Remain among the clumps of grass and do not elevate yourself.
E noho iho i ke opu weuweu, mai ho`oki`eki`e.
Remain among the clumps of grass and do not elevate yourself.
Meaning:
Don’t show off. Don’t get puffed up and big-headed.
Be ha`aha`a (humble), which does not mean timid, submissive, and spineless. An inner self-confidence which gives rise to quiet strength is far more admirable than self-importance, arrogance, and egotism.
Yesterday I wrote about the time leading up to my Hawaiian trip. Today, let’s talk about what I’ve done while I’m here. I’m staying at a Marriott (big surprise), but I was surprised with how well they’ve treated me. For starters, I was given a room upgrade (which is around a $150/night bonus). The catch was that it wasn’t quite ready at 7 o’clock so they gave me a few drink vouchers to use at the poolside bar. If I didn’t want to wait, I could check into the room class I’d paid for but I wouldn’t get the upgrade. It was the first of many tough decisions that I had to ma… ok, I can’t keep typing that with a straight face. Of course I saddled up to the bar and had a Mai Tai. As soon as I finished my first drink, the room was ready. It was a corner room on the 24th floor, so I had two balconies. One had a gorgeous view of the ocean and the other had a view of Diamond Head where the sun would rise. I knew that my reservation included a $30 “resort fee”, but I didn’t really know what that was for. Turns out, it’s free breakfast, coffee, unlimited DVD/BluRay rentals, discounts, drink tickets, and probably more. Needless to say, I would recommend Waikiki Marriott if you’re heading out to Honolulu.
After checking out what the resort had to offer, I decided to look into what there was to do on this island since I didn’t really plan anything before arriving. (Show up, see what happens. Sounds like me.) Turns out, most of the touristy things do require some advanced planning so those were out. Sort of last minute I decided to rent a car for the couple days (and by last minute, I mean I booked it during my layover in LAX). Since I had the car, I decided to just explore the island. A few minutes with the map and I found a botanical garden. That of course had to be stop number one. It’s not really what I expected. Instead, it was so much more. Nestled along the side of one of the mountains, it’s a huge expanse of park-like area and trees, with one road in and out. I drove the whole road (a few miles) and stopped at every little area and took more pictures. It’s vastly more beautiful that I know what to do with. Being a Monday morning, there were all of about 10 people that I saw the entire time. It was sickeningly peaceful. (As a matter of fact, I’m writing this from one of the little pavilions toward the far end of the road. But let’s not jump ahead to today just yet.) After spending a good few hours staring at the immense beauty I realized I should check out Pearl Harbor. There were a ton of people there as you would expect, but I was able to meander through the memorials and plaques mostly unscathed.
After being away for most of the day, I realized I hadn’t had lunch by around 1:30pm. Dropping the car back off at the hotel, I walked around the little downtown area of Waikiki. Along the way, I stumbled into an Apple Store and decided to check out the new iPad Pro. The danger was that they had them in stock. It took a lot of effort not to walk out with one. I think the fact that the Pencil wasn’t in stock helped deter me, since it really needs to be a package deal. After a while, I found my way back to the hotel and went back to the bar. Football was playing so I used it as an excuse to sit there and drink. I stopped when it was time to catch the sunset, so I ran up to my balcony and stared down the day.
Once it was time to find dinner, I went back to the place where I could get my included breakfast. The dinner, like breakfast, was superb. And with 25% off because of my Marriott Elite status, I couldn’t pass it up. Belly full and liver angry, I decided it was best to relax in the room a little. I spent some more time on the balcony writing yesterday’s entry. The sound of the ocean crashing along with the bustle of the city was a relaxing background on which to work. Entry complete, I checked out the DVD situation. They had The Man from U.N.C.L.E. so I decided to give it a whirl. (Good flick, by the way.) After that, a quick nap on the balcony made me realize it was probably just time for bed.
Today I had to check out of the hotel in the morning, but my flight isn’t until 10 tonight. After another monster breakfast, I lounged around the room taking in more time on the balconies. Since I then had many hours to kill, I decided to see what other park type areas we had. I found a ruined temple area overlooking Pearl Harbor and made a quick pass of that. I’ll admit, it wasn’t as impressive as a quick scan of the Wikipedia entry would have you believe. It was beautiful nonetheless. Then it was off to the north side of the island to check out a beach that was recommended as a place I couldn’t miss before leaving the island. By 2pm it was a pretty secluded place, probably only 20 people there. And that includes the beach wedding I stumbled by. Since I’m neither a sand nor ocean guy, I took my pictures and left. Deciding to spend the remainder of my day back at the botanical gardens to both write this and stare again at the beauty, I took off back to the center of the island. Upon arrival, I noticed the sign says that the gardens close at 4pm, which is nowhere near as late as I wanted to be here. (For reference, it’s 3:48pm right now!) I’m far enough back in the gardens that I need to stop typing and start driving for the gate. But I want nothing more at this moment than to keep sitting here and listening to the sounds of nature around me.
Fine, I gave in. It’s now several hours later and I’ve made it back to civilization. Or downtown Waikiki, whichever you want to call it. The hotel has a “hospitality room” with several couches and showers. It’s apparently designed for people just like me who are “homeless” in Honolulu for a few hours. At either rate, I decided instead to wander around a little more and ran into a hula show on the beach. It had already started and the crowd was pretty well filled in, so there wasn’t a great place to stop and watch. I watched on the sidelines for a little bit and ultimately found my way back to the hotel bar so that I can finish telling you about my day. I don’t think there’s much else to tell, though.
Many people mocked me for having such a short stay in Hawaii given how long it takes to get here. But ultimately, I got a little over two full days on the island. I’ll probably spend the last couple hours in the airport, but let’s be honest, I’m comfortable there. I think if I had stayed another day or two, I wouldn’t have done anything else. I’d have either sat in the botanical gardens for far too many hours or started taking advantage of the free movies the hotel gave me. While both would be relaxing, neither is necessarily cost effective.