The Introduction
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Hawaii is quite an island of excitement. In our adventure, we traveled on a flight to Honolulu & The Big Islands. There, we got to see the best of views and volcanoes, and venture around a busy city full of activities, culture, and traditional foods. Hawaii is known for many things, especially like their productions of pineapples and coffee beans. On our trip, we were lucky enough to see how everything was produced. Not only did we experience some Hawaiian culture, but we also got to see a live show performance and play with some sea animals. Time to explore the beautiful islands of Hawaii.
Hawaii
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Beach Coast
Adventures in Waikiki, Honolulu
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After a 12 hour plane ride on a summer day, we finally arrived to the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu in Hawaii. When we got there, another 41,000 people arrived in Hawaii on that same day as well. Despite to mention, it was so crazy and the place was so busy. It was even hard just to find a place to eat since all restaurants were booked out or having people to wait in lines for hours. But the view of the whole city astonished me in amazement! Being in Hawaii felt like I was living in a dream.
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On Monday, we drove 45 minutes to go see the background where the people filmed a scene in the movie Jurassic World. It was a bummer they were all booked out and we came this far, but the place did leave us with some fantastic sceneries and views of the ocean and mountains!
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After a few minutes, we weren't planning to drive back to the hotel, but instead stopped by to get some coconut refreshment drinks (coconut water + coconut supreme). The drinks were absolutely delicious and the perfect drink to have on a hot day. The coconut water had such a rare taste, and the coconut supreme was like a smoothie topped with an umbrella. On the bottom of the drink was some coconut ice cream. The whole drink was all made of coconut, and it was so delightful! After refreshments, we drove a short distance over to a store that sold macadamia nuts! Macadamia nuts are one of my favorite kinds of nuts. When they are first produced, they are grown inside of a shell. They grow in places like Hawaii and also Eastern Africa, along with Southern California.
As a nice lunch, we stopped by a restaurant for some huli huli chicken, which is a grilled chicken dish that is a unique Hawaiian cuisine. The taste of the chicken was delicious and my whole family enjoyed it! The dish is usually topped off with a huli huli sauce, and ours had a side of salad macaroni, which we saw a lot during our vacation in Hawaii. In Hawaii, "huli" means "turn" which is the way they cook the chicken. They turned the chicken over hot coals and a big grill. The flavor of the chicken was purely magnificent! If you love barbequed/grilled chicken, this cuisine is perfect just for you.
Mountain & Island
Shack where we ordered coconut drinks
Coconut Supreme Coconut Water
Traditional Huli Huli Chicken
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Tuesday was going to be quite an adventure. After our breakfast at a dim sum restaurant, we took a long drive on our way over to the Polynesian Culture Center! We started the adventure off with a canoe ride, that guided us through all the facts of styles of Tonga, Hawaii, Aotearoa, (known as New Zealand now) Samoa, Tahiti, and Fiji (Polynesia places). How the people set up the center was just amazing. They could build models and replicas of a small part from each of the Polynesian islands, and then put them into one. The cultural center not only let us understand the different cultures between the islands, but also the different traditions, and the different ways of life.
Audience Interactive Show: 3 people were brought up to stage and learned how to perform on the drums. This interactive was represented for Tonga.
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On-stage skit: A small skit was performed about the cycle of life. There were dances and singing- as if it was a short musical representing Fiji.
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Climbing the Palm tree & Playing with Fire: After this, we learned that Samoa LOVED to have fun and play with fire. They were all using their bare hands to play with the flames. Some members onstage weren't blowing out the fire, but taking the fire out by sitting down on it- as if the heat of the flame didn't matter to them! After, everyone got to go outside to watch 2 men climb the palm tree. It was incredible how they could collect the coconuts on the palm tree like that.
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Helicopter Ride:
It was a blast flying in a helicopter! The ride was open-doored which gave me and my family the full experience. Surprisingly, my baby brother fell asleep during the ride...but the views from up above were breath taking!
Cooking the Pig!
Hula Show while having dinner
Diamond Head: Diamond head is a volcano cone in Hawaii, and is a great place for hiking! After an exhausting hike up the steep mountain, we made it up to the top. We got a perfect view of Hawaii! The climb was worth it!
Diamond head is up in the corner!
Coffee Bean Farm & Dole Plantation: We learned lots about pineapples and their production! We even had pineapple colada and some pineapple ice-cream under the hot sun. We attempted the pineapple maze and took 57 minutes to find our way out. After, we took a trip to the coffee bean farm. LOTS and LOTS of coffee beans!
Big Island: After a splendid time in Honolulu, we went to stay at the Big Islands. Many gorgeous views were seen and I can't forget to mention how we got a chance to swim with dolphins! The dolphins were such kind-hearted and intelligent sea animals.
