When I came to Honolulu from Beijing, I thought, 'Wow! It's a tropical paradise!' with it's friendly people, massive banyan and monkey pod trees, tree-lined streets and lava shelf seashores. But now, coming back to the island of Oahu from Kauai, Honolulu looks like the quintessential metropolis but not in the sense of a concrete jungle with high rise buildings. It's more like an over developed isle that has lost much of its natural charm. I don't even see any coconut trees other than at the tacky tourist traps like Waikiki with the little souvenir booths stocked with knick-knacks made in China sold for probably ten times the profit margin. Still, it beats Beijing hands down in terms of weather. And life does seem to go at a much slower pace than on the mainland. It's greenery is unquestionable. Most of all, I love waking up to the sound of a symphony of birds chirping outside my window - something completely lost in most developed cities.
When I was in Kauai, some places will ask, "Are you Kama'aina?" That means are you from Hawaii. Some places are free and they waive the entrance fee or a 10% discount. The Allerton Botanical Garden waives the $45 entrance fee for Kama'ainas on Sundays. Pronounced like 'Come-a-I-na'.
Keike O Ka Aina means Children of the Land. Keike (pronounced like Cake-E) on the road signs means children. They write that on some pedestrian crossings warning people to drive slow because there are kids around.
When we were passing homes in Kauai, I found it amusing that my Honolulu born beau kept saying, "It looks like the country out here, huh?". By Hawaiian standards, he's a city kid here. Sometimes, I feel like I'm in the country. Many stores are simply not available here and people pay a whopping amount for shipping, often double the price of the actual item they're buying! It's disturbing and sometimes, downright appalling! Selina told me big chain stores somehow close down here. Perhaps they just don't have the volume of shoppers (or should I say shopaholics) as in the mainland. Afterall, Hawaii only has a total population of 1.2 million and 9 million (71%) is on O'ahu.
Housing cost here is outrageous. It's second only to New York City. For half a million (USD$500,000), all you will probably get is an old one bedroom house in a bad neighborhood...if you're lucky. On much of the mainland, that could buy you a lot, lot more.
People here are large. The women are fleshy. I'd be hard pressed to find skinny anorexic looking chicks but I don't think it's because I've been in China too long. Perhaps it's their love for spam. I'm actually becoming quite used to the whiff of it floating out someone's kitchen window when I'm doing my morning jogs. I think Hawaii also suffers from the typical All-American culture which plagues most of the country - lack of natural exercise being a non-commuter place. Nobody walks. Most stores and neighborhoods are not easy to get to unless you drive. And public transportation is not convenient. This is when I miss Beijing most. I miss being able to get around on the subway or walking everywhere. It's therapeutic to walk to get around. To be among the people as opposed to being apart from people besides being in a mall or restaurant. It just feel more natural somehow.
I can't help noticing how many people here have tattoos. Even the women. And I'm not talking about the little butterfly on the ankle or the thorny rose on the small of the neck. I'm talking about serious looking tattoos which go down the entire neck or arm or leg. Perhaps it's an island tribal influence. Hawaiians are very spiritual people. Though the rituals are mostly gone, they still hold deeply to superstitions, believe in old folks tales and sensitive issues like respect for sacred lands and burial sites still arise. Perhaps that spirituality permeates into the society values.
Hawaiian Pidgin. It's how they talk here. A funny sing-song way of talking, seems like they hold the same tone for the whole sentence until the second last syllable which goes higher and ending with the last syllable which goes low. If it's a short sentence, it starts low, goes high then ends low. It's also a kind of broken english. Elton said it's like Asian-adapted-English when the Asians first started learning to speak English here and it somehow became a language of its own. Certain words are omitted and pronunciation is cut short. Like "It's like dat" or "I tink so" (ie. I think so) or "You never said noting" (You didn't say anything) and the t is a pronounced like a hard T. The funny thing is, Elton heard me speaking Manglish to my family in Malaysia which is also a sort of sing-song way of speaking English. I guess you could call it Malaysian Pidgin. But when he heard me speak it he asked, "Why don't you speak normal English to them?"!! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Manual transmission. They say standard car as opposed to manual transmission. First time I heard it, I thought they were referring to a car's standard features!
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