Honolulu: Days 2 and 3

Yesterday morning, I tried to decide what to do for the day and ended up taking the bus to Manoa Falls. The bus ride was long and I had to do a transfer at the Ala Moana Center.

Manoa Falls was a bit of a walk from the bus stop. The path went through a forest between the lush green mountains. I was glad that I wore my shoes and not my flip-flops since the trail was uneven. After a long hike I arrived at Manoa Falls. It’s a slim and tall waterfall. I took a few photographs then turned around and went back on the same path that I came, opting out of the jungle trail.

On the path to Manoa Falls

Manoa Falls

When I arrived at the bus stop I had missed the bus by a few minutes. There was a middle aged man who was also waiting for the bus. I chatted with him to pass away the time. His name is Rafi and works as a machine learning scientist for Meta. He lives in Israel with his wife and four kids. He is also attending the machine learning conference.

The bus came around 11 AM and dropped me off at the Ala Moana Center. I found a restaurant called Genki Sushi that delivered sushi dishes on small rail trays. It was so interesting to watch the tray coming in and going out.

Food delivery system at Genki Sushi

After lunch, I walked farther west and arrived at the Kaka’ako art district where there were many murals. I took many photos before visiting Iolani Palace and the Hawaii State Capitol.

Mural #1

Mural #2

Mural #3

Iolani Palace

Hawaii State Capitol

On the top floor of the capitol

The State Capitol has a cool architecture. It’s square shaped with a large opening in the middle. I took the elevator all the way up to get a view of the surrounding, then I tried to enter the senate and house chambers. Unfortunately, they were locked so I couldn’t go in. Nonetheless, I’ve added the Hawaii State Capitol to all the other state capitol buildings I’ve visited.

The temperature was in the mid-80s, but it felt like 90s with the humidity. The weather has been like this since I arrived and will be until I leave.

I took a quick walk to Honolulu’s Chinatown not too far from the capitol building. It’s a small Chinatown. At the Maunakea Marketplace, I bought a taro bubble tea to cool me off before taking the bus back to the hostel.

Buddha statue inside Maunakea Market in Chinatown

At the hostel, I met Shahin. She’s a very talkative older lady. She wanted to go to the Waikiki Farmer’s Market with me. After taking a break from all the walking, I walked with her on Kalakaua Ave to the market by the Hyatt Regency.

There were a lot of sellers, but only a few selling food. I ended up buying some spring rolls and a guava cookie. When we came back to the hostel kitchen, Shahin shared with me some of her home cooked rice and chicken. I devoured the spring rolls since I was so hungry.

I ended up going to bed around 8 PM last night.

This morning, I took the bus to Koko Head District Park and climbed the railroad tracks up to the summit at Koko Crater. It was the most difficult hike I’ve done since the climb was straight up with a 45 degree angle. It took me 40 minutes to go up the tracks to the top. By the time I got there I was all wet from sweating. However, the view was great in all directions. I hung out at the summit for about 30 minutes before coming back down and had to be very careful to not trip and fall.

Koko Crater from the bottom

Up the train tracks

At the top

Beautiful view looking northeast

The view to the southwest

A beautiful bird

By the time I took the bus and came back to the hostel I was so tired. I bought a readymade noodles dish from the ABC Store from the corner of the hostel and ate that for lunch. Then I took a much needed shower.

I wanted to lessen the load of my backpack so I decided to ship back my jacket, a set of clothing, and few other things at the post office that’s a few blocks away.

When I came back to the dorm room again, Shahin told me about a grocery store called Waikiki Market that’s not too far away. I decided to have dinner at McDonald’s because I heard they had different items on their Hawaiian menu compared to the mainland. It turned out I was wrong, so I only had a McChicken and a McDouble.

I decided to check out Waikiki Market anyway. I bought a tuna mayo onigiri, a sausage and egg musubi, and chow fun noodles. Surprising myself, I ate all of them. I also bought some ube ice cream, spicy edamame, and spicy imitation crab meat. I will eat them tomorrow.

Back at the hostel, I’m just relaxing. It’s close to 7 PM. I plan on going to bed soon. Tomorrow, I will go to Diamond Head since I made a reservation at 10 AM.