Hawaiian Vacation - December 12, 2009

Saturday for cruisers is either an embarkation or disembarkation date. For us this was the day we would disembark the Norwegian Cruise Lines Pride of America. This would happen in the morning. It is such and easy process now compared to our first cruise 15 years ago. And to embark or disembark in an American port of call is a snap. No customs forms to fill out and no long lines to wait in just in case someone wants to rummage through your luggage for security reasons. We had also been careful with souveniers we purchased and had taken along a bag that zips inside itself and packs in a front pocket on the real luggage to assist in carry things home and so as not going over weight limits. We got two of these little carry on size bags while touring Israel and they really come in handy. Many in our tour group were going home with 2 to 4 new pieces of luggage purchased at the Walmarts throughout the islands. We did sign up for the post cruise tour so we wouldn't part ways with most of our tour group yet. We waited for the others to disembark and the bus to arrive. All our luggage and bodies were loaded on the Roberts of Hawaii bus with the same bus driver when had on the pre-cruise tour of Pearl Harbor. His name is Robert. He would drive us to the northeast side of Oahu using the Hawaii Interstates. Yes, they have 3 Interstates on the island of Oahu. That is all the interstate system in Hawaii. They were built because of the military presence on Oahu. They are not long but they are helpful when you want to get across Oahu quickly. We were headed to Laie, Oahu. The landscape between Honolulu and Laie was just beautiful. You see of those green covered mountains with clouds over them that you see in movies. We stopped at a macadamia nut store along the way for a rest stop. The photo on the right below was taken of the view across the highway from the store. Amazing layers of vegetation.

Then we were off to Laie to see the Laie Hawaii Temple. It was under renovation so there is a wooden board over one of the upper windows. Other than that you couldn't tell unless you got up close that it was closed for renovations. As we entered the temple grounds we saw evidence of the Christmas season. I have to say here that there were Christmas decorations out and Christmas musis playing in many locations but we were on vacation and grasping that Christmas spirit was not an easy thing to do. Therefore, I found it particularly moving to visit the House of the Lord and see right by the visitor's center this beautiful white nativity.

The sisters missionaries that serve at the visitor's center came out to greet us. Some were dressed in Hawaiian print dresses. They cheerfully took pictures of each person, couple or group of people in front of the temple. Then we were free to tour the grounds and the visitor's center.

Claude and I quickly peeked inside the visitor's center. When we lived in Washington, DC for 20 years we had a visitor's center on the Washington DC Temple grounds. This one was a little like the DC visitor's center. You enter a large room with a replica the Christus statue created in Denmark as the main focal point. This is a beautiful statue of the Savior with his hands outstretched so that you see the wounds in his hands and feet. It is like he is welcoming you in. The first one of these was built for the Salt Lake City Temple visitor's center. The inside of the visitor's center was decorated with tall Christmas trees like they do in Washington DC. Each tree has a scripture theme from the story in the Gospels in the New Testament. Behind the Christus is a wall for the next room.In this room there was a lovely set of 3 wood and straw huts like you would have found on the islands many years ago. Inside each of these was a display with computers explaining things like Family Home Evening and Family History work. This little buildings were each decorated with lights and tinsel. Then Claude and I wandered back outside to visit the grounds some more. There is a grand entrance to this temple. The very long block leading up to the temple is lined with palm trees with luscious green grass underneath. The land that the temple sits on has a walkway leading up to the gate to the temple grounds. This walkway is lined with yellow hibiscus. This is the state flower of Hawaii, not the red but the yellow hibiscus.

Then there is a pool of water in front of the temple and pools of water from the front of the temple to this pool at the bottom. They are layered so the water flows from the temple to the entrance. Just before you reach the front of the temple there is a wall on one of the final levels over the pool of water for that level. This wall has a white relief titled Maternity. Around the top of the temple are 4 more white reliefs (one on each side of the very top). We walked the this entire path and the sound of the water flowing and the design and vegetation is truly soothing.

We came back down to an enclosed courtyard. The back of this courtyard had 4 reliefs on it. I believe they are replicas of the 4 white reliefs around the 4 sides of the top of the temple proper. They have characters carved into this white stone from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Restoration of the Church through Joseph Smith. These are beautiful to behold. I took pictures of each of them but have chosen not to include them in this post.

Then we walked back to the gate to the temple grounds and I was able to get a picture of the front of the temple with just about no one visible on the grounds.

One of the sister missionaries was using a pole with clippers on the end to clip blossoms of a plumeria tree behind the nativity. She gave me one of the blossoms. These little white flowers have a clean, pleasant fragrance and are a favorite for making some leis you can purchase in Hawaii. I wore it over my ear the rest of our time in Hawaii.

We went back inside the visitor's center to cool off and the senior couple sister missionary gave me a card with a picture of the Laie Hawaii Temple which I will include in our scrapbook.

This was a most pleasant stop for Claude and me. Totally relaxing and spirit filling.

Now we would all board our tour bus and head to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the remainder of our day. This facility was built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to aid the students attend BYU-Hawaii, whose grounds are right by the Temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). The students from the Polynesian Islands who attend the school work at the PCC. Their salary is the room and board, books and tuition for college. The money made from running the PCC pays for this and that was the purpose in building it. This amazing facility was created with a waterway running through it. There are walkways around either side and several across the waterway. On one end are what they call 'islands' that represent the different islands in Polynesia. They are Samoa (purple), Aotearoa or New Zealand (green), Fiji (tan), Hawaii (blue), Tahiti (yellow) and Tonga (red). The colors are used to help you distinguish the different islands as you visit them. Their floral print clothing will be in these colors. Each of these islands has a schedule of a cultural presentation about their island and All-day Activities of things to make or do on their island. The other end of the PCC has an IMAX theater, 2 large restaurant areas where lu'au dinners are held - Hale Aloha (the one we would eat in) and Hale Ohana, shops, 2 other restaurants, and employee building and the Pacific Theater (where we would see 'Ha'). the picture is of a turtle with little turtles on its back made out of lava rock. There were large scale models of the different kind of canoes that are built throughout Polynesia.

We all started our visit off with lunch. Claude and I ate at the Banyan Tree Snack Bar. We were eating at the Luau in the evening and didn't want too much food to ruin our Luau experience. Then we were free to visit whichever islands and exhibits we could fit before time to line up for the Luau at 5pm. During lunch we reviewed the brochure and determined how we would attempt to spend our afternoon.

We passed a beautiful waterfall as we entered the park and turned to go the the end with all the islands of different countries.

Claude and I filled our afternoon very well. We started out in Samoa. We were able to catch two of the activities. One was watching people try to get sparks by rubbing two pieces of wood together. At the other we made little fish with the lady dressed in green. She gave us a pineapple leave that was torn in two long pieces and the center ridge was saved. With the two halves of the leaf she showed us how to weaven them together in a diamond shape and tear the ends of the leaf so it looked like the fins of the fish with the diamond woven part being the body of the fish. Then she took the ridge that was between the two leaves and made a loop out of one end and attached it inside the little fish. Then you could shove the fish to the base of this leaf ridge and when you flung it out in front of you but held onto the ridge the fish would slide to the end of the leaf ridge like you were fishing. Could I make another? Not so sure. But we brought them home with us just in case we needed a pattern. This activity actually made me think of our dentist's office. One of her patients made them little mobiles to hang over the patient chairs. Hanging on this mobile are little fish made of satiny craft ribbon just like the ones we made out of pineapple leaves.

As we left Samoa we peeked in one last building and found this HUGE bed.

It was rapidly approaching 2:00pm and we wanted to get good seats to see the Canoe Pageant at 2:30pm. We crossed one of the many bridges over the waterway and saw this interesting building. It is a replica of the Hawaiian Mission Settlement. Inside this particular building were quilts and quilt patterns and ukulele's.

Everyone comes out and stands along the waterway that runs through the park. This begins at about 2:00pm. While people are waiting a canoe poles up and down the stream with ice cream selling it to the tourist to cool off. The kids are in Hawaiian print attire. At 2:30pm the canoes come out. There is one for each of the islands. Kids are dressed in the color of the island and in costumes that fit that islands traditional wear. They play drums and do dances on these big flat topped canoes. It is absolutely delightful to watch. A canoe will come into the area where you are sitting and go down that area and turn around and come back up the other side. You get to see no matter what seats you were able to get. This canoe has the Ali'i or Hawaiian royalty on it. This canoe represents Tonga. This canoe represents Aotearoa or New Zealand. This canoe represents Samoa. This canoe represents Tahiti. After the Canoe Pageant we wandered down toTonga. There we found them doing some drumming on what appeared to be a hallow log. We got there a bit after the show started. We did hear them explain this was a way to send signals long ago. They had two drums and demonstrated the beating of these drums while a young girl did native dances. They had 3 guys participate from the audience. They were a hoot to watch. The one poor fella never got the hang of it. They finally asked his wife to tell him what they wanted and he still didn't get it. It was great fun and he was a very good sport.

We then made it to Tahiti and watched a trio playing native instruments. Then they taught the ladies how to do the Tahitian hula. It is much, much faster than the one done in Hawaii. You stand with your heels kind of together but your toes pointing out a bit. Then you bend one knee and then the other. You don't move your shoulders. When you do this very quickly your hips really can get to going. It is accented by these thick grass skirts worn low on these girls hips. Great fun to try and to watch. Again they had audience participation.

We really wanted to catch an IMAX theater performance if we could. So we left Tahiti and headed back to the the IMAX theater. Along the way I took pictures of the waterway, a shed built over a long canoe and the replica of Easter Island with its huge statues. Everything is so well constructed and maintained that you can really get the feel of being in these islands and some of what they are about.

The IMAX was about the coral reefs and how many are dying. A couple was asked to spend a good deal of time photographing them and studying healthy and dying reefs to learn what might be causing them to die. They did this through the lens of an IMAX camera. The footage was phenominal. It was a delight to watch and learn from. The background music was all Crosby, Stills and Nash music. When we left the theater it was going to be time to get in line for the Luau. I got outside and realized I had no husband. I couldn't see him anywhere. I called him on my cell phone only to find I lost him as he turned to check out the gift shop at the bottom of the escalator as we left the theater. He was looking for a Crosby, Stills and Nash CD. He didn't find one there. But, when we got home he went to Walmart in Georgetown and there in the CD bins totally misfiled was one lone Crosby, Stills and Nash CD. He was one happy guy. They didn't even have a CD divider labeled for them. Claude is sure this is a sign he was supposed to get this CD. But I digress.... I received a cell phone call at the beginning of the IMAX show and turned my cell phone off. It was from Hayden. The Marx family had been on their first cruise on the Disney Magic all week and he was checking in while they drove home from Florida. It was good to hear the little guys voice again. He was sooooo excited about his BIG CRUISE SHIP. After a quick chat with Hayden we headed to the Hale Aloha for our Luau dinner. The seating is stadium seating with a big stage in front. They start the program quickly by letting you watch them take the pig out of the ground. Note the picture below. Then they carry the pig on a litter across the front of the stage and to the buffet area. Then the Hawaiian Royal (Ali'i) come in in costume. All the time you are eating they are singing and performing on this stage. The music is great!! Claude ordered some kind of fruit drink in a real pineapple shell. The tables are called quickly and we headed to the buffet to sample a little of everything. We ate the poi and the raw fish and the pig and the salads and a purple baked yam and rolls made with purple yams and on and on. I was going to pass on the desserts but our server brought plates of dessert so we didn't have to get up and go to the dessert bar. Oh My Goodness was all that food good.

After dinner we strolled through the indoor shops and the outdoor shops until time for the evening performance to begin in the Pacific Theater. You are under a covered roof but there is a lot of openess to the sides of this theater so you feel like to are out in the open. This year they started a new play titled "Ha". Ha means 'breath of life' and is actually the last part of the word aloha. The story is of Mana, who represents each of us. He is born and grows and creates his on Ha as he journeys through the diverse cultures of Polynesia at the different stages of his life. Mana is born on a perilous night and breathes the breath of life. In Tonga the kindly villagers welcome the little one and his parents to their new home. In Hawaii Mana grows, and the village celebrates his early years of life. In Aotearoa (New Zealand) Mana becomes a man and learns the ways of his fathers and sets out to find his place in the world. There is a brief intermission where much multiflavored sherbet is sold to the audience. Then the story resumes in Samoa where Mana discovers a new village and new people and also finds a new love. In Tahiti Mana and Lani make a new life together. In Fiji Mana becomes a father and defends his new family. He bids goodby to the one who gave him life. A new child is born and Mana learns that HA, the breath of life, goes on forever. It was a beautiful story and extremely well done. Lots of great costumes and staging.

When the show was over we found our way out of the Polynesian Cultural Center and to our waiting bus for the ride to Waikiki and the Waikiki Marina Resort at Iliaki where we would spend the night. There is way too much to see at the PCC to do it in one day. But whatever was seen by those in our tour group was totally enjoyed.