Hawai'i

I went to Hawai'i for work a couple of weeks ago. For me, it was a very last minute trip due to a change in staffing. This made it far more exciting, nothing like having to learn entire chapters of Code on the plane. I have never been to Hawai'i (or North America for that matter) so it was pretty interesting. Of course I had to go to all the shops - the fact they are open til 9pm every night made that easy. Wal-Mart, Macy's, Sears, Neiman Marcus... well, I have to say that it didn't bring about any epiphanies. In fact, living on a small island has made me very averse to crowds, traffic lights and shopping malls. The Ala Moana mall is so big I got lost more than once. I felt like encino man, or the characters from Bill and Teds' excellent adventure.... I can't say it was a good thing, although it probably had more to do with having a developing world salary and a travel allowance that barely covered the cost of accomodation. Mind you, I was over it AFTER I spent all my money and filled up a whole suitcase with things you can't get on Pohnpei, so I am a total hypocrite.

We also had meetings on the Big Island, so I got to go to Kona and Hilo. We were there on the weekend, so on Saturday we went to see the Volcano park. I love volcanoes. They are so cool. Half the park was closed when we were there due to dangerous level of noxious gas, but we still managaed to see the 'park highlights'.

Big crater. In the eighties, this was full of molten lava. Cool, eh?


On Hawai'ian culture, the volcano is a goddess.


With the floor leader


oooh, sulphur dioxide....


I also managed to find time to climb up the Diamond head crater in Honolulu. I'm not a fan of waikiki at all, it's like the gold coast with a tiny yukky beach, but the walk to the crater got better and better as I went along. The houses and flora reminded me a bit of Sydney's eastern suburbs...



There are amazing fig trees all over... I love them


The nicest photo I could take of waikiki - and this is the "Hilton Lagoon"!!