4/27/2009 Monday

I woke up at 4am today- jet lagged.

Our apartment is located just 2 blocks away from Waikiki beach. I could hear the constant traffic from my apartment and that didn’t help me to sleep better.

So, I got up and made breakfast.

Later, Karan and Radim had to go to work. So, I was alone and ready to explore Honolulu. With guide book in my hand, I headed towards Honolulu Chinatown.

In an unfamiliar place, I always like to study the road map in advance so I get a general idea about the main highways and directions. Driving in Honolulu is not difficult. However, the road signs are small and the road names are not the usual – 3rd Street, Washington Street, etc. The road names here don’t mean anything to me and they could be long and hard to remember, such as Keeaumoku, Waiakamilo, Kanekapolei, Liliuokalani, etc. Luckily in Waikiki area and even Honolulu downtown, the speed limit is only 25-35 miles/hr. There are lots of traffic lights (if you are not using the highway), so that gives me chance to make quick reference to the map when I come to a red light.

I didn’t have a detailed map of Chinatown with me. So, I had trouble finding a good parking spot that was close to where I wanted to go. There were lots of one way streets. I drove round and round and finally found a parking that I was happy with (since I wasn’t ready to pay $10 for full day parking and the roadside parking is only for 1 hour).

I have been to Chinatown in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle. Honolulu Chinatown is on the small side. There are a few vacant shops. What I like about this Chinatown is it’s not very touristy and not filled with souvenir shops. I visited this Chinatown three more times in the next two days at various times. I found that the markets weren’t too busy. The shoppers here were so laid back. They didn’t seem rushed when doing their grocery shopping.

I passed by a hair salon and made an appointment for tomorrow (see next post). 🙂

People hang out at Chinatown riverside, play chess, drink tea etc

The street signs in Chinatown are pretty distinct, as they’re written in both English and Chinese words.

Getting blessings from Guanyin

Sun Yat-sen (Father of modern China) statute in Chinatown

A line outside Pho To-Chau Vietnamese restaurant, just like what is described in the guide book. I love Pho soup, but I wasn’t hungry when I passed by this restaurant. So, I didn’t try the food. 🙁

Golden Palace Restaurant

Although fresh local and imported fruit selections are unparalleled here, I specifically looked for fruits from Oahu, not imported from Mexico or China.

We found local Oahu fruits here (Hotel/Maunakea Street, see the shop banner below).

The very friendly shop owner told me that Oahu produces limited amount of local fruits. So, they have to import fruits from other countries. But he specializes in local fruits. 🙂 And, he gave me discount. Yay!

Karan and Radim joined me at Chinatown after their work. We stopped by Summer Frappe to have a very refreshing fresh fruit smoothie.

At Summer Frappe (Pauahi Street). Yummy fresh fruit smoothies. The lady in the middle is the shop owner, Summer Chau. No artificially-flavored powdered smoothies here. I had aloe, mango and papaya smoothie. 🙂

After that, we stopped by the Maunakea market to have a bite (see next post).