Mokule'ia Beach

I went to the last beach area I've not been to on Oahu today called Mokule'ia. This is probably one of the most undeveloped area I've seen on Oahu. It reminded me a lot of Kauai and Molokai islands with how remote it was. The air here is so fresh, it put Elton and I into a sleepy lull. The wind was strong today which draws out the surfers onto the big waves. There were lots of kite surfers here today. They basically hold on to a kite while jumping off waves on a surf board. It's pretty wild to watch. I had a good time snapping shots of them.

Mokuleia beach on the north west side of Oahu

plenty of Kite surfers on this beach today

Two harness belts go around the waist which pulls the body weight with the kite

The kite surfer to the left is airborne while the other one is surfing on the water

This guy jumped off as the wind pulled his kite up and was in the air for about 3 full seconds 

Trying to capture these tiny quick runners along the sand

This little guy was cute. Its colors camouflages perfectly with the sand here

Further west to the northwest tip of Oahu is Ka'ena Point Park. The terrain here is rougher and more remote. There's no beaches here but a great place to sit and take in the sea, sun and sand.

'Malama Da Aina' in Hawaiian means Care for the Land. 

The landscape looking west towards the northwest tip of the island 

The mountain range looking west towards the northwest tip of the island 

Go-Kart Racing

If you have never Go-Kart Raced before or know nothing about the technique to race a car, don't go racing with a bunch of people who love race cars or worse, a bunch of people who actually engineered and built a formula style car to race...you will lose face. That is in fact what I did last night. 
Elton had a reunion with his friends from his college days at University of Hawaii. We had a nice mellow dinner then adjourned to the Podium Raceway to do some indoor go-kart racing. I figured it could be fun so I hopped on the bandwagon. I was completely deceived by these laid back, unassuming, good natured looking friends I just made. Once we got into the cars, they turned into killing machines on the race track; natural born drivers who calculated the risk and speed as they approached every turn; concocting the perfect slide then gunning it to the next turn. They smoked me! Next time, I'm going with non-experts! 


There's no denying the exhilaration one feels behind the wheel, trying to control the car, feeling the shuddering of the steering wheels with each turns and seeing the other cars from the ground level. Not to mention putting on the race helmet and feeling like Nicole Kidman in Days of Thunder when I pull it off! I couldn't help feeling proud to see the girls holding their own so well against the guys. After it was over, they eagerly anticipated the printout of the breakdown of best laps everyone did and the overall winner. I think I heard, "Whoa that was so cool!" about 10 times. If there wasn't a 1 hour wait, I think they would've raced 5 more times!
I saw another side of my beau tonight - the dare devil when he's behind the wheels of a devilish race engine. It was sexy. It's like he came alive for one moment that empowered him in a way only a super charged adrenalin rush can. Later he told me, "I'll teach you." 

Great Aloha Run

I ran an 8mile (13K) Great Aloha Run today together with over 23,000 people. It was fun running beside people of all ages, color and size, though I had not trained for it. There were even people with wheelchairs, baby strollers and walkers. The left side were all for the different military divisions. I'd never seen so many military men. I keep forgetting Hawaii is a strategic military post for its location. It was cool hearing their low toned chants as they ran in unison. The best was watching the mothers pushing twin strollers or fathers running alongside their sons. I liked passing those with T-shirts which wrote Pain is Weakness leaving the Body. As much as I think that is not true, it pushed me onwards towards that elusive finish line! For some reason, running among a pack of people all heading towards a finish line felt empowering even though my feet felt like they were on fire after the 4th mile. Something about being with a bunch of people with a common goal. Makes the activity less burdensome somehow...and much more enjoyable. I think when pain is shared, it feels less painful and pushes one's body to go beyond itself...albeit for the moment. Loved gorging on all the free bananas and sugar drinks afterwards. They could learn lot from all the freebies, sports giveaways and even free beer booths we have in Chicago though...