Hawaii 04

What I did on my vacation... finally

Day 1.
arrived in Honolulu 9pm. It was the same day as South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun - hurray for Koreans. We checked in, peeled off the winter clothing exposing our blinding white legs and took a walking tour of the Waikiki area. 82 degrees. I love walking down the street and seeing a sea of familiar faces - theres a sense of comfort in that - identifying - belonging... For dinner, we ate ramen at Ezogiku's. There were little Miss Kobayashis all around the ramenhouse - slurping down tubs of ramen into their 75lb bodies. Its magic.. where does it go?

Day 2.
Day with original Ula.

We did the entire island, snorkled, boogie/body boarded, bbq, hiked through mountains to waterfalls, got several history lessons, herb lessons (ha) and even a hula dance with the ukelele in the background. They guys were hilarious. "Yeah, we were hiking back up yesterday and da Korean Kahuna guy was here. Dey were like 'I thought this area was clear!' and ran to us holding uzi's. They pointed at my cousins ukelele case thinkin it was a gun. Those some crazy bras... yoo Koreans all look da same I couldn't tell which one was da President guy. Come, I'll show you my favorite plant in the mountains, yeah."



BIG ISLAND - HILO
The next morning we took off for the Big Island. We came in the middle of some monsoon. Rubicon greeted us with 5lb sandwiches. Still in city mentality, we grabbed a hold of the tourist map and zipped off to as many places as our little neon would take us.
Mauna Loa Macadamia Farm
(Shawn, me posing with the angry nut)- before Hershey chocolate bought it for $130 million. I learned: macadamia nuts are cholestoral free, it takes 300 pounds of pressure per square inch to crack the shell, the factory uses all of the nut - the shells burned as fuel and husks are used as compost.
Akaka Falls

URGENT: Earthquake Survivors Need Your Help

I hope everyone had safe and happy holiday celebrations...

At this writing, more than 150,000 people are dead and thousands more are still missing after a violent undersea earthquake unleashed a twenty-foot high wall of water that rushed into coastal towns in southern Asia, destroying entire villages and carrying people, homes, and livestock. Hardest hit was Sri Lanka where nearly 15,500 people perished and over a million left homeless. The quake also affected Southern India, Sumatra, Thailand, Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia and the Maldives.

More trouble is expected as waters recede, leaving disease and destruction and critical shortages of essential items.

These are SAFE ways to help:

American Red Cross International Response Fund
AmeriCares South Asia Earthquake Relief Fund
Direct Relief International International Assistance Fund
Médecins Sans Frontières International Tsunami Emergency Appeal
Oxfam Asian Earthquake & Tsunami Fund
Sarvodaya Relief Fund for Tsunami Tragedy
Save the Children Asia Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund
UNICEF South Asia Tsunami Relief Efforts

Or you can chose one of these Relief Organizations

If you have no money:
1. Forward this information on to your friends and family. This is VERY important, as it helps magnify our collective efforts at this crucial time.

2. Pray for the families of victims and all those affected by this tragedy.

Thank you for stepping up to help in this time of tragedy.