Hi all,

We arrived in Oahu today. We actually were late at the airport in Maui and missed our flight, but they moved us to the next flight to Honolulu which was only 37 minutes later, so no big deal. First thing we did was go purchase our Go cards and then head to the Dole plantation. It is basically a tourist trap setup by the Dole Pinapple company. Our Go cards allowed us free access to all the features of the plantation, in addition to many other tours, excursions and attractions that we will be doing the following three days and the cards are super worth it. The dole plantation has a huge maze, which was the largest maze in the world in 2001, and then they had a small train ride and a plantation garden that you can walk through - we don't really recommend the plantation to other visitors though as each admission would be a rip-off and they charge you killer prices for their darn pineapple even though we are saving them all the trouble of shipping them to us! The best part of the Dole plantation was meeting Sheenah's cousin Eva. Sheenah has never met her as she moved to Hawaii from Canton China six years ago, lived there her whole life before then. She is a very, very friendly girl and great to chat with. It had to be a short visit because it was during Eva's work break but it was very nice to meet her. Next we headed off to the Polynesian Cultural Center on the north shore of Oahu. We have been looking forward to visiting this centre for quite some time now - picture Epcot Centre except you visit Polynesian Islands instead. We made it there in time for their big canoe parade, where they introduce each of the 6 islands being highlighted at the park with these floating parades, dancers and music, then you can visit each island where they do a short little presentations almost every hour and then you can actually partake in the culture through a variety of activities - basket weaving, hula dancing, tattoo art, spear throwing. Some of the presentations included guys running up huge palm trees, making fire with sticks, making coconut milk using only parts of the coconut, and the highlight to my day was when we were at Toga island and they made Shawn go up on the stage to drum. It was hilarious - he represented Canada so well, too bad we're the only Canadians here!! After touring all the islands for a few hours, we saw The Coral Reef Imax film and then the Polynesian Centre has an amazing show called "Horizons" that we also got tickets to - it was a really wonderful display of all the dances and costumes, music, and some AMAZING fire dancing!

We left the park at 9pm and it took us almost an hour to drive to the south shores of Waikiki. We checked into our hotel and let me just say how impressed we are! I found the hotel on the internet (as everything else), and we're only paying about $130/night and they upgraded us to the 10th floor with a great view of the city, the ocean and Diamond Head Crater - we have a huge lanai (balcony), a pull-out couch, king-sized bed, free internet (believe us - this is SO uncommon in the states), microwave, oven, two plush robes, and they have a spa right in the hotel. Plus, it's walking distance from everything. We totally recommend it to others visiting Oahu as it can be difficult to find nice, newly-rennovated hotels at such a low price.

Though we've only been here one day, I think I prefer Maui over Oahu all ready - Oahu is much busier and feels like a big city rather than a nice little island - Maui is much quieter and friendlier it seems (like Regina!). However, we're excited to explore this island as there is so much to do here!

-Shawn/Sheenah