The first five days of our vacation were spent on Oahu, one of the northwestern Hawaiian islands. Oahu is home to the capitol, Honolulu, and the famous Waikiki Beach, which is watched over by the dormant volcano Diamond Head, slightly to the southeast. Here is the island as seen in Google Earth:
Our hotel was the Royal Hawaiian, and is positioned directly on the best part of Waikiki beach. The hotel is old and famous, but as a five star establishment is not at all inexpensive. It’s easily the most upper-class hotel we’d ever stayed in.
Waikiki is a tourist mecca – a strange mix of very high end shopping and the sort of surf lifestyle I remember from my days as a youth. A high percentage of tourists on this island were Japanese, and the city welcomes them openly (for instance, virtually every restaurant has Japanese menu’s, including the fast-food joints). Everything centers on the beach though, and every day the sand is thronged with people enjoying what is the most impressive beach I’ve ever been to.
The far right image above is the view from atop Diamond Head, which can be seen in the distance in the middle photo. The climb was somewhat torturous, given that a good deal of the height is climbed via steps, but we were lucky to have a misting rainfall during our ascent (which miraculously cleared once we got to the peak). If you are ever in Waikiki, you must do this climb because the views (both from the path and the peak) are great.
< Birdwoman of Waikiki
The above photo shows a local who appeared to be doing some sort of maintenance to the local pigeons. It seems the pieces of pumice she scattered around her attracted the flock, and they had trust in her enough that she could pick them up and 'check them out'. If you look closely you can see she is holding one in the picture. I regret not asking her what she was doing...
During our stay in Waikiki we visited many attractions (such as the zoo and an aquarium), saw a magic show, went shopping and of course went to the beach every day. It was a go-go-go five days, in keeping with the energy of the area, and distinctly different from the laid-back atmosphere of the second island of the trip. The weather was great as well; although it was in the mid 80's every day the ocean winds cooled us off. Later in our trip we would experience some punishing heat...
Our last night was spent at the luau, which is a traditional Hawaiian feast including Polynesian dancing and singing. We went to the one hosted by our hotel, and it was a lot of fun (even though the fire dancer at the magic show was superior to the one at the luau...)
< At the luau
I liked Waikiki a lot. If I ever return to Hawaii, this island would be my number one destination.