Last month, we visited Hawaii for the 40th time since our first visit in 1992. Hawaii was admitted to the US in 1959, becoming the 50th state.
It has the fourth smallest landmass in the US. What makes it unique is that it is an archipelago in the northern Pacific comprising four major islands and two minor islands. The major islands include Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. We have visited the major islands multiple times and the two minor islands once each.
On prior visits, we engaged in classic tourist activities. We rode the catamaran boats near Waikiki, did the harbour dinner cruise off the Honolulu harbour, and went whale watching in Maui. We drove around the islands and admired the canyons and the gorges, the light houses, and the volcanoes. We walked in the Allerton Gardens in Kauai and took aerial tours in a helicopter on three of the islands. Seeing steep waterfalls from the air was something else, as we discovered in Kauai, and viewing the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Oahu brough the events of 7 December 1941, to life.
We checked out the locations where films such as From Here to Eternity, Tora, Tora, Tora, and Jurassic Park were filmed. We also visited the museums and a royal palace in Honolulu, where there are several other attractions including the Polynesian Cultural Centre in Honolulu. Surely, the Aloha State, whose population is not even 1.5 million, punches way above its weight when it comes to being a tourist attraction.
The climate is tropical and very pleasant throughout the year. Occasionally, the pleasantness is disrupted by a hurricane, as it was by a recent tsunami that originated in Japan and the one in 1992, which caused power to go out in Kauai, requiring a nuclear submarine to hook up to the grid. Wildfires do happen now and then, like the one that devastated Maui in 2023.
Having done all that, on our 40th visit we just hung out at the hotel for six days. When we got home, everyone wanted to know what we had on this visit. We said nothing. They were stunned – until we told them that doing nothing takes on another meaning in Hawaii.
It means getting up early to witness the sunrise, walking along the beach as the sun lights up the sands and then the waves. It means just relaxing in a chair along the beach and letting the scenery cast its spell on you. It means watching the sun set over the ocean and meditating about the purpose of life.
The beaches are amazing and walking barefoot in the sand, caressed by the tropical breezes and serenaded by the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, is an indescribable pleasure.
A few small shopping plazas with eateries are usually just a short walk away. Amazingly, many cuisines are found there besides Hawaiian including mainstream American and Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, and Vietnamese. I have not found a Pakistani restaurant yet, but Indian restaurants are not that hard to find.
Asians constitute 40 percent of the population – Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese. Nearly 70% of the legislators are of Asian origin
Even on Kauai, which is the third smallest of the major islands, one was located just a 15- minute walk away. It was named That Indian Place. This time, we got to talk to the owner, who is originally from India. He opened this restaurant and then went on to open a fancy Italian restaurant, Isola Cucina, a pizza restaurant, and a store that sells cooked food.
I asked him what brought him to Kauai. He said he had first done business in New Zealand and then moved to Hawaii. He was drawn to Kauai because, true to its name, The Garden Isle is lush green.
We tried several other restaurants. The food was always delicious, but I could not help notice how expensive the dishes were. I began asking waiters and other staff who live in Hawaii – how do you make ends meet? The answers were sobering, with one saying they were controlling their expenses and others saying they were working two jobs.
In Hawaii, whites are in the minority. Asians constitute 40 percent of the population – Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese. Nearly 70% of the legislators are of Asian origin, with the vast majority being Japanese.
One of our Uber drivers was from the Philippines. His family had always lived there, and he would visit them occasionally. After three decades, he was retiring and returning to his native land, where the cost of living was a third of Hawaii’s.
Another person, also from the Philippines, was a waiter in a Thai restaurant. He had lived and worked in London for a couple of decades and moved to Hawaii because of the better weather and to be closer to home.
Along with everything else in Hawaii, electricity is very expensive. Thus, solar panels are quite visible everywhere. Electric vehicles (EVs) are beginning to make their presence felt. A few years ago, when I saw the first EVs in Waikiki, I was surprised why anyone would drive an EV given how expensive electricity is. Well, gasoline is equally expensive, just as expensive as in California.
More than once, I was mistaken for being Japanese. In May, when we were in Maui, my younger daughter saw a man coming out of his car in a parking lot and said, “Dad, he looks almost like you.” When we were seated in the restaurant, the waiter, who was of Portuguese origin, looked at me and said, “You were here not that long ago.” My daughter chuckled and said, “You could easily pass for a local.”
That’s what I really like about my travels. It’s a chance to talk with strangers and learn about the local culture. And it is about being mistaken often for being a local, whether in China, Egypt, Singapore or Manila. My ethnicity has been confused multiple times.