Triscribe

Author: F C

  • Juxiposition

    Saturday: Went to Shangra-La, the Doris Duke estate. We got out of the hotel like 5 minutes before the tour was supposed to leave, and that was downtown. We missed the video, but barely got to the bus just before it was getting ready to leave. We then rode to the other side of Diamond Head in a secluded harbor, something like the southern part of Hong Kong island, if you’re familiar with that. It looks so unassuming from the outside, but once you are inside, you discover an incredible collection of Islamic art covering the walls, the floors, and even the ceilings, all painstakingly collected and restored. The dining room is like a big tent pavillion in the Middle East. Outside, there is a large salt-water swimming pool, and an enclosed beach and boat jetty. Much of the intricate work was done by Doris Duke herself. If you are here, you must go and see this. Apparently, even the locals try hard to get into this place, which is limited to about 300 visitors a day.

    Ward Warehouse: we had a monsterous “plate lunch”, which was the traditional lunch of the plantation workers. The defining things are two scoops (usually an ice cream scooper) of rice, one scoop macaroni salad, and your choice of a meat, which we chose fried mahimahi and stewed chicken (a cross between teriyaki and filipino adobo). We wolfed that down. Most of the other things at the mall are your typical stuff, but the real good stuff is at the Ward Fresh Market, which includes Lin’s Market, headquarters for “cracked seed”, aka Chinese mui, like salted plum, cuttlefish. We picked some marlin fish lemon/salt jerky, which was amazing. Also the Hawaiian salt was half the price of the ABC store.

    Outrigger Catamaran: we dashed back to the hotel to get to the Outrigger Reef hotel, the sister hotel of the one we are staying in, for a sunset cruise in the harbor. This wasn’t just a boat, it was a racing sail cat, so it was one, very fast, and two, it was all outdoors, so we got some spray, but that was cool. The open bar was cool, too. We got to see all of the beach, went around Diamond Head, and P- saw the famed “green flash” at the moment of sunset. Super romantic, always an amazing ride, and less than half the cost of the canned tours”.

    Hawaiian Music Night: We went to the Convention Center for a slackkey guitar concert by Makena. This wasn’t the watered down tourist stuff, but a one man performance intended for the locals,and the spirit showed. Slack key style basically means playing multiple parts on the same guitar, usually a bass line and a “falsetto” high part. This virtuoso can do this with both hands, meaning he can get four part harmony going at the same time. He also accompanied a slam poet, and brought on his guitar teacher for a few duets. His work is his own attempt to preserve Hawaiian culture; there is that same dicotomy that is featured in asian american studies, where how two distinct cultures can meld and coexist which not having one overwhelm the other.

    More local stuff tomorrow. Check out the flikr photo stream on the left side.

  • Meltdown

    We went to the Bishop Museum Friday morning. This museum holds the primary collection of Hawaiian historical artifacts. We took two guided tours and saw a short hula demonstration. The second tour went through the garden and explained the uses of the various local plants, including ti,the leaves used for wrapping and thatching, and noni, which is an immune system booster.

    It was getting hot, so of course it was time to get shave ice, the Hawaiian version of bing. We went to Waiola Shave Ice in McCully, which is very simple, but fantastic. The ice is extremely fine, and toppings and flavors are fantastic. The red bean is definately the best. We had two cups apiece. Recommended.

    Costco: Yes it looks just like a regular Costco on the outside, but on the inside, it’s an Asian bulk buying paradise. Pretty much anything you need for an Asian themed restaurant is in there. The number one tip: if you need a Hawaiian gift for a ton of people, this is the place to get it. For example, Hawaiian Host chocolates were half the price of that in the ABC store. The only catch is that you have to buy a 6-box pack. They also sell wholesale gas – the gas outside the hotel is 2.76/gallon; the Costco price is 2.59/gallon. Of course, you have to have a Costco card with a magnetic stripe, and you have to use a debit or an Amex card – no cash accepted. We also picked up a portable lunch – two quarter pound cups of poke – a sashimi salad seasoned with soy, sesame oil, Hawaiian salt and seaweed, and 4 hand rolls. It could have easily fed 4 people. Recommended

    P– was still pretty messed up and sore from her slip and fall yesterday, so we got massages at the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach. The Hawaiian lomi lomi style is not a deep tissue style like Swedish, but it runs along the natural lengths of the muscles to increase si

  • Cultural Route

    Thursday: Drove to `Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the United States. P- wasn’t so impressed with the outside, but then we entered from the side. However, the inside won her over. So many modern conveniences, such as electricity, telephones, and hot and cold running water, were put in by the reigning king, who was a Renaisannce man in his own right.

    Walked to Chinatown and had dim sum at Legend Seafood. The best dish was the scallops wrapped in rice noodle sheets. Went to the Makauna Marketplace and saw various vendors. We bought lei at Cindy’s Lei; they are really beautiful. Walked back downtown past Hawaii Pacific University and into the Cathedral of Our Lady of Heavenly Peace.

    Drove back to the hotel and tried to book a catamaran ride, but the boat had suffered some reef damage, and won’t be back in service until Saturday. Walked down Waikiki; P- had a little spill and bruised her knee and ankle. However, she was a trouper and made it to the Duke statue. Walked back and found the Japanese duty-free mall. Loads of Hello Kitty! Unfortunately we can’t buy the duty free items.

    Picked up the car back at the hotel and drove to Sushi Sasabone. The head chef started out a bit cold (he has the reputation of being the sushi version of the “soup nazi”) but he warmed up to us as we were astounded by the quality of the dishes in his bar-side omakase. He searches the world to get the best fish, and knows exactly where it comes from – Maine, Boston, several places in Japan, local Hawaiian fish, and lobster from a French claimed area of Antarctica. Pricy, but worth every penny — better than anything we’ve had in New York. We were so stuffed. The wierd thing is that none of the Japanese visitors in Waikiki seemed to know anything about this place. Recommended.

  • Hard Sell

    The package included a free breakfast, which we were shuttled to. It turned out to be the vacation equivilent of a timeshare lecture. What a hard sell. At least we got out of there by 9. We went to the Maui Divers center, where they make Hawaiian coral jewelry. Very very nice.

    We drove out to Pearl Harbor, going to the Arizona and Missouri memorials. Very moving to have gone on All Souls Day. Arizona marked the beginning of World War II with more than a thousand hands lost on board. Missouri is the Pacific version of the Intrepid; the Japanese surrendered on its deck at the end of World War II.

    Driving back, we got stuck on the highway during rush hour. We got off at Chinatown; it was mostly closed by the time we got there, but we had some good Vietnamese food. It was way too much food. Afterwards, we were trying to find the Sony Expo at the Ala Moana Hotel; instead we were snagged at the Ala Moana shopping center, the largest open air mall in the US. It’s already Christmas (Mele Kalikimaka) season here, so everything was out. There’s a supermarket in the rear of the mall, where we loaded up on cheap fruit drinks and water.

  • Cloudy Arrival

    The clouds were ominious when we arrived. Dark, swift clouds contrasted deeply with a bright sunset. We arrived at Honolulu to be greeted by an American Airlines staffer with lei. We had no idea that our super discount package included it. We were totally dazed – the 12 hour flight made those butt-in-seat miles really do a number to the tail bones, and there was a Hawaiian couple with 2 young kids that were bobbing around the whole trip. It was a good thing that we swapped seats with them. The movie was “Must Love Dogs”, which wasn’t that hot either.

    The compact car that we got was a full sized Impala, which was more than enough car for what we wanted. We checked in and got upgraded to an ocean view room on the 23rd floor – which was nice and quiet, but I knew this going in that an ocean-view room doesn’t really mean much in the dark.

    We were starving when we arrived, so we went to the sushi buffet known as Todai. The air conditioning wasn’t working, but it just meant that they got the fish out there much faster (their chilling tables were working). Really really good – we were stuffed.

    Hit the mandatory ABC store to get supplies, and then passed out.

  • LAX

    We make it to Los Angeles in a relatively good shape. We made back the 20 minutes that we lost leaving late from JFK, and the landing was pretty soft. However, my tail bone is just killing me. We’re hungry, but the only two food choices at the terminal are Burger King and Chili’s. P- decides that the answer is to ask the See’s Candies lady, who recommends the Chili’s hands down.

    The wait for tables was really too much – we were able to squeeze in at the bar. P- got a chicken breast dish that she thought was going to be a wrap, but was actually on a roll. I got the Phily Cheese Steak, which was actually quite good, except the guy sitting to my left, who was obviously inebriated, coughed into my dish. At least I had finished the sandwich ahead of time.

    Onward to Honolulu….

  • Lateness of the morning

    The phone rings at 5 am in the morning. It’s car service. “Can you be picked up in 5 minutes?” No way, we just woke up 5 minutes ago and the appointed time is 5:30. There’s no way we can be ready by then. We hurriedly wash up and get down stairs by 5:30 on the dot.

    And we wait. And we wait. And we wait for 10 minutes to eternity.

    The driver makes a quick turn from the opposite side, and then a U right in front of us. “Sorry I was late, I was on the wrong street.” He calls in our ride and the dispatcher says 10 dollars extra – we were late. I tell the driver that he had to tell him he was late, which he did , and he got the fare knocked back down.

    After a mad-cap ride careening through the Grand Central that only New York cab drivers can pull off, we make it to the brand new Terminal 9 at JFK. American Airlines’ new domestic terminal looks a lot like Terminal 4 (the one in Tom Hanks “The Terminal” movie). Sterile, but much, much better than the old terminal. The only down side is that there are a lot more gates, so that means a lot more walking, if your gate happens to be number 42.

    The plane is 20 minutes late departing because it got in late from LAX, and we know we’re not getting food on board (all the carriers are going to a free liquids-only diet, $3 for a snack box, $5 for the emergency K rations with bizzare combos like “ham and cream cheese on a cini-raisin panini”) so we get the Au Bon Pain egg mcmuffin on a bagel contraptions. Never had a jalepeno bagel before, but it was actually pretty good.

    The on-board entertainment was “October Sky”, which I never heard about, and the usual CBS shows. They finally smartened up and got Phil from the Amazing Race to host the on-board videos, which included a behind the scenes clip from the production staff. According to the piece, they have 25 camera crews and nearly 2,000 on the ground staff members around the world following the teams, who have to go between 30,000 and 75,000 miles within 28 to 34 days. The guy that has to race the hardest is actually Phil, who has to get to every road block to shoot the stand-up explainations, and then get to the Pit Stop before the racers get there themselves.

  • Flood of Dreams

    It’s officially a Nor’easter tonight. Wilma + Tropical Storm Alpha = a lot of wind and rain.

    Medium today was quite good – psychic vs. psychic. When does Patricia Arquette actually have a good dream?

    Comedy news is now officially more effective than major news outlets. The embattled NY Times dubbed The Coubert Report (pronounced “Co-bear Ra-por”), a spinoff of The Daily Show, as not “too much of a good thing”. CNN’s Lou Dobbs was Coubert’s guest today. He cited overseas outsourcing and illegal immigration as the country’s biggest problems today. Coubert pointed out that if you outsourced the jobs that the illegal immigrants wanted, you would solve both problems; Dobbs yielded in defeat.

    John Hodgman, of Little Grey Book Lecture fame, has put out a bizarre book called The Areas of My Expertise. I like reading the Old Farmer’s Almanac, with its tables of sunrise, sunset, weather forcasts, and random articles of practical knowledge. Here, Hodgman has created an almanac where you have to be always on your guard against what is true, what is entirely fabricated, and what is some persnickity, clever twist that comes out of left field. All of which have very limited practicality, unless you are Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a Yale grad, or someone in need of cultural references. “Lycanthropic Transformation Timetables” adorn the beginning of each chapter, in case you were wondering how much time you had to flee before a human would turn into a beast at the sight of the moon. 700 hobo names. Classes of dramatic situations, including “man vs. man”, “man vs. nature”, and “man vs. cyborg”. The combinations of omens and potents that would bring about Ragnarok, aka Swedish Armageddon. You get the idea. Hysterical, if you can deal with a cross between British humour and David Eggers. If not, you will find it insanely bewildering.

    In all seriousness, Rosa Parks, who sparked the modern civil rights movement for not sitting in the back of the bus, passed away at 92. For all of us dreamers, you have our thanks.

  • New Camera

    100_0005

    100_0005,
    originally uploaded by triscribe.

    I’m now no longer digitally cameraless!!! P- got me an advance b-day gift – a Kodak P850 digital camera. It’s only been out for 2 months in the states, and it’s supposed to go head to head with the Canon S2-IS. It’s a 5MP 12x zoom with image stabilization, and it also has video. It’s very very nice. Check out my test photo – it’s so clear you can read the label on the orange, and there’s no red eye or reflection on the glasses, even using the flash. You can say I’m very happy!

  • Blood Drive

    I donated blood today at the drive at work. It almost didn’t happen, because I didn’t get to eat lunch until about 5. The boss is away until Thursday, so I’ve been in charge. The wireless contractor couldn’t figure out why our access points in our building weren’t working; actually they were working, but the tracking software lost track of their states. Spent most of the day trying to get the last few things working for the weekend hardware upgrade. Finally decided to get the mail, get my absentee ballot at the Board of Elections (took 3 people 30 minutes to figure out how to do it). Didn’t get a burger until 5. Wolfed it down while getting the last few things done at work, and hoping to finish the meal before my 6 pm appointment.

    The nurse taking my medical history was watching the TV in the lounge, and they were showing the descent of the JetBlue plane that had the twisted front landing gear. She was freaked out because she just flew them from Miami. This time around was not so bad, because I had loaded up on liquids before I went there. The free gifts this time around was either a free Blockbuster rental, or a free pint of beer. Since I hate Blockbuster, I went for the beer.

    I read the absentee ballot when I got home. Did you know after the columns for Republican (column A), Democratic (B), etc., there in column H is the “Rent is Too Damn High” party??? I’m not making this up. The basic party plank is that all rents are to be frozen for 8 to 12 years, and cap them at $550 per month. Takes some nerve, but just seeing it on a ballot just made my day.