei invited myself, Kelsey, and Yoko to become official members of his performing ensemble, an invitation we gladly accepted. So now I'm officially a part of Sensei's group! Quite an honor! Looks like my taiko career is off to a good start!

HLC 2

So not long after my first visitor (in fact, the day my first visitor left), I had my second visitor to Hawaii...also from Japan, and also from the ALC program.

So Chika left on Monday last week, and my friend Yujiro arrived on...well...Monday. So, HLC 2 began right where HLC 1 ended, but this time with more participants because Yujiro was here with his college ceramics club. Unfortunately, I didn't have as much time to spend with my HLC participants because I had to go to work during the week and Yujiro left on Friday morning (5 am in the morning). But we did get together twice, once on Monday evening and again on Thursday, which I actually have off every week. I was able to go meet him down in Waikiki that afternoon and spend some time at the beach and along paradise.

me and Yujiro in Waikiki

Waikiki is only a 30 minute walk from my house, and an even shorter drive (about 10 minutes). It's really a whole different world down there. For one, there are a lot of Japanese...A LOT of Japanese in Waikiki. So much so that there are signs everywhere in Japanese, Japanese ads, and every person that works in every store speaks Japanese. It almost feels like being in Japan...except the pace of life is a lot slower and it's not quite as crowded (by Japanese standards). Waikiki is filled with vacationers, honeymooners, and fun-seekers, so the area has nothing but things aimed toward tourism and the people staying at the huge number of hotels along Waikiki beach. So, in way, it feels kinda like Las Vegas...but a tame (and much cleaner) Las Vegas. There are plenty of bars and clubs in the area, and all of the stores from DFS to Gucci, to Prada, and Armani are present in full force to get the tourists (mainly the Japanese ones) to spend their money. Something is going on basically every night because everyone there is on vacation, and as you'd expect in a tourist-filled area, prices are high and often unreasonable compared to other places on the island. Waikiki isn't really a place for "locals" to go, as you can probably imagine- just like the Strip in Las Vegas isn't exactly where Las Vegasians(?) go all the time either (I actually found that out from a friend who grew up in Vegas).

Yujiro's friend trying to look like a tourist...I think he succeeded quite well

But...given my in-between status of a local (because I live here) and a non-local (because I grew up on the mainland), I hung out in Waikiki with Yujiro. While there are better beaches and more beautiful places in Hawaii, to say that Waikiki isn't beautiful and isn't itself paradise is a far cry from the truth. Being that Waikiki is on the "low" end of the beach tier in Hawaii really just goes to show you how high the bar is set over here and how many awesome beaches they have. So, on my Thursday visit to Waikiki, I met Yujiro on the Japanese-tourist-filled Waikiki Beach and then went to Dukes, a bar and grill along Waikiki Beach, for lunch.

Relaxing at Duke's

I think Yujiro's enjoying paradise

It was great to relax in the semi-outdoor restaurant (it's covered but 3 sides of the restaurant don't have any walls) and sip on a nice (but pretty pricey) tropical drink. I really could feel a much slower pace of life as I sat there, and although I live here, it felt like I was on vacation. And while I sat there talking story with Yujiro, drinking my tropical goodness, and nibbling at a tuna melt sandwich, it suddenly hit me....I live in Hawaii. This is Hawaii. I live next to a vacation. And I began to realize how awesome that is- a 30 minute walk to a vacation. ...I'm not sure how much better it gets than that.

You could be drinking one of these too

Yujiro looking pretty pimp with my sunglasses and tropical drink in hand

But of course (and not to make you jealous) it does get better than Waikiki, and Hawaii has some pretty amazing things to see here. In fact, amazing things to see are quite the norm here, which in itself is pretty incredible. But to find out what those amazing things are, I'll have to leave you hanging until my next post. For now, I'll give you a hint...the North Shore.




P.S. Thank you to all of my HLC participants! It was awesome hanging out with you! I hope I get to see you again (either in Hawaii or in your own home country). For all you other prospective HLC participants, it's not too late to join. We have a rolling admission policy. =P

My First Visitor

So, I had my very first visitor about a week ago!! And...she's not from the US...but from Japan!!! Yes folks, my first visitor was someone from a different country entirely! So in the spirit of the program I worked on this summer (American Language and Culture...or ALC for short) and met her in, I decided to dub her visit part of the HLC (Hawaiian Language and Culture) program. =P

Me and Chika at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani (where she was staying)

As I mentioned above, I met my friend (her name is Chika) in the ALC program mentioned above. The ALC program is a culture and language exchange program that takes place on Stanford campus as part of the VIA (Volunteers in Asia) organization . Over 70 students from Taiwan and Japan are invited to participate in each ALC session (there are 2 sessions) for the month of August, where they live in the Stanford dorms, take English classes on Stanford campus, and go on field trips and participate in other events planned by the 8 Stanford hosts. I could go on and on about how awesome this program is, but that's an aside that isn't completely related to my topic- my visitor.

I gave the above aside to give you an idea of what I wanted to try and do for "HLC" during my friend's visit. Basically, I wanted to show my friend a good time in Hawaii minus the English classes (not to say that English classes aren't a good time). I was able to borrow a car for the weekend from a very generous friend, and thus was able to show Chika and her friend, Niyou, a tour of an island that I didn't really know myself. =P Not having a way to really get around ever since arriving here meant that I didn't really know what was in Hawaii other than the supermarket across the street from my house and the chapel where we practice in at Kapiolani Community College...neither of which make for a very exciting tour. Additionally, the only places I've been to outside of these places are the office I work at and various schools around the island- which also don't constitute an interesting tour.

So...after consulting my tourist guide to Hawaii, Google Maps, and the knowledge of my Hawaiian friends at Stanford, i was able to determine a suitable tour to the beautiful Hanauma Bay followed by lunch at Boots and Kimo's (strange name, I know), a great brunch place known for their Macadamia Nut, Banana Pancakes with Coconut Syrup. Mmmmmmm...

So at 9:30 am, I picked my friends up from their hotel and gave them each a lei to officially welcome them to the Aloha state. We then proceeded toward Hanauma Bay, a bay (duh) on the east side of the island that is a famous spot for snorkeling and seeing all manner of tropical fish. The bay was beautiful, with crystal clear water and a nice walk down from the cliffs above to the sandy (but also tourist-filled) beach below. We unfortunately didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there, so we didn't rent snorkel gear and instead watched fish from the shore (which was vaguely successful) and skipped rocks in the ocean. Overall a good time.

Beautiful Hanauma Bay

Yep...

Like I said, lots of tourists

Chika with her friend Niyou...who is wearing MY sunglasses. =P

Chika posing with the rock she is about to attempt to skip

In the motion of skipping a rock

Not sure why I look so angry in this picture

Ah...

and "ah..." again

Next leg of the trip, a nice drive up the Eastern shore of Oahu, passing more beaches, rocky cliffs, and...underwater caves! Yes folks, underwater caves. Of course...because the caves are underwater...you can't actually see them, but...the underwater caves on the rocky shore do have something exciting which I'll explain. The waves the pound the rocks on the side of the island gradually make underwater caves that keep eroding inside the rock from the force of water being pushed through them, until eventually the force makes a hole on the top of the rock. The result, is a geyser that juts out streams of water whenever a substantial wave hits the shore and forces water into the cave and out of the hole above. Its a neat site to see and was definitely attracting quite a few tourists at the spot we were at.

It's like Old Faithful...just not quite as faithful

The destination of our scenic drive was Kailua, a small town (all towns outside of Honolulu are small) that is home to the awesome breakfast place known as Boots and Kimo's. But, it was closed. Closed despite the sign outside the door saying, "Open till 2:30 pm." "We closed early for equipment maintenance," said the guy who was moving the waiting benches inside and cleaning up the tables when I asked him why they were closed. The worst part was that they were closing early for just THAT day. They were open till 2:30 the next day and even the following Saturday.

Although we didn't get to have the much-hyped macadamia nut, banana pancakes with coconut syrup (just writing that makes me hungry), I wasn't gonna let that ruin our empty-stomachs. So, we drove across Pali Highway through the jungle-filled mountains (also scenic) back into Honolulu and went to a great and famous Ramen shop called Gomaichi. This ramen store specializes in Tan Tan Mien, which is a soup base made with Japanese sesame seeds. My friends enjoyed the salty goodness, which we followed up with a trip to Cold Stone Creamery across the street. :)

Mmmm...Ramen

It was definitely great to see an old friend from Japan, and even nicer to know that the friends I made during the ALC program are really life-long friends that I'll continue to be in contact with and get together with when I'm eventually living in Japan. For all you mainland folks, you could be in these pictures on a beautiful beach somewhere making all of your friends jealous too. Make your reservations and apply to HLC today!

This could be you in this picture

A Brief Post But...

So I realized that I've been pretty lazy about posting updates lately, and that's not to say that nothing exciting has been happening in the past two weeks...in fact, I've had quite a few exciting things happen, and I've been so busy with these other things that I just haven't had a chance to post any updates about them.

So, just to give you a preview of things to come we have (pretend this in the movie trailer voice) a trip to the beautiful Hanauma Bay, Adam's first visitors, a trip to the North Shore filled with sea turtle sightings and garlic shrimp, and... the much-anticipated, long-awaited Big Island tour. Of course these stories will be accompanied by more pictures and plenty of witty and hilarious commentary for your enjoyment. =P

Stay tuned folks...