Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

[Kalalau]

I put two friends on a plane for Hawai'i this morning, they ought to be arriving in Honolulu in about a half hour, and then its off to Maui. And a few days later, the female friend is joined by her best female friend, who lives in Honolulu, and they fly off to Hilo to enjoy the Merrie Monarch. Both hula, they will know and appreciate what they are looking at. To my untrained eyes, its all pretty, I do appreciate that, but am not what you could possibly mistake for a knowledgeable fan. There is a lot to know, a lot to learn! It seems that KFVE will be streaming the ho'olaulea on their website.

[anapuni808]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

you can also watch the actual competition from Thurs to Sat on KITV-TV. www.thehawaiichannel.com

[Kalalau]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

The vibe at the Edith Kanaka'ole Tennis Center, the venue, is the most positive I have experienced anywhere. Everybody is stoked, the place is full of smiles and good vibes. The Japanese fans appear to be very knowledgeable, they follow along in their programs like a knowledgeable baseball fan scores a ball game in their program, they know the hulas, the halaus, and the kumus. There is a whole art of hula developing in Japan, and festivals. Its interesting that a lot of Hilo people seem to be kind of jaded to the event, or maybe they just don't want to bother with the crowds, but for a mainlander like me its a great experience. We have been to six Merrie Monarchs, starting in 1991. We were thinking about going again this year but there have been some problems so we didn't, but will be watching on the internets.

I have so many great memories of Hawai'i; another that involves hula- several years ago at Waikiki, a hula show on the grass right beside the beach, you'd go for a swim then go up to the hula show, swim, etc, at sunset. Yeah I know it was just for the tourists but I did love it.

[Kalalau]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

Well I truly hope they enjoyed the Merrie Monarch. It did run a bit long, KFVE had coverage scheduled to end at 12:30, which would have been 3:30 Pacific, obviously I dozed off long before then. I hope it was all they hoped it was. Somehow to me it seemed not quite as lively as others, its hard to put into words but the pizzazz seemed lacking, I didn't notice a lot of extraordinarily beautiful gowns and hats on the ladies this time, or handsome palule for the ka-ne, either. The gals were depending on a ride from friends in Hilo so if it really did end @ 12:30...oh well...I told em previous Merrie Monarchs we'd been to had run about 4 hours, that seemed right. Worry worry. I so want them to have enjoyed it. worry fret ...

[Kalalau]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

Hmmm...just got off the phone with one of the ladies, she insisted they enjoyed the MM very much yet left at halftime because their bleacher seats had no backs and that was uncomfortable. Hmmm. worry worry fret fret. Most of the MM's I have been to we have had floor seats, folding chairs with backs, the times in the bleachers were somewhat bothersome but it never crossed our minds to split. Hmm worry worry fret fret. Yet they insisted they enjoyed it. Hmmm...

[Kalalau]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

The travelers return tonight @ 9:30. How sad. I get morose leaving Hawai'i. Why come home? Why not stay forever? It can be done, thousands of people do it. California ain't bad, especially southern coastal Cal, maybe the best weather on the mainland, but still the ocean is so cold here except for a couple of months every summer. Colors seem washed out and grayish here, but so vibrant in Hawai'i. I will be picking them up at the airport, I wonder what goodies they will return with...coffee? surf shop T shirts? Merrie Monarch T's? Chocolate? Some fine CD's? It will be nice to see them, their cat will be thrilled with their return. Aloha

[Kalalau]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

They have returned successfully. I picked them up at the airport right on time, some kind of horrible new construction project is going on, creating horrible traffic chaos. Of course they had a wonderful time. Today it is foggy and cold, an unfortunate contrast to the pleasant weather they had in Hawai'i. It was warm and clear for quite a few days here, but now its back to gloom and chill. They did experience the big storms with waterspouts during their visit with friends in Honolulu. Its amazing how gloomy California seems compared with Hawai'i, especially on a day like this.

[Kalalau]

Re: Two Friends To Hawai'i Today

Guess who's checking out Zillow re. Maui today!

I sometimes like checking out real estate around the world. One memorable listing was for what looked just like a German chalet in Paraguay, the listing mentioned that the grandfather had passed away so the family was returning to the Fatherland.