Hawaii Day Two [March 11th, 2010]

So, for our second day in Hawaii, The Husband had to present at his conference, so I decided to start out ahead of him, and ended up making my way to the Ala Moana Center (the major mall of the city) - I was later joined by said Husband once his working obligations were finished.

The mall was quite interesting. Of note was Shirokiya and especially, the BookOff inside of it. I bought Xave Eating the Alphabet (which is particularily cool, because all of the foods inside are either fruits or vegetables!) and I bought the Japanese version of Wario Ware Smooth Moves for our Wii (for $10!).

At this point in the day, The Husband and I were getting quite ravenous (we had a Hawaiian Laulau in the food court, but that hardly filled us...at all), so we continued down the road in search of sustinance.

Pork Laulau - it was okay, but the greens were a little strong.

After continuing down the road we ran into another shopping plaza - this one called Marukai. Upon entering, The Husband stated that it was very typical of may of the stores in Japan - very cluttered and warehouse-esque. We picked out some things for the house that are hard to find around here (such as cooking chopsticks) that were dirt cheap. Also, we finally found Yeibisu - The Husband's 2nd (to Zatec) favorite beer - at their market [Note: This beer was impossible to find - not only is it only in NY, CA, and HI, but the ABC stores didn't carry it since it was a more expensive craft beer.] Since the market and housewares sides were separated, I checked out with my homegoods, while The Husband checked out with the Yeibisu and some sparkling sake we found. Unbeknown to us, Marukai was sort of like a Sam's Club in which you had to have a membership card! Luckily for us, the individual who cashed me out scanned his personal card, and The Husband had a friendly elderly Japanese gentleman allow him to use his. Crisis adverted.

We left Marukai and were still hungry. We decided to head back towards the hotel, only a street above the way we came in hopes to find somewhere tasty to eat.

Eventually we came to Gyu-kaku (their Kapiolani location) and upon seeing their Happy Hour specials, decided on chowing down on some Yakiniku...or Korean BBQ...or whatever you want to call it. I surprised The Husband in ordering a Kirin beer along with him - finally, after 23 years of living, I found a beer I found to be palatable (this has many advantages: 1) it's considerably cheaper than mixed drinks and 2) it's considerably less intoxicating!). He ordered the Yakishabu Beef with Eggplant Shio, while I opted for Chuck Rib Kalbi and Zucchini. [Note: Our ordering here was very tame - later in the trip, we decided to get more exotic.]


The food was fantastic - and cheap. I also additionally found out that I quite like edamame! Not only were they fun to eat, they were also quite tasty.

We continued towards our hotel, when I decided I had had enough of the heat, and wanted to stop for a drink, and perhaps dessert. Luckily for us, we were right beside Shokudo - and I dragged The Husband in. I ordered the Honey Toast (a Japanese Dessert) with sweet red bean (azuki beans) paste for The Husband and I to share (though, he doesn't like azuki paste, I grew quite fond of it!). To drink, The Husband ordered the Echigo Koshihikari beer, while I opted for a Lychee Vodka Soda. It was all fantastic.


We finally made our way back to our hotel room, and sat down to relax and check in on the baby. However, we did not stay idle for long.

After we rested our blistered feet, we headed to the ABC store across from our hotel, and bought 2 pairs of snorkels. We headed to the beach, and swam out to some of the coral - we saw many tropical fish, such as parrot and angel fish, along with many (some very large) sea urchins clinging to the coral. If snorkeling did anything, it made me never want to step foot in the water again unless I was quite aware of what was beneath my feet - I didn't particularly want a sea urchin spine impaling my foot. This was the first time The Husband had ever been snorkeling, and he enjoyed it thoroughly, as did I.

The snorkeling allowed us to relax and take in the tropical scenery - as well as build up an appetite. Once we were done, we changed in the hotel, and decided to try out the small restaurant located in our hotel called Wasabi Bistro - but just for appetizers; after all, we're not big fans of eating in "hotel restaurants". We ordered some (more) edamame, along with an order of gyoza and some ahi poke. The gyoza was some of the best I've ever eaten, and the ahi poke was indescribably delicious. It was very likely the best thing I ate while in Hawaii.


Although our experience at Wasabi Bistro was an extremely positive one, we decided to venture out and explore a bit more in regards to eating.

To the right, a soccer game is being played at night.

After walking a bit, we came to another plaza, which at the top of, there was a very large Chinese restaurant called Fook Yuen. They appeared to specialize in seafood, and The Husband and I decided to give it a try.


Upon entering, we noted that they specialized in Maine Lobster (ironic, huh?), but when our waiter asked us what we wanted, we asked him for suggestions. It is here, we believe, that we made a mistake as he suggested very plain and simple dishes such as Seafood Combination and the Scallops in Garlic Sauce. The food was fine - good even - but we believe the waiter probably didn't want to suggest anything too "out of the norm" for tourists.



The rest of the evening consisted of walking around the city, entering and exiting the various shops and stores...and continuing to take in the beautiful scenery and city life. (It should be noted, that mornings in Honolulu are rather calm, perhaps to the point of boring. Most of the shops were not open til afternoon. However, at night, the city really came alive. The Husband and I attributed this to the large number of Japanese tourists-of which most appeared to have considerable expendable income- and their jet lag being the opposite of ours.)

[Personal Note: It's not just busy everyday life that keeps me from blogging our trip - it is also that, every time I do, it makes me exceedingly hungry.]