Aloha Hawaii

Aloha in Hawaiian means hello and good bye. But before I get to my last day in Hawaii, I want to share a few food things. 

Like this super cute honu green turtle melon bread filled with azuki bean paste. I found him at Nijiya Market and I suspect he originated from Watanabe Bakery. So cute and delicious! He even had a little tail. Stopping in at Nijiya was worth it.

I did find saimin noodles at the convention. Something I noticed about a lot of the food was much of it was salty. Maybe because of the heat it is a way to replace salt in the body?

I know sandwiches aren't that exciting. But I just had to compare Hawaii's version of egg salad with Japan's. I found these in a shop at the first floor of the hotel. They were actually pretty good. Sometimes I go with this for breakfast since it's easier. 

Fresh fruit! Cantaloupe, grapes and pineapple. I may have found this at the Ala Moana Center, a large shopping mall next to the hotel. I spent a little time looking around there. Since most of the restaurants were American chain places, I opted out of that. I finally found a food court that had places that locals recommended. One place had a good Caesar salad that I enjoyed for lunch one day.

 Also in the mall I found Honolulu Cookie Company. Yes I gave into temptation.

The cute pineapple shortbread cookies are not easy to resist. Some have dried fruit in the center. 

My favorites were the chocolate dipped cookies. Such temptation.

I also stopped at LUSH at the mall. Where I discovered they had a number of the Harajuku bath bombs. I bought a couple more including the butterfly.

Just a photo of the moon the night before I left. My room did have a decent view. 

And a pretty sky the next morning as I headed to the airport.

Time for lunch so I stopped at Makai Plantation.

Gave myself a bit of a treat with unagi nigiri which was delicious.

And I indulged in their ahi poké. It was just as good as the first time I ate it. No Blue Hawaiian this time. I was being good.  

And finally on my plane and headed back to the Mainland. One last look at the blues and greens of the Islands. 

 Waikiki Beach and beyond. 

 Diamond Head and beautiful water.

 Remembering I drove all the way along this south coast.

The Koko Crater area. It's so beautiful when you get away from all the concrete buildings and such. 

Aloha Hawaii. 

And back to Portland International Airport and the jellyfish case. 

Before I left I couldn't help but indulge in a couple purchases. 

Seriously, anyone who likes cookies would find it hard to pass this up. 

Along with a bag of Mongoose Kona coffee. This smelled so good. And the taste was wonderful.

So that's the last of my Hawaii blog posts. Thanks for sticking with me if you read all of them. Next up is a return to Tokyo. Because it's difficult for me to stay away.

I Finally Make it to Hawaii

When I searched for air fare for my trip, the price was high because it was the end of summer. But one airline had discounted a couple of days. It meant that my trip would be shorter than usual, but the bonus besides the price was getting to go somewhere I had wanted to visit all my life. Hawaii. 

Flying into Oahu, I was not disappointed. The color of the water below, very intense and beautiful. Even when looking through an airplane window. 

As for the airport in Honolulu, it wasn't bad. Even though it is older, the people working there were helpful and nice. And the grounds had interesting things to see.

As to the weather, it was warm and humid but a beautiful day. 

I couldn't resist taking this photo. 

I had four hours between flights on Hawaiian Airlines, so I stopped at Makai Plantation for lunch. Breakfast in Portland, lunch in Honolulu, dinner in Tokyo. That was my plan.  

And I knew what I wanted. Since it was my first time in Hawaii, even if only for a couple of hours, I wanted to be a tourist. So I order a Blue Hawaiian. I use to enjoy these long ago. And the one here was very good. Even better was that piece of pineapple. It really was the best pineapple I have ever eaten. Soft, no fibers, and so sweet. I wish I had asked for more. Definitely will next time. 

Being a tourist, lunch had to be ahi poke. This was also very good. Served with a bit of wasabi, it was a great lunch.

I should mention that I had been worried that my flight to Tokyo might be cancelled because of Typhoon Jebi. My timing was good in that after crossing Honshu Island at Osaka, Jebi had moved along the western side of the island and was now north of it. My flight was still happening. However, there were many people who were not so lucky since their flights were to the Kansai Airport. Because the runways were flooded from the storm, and a bridge to the airport damaged, their flights were cancelled. Which meant many of them were moved to flights to Tokyo. Including on my flight.

Finally it was time to fly. I did get to see downtown Honolulu with Diamond Head in the distance. We flew over it but it was difficult to get decent photos. Very cool to see from the air. 

The U.S. Air Force uses the airport for their planes. Interesting to see these take off and land on the same runways. Along with jet fighters and stealth bombers. 

We taxed out to a runway built further away along the ocean. It really was a beautiful day! 

And the ocean, gorgeous. 

Aloha Hawaii, I hope I may see you again. 

Next stop, Tokyo. Across blue water, under blue sky. It was lovely to see the clouds from above.