Posts from the “Travel” Category

Big Island Slurps

Posted on January 3, 2011

There are those who say Hawai‘i speaks noodle. On the Big Island, here’s where I converse with them.

…

Shizuko Teshima opened Teshima Restaurant (79-7251 Māmalahoa Highway, Kealakekua; 808-322-9140) in 1940 where she first started a store in 1929. Now 103, the spirited owner—she once told us she checks receipts every night and finds mistakes—still runs this family-style joint that sports ’50s decor and comfy red-leather booths. Hot tea and a sushi amuse-bouche are presented upon arrival for dinner.

Noodlewise, you can gain traditional comfort in hefty saimin or beef sukiyaki in a kettle, but you might want to consider a kettle of nabeyaki udon. A steaming enameled pot is delivered to your table with an old wooden top protecting plump udon, two kinds of fish cake, celery, cabbage, and a gently cracked egg. Mix it around so the egg cooks, turning the broth rich and creamy, then toss in a few shakes of Shichimi Togarashi red pepper granules for a perfect one-pot meal at the end of a long Kona day.

Though The Lotus Café’s (73-5617 Maiau Street, Kailua-Kona; 808-327-3270) strip-mall location just above Costco isn’t very atmospheric, its healthy and eclectic dishes more than make up for it. Owners Howie and Ladda Simon (from New York and Thailand, respectively) offer a big menu that’s half northern Thai and half dishes from the likes of Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The Simons grow some ingredients in their garden and create 17 of their own sauces.

Sit under the solar-panel illuminated pavilion strung with colorful prayer flags, then dig in. Lemongrass shrimp noodles are bathed in a gently spiced tomato-based sauce backed by a rainbow of vegetables. Singapore laksa blossoms with sunny, aromatic turmeric that complements shrimp or organic chicken; its one-third coconut-based liquid to two-thirds noodle ratio makes a nourishing, palate-pleasing meal. Save room for gelato and raw desserts that the Simons make—you guessed it—from scratch.

Read about more Hawai‘i noodle spots here. LL

Categories: food, Travel

In the footsteps of saints

Posted on December 11, 2010

Often called the most Hawaiian island, Moloka‘i, with its close-knit, small-town community of just 8,100 residents, has a way of making visitors—even kama‘āina from other islands—inescapably aware that they’re tourists. Yet there is one place where everyone—even a Moloka‘i resident—is a visitor, and where a tour guide is obligatory for all: the flat and windy five-square-mile peninsula of Kalaupapa.

Kalaupapa Peninsula. Photo by Douglas Peebles for AAA

Best known as the former isolation settlement for Hansen’s disease patients (1866–1969), Kalaupapa is also remembered for the valiant dedication of Belgian priest Damien de Veuster, who lived on the peninsula and served the patients for 16 years before dying from the disease himself in 1889. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Damien this past October, bringing new attention to his and Kalaupapa’s inspirational story.

“It’s very exciting, not only for Catholics but for the whole state,” said Deacon Wally Mitsui, canonization event coordinator. “And now, people have even greater interest in going to Kalaupapa.” Most important, said Bishop of Honolulu Larry Silva, whose great-grandfather and grand-aunt died in Kalaupapa, “He should continue to inspire us all to love God and dedicate our lives in service to those among us who are most in need.”

In 2010, about 18 patients remain in the settlement, which is preserved as a national park. Twenty-six unforgiving switchbacks punctuate the dramatic three-mile access trail down a 1,700-foot precipice. I hiked, but many visitors travel by mule or bypass the trail by flying direct.

Carrying a light lunch and plenty of water, I hopped over tree roots threaded through forest paths while walking at a steady pace for 45 minutes down to the stony coastline and tour meeting point. Distant vistas of the peninsula’s valleys unfolding onto a boundless sea inspired me to stop several times for hopelessly inadequate photographs.

At the meeting point, I stared up at the cliff from whence we came, then out at the indigo bay. I’d learned in school, and heard later on the tour, that boats carrying exiled Hansen’s disease sufferers to Kalaupapa stayed out in the rough seas well off shore, then, incomprehensibly, just dumped people and their belongings overboard. Not all patients made it to land, and rarely did their belongings—a frightful beginning to their new, imprisoned lives. The immense history steeped in this land was already washing over me.

We soon filed onto a rickety bus like obedient schoolchildren. As the collection of old homes—many abandoned—passed beyond the bus’s scratched window panes, we learned that many residents chose to remain here for life, even when allowed to leave, and that Richard Marks, who arrived in 1956, ran Damien Tours, Kalaupapa’s only tour company, for more than 50 years until his death in 2008.

One of the tour’s main stops is at the grave of Mother Marianne Cope, a Sister of St. Francis who arrived in 1888 from O‘ahu’s hospital for Hansen’s disease patients when Father Damien was too sick to work. She carried out his plans and dedicated her life to the children who grew up in separate homes from their parents until her death in 1918. She was beatified in 2005.

Later, the tour made the dusty journey to Kalawao, the original settlement to the east that overlooks an iconic bay, spectacular sea cliffs, and rock formations. St. Philomena Church, built one year before Father Damien’s arrival in 1873, stands symbolic of his resolve to improve residents’ lives and today protects Damien’s right hand, his 1995 beatification relic.

Three hours later, I was ready for the more difficult two-hour climb back up the cliff. The ascent gave me time to mull what I had just seen and made me realize that a visit to Kalaupapa is more than a sightseeing trip. It’s a pilgrimage of the mind, heart, and soul—whether the visitor is a tourist, kama‘aina, or somewhere in between.

By Christine Thomas for AAA Hawaii 1-2010.

DO
A permit from the Hawai‘i Department of Health (808-567-6924) is required to visit Kalaupapa, and children under 16 are prohibited. Damien Tours (808-567-6171) will arrange the paperwork for its guests. Moloka‘i Ferry (866-307-6524) runs daily between Lahaina and Kaunakakai harbors and offers package tours. Advance reservations are recommended for the tour, ferry, and Moloka‘i Mule Ride (800-567-7550).

STAY
The renovated Hotel Moloka‘i (rates start at $159; 877-553-5347) is now the island’s sole hotel. Close to Kamiloloa Beach and the state’s only barrier reef, it offers a freshwater swimming pool, spa, and on-site restaurant. Or head east toward Hālawa Valley and rent a two-bedroom beachfront vacation cottage at Dunbar Beachfront Cottages (rates start at $170; 808-558-8153 or 800-673-0520) in Kainalu.

EAT
Before the descent, fuel up at Coffees of Hawai‘i (808-567-9490). Open at 6 a.m., it always has baked goods and to-go lunches ready. On the return, have a Mocha Momma coffee drink while touring the coffee plantation. Hot bread is available starting at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday behind the iconic Kanemitsu Bakery in Kaunakakai (808-553-5855).

Categories: Adventure, Culture, History, Travel

Island Drama

Posted on November 7, 2010

What do Hawaiians really think about life in the Islands?

When the curtain goes up at the Kumu Kahua Theatre, O‘ahu’s modern city will seem to disappear. As the play, this time Kamau, unfolds from a center stage covered in simple, woven lauhala mats, you’ll form a new island vision.

Since 1971, all of the original productions at this intimate 100-seat theater near Honolulu’s historical Chinatown district have been performed in a relatable Hawaiian voice (often using Hawaiian or pidgin dialogue) with minimal costuming, to portray current local issues and concerns.

This special engagement tells the story of Alika, a tour-bus driver whose family’s oceanfront land is being purchased by a developer for a hotel. As the state’s only theater company presenting plays about Hawaii by Hawaiian playwrights, it’s your best chance to experience powerful revelations of what Hawaiians really think about life here — an impact that won’t disappear when the curtain falls. kumukahua.org

For Islands Magazine.
LL

Categories: Culture, Hawaiiana, Theatre, Travel

Healthy Eats

Posted on October 19, 2010

Call it getting a head start on your New Year’s resolution.

Hale serves up Japanese-centric, vegan, macrobiotic dishes in its chic industrial space, and many are fried in a mix of olive and sesame oils. For a lighter delight, sample an über-healthy Celeb Wrap, inspired by Madonna’s own lunchtime treat–a whole wheat tortilla hugging brown rice, fresh Kahuku corn, Hijiki, tempeh, avocado, carrot and romaine. Their perfectly cooked and seasoned ‘opah sandwich is the next best bet. 1427 Makaloa St, Honolulu. 808-944-1555; Halemacro.com

Raw Pad Thai

If it took one raw lemon cheesecake for Licious Dish owner and chef Sylvia Thompson to run-not-walk to a raw culinary career, imagine what one of her vegan, raw, gluten-free meals might do for you. People rave about her Living Lasagna, wicked chocolate tart, and goji-strawberry kombucha beverage, but these days I’m digging Kaffir Miso Pad Thai: crunchy bell peppers, carrots, onion, purple cabbage, bean sprouts and kelp noodles coated by lip-smacking kaffir lime miso sauce, then sprinkled with cilantro and sesame cashews. Thompson often tells customers this colorful mix represents “the antioxidants your body needs to keep from rusting from the inside out,” but the flavor alone will convert you. 650 Iwilei Rd, #170, Honolulu, 808-536-9680; e-liciousdishes.com

It’s clear from the pidgin-inspired name that popular Kaneohe spot Pah Ke is a Chinese restaurant, but chef Raymond Siu isn’t bound by the traditional and avoids typical greasy fare. His fine dining training (think Wong and Yamaguchi) is threaded through to the desserts, but shines brightest in distinct “Chinese Hawaiian” menu selections emphasizing local ingredients. Siu’s spinach and Waimanalo greens salad topped with Ka‘u orange pieces and in an orange vinaigrette just might be irresistible, followed by boiled Kahuku prawns from Leonard Wong’s third-generation shrimp farm served with a side of ginger, green onion and cilantro in a sweet shoyu sauce. They’re so plump and tender you might mistake them for lobster. 46-018 Kamehameha Highway, Kaneohe. 235-4505; pahke.com

Categories: food, Travel

Have Your Cake … but it’s so pretty you might not want to eat it

Posted on September 26, 2010

Art Deco-style cake

Got a rock candy sweet tooth matched only by an appetite for the unusual? (You know who you are…)

Good thing Zayda Balkus recently returned to the Big Island after graduating from I.C.E and a stint at NYC’s Confetti Cakes because she can take on any challenge.

Bring her a photo or explain your heart’s quirkiest cake desire and Balkus’ Kamuela-based custom cake company Kooky Cakes makes it reality.

And we really mean anything.

“I like fun, whimsical, happy and delightful cakes,” says Balkus, who, in addition to elegant wedding tiers has whipped up an African safari scene, Harley motorcycle, swear-they’re-real orchid adornments, and even a suitcase-shaped cake with ease.

Suitcase Cake by Kooky Cakes

Go ahead and ask her for the world—perhaps filled with devilish chocolate-caramel ganache or homemade lemon curd—we dare you.

We only ask that you eat it one sweet slice at a time.

Kookycakes.biz

Categories: Amusements, food, Travel

Surf is Free in Fiji

Posted on July 13, 2010

As I plan an upcoming work/play excursion to Fiji later this month (expect LL to be on hiatus during this time), I keep popping over to Fiji Guide.com to check in with people I met on a press trip there last year and search for helpful information for my stay. I’ll also be writing about my trip for Fiji Guide, filing stories on location when possible.

On recent site visit, I read a post by publicist and Fiji Guide founder Rob Kay about the very interesting surfing development in the island nation. Fijian resorts now no longer have exclusive access to “it” surf spots such as Tavarua. Tourism experts estimate this change could bring more than 20,000 surfing tourists to the nation per year. Keep in mind that in 2008, Fiji had just over 585,000 visitors.

Is this good or bad for surfers and surfing? Will this make Fiji less or more desirable as a surfing destination? You tell me.

Above the Lava

Posted on May 24, 2010

Earlier this month I posted a sneak peak of my awesome Paradise Helicopters Tour from Ka’u to Hilo (I say awesome again, though I banned myself from describing anything with that word because I said it too often during our flight). As promised, here is a more detailed look into the hour-long tour.

I boarded the ‘copter at the new Ka’u Coffee Mill. The visibility was poor that day because of rain and that dreaded word that rhymes with dog, but luckily it cleared up, just for us.

After we strapped on our safety packs and Paradise President Cal Dorn led us through a pre-flight safety brief, we were on our way. I and my fellow passengers donned our miked headsets, which muted the noise and allowed Cal to very naturally explain what we were seeing. I could also speak to Cal through my microphone as well as to my fellow passengers which made for a fun and naturally interactive tour.

First we cruised over the Ka’u coffee and macadamia nut farms, viewed the fast-growing commercial eucalyptus forest, and then had a rare glimpse of Pahala town, surrounded by macadamias.

Then we were off to the lava, an experience which transformed me into a helicopter tour believer. Never before had I seen the transition from old to new land in such a sweeping way, clearly viewing old and new flows that once poured into the sea and shaped this portion of the Big Island.

Just a few days earlier, on April 30, lava was reportedly flowing into the sea at Kalapana, and from a distance you could witness the steam rising in a plume and heading mauka as if it were a beacon. As we flew closer, through crashing waves a crimson glow could be glimpsed (better with the eyes than with a camera shutter), and a shelf of black lava pounded by fire and water rested beneath us. It was simply captivating.

The charred land and aquamarine sea were enmeshed with ivory steam; the surrounding land lay quiet, burning in silence underneath. As we flew toward Hilo we luckily caught a burst of molten lava as it began pouring onto a silvery lake of recent flows (that was in my sneak peak). Had Cal not been there at that time, we’d never have known it had just happened.

We scouted the area looking for more bursts, and I was able to capture these smoldering veins as we inhaled the sulfur and felt the heat for a few seconds more.

Soon the lava “gave way” to green as we crossed over the Hilo rainforest. I had no inkling of how broad its reach, and how avocado green its canopy.

An hour passed in a blink, and we arrived at Hilo airport with a seamless landing. Having flown planes as a teenager, I was dying to get into the cockpit, which the kind Cal allowed me to do–just for a moment. And then I was off to my next adventure–a volcano park tour guided by the humble and knowledgeable Warren Costa of Native Guide. But I made a promise to myself to get up in the air again as soon as I could–preferably with Cal as my pilot.

Photos and story by Christine Thomas 2010

Categories: Big Island, Travel

Pele in Repose

Posted on May 5, 2010

A sneak peak into my recent Hawai’i Island adventure–getting up close and personal with Kilauea via Paradise Helicopters and its wonderful pilot and President Calvin Dorn. This little lava river broke out just as we happened to be flying above it. I could feel the heat as I stuck my little point and shoot Canon Powershot out the copter window and snapped this shot. What a beauty!

Photo by CT

Categories: Big Island, My Events, Travel

The Appel of Our Eye

Posted on September 6, 2009

Wind back time just a few years, and the Victorian-era Hawaiian Hall at the Bishop Museum appears, practically untouched since its 1893 construction.But rather than offering a pristine window into Hawai`i’s past, the founding icon of the state’s largest museum had become more embarrassing eyesore than grand showpiece. Inside the stifling three-story structure, every surface was blemished, alcoves cluttered with unrelated exhibits explaining Hawaiian culture as if it were dead, while antiquated lighting and ventilation rendered it impossible to show more than a tenth of the Museum’s vast collection.

Enter Ralph Appelbaum, the revolutionary museum designer arguably most celebrated for the emotionally challenging and technologically stunning Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.. Alongside a collaborative team, topped by historic restoration experts Mason Architects, and including scholars, designers, conservationists, artists, cultural practitioners, and Bishop Museum staff, in 2004 Ralph Appelbaum Associates began the process of the Hall’s challenging, five-year restoration and redesign, opened to the public for the first time August 8. Today the Hall shines as powerfully as it did when first opened, but has now been ushered into the 21^st century as only Appelbaum could—with an evocative, modern way of telling an old, familiar tale.

“Our ultimate goal was to take this very beautiful Victorian museum and restore it to literally its original glory,” says a modest Appelbaum, who has worked in museum design for over 25 years and counts the Hall as his company’s 104^th opening. “It’s a step back in time with certain touches of modernity to help you go deeper into the nature of the Hawaiian story.”

In the first stage of restoration, spearheaded by Mason Architects, the original Koa wood interior was meticulously returned to auburn perfection, and the painted columns to their original bronze patina. The Hale Pili, the sole example of an original Hawaiian hale (house), and model heiau (sacred temple) perch reconstructed on the polished mosaic-tiled ground floor. The beloved 55-foot sperm whale model was cleaned and returned to its original 1902 ceiling spot, joined now new stingray, ulua, a 14-foot Tiger Shark and other significant animal and ‘aumakua (guardian) models, as well as a century-old double-hull canoe. Koa window panels, fiber optic lighting and state-of-the-art climate controls were installed to meet global conservation standards and allow precious artifacts such as ali`i feather capes of Kamehameha the Great and Queen Lili‘uokalani, feather kahili standards, and basketry images to be displayed for the first time in generations.

This important work formed the foundation for what would be Appelbaum’s core challenge—narrating the story of the Hawaiian people through their voice, rather than an authoritative Western perspective. Because not only the Hall’s physical structure but also its interpretation of objects remained stuck in the 19th century. Previously, it might have talked about how taro was the main staple of the Hawaiian diet: “‘They’ prepared it by baking it in an underground oven,” explains project manager Noelle Kahanu. “It’s a ‘they’ and it’s past tense.” Appelbaum’s holistic redesign for the first time facilitates storytelling from a present-day “we” perspective. Quotes by modern practitioners appear alongside ancient objects, which will flank hands-on activities, contemporary Hawaiian art, chants, and video about current issues such as language, land claims, and statehood to show continuity of a living culture.

And the displays are organized so that visitors will experience the Hawaiian worldview of realms firsthand. The first floor is now Kai Akea, representing pre-contact times and the ancestral realm; the second is Wao Kanaka, the human realm, where people live, work, farm, and fish; the third is Wao Lani, of gods and ali`i. Each new exhibit and inner track of railing cases connect to the next, highlighting Hawaiian culture as it was and as it is lived and practiced today.

“Visitors won’t just be looking at objects through a window,” says Appelbaum, but actively engaging in an interactive journey through past and present Hawaiian culture—one he hopes will inspire fresh thinking and impassioned dialogue about the issues of today. “They’ll see Hawai`i through the eyes, words and objects of the people who loved it first.”

By Christine Thomas
Originally published in the summer 2009 issue of Modern Luxury Hawaii.

*Note: Since I was traveling in August, I missed the Hawaiian Hall’s grand opening and have only seen the hall with koa gleaming, hale pili and heiau near-completion, and sperm whale model clean and suspended in air. I hope this article inspires you to visit the Hall again, and again… I hear there is just so much to see and do it’s impossible to complete it all in one visit.

Categories: Art and Architecture, Culture, Travel

Words More or Less Travelled

Posted on August 20, 2009

On my recent travels I brought with me four books I wanted to read for pleasure, and was not assigned to review…a luxury. They’re listed and explained here in the order read, not ranked in order of recommendation, for sadly the first is not one I would suggest. There’s always one disappointment in a basket of books, right?

The Road Home: A Novel By Rose Tremain
_I say read, but I really mean read half of. I started reading this on the flight from Los Angeles to Heathrow, and kept waiting, hoping, yearning for it to pick up pace, for Tremain to stop describing everything as if it had the same level of importance, and for me to start caring about the protagonist, who comes from an unnamed eastern European country, emigrates to London, and…struggles. But this never happened, and so I unapologetically left it in my hotel room unfinished.

Lark and Termite By Jayne Anne Phillips
_I’ve had this in my queue for a while, and was inspired to bring it along after reading a recent NYRB review. This meant I was prepared for the one significant road block in the otherwise thoughtful, precise and mesmerizing novel about two children and the mother who gave them up out of necessity and grief, and the father who died in the Korean War. That road block is the chapters written from the point of view of Termite, who is mentally and physically challenged, which only seem novel and interesting if you’ve never read The Sound and the Fury. And if you haven’t read The Sound and the Fury, shame on you.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao By Junot Diaz
_I’m late to the party in reading this book, but it’s rare that I have the mental space to read a book for pleasure when I am writing and reviewing. This book was by far my favorite, a truly great book written in immediately engaging, almost scandalously informal prose by an anonymous narrator only gradually revealed in the book’s arguable middle. Each chapter explores a different generation of Oscar’s family, and at the end of each chapter I thought…I don’t want to leave Oscar and read about his sister; then, I don’t want to leave the sister and read about the grandmother…etc. That takes skills and true talent to inhabit so many diverse characters (including the narrator) in one novel, and to keep the novel balanced and the reader equally engaged. My advice: do not miss this book.

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto By Michael Pollan
_Dare I admit this? I didn’t actually carry this book with me, but in the absence of other reading material began reading this off my traveling mate’s Kindle. I did so begrudgingly, and with irritation at figuring out the buttons and bookmarks and awkward non-book size, but I did enjoy this book. It takes a more instructional and personal tone than The Omnivore’s Dilemma, but Pollan makes clear exactly why he is doing this, and that what he describes about eating choices come from research and personal choice, but that he hopes it will help you make choices about how to eat real food that your grandmother would recognize.

Categories: Aloha, Travel

Literary Lotus

I travel. I read. I write.

Posts from the “Travel” Category

Big Island Slurps

Posted on January 3, 2011

In the footsteps of saints

Posted on December 11, 2010

Island Drama

Posted on November 7, 2010

Healthy Eats

Posted on October 19, 2010

Have Your Cake … but it’s so pretty you might not want to eat it

Posted on September 26, 2010

Surf is Free in Fiji

Posted on July 13, 2010

Above the Lava

Posted on May 24, 2010

Pele in Repose

Posted on May 5, 2010

The Appel of Our Eye

Posted on September 6, 2009

Words More or Less Travelled

Posted on August 20, 2009

Posts from the “Travel” Category

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