When I was doing some shopping Friday night (I was trying to find something made with Koa wood, a special wood only found in Hawaii, very nice but quite expensive :( ), I started to chat with the lady in the shop selling Koa wood boxes. In fact she tried to sell me a box containing chocolates, so I laughed and told her I was coming from Belgium so I didn't need chocolates. That's how we began to talk, and in the end she told me I absolutely had to go in the North of the island to see other landscapes. She gave me her favorite spots in the North: Kahuku and Haleiwa, the places she always visits when she has a day off.
It sounded good. And there is a bus (TheBus 52/55, called the circle line) that goes all around the island. So Saturday morning, I hopped on TheBus in Downtown and went to Kahuku. It took about two hours to arrive there: the road followed closely the coast of Oahu, so the view was awesome (see the pictures). Sometimes, we were driving very close to the Ocean, less than ten meters from the water! The lady sitting in front of me started to talk with me and showed me the places where the film Jurassic Park was filmed. The landscapes were indeed fantastic: on one side of the road, you have the ocean, and on the other side, you have the slopes of the Hawaiian mountains, covered in a dense green forest.
I got off TheBus in Kahuku: there you can find shacks selling the famous Kahuku shrimps, a local must. I walked along the highway to find the perfect place. There are many shacks and trucks selling those shrimps and prawns. I stopped at “Giovanni’s shrimps” to take some pictures of his truck. So many people have signed their name on it, or sketched something. Quite funny! Then I continued about one mile along the road to find Romy’s red shack: I arrived there at 3PM. Since I missed the breakfast (I was still snoring in my bed at 9 AM, I know it’s late but I was tired), I was pretty hungry when I arrived at Romy’s. There, I tried the garlic and butter shrimps, Romy’s favorites, as well as Pani Popo, a Samoan dessert. The shrimps were very good. However, I don’t know if it was because of the terrible wind, or because I was extremely hungry, or because there was a lot of butter and garlic sauce with my shrimps, or because I was peeling the shrimps with my fingers, or I don’t know what… Anyway I ended up with my shirt and short covered with butter and garlic stains. Pretty disgusting, it basically looked like I ate like an awful pig…
After this feast, I hopped on TheBus to Haleiwa, on North Coast of Oahu. It took about an hour to reach this small village. In TheBus, I was sitting next to three Swedish girls working for a Christian association in Hawaii. Apparently, they had been struck by a holy revelation (one of them kept reading her little pink Bible, how cute…). They were talking to the guy sitting in front of me about the flesh and all the temptations, how to resists to these earthly temptations (solution: by reading the Bible, of course), how Jesus Christ was going to come back and save us all (perhaps we will be notified by emails when he will return???), and blah blah blah… At least they didn’t try to convert me; I think they had seen it wouldn’t work with me. However, I have to admit that their English was absolutely perfect.
Haleiwa is a very small town: a paradise for the surfers since the waves here are taller than in Waikiki. I went to the beach to see the surfers, and there I met a Hungarian family. The guy was a contractor and he had been hired to work in Hawaii. So the whole family moved here a few weeks ago. They were looking for a rental, and they asked me if I knew a good deal in the area. Apparently, I looked like the locals… I had to tell them I was only a tourist. Anyway, it was nice talking to them.
After that, I tried the snow cones at Matsumoto’s, Haleiwa’s best. Quite good, because the ice is shaved really thin, not like the snow cones you find in Waikiki. In a nearby surf shop, I bought some stuff and talked with the salesman. I told him I was coming from Belgium. Apparently, it was the first time someone from Belgium had visited his shop. He told me he had, guess what, … Hungarian ancestors. Cool, Haleiwa seems to be invaded by Hungarians :) .
After that, I tried the snow cones at Matsumoto’s, Haleiwa’s best. Quite good, because the ice is shaved really thin, not like the snow cones you find in Waikiki. In a nearby surf shop, I bought some stuff and talked with the salesman. I told him I was coming from Belgium. Apparently, it was the first time someone from Belgium had visited his shop. He told me he had, guess what, … Hungarian ancestors. Cool, Haleiwa seems to be invaded by Hungarians :) .
It was 6.30 PM when I took the bus back to Honolulu. After a two hours ride, I was back at my hotel, quite tired. And I had to wash my polo shirt and shorts, since they had suffered from a nasty garlic & butter attack during the afternoon...
