Halloween in Chinatown

It was a party Halloween in Chinatown! Outdoor stages with music went from 5:30-ish to around 9:30. A couple of streets were blocked off and there were food and drink booths and cocktail tables and body-to-body people having a great time in wacked-out costumes. When the music on the outside stages quit, people milled around for awhile taking pictures of each other. As always, a great place to find interesting people is in line at the porta-potty.
Later, the inside concerts started and people who weren't going to any of them moved inside to bars.
This was my favorite costume of the night.Although there were several Michael Phelps "costumes" to check out.
This was my favorite encounter of the night.Finally, it was time to clear the streets. Event security workers walked the streets, followed by police. Behind them was the street sweeper.We ended up at Aloha Tower trying to catch a cab to Waikiki beside a group of six young men in grass skirts with bare chests and spears. They got a cab first but offered it to us because we were waiting longer. It was the most fun street party I've attended -- the police were mellow but effective, the partiers were having a great time but no one was ugly. Alooooha!

Shopping on Oahu, Too

The Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is just down from Waikiki on the shore -- you can watch the surf while you eat at Bubba Gump's or other restaurants on the sea side of the mall.It has a large interior courtyard and the walkways are open to the sky. It's just the place to pick up a trifle from Prada or Chanel or Montblanc or Jimmy Choo. It has every high-end retailer you can think of and lots of mid-range stores, too.It is fully bilingual - Japanese/English. The mall brochures and signs are all in both languages. There are shopping shuttles for Japanese tourists.

But, earlier I said there were two stores we used when we first moved here. One was Wal-mart and the other was Sears. That's where we got the inflatable bed that kept us from the tile floor for far too long (that will be a later post). For now, it is enough to mention that Sears is at the Ala Moana Center and it has everything from inflatable beds/sheets/pillows to electronics for prices that are fairly close to the mainland and you don't have to pay shipping. There is a hefty delivery charge, though, which accounts for the story of how our television got a cab ride home. (later!)

There are Costco and Sam's Club and Home Depot for big-box stores. There are also some outlet stores on the west side of the island. We passed them when going to the coast on a hiking expedition. Since we have furnished our little studio without a car, we haven't ventured that far in search of supplies.

It's Raining!

I heard the rain this morning in my sleep and was very happy I could just turn over and go back to sleep. Later, the actual rain stopped and the air held a light mist, like a plant mister was spraying the whole town. For lunch, we walked to a new pub that is just opened. It's somewhat like Connor O'Neil's but smaller.

I think Hawaii is headed for a rainy season. My pay stub this week had the following notice typed on the bottom in capital letters:

(I took some pictures on campus Thursday and Friday that I'm going to just randomly add to this post because they're pretty and it's hard to take pictures of rain with an iPhone.)

"Hurricane season ends in a few weeks and Hawaii's rainy season begins. The potential for earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural and man-made hazards is always with us. When disaster strikes Hawaii's people, I may call upon you to help the victims. During or following a disaster, every state employee is considered a civil defense worker and may be assigmed response or recovery duties. Linda Lingle, Governor."

The notice makes me wonder about the uniform for civil defense workers. I'm thinking they'll issue me a Smokey the Bear hat, small camping shovel and maybe cammo flip flops. I'm unclear as to whether it will involve a lei, but that is possible. Every public event seems to involve floral neckware.

So, the past two days have been glorious. Thursday and Friday were golden!It's raining again now as I prepare for sleep -- nice, steady rain, not the plant mister or quick blast from a fire hose kinds of rain I told you about earlier. It's fun to be in a place with different kinds of rain. No thunder or lightening so far, just different manners of water falling from the sky.

Asian Influences

The stone lions standing guard at the East West Center are a gift from China. Along East-West Road, there are several installations given as gifts from Asian nations. Behind this large hall is a Japanese garden with a stream and large, colorful fish.



And a traditional tea house still used for tea ceremonies.

There are more photos of the Japanese garden on my Facebook page.

Link

Between the East West Center and the Center for Korean Studies is a Tibetan sala.
It's just a pretty place to sit to talk or meditate or wait out the rain.
The Center for Korean Studies is modeled on a palace. The Hawaii Peace Memorial celebrates the contributions of Japanese workers and residents to the state.There are other cool installations on campus and many Asian influences. These are just the ones I passed on my way to the credit union from my office. There was also a cool bamboo grove near the Japanese garden. There is a new shoot in front that looks like a spear. I guess those are the things pandas like to munch on.

Trees and New Leaves

It is autumn but the palm trees here are all sprouting new leaves. The new leaves look like a stick in the middle of the plant -- like an Alfalfa cowlick in a head of hair (random My Gang reference).Although there are lots of different kinds of palm trees -- or at least they look really different to me (the non-biologist) -- all of them seem to sprout new leaves the same way.The stick is actually just a leaf rolled up really tight. It unfurls like a flag or umbrella as it matures.
The new leaves are often a lighter green or shinier than the others for awhile.

This is an interesting palm I walked by on the way to meet my ride-share this morning. it doesn't seem to be sprouting a new leaf but, judging from all the others, it should soon.