Hawaii in December 2020
During the COVID-19 lockdown in December 2020, I had a chance to escape a little bit to a place where the number of cases were low and I really needed a break from staying at home 24/7, so I decided to hop on a plane to Honolulu, Hawaii. This is my first time in Hawaii and I enjoyed it tremendously.
The flight, Kualoa Ranch, and USS Missouri (Pearl Harbor)
The flight was uneventful, I took a United Airlines flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Honolulu Airport (HNL). My friend and I needed to get a COVID test within 72 hours of the flight, and the result has to be uploaded to the Hawaii government website before the flight. Luckily, we were both negative and we were able to fly. Once we landed in Honolulu, we went straight to the hotel (we were staying at the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach) to put down our stuff and walked around Waikiki beach and go around places between Kalakaua Ave. and Kuhio Ave. Before I left San Francisco, a friend of mine recommended me to get some poke at Coco Cove, which is a convenient store, and I wasn’t disappointed. I had one of the best pokes in my life. We went to the Original Roy’s in Hawaii Kai for dinner and the food was so delicious and all of the seafood was so fresh.
Next morning, we had to get our brunch at Rainbow Drive-In which serves authentic Hawaiian food/BBQ. I wasn’t disappointed, and got the best macaroni salad I’ve had ever. After our brunch, we went to Kualoa Ranch. It was known as the place where Jurassic Park and a bunch of other films like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle were filmed. The nature there was gorgeous and I’ve never seen something as majestic as these mountain ranges. We spent most of the day there, and driving on Kamehameha Highway to get to the famous Giovanni’s shrimp truck. I wasn’t disappointed there either. The garlic shrimp was fresh and scrumptious. We had the spicy shrimp as well and the spice was at a good level, and the flavor was explosive.
On the next day, we spent our time going to the Pearl Harbor which is where the Japanese bombed the U.S. and made the U.S. joined World War II. We went to USS Missouri, which was a U.S. warship that was known to be the site where the Japanese surrendered to the Allies which ended World War II. The feeling after going into the ship was unreal. There were so many historical artifacts and places where people were fighting for the nation and freedom. I got a goosebump seeing the plaque commemorating the surrender of the Empire of Japan, and the treaty that they’ve signed.
Click the gallery below to see the pictures…
Iolani Palace, and lots of food
After we left Pearl Harbor, we went to see the Iolani Palace in the afternoon. Iolani Palace was a palace built by the Hawaiian royal family before the annexation of Hawaii by the U.S. Over there, I felt the sense of history and imagine what Hawaii would be like if it didn’t become part of the U.S. Hawaii had a strong royal tradition, and a lot of roads and places around Hawaii islands are named after the kings and queens.
Hawaii also has a lot of really amazing food, especially Japanese food, which is one of my favorite cuisines to eat. We want to get some matcha (green tea) ice cream at Cafe Maiko, got pork katsu (Tonkatsu) at the place called Tonkatsu Tamafuji, which was amazing. We also stopped by Marukame Udon, Tim Ho Wan for dim sum, and Tanaka of Tokyo for teppanyaki.
Dole Plantation, Beach, and Luau
Anyone who knows me for a while knows that I ❤️❤️❤️pineapples. It’s my favorite fruit ever, so when I’m in Hawaii, there’s no way that I won’t be visiting the Dole Plantation, which is where they plant a whole bunch of pineapples! The day that we went, the weather wasn’t great and it was raining quite a bit so some attractions at the Dole plantation like the maze was closed, but we were able to get on to the Pineapple Express train and had a good time. I also did buy a ton of stuff from the shop, including fresh pineapples and Dole whip!
For dinner, we went to Restaurant Santory in Royal Hawaiian Center. We had a full Japanese Kaiseki course meal there — with real Wagyu beef — and the food was divine. Though I’d say that I had better Japanese food in Japan, but this is quite good already.
The next day, we went to relax at the Waikiki beach for a while, and went to the Luau which is the traditional Hawaiian feast with dances, unlimited food, and drinks. Who wouldn’t enjoy that!
Overall, I’m super impressed with Honolulu and I’m looking forward to come back to Hawaii in the near future.