44h in BKK ++

Haha it was NOT meant to be this way. But special (and hopefully unique) memories are worth recording, even the most ridiculous of them.

++++++++++

Pre-BKK

>>19 Jul 2024 (Fri)

1530 - Read news about the global outage and wondered if we'd make it to BKK [Crisis 1].

1815 - Reached T4 early. Received a slip of paper to fill in passport and flight details.

Analog drawer plans for when technology fails!
Ink spots and unevenness = photocopy of photocopy. Rough edges = cut by scissors.
But most importantly, it worked.

1840 - Queued for manual check-in and received a handwritten boarding pass. Rest of the way into transit area was thankfully trouble-free. Was quite impressed by the orderly response, and also for once thankful to be in the ulu, peaceful T4.

1950 - Finished dinner and headed to boarding gate... only to hear that our flight was delayed from 2040 till 2220 [Crisis 2]. Well, there went the night haha.

2000 - Made the (very good) decision to park ourselves at the Tiger den. Got the bucket of 5 bottles coz it was the most VfM option (also on hindsight a good decision by volume) with mix of Tiger, Corona, Hoegaarden, Kirin and Summer IPA. Skipped the Chang since we (thought somewhat correctly that we) were gonna have that in BKK. I scored a miserable 2/5 in the blind taste test that followed, thanks to my misplaced bias against Tiger (Hoegaarden did extremely terribly that day).

2140 - Boarded with the handwritten boarding pass and some relief.

Those of us who checked-in online beforehand had seat assignments.
For everyone else, it was free seating.

BKK

2350 - Landed.

>>20 Jul 2024 (Sat)

0100 - Got on a grab after an extended search and some marching back and forth between the airport taxi gate and grab pickup gate.

0135 - Reached hotel. Headed to the nearest 7-11 to get supper where we encountered the first episode in what we didn't know at that point was an entire drama series of alcohol woes: alcohol sales prohibited between 0000 and 1100 [Crisis 3]. At least this one wasn't too bad coz there was an available remedy! For that night, we had 2 (precious) bottles of Chang. Rather conservative on hindsight.

0430 - Lights out after some nighttime chatting. It's important to note that this was 0530 SG time, so it can be concluded that this is a good friendship.

0900 - Alarm time.

1000 - Headed out on time, as planned, after various morning skincare routines. Brunchfast at Rocket Cafe after some walking and scouting.

1200 - Cabbed to the Grand Palace to see the Emerald Buddha. Got the hint that the driver was trying to tell us something important. Through multiple translated speech-to-text messages, we came to the understanding that that day was an important Buddhist holiday. The full implications would only reveal themselves later...

1230 - Dropped off somewhere on the outside of the Grand Palace and walked over through the throng of tourists. This bit felt like entering a dangerous area in a game while being cluelessly under-leveled. The closer we moved towards the Palace, the more we encountered staff trying to wave us away or telling us to go to the floating market instead. Like ok... The key point came out only when one staff showed a laminated card saying that due to the holiday, the Palace had restricted opening hours... from 0830-1200 [Crisis 4]. Hahaha oh dear. Google maps doesn't tell us everything.

Looked at the situation and accepted fate :')

1245 - As resilient people, we pivoted to the next destination while admiring the pretty flowers lining the outside of the Palace walls. Recognised, while looking at our luck thus far and the overcast skies, that we were going to get caught in the rain at some point. But until then, this made for a relatively cooling walk.

1315 - Passed by a neighbourhood park and saw some pigeons chilling, completely sprawled on the ground. Never seen pigeons in such a relaxed state in SG.

Practically pancaked.

1330 - Reached the Ong Ang Walking Street which had good vibes courtesy of clean pavements, colourful buildings and a busking student.

Quick shot of the main square. The buildings at the back looked drawn in.
Sort of like the old bathhouse walls in Spirited Away.

1400 - Stopped at Ama Cafe to refuel. H got lucky with a blind box - finally, a small victory to celebrate! Got creative trying to find the perfect angle for a group shot with the compound doors.

1530 - Hopped over to Chinatown to procure pork floss and other snacks. Got caught in the rain, just as planned [Crisis 5]. It's not like we intentionally stayed out to get wet, but the sheltered walkways of Chinatown were not very continuous and we initially walked in the wrong direction to the next destination xD

Vintage gloomy feels.

1600 - Made it out of the rain and into Nam Sing for bird nest and an odd-timing midday meal. Food tasted great but my stomach capacity was at -40% after this. 

1745 - MRT-ed to Jodd Fairs and sought out the famous Leng Saap. We found it, and we also found another laminated card on the table (these things don't bode well)... 

In brief, that day was Asanha Bucha Day (20 Jul 2024) which is always followed by Khao Phansa (21 Jul 2024), i.e. the only 2-day Buddhist holiday in the entire year. Since these holidays follow the lunar calendar, their dates change every year and have a pattern of falling on weekdays... except for 2024. We struck the (figurative) lottery in choosing to be in BKK on that weekend >.<

So back to the laminated card which carried the devastating message: "Today, the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited" [Crisis 6]. 

"It's a little upsetting." (Teo, 2024)

*cries* There went almost all the plans we were looking forward to. And so much for packing a nice set of clothes.

I think we are too well-trained in the field of solution-finding. So dinner was extremely mechanical as calls were made and various contacts were contacted. We zeroed in on only one possible solution but would have to wait to execute it.

It's not you, it's us.
This was the famous dish but it didn't really register oops.
At least I recognised that the fish was good!

1845 - Finished our mechanical eating. Tracked down A, our free-spirited 6th companion. Walked around Jodd Fairs together in the drizzle. At least in BKK, there were other snacks and knick knacks worth seeking out. 

1910 - Encountered a lost phone. Decided to hang around till its owner returned in hopes of chalking up enough karma to exchange for a miracle. H's quick eyes spotted the owner and flagged her down as she walked right past us, oblivious to the fact that she had even lost her phone at that spot >.<

[AAR: It's... useful to have a picture of self on lock screen to aid kind strangers. But more important to realise when phone is lost and call it to avoid making kind strangers wait. Actually just don't lose phone.] 

1950 - Happened across a photobooth (the gen Z ver of neoprints) and decided to go in for some reason [Crisis 7]. 

Failed miserably at being young.

2030 - Cabbed back to hotel and waited till other guests were gone from the lobby before enquiring with the staff on our solution. Successfully procured 10 precious bottles of Chang!

[AAR: Do math before making important decisions. 10 x 320ml = 3.2L i.e. a single tower's worth. How could we have thought that those 10 bottles were enough??]

2045 - Brought the precious bottles up to our room safely, to ensuing jubilation. 

Cue display of assorted, cliched expressions of happiness.
E.g. ear-to-ear grins and one literal leap of joy hahaha.

2300 - Proceeded back downstairs to procure more stock... only to find 1 single bottle of Chang left where there was once a decent stash >.< Seems like other parties caught on about the solution. Procured that bottle and resigned to the fact that that would be the last of it for the trip.

[AAR: Recognise that precious resources are limited. Don't be overly conservative when opportunity arises.]

>>21 Jul 2024 (Sun)

0230 - Lights out after much chatting.

0930 - Struggled to wake.

1010 - Checked out. Headed over slightly late for pre-booked massage. The back and shoulder package felt more like a full-body/leg massage.

1200 - Returned to collect bags. Cabbed to centralwOrld for lunch. 

1315 - Sat down for lunch and hurried to order before the huge group that came in before us did so.

1330 - Waited... and waited... for the food to trickle in. When the dishes came, they were tiny (even by my standards). Attempted to order more, and were told that some dishes we wanted were sold out =.= [Crisis 8]. Cue loss of control of some facial expressions. But we also discussed that we should go back and eat vegetarian for a while. 

1445 - Zoomed over to Big C for a quick look. Picked up some tomato snacks.

1530 - Cabbed to DMK.

1645 - Entered the transit area trouble-free. Went to the lounge (my entry courtesy of F) for free food... and found free alcohol available :')

Every drop counted.
Except the Leo which tasted extremely strange.

1730 - Headed to the gate on time for boarding. Noticed that our flight time had snuck backwards from 1820 to 1835 [Crisis 9a]. Thought that this was fine, since it was only 5 mins worth of delay per pax hahaha.

1800 - Waited at the gate for the boarding call that wouldn't come. With no announcements made, we checked in with the hiding staff and were told that boarding would begin in "20 mins" [Crisis 9b].

1855 - Started (the process of) boarding, 1.5h past original schedule [Crisis 9c]. Experienced several highlights between then and getting on the plane: J getting called out of queue for reasons unknown, F and my boarding passes initially invalid, and lastly getting caught in the rain through various gaps between the shuttle bus, the boarding stairs, and the plane itself. Let's just call all these [Crisis 10].

我问天

1925 - Took off. Relaxed on the uneventful flight, except for when the kid in front decided to cry. Noticed that this airline was rather lax about belting up. Kid was allowed to remain standing on his seat for the whole landing process. 

Post-BKK

2245 - Landed.

2305 - Disembarked with J onto a shuttle for an unusually long ride to T3. Had to leave F behind on the plane due to her far back seat. 

2320 - Cleared immigrations and realised that C and H were only 10 mins away from landing. So much for our flight originally being 2h earlier xD

2335 - Ran and caught the bus home.

2355 - Reached home before pumpkin time.

++++++++++

Key stats:

- party size: 5+1

- guys: 0

- beers: 23

- other alcohols: 1

- rain exposure: 3

- ham and cheese sandwiches: 5

- daily step count: 13k-17k

- amount spent: ~$500

Rainbows in the Night

The break was unintended at the start but at some point I decided it'd be good to just chill out till sometime in 2H. Just lately I felt like writing a little.

This post is titled for an observation in the night, while on a long walk home on a usual, familiar route. Only this time I noticed the rainbows cast across the pavement - unexpected artistry courtesy of the white streetlamps.

June is now 1/3 gone so time has obviously been passing way too fast. I wouldn't say all of it has been fun since the start of 2024, but there's been enough going on that I'd describe my prevailing status as "no spare energy".  Yes there were some travels. And then there were all those angbaos and 白金s. Office days and other-office days. Longstanding and adhoc get-togethers. Since I haven't had the capacity to write, most of those memories are destined to fade. But well, it's more important to live in the present if that's all I have the energy for. 

I didn't think much about those rainbows at first tbh. It was just a "oo wow, liddat also can" kinda moment in the middle of a pavement. Only later did my brain decide that it would make a good allegory haha. Sort of like... I can have all my plans in life, but the details are always a wildcard. As I write this, some memories came rising to the surface like happy little bubbles. 

Gleefully sweeping the banisters clean of snow/stacking dough-shaped snow deposits as high as they could go while climbing up a long flight of stairs. Emerging from a less-traveled patch of green onto a windy, sun-soaked hillside and feeling like a Ghibli character. Having a good whisky... while the dog sitting next to me kept licking my thigh for attention. Scoring the only seat available at a cafe which also just happened to have a powerpoint for saving my dying phone. The last memory is very fresh and though it sounds lame, it takes its place here for how my friend and I cheered as though we'd won the lottery.

All these were events within events. Quirky little sparks of brightness I couldn't have imagined at the point I stepped out for something marked on my calendar.

Just like rainbows in the night.

This year

... is impossible to sum up in one post. It's one of those years that truly felt like it had a few different ones packed in. And it's not just the earlier bits that don't feel like 2023. Even things from as recent as Q3 feel like they happened long ago in a different lifetime. And yet, this year passed in a flash.

Maybe this means that I spent most of it in a state of excitement haha. 2022-me predicted correctly that this year would be full of change. Some I wanted, some I didn't ask for, but all of it served to make life far from boring.

What is true is that there were good times and tough times this year. But there were no bad times. With bad times defined (maybe a little simplistically) as tough times with no end in sight. 

There were things I enjoyed. Old things and new things. Like, dunno what took me so long to find out about crocheting. Turns out it's something I'm good at. Got to enjoy concerts (read: seeing the sujus) more up close than before coz I heeded 2022-me's advice to exercise. Still can't say I love running, but it works. 

The solo wanderer stepped aside a little to leave more space for companions. As a result, there was enough shared happiness to make up for the drought in previous bad times. From extravagant overseas adventures to simpler hangouts over food and drink, amidst the urban and the greenery.

And there were things to navigate. Like bringing the change I wanted to reality. When I was the first choice of others, I had the privilege and support to pursue my own first choice. To my future selves, remember what it took.

Also, yes universe, I take the (very strong) hint that the world is very small. It's one thing for second degree connections to become first degree, but to finally cross paths with people moving along close parallels in the past is on another level. It's quite stunning when these revelations occur. And this year, I was stunned enough to fill a drama plot. From a queue in Manila to many a fine day across my offices.

Can only say I was fated to end up where I am, after taking the route I ended up taking. Or maybe 30 is the magic age where connections surface after a decent buildup. But yes ok, I shall strive to remain friendly and likeable.

So at the end of it, I definitely can say I did all I could with my allotted time in 2023. 17 posts is a sign of it haha, 3rd most in a year since I started blogging wow. And now it's time to look ahead.

Well, I know 2024 will be a test. But knowing what I've been through is the same as knowing things will be ok. Also there's already things to look forward to!

So the only thing I can tell 2024-me is this: remember to rest i.e. set aside enough time for it. At times, 아무것도 하지 않아도 돼, as Ryeowook said. 

Happy New Year! And also (slightly in advance), happy 10th blogging anniversary!

Hawaii+Cali 2023 (Part 4~Big Island~)

Made it within 2023. And that makes this my 100th post here on blogger! Plus the oldest ones over on LJ, that's a few million words written over the years. It also just happens that this milestone arrives on the cusp of 2024, 10 years since I decided to start documenting the best bits in life. As it turns out, there's been quite a lot of that :D

This post won't be complicated since we spent the least amount of time on the Island of Hawaii aka Big Island (about 2 days in total), disproportionate to its size. So in a way, I enjoyed myself disproportionately much here. After the ancient jungles of the previous 2 islands, we took a break from Jurassic Park and went into space~

+++

6 Oct

We got to see sunset through the grimy plane windows. That meant that only dinner was left on the agenda for the first day on Big Island.

A sunset is a sunset haha.

At dinner, the way the food tasted was the absolute least interesting thing. I was very intrigued to see a coconut weather indicator, serving vessels in the form of giant dimsum baskets, and fried wonton skin in the poke. Sadly, though we didn't know it then, that was also our final poke.

This was funny. Though I think not just the coconut will be gone in a hurricane xD

Dunno why the sudden Asian concept.

Nothing left for the night other than the drive across the island from Kona to our hotel in Hilo. I thinkkk we visited Target along the way coz J1 wanted to show me the impressive fall/halloween-themed stuff on sale. I was impressed. And just to note, no alcohol was bought haha (at least from my records).

Big Island roads tended to be winding and hilly and very dark at night. Parts like these felt like we were on a launch strip heading straight for space~ 

7 Oct

To put on record: 7 Oct was my favouritest day not just in Hawaii but in the entire trip. And that's after almost a full week of excitement on 2 other islands. True that it's hard to top a heli tour in terms of flashiness, but this day was memorable in a sort of deeper, more grounded, and more familiar way.

Good days tend to start with a good breakfast! Ken's House of Pancakes was my first American diner experience. While I struggled to finish my half-portion, the food was good. I sampled their signature coconut and passionfruit syrups too for the pancake but still went back to the conventional maple in the end. 

This looked like macs breakfast deluxe actually.

Then, we went to my favourite beach of the trip! Punaluu beach was the far opposite of a disappointment. It wasn't our first time at a black sand beach (that was Santorini circa 2015) but still we were awestruck. I'd seen many gorgeous blue skies-over-seas in 2023 alone but the sapphire view of that day was totally an upgrade. 

We stood a long time watching this view.

See how mesmerising!

The sea somehow managed to display a duality of deep blue and crystal clear which probably had something to do the black foundations. 

We moved to a sort of platform of hardened lava where we spent a long time taking what must've been hundreds of photos haha. A large part of it involved trying to catch the waves breaking high against the rocky strata. That took some balance between staying put long enough for #newprofilepic and scuttling back when in high risk of getting splashed.

One of the 2% successful photos that captured a high splash! With me for scale.

At this area, I especially liked watching the crevices fill up with white foam. Together with the sky and sea in the background, it made a very pretty mcflurry-themed view.

Also took some time to appreciate the unique rock I was walking on which looked like elephant skin.

Mandatory post selfie and it must be from the prettiest place!

On the drive to the next stop. In a place as full of beaches as Hawaii, I'm glad we managed to see a really memorable one.

After my favourite beach, we went on to my favourite hike of the trip! This was J1-selected, and its concept had me hooked right away. The Kilauea Iki Trail, inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, would take us along the rim of said volcano/caldera before a descent right to the crater floor. The reviews said like it would be like going to the moon! That was what I was so extremely excited about. Not like I'll be going to the real moon in my lifetime right xD

A little tunnel provided some extra variety at the start of the trail.

The first leg along the crater rim was the usual forest trail, but with a special view. One thing the reviews warned about was the exposure to elements on the crater floor. That was quite clear from our elevated POV, watching the tiny people inch across the flat grey landscape on a slightly lighter grey path cutting straight through. We thought it looked hot and imagined the tiny people to be suffering, since the sun was on full blast in that cloudless afternoon. J1 might've been having her personal second thoughts then, but I 200% still wanted to go down there hahaha.

While bubbling with excitement, even the rather regular forest felt especially nice to me.

This is the kind of view that makes one go "whoaaaaaaa". Or me at least. And bear in mind that this was also our preview for the second half of the hike.

Presenting the "suffering people" and the zoom capabilities of the S23 Ultra. It's like finding the performers from back-of-the-arena concert seats haha.

Things would go on to defy our expectations, starting from the descent. It is easy to over-simplify the trail into 2 halves: forest rim and crater floor. So the descent between the two was like an unexpected boss encounter. Of all the segments throughout our hikes this trip, I think this portion was one of the trickiest.

Getting closer to the moon surface...

Black broken glass. The landscape was coated in it. Talk about a unique terrain I'd never been on before. The gifs don't have it, but the trail responded with a ceramic-like crunching sound as we picked our way across following stacks of rocks (ahu) acting as trail markers. That in itself provided a sort of warning. The descent wasn't that steep but it sloped enough to warrant caution, especially due to patches of glass-coated pebbles that slid around. At one point I wobbled and reached out instinctively to steady myself... My palm came away with 3 neat little pierces where I'd merely gently laid my hand on a nearby rock. No blood spilt then, but I took the hint that taking even a mild fall on that jagged landscape would've been nastyyyy.

Following the path of the lava as it poured happily downhill all those years ago.

Might look smooth and rounded here but it was anything but.

So that was interesting and soon enough we reached the anticipated crater floor! Wow it was Epic. And it also became clear very fast that the crater rim view was a total scam haha. Because the very first noticeable difference was that it wasn't flat at all. Sort of like... a giant playground floor with its mounds and undulations (on hard black surface instead of colourful rubber) but also with edges and crevices from where the lava hardened into slabs and broke apart. 

Made it to the moon!

The preview showed a "nice flat path" but this was so much more interesting!

Though I must say, very much like the gap between the MRT door and platform, I wouldn't have wanted to get my leg caught in one of these~

I was totally enjoying myself haha. Most of the credit for that goes to how solid and grippy the terrain was. And it wasn't boring thanks to all those crevices and shrubs that acted like mini obstacles. Basically, a very engaging terrain where I could bound around confidently and freely to my heart's content, in almost any direction I wanted! No slippy slidey nonsense to worry about. 

The purpose of this wide shot was to show scale. The scale of freedom and happiness :D

There was one more difference-from-observation. The afternoon sun was indeed at full blast (cap+sunglasses kinda sun) but we were far from baking in the crater. Somehow, there was a very convenient breeze down there that we didn't feel up at the rim. And coz we were out in the open with not much vegetation or other barriers, the wind stayed with us all the way through. On top of the uniqueness of it all, it was genuinely a very comfortable hike. Like a chit-chatty fun-walk on a very special terrain. As said a lot in my line of work, cannot just take a top-down view of things, need to go down to the ground to understand realities ;)

Looking back where we came. Oh yes, there was no sign of the light grey path slicing right through the dark grey although we probably were walking right on it all the time. All the greys just looked the same grey. 

The climb back up to the crater rim at the end was relatively straightforward (zig zag forest trail). It was more common to find families with children coming in from that end, just for the crater floor experience. No need to go through the broken glass portion at the other end.

On the drive out, we stopped by the souvenir shop (both J1 and I got t-shirts of my favourite hike) and a viewing point for some steam vents. The vents themselves were at a distance, but this stop was worthwhile for a few other reasons. The sun was setting by that time, and at that altitude, the temperature was falling just about as steeply. I hadn't been in cold temps in a while since most of my trips in 2023 were concentrated in summer-ish periods and places, so the cold wind was a joy! Not sure if it's got something to do with living on a summer island, but I've generally liked being in cold weather (as long as not too extreme). It's like a physical proof of having the freedom to see the world.

That's prob Mauna Kea in the background, so gentle(-looking) and yet hulking enough to be above the clouds.

Wisps of steam with unblocked view of sunset colours in the background <3

Dinner was one giant bowl of ramen + one normal-sized bowl of rice as an accompaniment. We did our best haha. 

To round off my favourite day of the trip, came my favourite night of the trip. Preface: we did randomly bump into the milky way one fine night in Kauai (as briefly featured in Part 3). At that time, I found out that those crazy well-defined galaxy photos were not something the human eye could perceive - the stars were definitely there but it took camera work to bring them out. The best the milky way looked in real life was this faint grey band across the sky. So I had my expectations internally moderated for this night. Nevertheless, we headed up Mauna Kea. 

This was either fog or driving through the clouds but in any case it was creepyyy.

There was an observatory up there but we didn't go (it was closed or need to pay or smth). Stopping at a carpark somewhere up the road was good enough. As someone who'd had to pack for a temp range of -6 to 31 deg C, I was glad to break out some pieces from the other end of the spectrum. 

So I zipped up and got out of the car first to test out the temps. Right then, I looked upwards and let out an "OMG". J1, who clearly had other concerns, asked if it was cold. Yes, it was cold. But this was the true reason for the exclamation:

🌟满天星星🌟

The above heavily edited photo is an attempt (the best of many tries) to replicate the sky as I saw it that night. The pictorial equivalent of writing a post. Yet it's still not quite the same as the image seared into my mind (and reinforced during a second round on mainland), but I think there's only so far technology can go to preserve memories. The description "diamonds on black velvet" is not wrong but it barely scratches the surface. It's more like someone spilled glowing salt on that black velvet. And the most outstanding of that salt sparkled in chains of silver in the sky.

After some initial marveling on my part, it was time to let some equipment do their job. Enter the S23 Ultra. I'd gladly abandoned my lousy (S$900) S21 FE on my 30th bday in favour of this (S$1.1k) S23 Ultra which was superior in just about every way except the hefty size. The concert season of 2023 had mostly passed by the time I got my hands on it, but it still got its chance to excel on this trip. While paired with my almost decade-old gorillapod from the UK days, and the car as a solid foundation, I could capture almost any angle of the sky I wanted. Take note that the following photos are not as the eye sees, but seeing how they turned out was thrilling.

We arrived in good time to see the core of the milky way which "sets" just like the sun. In real life, it looked like an obvious grey band, like a dense cluster of that glowing salt in the night.

Same angle as the above (I liked the way the signpost jutted out in the rocky foreground) but after playing around with the warmth settings. On the phone, I was getting really cold in real life haha.

More salt! This was the view of milky way extending directly overhead, which I spent a long time craning my neck to look at.

There was lots of waiting in the cold, since every shot required 30s of exposure. More time to just look and admire. On nights like the one on 7 Oct, I was just bursting with gratitude to be where I was.

8 Oct

This was an interesting day that I'd summarise it as a sort of road trip around the northern part of Big Island. A day of long drives and long talks to wrap up a very mixed bag of sights. 

Our itinerary for that day had faced a complete overhaul. One thing we did not do was to go to the green sand beach that had been hanging around in our plans from a very early stage. We switched tack to another trail that seemed more interesting. But mostly it was because I didn't want to end up at another potentially disappointing beach. It was a 9km hike in-and-back some more. And what could top or even match the black sand beach really hahaha.

So first up for real was the Akaka Falls. A short, easy walk to see a very tall waterfall. Since we seemed to have gotten a late start that day, that was shortly followed by lunch at this place called GJ's Huli Chicken where we got ribs. Yup, the chicken was all sold out by the time we got there and the "place" was sorta like a roadside cooking shack next to a greenfield parking lot. It wasn't bad tho!

Through the short jungle walk with its very tall trees and hanging roots.

Falls so tall that the bottom wasn't in sight. 

I'd describe this as ang moh char siew. This was also our final in-car meal~

The post-lunch drives took us up and around the mountain. As we climbed up those long winding roads, the weather was being funny. It was like driving through some sort of checkerboard of rainy and sunny patches lol. The below series of views are in chronological order xD

Could see far and wide from that high up, and watch the clouds pick their places to offload.

Windows 2000 default desktop background hahaha.

Pololu Valley lookout. We'd planned to do the short trail down to the beach but were strongly discouraged by the park ranger due to muddy, slippery conditions. But actually the ominous weather was deterrence enough.

About 50% blue sky rate on this day haha.

We zoomed to the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company about 15 mins before it closed. It was what it was but I wanted to immortalise some comedy concerning the macadamias I bought here. Specifically, the dark choc and island onion-flavoured ones that were meant for my ex-office. Two different bags!! I must've been unclear at some point while announcing it, coz an ex-colleague commented what an interesting food I'd brought back - chocolate-covered onions. I hastened to set the record straight and insisted that those weren't onion-covered chocolates. It took some pointing out before my jetlagged brain registered the mis-phrasing and that led to a decent 5 mins of laughing our lungs out. We definitely made Hawaii more exotic than it really was there.

No more chickens, but we were treated to goats at the macadamia place.

I'd had the privilege of selecting the final hike of the Hawaii leg, though even while searching it was clear to me that nothing could top Kilauea Iki. Since meadows was the only terrain we hadn't yet seen on Hawaii, and a terrain I personally missed a lot from the Peak District days, I selected the Puu Waawaa Cinder Cone trail. It fell short of expectations. From the reviews I'd imagined nice green meadows with sheep. But instead we got a rough yellow scrubland and I only spotted 2 suspicious-looking sheep skulking around. 

Must be another job hazard but on the drive there all I could think was "they could do soooo much with all this land".

The trail up the cinder cone looked like this. Packaged with the secludedness and overcast skies, it was downright eerie. I felt strangely uncomfortable taking the view side to side from the path (full of dried grass and dead-looking trees), like hidden things were watching. We went a short ways up the (3km straight) road before turning back.

We attempted to find a sunset spot but had to settle for the roadside after running out of time haha.

And suddenly, all that was left was the final dinner in Hawaii before our red-eye back to mainland. We attempted and failed to find poke *sadded*. As puzzling as it was, there was only one poke shop open and it had sold out except for some dried oyster poke that didn't look appetising. So Japanese it was again, and it was elaborate!

We ordered a sushi and sashimi platter and didn't expect it to come in this huge boat! It attracted looks from other tables hahaha. And I'm proud to confirm that we managed to finish everything ^^

9 Oct

We got back to J1's inn after my most uncomfortable red-eye ever. There was a short stretch for us to wash clothes and nap before commencing the Cali leg that very same evening. I was told that I knocked out in the guestroom.

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See why I couldn't confirm if Kauai was my favourite island, even after all the larger-than-life things we did there? While there's a larger number things I could recommend others to do on Kauai, I like what we did on Big Island a lot. At least on 7 Oct. So in the end, I have no answer to the question (my own lol) of which was my favourite island. It just depends on what is important~

And that wraps up the Hawaii leg and the second last post of 2023~ If life allows, this series will resume in 2024. Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Cheers to the good times past and the good times ahead! ✨