It's been a long day, and one in which I think I pushed myself a bit more than I should have with how far I walked. Now don't get me wrong, I walk 3 miles every morning, and sometimes I walk 3 more later in the afternoon, but today I walked about 8 miles in one go, in the heat (god, I have forgotten how strong the sun is here!), and in about 3 hours. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got back to the hotel to eat lunch about 2 pm.
So what did I do? I explored the neighborhood, briefly went to the US Army in Hawaii Museum just down the street away (.5 mile or so) and I was there for about 45 minutes. This is the third trip there in two years, so I mainly went to see the two new exhibits, including the recently reinstalled 6" naval gun up on the roof. Then I walked through the Hilton Hawaiian Village along the waterfront and the beach, then through a couple other hotels, before heading to the Ala Moana Mall. Now it I was going specifically to go to Barnes and Noble and get a book, which was mission successful. I picked up "The Future is Japanese: Science Fiction Futures an Brand New Fantasies from and about Japan." I figured since the EWC Institute is on China and Japan, I should read something pleasurable and connected to the institute. The first story, an end of the world tale, was quite good. I look forward to reading more...
After B&N I decided to walk through the whole mall, all three levels, from one end to the other, for exercise. Since it is the largest outside mall in the US, that was a bunch of walking. Popped into the Apple store and once again resisted the siren call of an iPad, though a new Macintosh Pro might be in my agenda when I return to Florida. I also went to Shirokiya, the Honolulu branch of defunct Japanese department store. Look it up on Wikipedia if you want all the details.
Shirokiya has one of the most wonderful food halls ever, and I was tempted to buy some lunch at 11:30, but instead, I decided to wait. I went to Sears to look through Hawaiian shirts (they are always having a sale, and it didn't fail. I didn't buy anything at the moment, but I will go back before I leave, and buy a size bigger as they always, without fail, shrink when washed. Then it was off to the Ward Center area to head to what was a bookstore (now closed), and I wandered through some stores because I figured my aching feet could use a break at the movies (the Ward Center 16 was across the street.) However, all the movies from 1-3 (and there were three showings) were sold out, and I was not going to wait around for a couple of hours. Though I could have gotten lunch at Buca di Bepo now that I think about...
Anyway, I left the Ward Center area and walked back to the Ala Moana Mall to get lunch from the Shirokiya store. I picked up a Chicken Katsu bento box: basically a breaded thin chicken cutlet, rice, some odd spaghetti (I don't get it) and a crab claw. I also picked up a small sampler of sushi and some Jin Dui which are Chinese/Japanese pastries full of sweet red bean paste. I learned to love them when I lived in London 20 years ago and got them as a snack from Chinatown. These look less dense and more fluffy. Then it was a walk back to the hotel (like .5 mile away) and I was starting to feel the sun and the heat. I think I got a little sun, as I can feel some warmth on my neck and face (I need to get some suntan lotion tonight when I head out looking for dinner.)
http://shirokiya.com/
Anyway, my eyes were bigger than my appetite. I ate the bento box, put the sushi in the refrigerator and saved the Jin Dui. I then decided I would go swimming to ease the aches on my feet (I have a blister) and my hips (from walking odd to ease the ache on the blister I think, and from being seated for so long yesterday...). However, I waited two hours, reading the newspaper, then went down to the hotel pool. The water was a bit cold (in the 70s) and the sun was no longer on the pool (The surrounding buildings block out the sun in the afternoon). However, I managed to swim for 30 minutes which helped dramatically with the aches of age, and then read my Japanese book for about half an hour to dry off. Then I came inside, and decided I should write my update. I also said I would post pictures, so I will in another post. Anyway, its going to be a quite night tonight. There are fireworks tonight, and I might sneak over to the ocean bar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and have a drink and catch the fireworks. I was going to go to the upscale Morimoto's Waikiki restaurant just down the street in another hotel (he's one of the Iron Chefs) but I think I am going to save that for a special occasion since it will like be one of those $150 a person nights (everything is pretty much ala carte and expensive).
http://morimotowaikiki.com/
Anyway, I am still planning to go to the Hula Festival tomorrow. I just need to figure out the best way to get there since bus transportation isn't that easy. I'll ask the hotel concierge for some assistance in the morning.
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