Maui

We love our friends Pat and Kazumi, and we enjoyed every event that was held in their honour. But once our whirlwind tour of Oahu for wedding-related activities ended, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We could now slow down the pace and feel like we were all actually on vacation. Pat and Kazumi would stay on Oahu while Matt and I, and Joe and Clare, would move on to explore Maui. Pat and Kazumi would join us a few days later.

We spent our final day on Oahu taking it easy. We returned to Snappers for a late breakfast. After breakfast, we finished packing our things and checked out of our hotel. We had a leisurely lunch at Ala Moana Center and then made our final preparations to fly to Maui.

For this part of the trip, we made very different choices. We had chosen different airlines with different routes and different hotels. Despite all that, we would still be spending a lot of time together. There was a free shuttle that linked our area to theirs. There was also a well-marked foot path between the two locations. Fantastic!

Our flight to Maui was with Mokulele Airlines. They weighed our checked luggage, and then they weighed us and our carry-on luggage. We were asked to hop up on the baggage scale, one at a time, and they recorded our weights. The TSA screening agent chatted with Matt while he was going through security. The agent recognized the Dainese logo on Matt's t-shirt and cap. Yes, the agent was a rider. =) We boarded a small aircraft with a 10 passenger capacity. It felt more like we were joining a small tour group for a tour of the islands! The scenery was stunning as we took off from Oahu. The flight itself was about 40 minutes in duration. We arrived at our accommodations after a short cab ride and unpacked a little. Once we were settled in, we took a stroll along the marked path towards Joe and Clare's. We walked around Whalers Village, a nearby shopping centre and waited for them to arrive.  We eventually met up and had dinner at Leilani's on the Beach. We discussed our plans for the next few days until Pat and Kazumi would join us again, and then parted for the evening.

The next day, we all spent time doing some much needed laundry. Then, Joe and Clare headed to our area to join us for breakfast at Castaway Café. We had decided the night before that we would spend the rest of the day being lazy and having some much deserved beach time. Despite the fact that we had been to a beach wedding and we were in the vicinity of Honolulu's Waikiki Beach every day while we were on Oahu, we had somehow managed to be too busy to spend any time enjoying any beaches! Well we would certainly indulge in the amazing weather, sand and surf now! We packed up some items to spend a day at the beach and then set out for Joe and Clare's area. We settled ourselves on the beach. We soaked up some sun, we bobbed around in the ocean, and we had a great time. We eventually packed up and freshened ourselves up. We decided to try a restaurant called Star Noodle for an early dinner. The restaurant's dishes were quite tasty and reasonably priced. After dinner, we went for coffee. Going for coffee, as it turned out, was far more difficult than we had anticipated. We had forgotten to take into account that the U.S. celebrates Columbus Day (or Discoverer's Day) on the same day that we normally celebrate Thanksgiving. After a frustrating exercise of driving around in circles, we eventually found an open coffee shop and indulged in some caffeinated beverages. Tomorrow's adventures will involve more driving. A lot more. 

North Shore

We decided to explore the North Shore of Oahu by car as a day trip with Joe and Clare. We had a quick breakfast, picked up some snacks for the road, and then set out to see the sights. We had already seen a small portion of the North Shore since the wedding ceremony location was a beach in that area. The roads along the coast were rather twisty; we noted that it would have been an amazing ride on motorcycles. Perhaps we can return one day and do that. =)

We drove along Kamehameha Highway and stopped a few times along the way at some scenic points to stretch our legs and take some photos. One of the interesting laws in Hawaii is the public is allowed access to all beaches. Technically, there are no private beaches, even if you own beach front property. So as we drove along the North Shore, there were pubic access walkways at regular intervals between the private properties. 

We stopped for lunch at Fumi's. Fumi's is one of the famous shrimp trucks found on Kamehameha Highway. We actually ate at a brick and mortar location that was a short distance from the original truck. Matt and I shared an order of spicy garlic shrimp and lemon pepper shrimp. Joe and Clare shared orders of spicy garlic shrimp and garlic and butter shrimp. I think we can all agree that every dish we tried was fantastic. After lunch, we enjoyed a giant shaved ice with local flavours (Blue Hawaiian, mango, and coconut).

We stopped briefly at Waimea Valley Visitor Center and looked around a small section of the botanical gardens that surrounded the Visitor Center. In addition to the plants, we saw some local wildlife causing some mild havoc amongst pedestrians and vehicular traffic. Some wild birds (peacocks, chickens, roosters, and various ducks) were strolling around without a care in the world. It caused some amusement as they would amble along in the parking lots in front of cars, effectively holding up traffic. 

We continued along and then drove past fields of pineapples. At first we thought we were driving past fields of aloe plants since the crowns of pineapples and the leaves of aloe plants have very similar shapes at a quick glance. But then we spotted signs for the Dole Plantation and it dawned on us what those plants really were. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit the Dole Plantation. We had a stroll through their garden, their gift shop, and had a quick look at their world famous Pineapple Garden Maze. A large board listed frequently asked questions about pineapples. Did you know that it takes 20 months to grow a pineapple?? We were all amazed by the information on that board. We sampled some Dole soft serve pineapple ice cream and browsed through their gift shop before continuing on our way.

We finished our exploratory drive and returned to Honolulu. We completed our day by having dinner at a restaurant called House Without a Key. This was our final night on the island of Oahu. Next up: Maui!

Luau

A trip to Hawaii would not be complete without attending a luau. Pat's family made arrangements for everyone to experience one called Chief's Luau. It was very well organized. They had all sorts of informal pre-dinner activities that allowed the attendees to experience different aspects of Polynesian culture. A few of the activities included headband weaving, spear throwing, and hula lessons. A welcome ceremony was performed and then it was on to dinner. Although we weren't wowed by the food, it was still a decent representation of some traditional Hawaiian dishes. Some of the dishes were poi, lomi lomi salmon, grilled mahi mahi, purple sweet potatoes, and taro buns. Musicians and drummers entertained us as we ate with live music. 

When dinner was winding down, the show began in earnest. Male and female dancers demonstrated traditional dancing from the different Polynesian nations. The highlight of the performance was the fire knife dancing. As it turns out, the Chief is actually a world champion fire knife dancer. This was a fantastic experience and I would definitely recommend it. 

Aloha!

Our Hawaii adventure started six months ago when our friends Pat and Kazumi got engaged and decided to get married in Honolulu. How could we say no to an opportunity to visit Hawaii under such happy circumstances? ;)

Although the total flight time was well over 10 hours, we adjusted to the time difference fairly quickly. We arrived on Tuesday evening and settled into our hotel. We went for a nice stroll for a few hours with another couple of friends who were on the same flight and staying in the same hotel. Despite the late hour, we still saw plenty of people roaming the streets of Honolulu. 

On Wednesday, we started by having breakfast at a nearby restaurant called Snappers. The local birds were quite bold. We saw some of them hop onto a neighbouring table and attempt to steal food right off a patron's plate! After breakfast, we explored Ala Moana Center, the largest shopping mall in Hawaii. It is also the largest open-air shopping center in the world. We browsed the many shops and enjoyed a nice lunch at the Nordstrom Café. Matt had a fanastic arugula and shrimp salad and I had an ahi tuna poke. In the evening, we attended a dinner hosted by Pat's family at Gyu-Kaku Waikiki. It is a Japanese BBQ restaurant. The concept of a BBQ restaurant is that plates of sliced marinated raw meats are provided and you cook it yourself on a grill at your table. The dessert: s'mores. Very whimsical. 

Thursday was the big day, the wedding day. The majority of the guests boarded a shuttle bus to the ceremony site while others drove themselves. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. We all watched as Pat and Kazumi said their vows on the beach in both English and Japanese. It was very touching and intimate. The most hilarious moment was Kazumi announcing after the wedding certificate was signed: "Now he's allll mine!" Everyone laughed and cheered. The reception was held at The Beach House in Moana Surfrider Hotel. The dinner was a delicious four course affair that ended with a trio of desserts and a slice of wedding cake. Although there was talk of going out after the reception ended, we didn't have the energy and bid the rest of the wedding guests good night.

This morning we attended a brunch hosted by Kazumi's family at Pikake Terrace in Sheraton Princess Kaiulani. It was a unique mix of traditional North American brunch items and Japanese breakfast items. The highlight for us was the delicious and very fresh local tropical fruits. After brunch, we browsed some more shops before returning to our hotel to prepare for the evening's festivities: a luau.   

In a New York minute

We had a slightly later start in the morning since we already knew the water treatment plant was off our list. The sites for the rest of the day included 2 abandoned county jails, another abandoned hospital facility, and a theatre. Little did we know it would be a dismal day for urban exploration. The first county jail was in the middle of a new construction suburban development. From the looks of it, it had recently been torn down. The hospital facility could no longer be located on updated local satellite maps. The second county jail was still standing. However, the strong police enforcement presence in the area was enough to give us second thoughts on the site and we left quickly. The theatre was located fairly close to the second county jail. As we drove up to it, we saw three police patrol cars parked directly in front of the theatre’s boarded up entrance.

We were amazed at our 100% failure rate for the day. We decided that we would be tourists for the rest of the day and drove to Manhattan. We had a satisfying brunch at Jerry’s Cafe and spent the rest of the day wandering around lower Manhattan, the Soho district, and the midtown district.

We left the city before it started to get dark. We checked in at our hotel for the night and then headed out again for dinner. We ate at an establishment called the Powerhouse. It was formerly a powerhouse that had been converted into a restaurant. How appropriate. =) Tomorrow we will attempt one more urban exploration before starting our trek home.

A prescription for adventure

The shortened daylight hours at this time of the year leaves us no choice to but get up early and be on the road as soon as possible. Before we headed out, we indulged in the complimentary breakfast offered by our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised. There were 5 available hot items on top of breads, cereals, and assorted pastries. Pretty impressive!

Our first stop of the day was a large complex of buildings that were previously used as a state psychiatric hospital. We could see the buildings from the parking lot of a strip mall on the adjoining property. They were a short distance away across a forested area. We cautiously made our way through the forested area. Halfway through, we were approached by a man on an all-terrain vehicle. We patiently waited for him to reach us. He simply wanted to let us know that he had seen some hunters in the area and that we should keep an eye out for them. We breathed a sigh of relief, thanked him, and then parted ways. We continued on through the forest towards the complex. Once we arrived, we spent several hours on the property exploring various buildings. The main building was several stories tall and contained administrative offices. There was also a small chapel with colourful stained glass windows. When we moved from the main building to one of the smaller buildings, we caught sight of a pickup truck driving around the property.  This put us on edge. We knew that all the local roads leading in to the complex were gated and chained shut. We continued on with greater caution. We explored one more building and then decided to head back to the car. We retraced our steps back through the complex and the forested area. We emerged at the strip mall parking lot and walked casually towards the car. As we walked, a white pickup truck drove towards us and then stopped. The driver rolled down his passenger window and leaned over to say a few words to us. He claimed to be a property manager of the complex we just left and warned us not to return in the near future or we would risk dealing with law enforcement. We assured him that we had no plans to return any time soon. The conversation continued for a few more minutes after which we quickly packed up and left.

We had originally planned to go to a second hospital complex but decided to skip it as we had spent so much time at the first hospital complex. We headed to our hotel instead. We had chosen the hotel location based on its proximity to the next site, an abandoned water treatment plant, which we planned to visit in the morning. Since it was already dark, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to quickly scout out that location to ensure we would not have any difficulties in the morning. The building was in the middle of a residential area so entering and leaving the building would be tricky during daylight hours. After the scouting, it was decided the building interior was not interesting enough for us to return in the morning. We continued to our hotel and ordered pizza delivery for dinner. It was a shorter day than we expected.

It's your berfday!

How am I celebrating my birthday this year? By taking a road trip to the US with Matt and a couple of friends to do more urban exploration. ;)

We left Toronto on Thursday evening after having a quick dinner near our place. This way, we would have reliable access to good food and kill some time. Leaving during rush hour would have been a bad idea. After dinner, we packed up the rental car and headed out. The border crossing was short and virtually hassle free. We arrived at our hotel shortly before midnight. After settling in, we decided we would try to leave by 7am the next morning.

After a mostly leisurely breakfast, we headed to our first urbex location. It was located beside a correctional facility. When we arrived, we immediately noticed the very new looking fence around the property. We did a walk around the building and did not discover any easy access through the fence. We decided it would be too much hassle to attempt entering the property and headed to our next location.

Our second urbex location was not any better. We arrived at the parking lot outside the building and it was practically full. This was a bad sign. We slowly circled the building in the car. It did not look abandoned and a small construction trailer was also present. Well. We suddenly had a lot of time on our hands. We hit the road once more and stopped at a coffee shop to review our plan for the rest of the day. Once we finished our beverages, we headed out.

Our next stop was successful. We explored an abandoned public bath house building and an abandoned hotel that were a few blocks apart. The bath house had many small rooms for spa treatments. Many of the rooms still contained massage tables and chairs. The hotel was a u-shaped building that had 5 floors. All the rooms were still intact with almost complete furnishings: beds, chairs, dressers, old television sets, lamps, and telephones. The beds were mostly bare but some bedding remained. Some of the mattresses looked almost brand new. Many of the rooms had very colourful wallpapers and equally colourful carpeting. One of the rooms contained wall to wall television sets, all of them stacked neatly in rows on top of each other. Someone went through a lot of time and effort to arrange them this way for their own amusement. There were obvious signs that people lived in the hotel rooms after it was abandoned.

When we were done, we continued our trek to two more destinations. They too, were inacessible. With a success rate of 30%, we headed to our next hotel. Since we had finished up earlier than anticipated, we had time to do a bit of research on where to go for dinner and book our next hotel. We settled on a local Belgian restaurant called the Merry Monk for dinner that had favourable reviews. On our way to the restaurant, we passed a gentleman sitting on a park bench with a grocery cart full of belongings and ... a laptop. He was chatting with someone using a webcam. Wow. When we finished dinner, we passed him again. He was still chatting.

When we returned to our hotel, the lobby was bustling with activity. An auction had just finshed up and people were leaving with their purchases. Very strange.

It had been an interesting and eventful day. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Days 13 and 14: ... And they rode off into the sunset ...

We had a pretty lazy day. We got up, had breakfast, and headed to a wifi zone with our laptops that was both close by and offered caffeinated beverages. We spent about an hour or so catching up on emails, reading and posting on threads on various forums, generally enjoying our beverages, and doing a bit of planning for the rest of the day. Once we were done, we dropped off our laptops at the hotel and headed out again. Our missions for today were to do some shopping and to have Indian cuisine for dinner.

We started off at Harrods and then wandered over to Oxford Street. Matt and I joked that Bart would have to wear all of his purchases since his luggage was already slightly over the weight allowance when he originally arrived in Europe. We shopped in quite a few stores and managed to make some decent purchases for ourselves.

 We used Trip Advisor one final time for our last meal together in London. We narrowed our restaurant choices down to three possibilities. We settled on Chettinad (http://www.chettinadrestaurant.com/) based on the restaurant’s proximity to our hotel … or so we thought. It turns out that it was very close to our previous London hotel, not our current one. Oops! Regardless, we managed to get ourselves there for our 6pm reservation. Bart took all of his things with him as Matt and I would be leaving London the next morning, and Bart would be staying elsewhere. The food was fantastic. I worried that it would be too spicy for me and cautiously ordered a milder lamb dish. I probably would have been ok ordering a dish similar to the curries that Matt and Bart had ordered. It was better to be safe than sorry!

After dinner, we walked back to the nearby Tube station, and Matt and I said our goodbyes to Bart. Bart would be staying another day and night in London and then travelling on to other parts of Europe while Matt and I returned home. Matt and I spent the remainder of the evening carefully repacking our luggage to ensure everything would fit together nicely.

In the morning, we returned to Gatwick Airport via St. Pancras Station. We basically took the same route, in reverse, which we did on the day we had arrived. Everything about our return trip went smoothly. We experienced no delays while on the Tube. When we arrived at St. Pancras and purchased our train tickets, we only waited a few minutes before the train arrived. We went through the check-in, security check, and to the gate with no problems. We even had time to spare to grab some snacks and a coffee for Matt before boarding the plane. Oh wait, there was one small hiccup: we were not able to sit side-by-side together on the plane. In the grand scheme of things, this was a very small price to pay. When we arrived at Pearson, our luggage arrived as well. The sun was shining, and it was a balmy 18C. We also got a “welcome home” text message from Matt’s mom. We caught the first TTC bus and arrived home by 4pm. At home, we discovered a “welcome home” note in the kitchen. We had asked some friends to take care of our plants while we were away. They had left us some treats in the fridge!

It’s so nice to be home! =)

Day 12: London, solo-style

It turns out that I was incorrect about the state of the kettle. I was not aware that there was a little dial that I had to turn, a timer, that would allow me to use the particular electrical outlet that the kettle was plugged into. I happily made myself some breakfast consisting of oatmeal, yogurt, a little cheese, and a glass of juice. After cleaning up, I set out to the Victoria and Albert Museum and spent a few hours wandering around the galleries until I got a certain email from Bart. We agreed to meet up around 1pm at a nearby Starbucks. I waited there for an hour.

When they finally arrived, they both looked like the walking dead. I quickly led them back to the hotel where they both showered. Bart immediately went for a nap after his shower. When Matt had finished his shower, we went for a short walk and a coffee, and Matt told me the tale of their adventure. It was all very surreal. When we were done, we returned to the hotel and had a nap as well.

When we were all feeling more refreshed, we met up with Bart's friend, Nikita. We all went out for dinner and drinks at a nearby pub. She told us about life in London (she has been here about four months now) and we told her about our adventures. We made some tentative plans to meet up again the next day for dinner again. She wanted us to experience "a Sunday roast". Sure! The rest of the evening was very quiet.

Day 11: Group activities and solo adventures

Today we had a private tour at National Trust’s Orford Ness National Nature Reserve site. There were nine people in our group. Everyone else who participated was from Europe. The three of us had travelled the furthest to attend. Our private tour started with a short boat ride to the facility. We had a brief meeting, complete with hot beverages, to discuss the ground rules. It turns out many locals are unaware of this site’s former military history. Afterwards, we all clambered into a large covered trailer that contained benches and we were on our way. We toured and photographed approximately 10 different buildings. Since they were former military buildings, almost everything was stripped out of the buildings. Several hours into our tour, it started drizzling. And then it started pouring. We ended our tour a little earlier than scheduled and returned to the mainland. The majority of our group stayed together and we went off to grab some dinner together at the same pub that we ate at on Day 10. We talked about our previous experiences with urban exploration. We talked about the challenges of driving in foreign countries. We all had a good time. After dinner, Matt and Bart dropped me off at the Ipswich train station and I made my way back to London on my own.

Since I had already done some quick internet research the night before, returning to London by train was the easy part. The challenging part was navigating London’s Underground stations with a large suitcase and no escalators. Wow. Lucky for me, I was rescued several times by sympathetic gentlemen who helped me move my giant suitcase up several sets of stairs. The walk to the hotel was quite painless and took under 5 minutes. And then once again, I faced more stairs. Four sets of stairs. By the time I finished dragging the suitcase to the door of our room, I was practically hyperventilating and ready to pass out! After a few minutes of rest, I unpacked a few things, and then stepped out to a local grocery store to pick up a few things for breakfast. When I got back, I put on the kettle to make myself some tea. Just my luck: it seemed the kettle was out of order. Oh well. I will settle for microwaved water in the morning. I took a bit of time to clean my camera and tripod and then took a nice long hot shower. What luxury! In the morning, I will probably head to a nearby Starbucks to plan out my day and see if I can get any updates regarding Matt and Bart’s evening adventures without me. Good night!

Update on Sunday, October 21, 2012 at 5:16AM by Cess

Day 11b: Would you like another slice of “pye”? No thanks!

I got an email from Bart, sent around 10:30am: “We’ll be dropping the car off far earlier, leaving now.” I had expected them to leave around 2pm, arriving around 5pm after returning the rental car by 4pm. Hmm ...

Matt and Bart’s adventure at Pye was less than ideal. It seems that my decision to forego this site was the happier one. Entering the site was time consuming, complicated, a very dirty business, and extremely stressful. It involved hiding in the woods, lots of corridors that were flooded with dirty water, noisy catwalks and ladders, and a lot of waiting around for vigilant security patrols to pass by. They were not alone: not only were there other explorers on site, but also a group of scrappers who had cut their way into Pye through some fencing. Dave and Lucy had spoken about how the security patrols had been stepped up recently due to people cutting the fences and stealing building materials. Understandably, the owner of the site was concerned and the additional security was put in place to prevent further thefts from happening.

Although they had arrived at Pye around midnight, they did not get to the pre-determined “sleeping quarters” until close to 3:30am. Trying to fall asleep with soaking wet feet is not an easy task, even if the room is warm. But sleep did not visit them for long. At around 5am, they all woke up, freezing cold. During the night, the temperature had dropped rather drastically. Luckily, Matt had the foresight to pack some additional layers and put them on. It wasn’t much, but it helped a bit.

When there was enough light, they started their exploration and photography. They watched as one of the security patrols burst through a door to the area they were exploring. Everyone scattered like cockroaches. The other group of explorers were dragged out of the room and removed from the premises. Matt and Bart along with the others were eventually discovered as well: another patrol had followed their footprints to where they were. It was actually a relief to be discovered. Not only was the patrol extremely cordial, friendly, and understanding, this allowed them to leave the premises without having to try and sneak out again. You can imagine my surprise when I got an email from Bart telling me that they would be back in London early. Well, now you know why.

Oh right. And as a tribute to Dave and Lucy, I should mention the three zombie guard dogs and the toad with rockets in the one very wet tunnel. No one was dressed as a Nazi, but there was one gentleman in a 50's pilot outfit, complete with aviator glasses. Strange but true.