Day2

All the unaccustomed physical activity (hiking in the sun) and odd sleeping hours caught up resulting in a slight fever. However I was pampered with noodle soups and conveniently escaped jogging by the sea. By 11 after she returned from a hubby uninterrupted walk/jog we were up for some more sight seeing albeit a little less physical.

In the lobby we went to the activity center located earlier in the visit to inflict some touristy questions to the person manning the booth. As I asked the valet parking to fetch the car we were finalizing the luau (Hawaiian feast) we wanted to attend. Meanwhile the parking attendant honked his arrival and left his post in search of something more interesting than waiting on his customers. As we left the booth purchasing the twilight package including the polynesian show the valet attendant was no where to be found. Well there went his tip surfing past the horizon. The car was locked and we had waited for a good two minutes when the patience relief valve opened up. She sneaked past the booth to discover the keys begging to be taken out for a ride to the North shore. And as she picked up the keys, which was probably blasphemous in itself when no one was watching, we walked past a few others who were still stuck in the waiting phase surprised by the exhibition of blatant breach of protocol/etiqette evident in their "I can't believe they just did that" look of incredulity. But my guess is that they might have followed suite after we left in minutes.

We drove towards north shore, which was supposedly a mecca for surfers. The waves at waikiki were like the bunny hill for skiers. We took a detour towards a local town where we stopped by to do patelgiri and there were a few others like us. As we continued on the detour and our nostrils picked up the scent after we saw the sign for huli huli chicken. The grill was set up outside, this was no fancy pants restaurant, hardly a restaurant even. There were a few chairs thrown under a makeshift tent with poles stuck in sand filled buckets. Fresh shrimp were being tossed on the grill and the cleaned up chicken was doused lavishly with the secret braising sauce. We settled on just half a chicken for taste and a dipping of a big transparent vessel with freshly squeezed lime topped off the meal. The sign advertising the aforesaid two-winged edible bird had a chicken dressed in a lei and dancing to some tune happily.

The only dance the chicken was going to actually do was in my midsection quenching my hunger pangs. We walked a little on the beach and sat down to watch budding surfers patiently learning while the experts were showing off, while a few others were content with basking in the sun. As we drove off the beach headed to our next destination we passed by a roadside shack selling pineapple and coconuts and some knick knacks. We stopped by to taste a fresh a fresh coconut and had a non-verbal powwow with a camo wearing, bicycle riding, geographically challenged wannabe army person. There was also a humble looking artist who was carving faces of warriors and gods out of branches and staining them with color. We bought one of sculptures at the Polynesian culture gift shop.

Following the footsteps of Rachels Rays tips on good eats, we skipped the posh read expensive places for something little out of way flavorful and light on the budget as well. The place in the 101 things to do referred to a place exactly like that. Shrimp shack was not exactly what the name said it more like a shrimp van but after a taste of flavorful fresh shrimp with a few scoops of rice that small issue of name was buried under crab legs and butter as well. After many valiant efforts to master the skill of breaking the crab legs using the apparatus provided which was chained to the tray we resorted to the tried and tested appendages extended out and the dumbell lifting and body pump classes were put to the use man intended i.e. put delicious food into the mouth.

After the crab was consumed with fervor hitherto known only in imagination of ravenous hunger meeting a feast fit for the king we decided to add a little polynesian cultural adventure to our experience. We barely made it to the last canoe rides and headed to the only show we thought we could make. We got a temporary warrior tattoo that looked menacing and then tried the poi sort of juggling weights tied to strings and try to maneuver the trajectory of the attached weights in a sort of circular fashion. The demonstrators were mostly native or at least sounding and looking and made it sound so simple, and would occasionally show off by changing from clockwise to ccw and then switch hands and then single handedly accomplish what ten of us were barely able to do with two hands. The ease with which they switches between various motions had a hidden beat and when they missed it made them human and without skipping another beat they would pickup the pace and catchup. That was true showmanship. The ritual touching of noses was Alaskanish but the warrior dance was really intimidating and the facial expressions had quite a bit of terror in them. The yells and screams were definitely from another era unlike the profanity or verbal punches that we see today.

WE decided to be bold and be late for the traditional luau / feast since our bellies were asking for a break and there was a tonga drum show as well. As woman nudged me to be a "volunteer" I managed to get my behind on stage to match my non existent music less talent against a burly enthusiastic tongaman. I seemed to hang well or so I think till the drum tempo increased a tad and then confused my brain cells which told one thing to my muscles and my muscle tried to execute and there was chaos. I shared the stage with an australian who was on a world tour with his 4 kids and parents. For my efforts I did get a crown made of palm leaves which I left in the rental car (I just remembered as I write this 12 hrs later).

There was picture taking with leis and she got the last one!! On to the luau which was supposedly a feast and roasted pig was the focused entree. Since we just had a lot of food, our hunger level was not much and unless the food beyond a level of excellence it was not going to please us. That meant extreme high standards, the salad and the chicken and the roast and the others did not make the cut. However the dessert selection was wide and one of them tasted like jinnu with a flavor of coconut.

There was enough time gap between dinner and the show just to entice people to buy stuff and the trick worked. WE bought a wooden warrior/god which was a good bargain which we found out later. There was a booth where one could pick a oyster shell among many and then the shell would be opened and you would own the pearl that were inside. One lady was so lucky that she picked three or four and all of them had two pearls. Two pearls were rare and three were extremely rare. But the whole concept was pretty neat, with a guranteed pearl inside, of course the color of the pearl would not be known untill the shell was broken. We bought one and found a pink champagne pearl which was cool and had the pearl drilled for mounting on a pendal/ear ring to be decided later. Somehow a pearl on a 1o carat gold white or otherwise did not sound appealing.

After the purchase we entered the show where the center aisle tickets were an upgrade which we cheaply refused to purchase. But the view was just as good and the performances matched and exceeded expectations. The humor element was overbearing at times but the skill and execution was really good. The music at times reminded me of Goan music. It must be something about islands.

The drive back in the dark two lane highway was uneventful and were glad to be back in the hotel ready for another days adventure.