Marathon and Monterey

Star runners

Day 9 was the 47th Honolulu Marathon, my first time running that distance. If you recall, there was a car break-in on Day 1 and I lost a couple of things meant for the race. This included my Ultraboost, water bottle and sunglasses. But I decided that was okay, I was here to enjoy myself and see whether I could complete the distance in the hot sun. When I first told my wife that I had signed up for the marathon, she had concerns I would collapse and die of a heart attack. So I reminded myself to take it slow and if I have to walk or pull out, I would do so.  I woke up at 3.15am to get myself ready for the 5am race. It took me 6hrs 56 min to finish 

Last 5km

the run. I don't even sleep that long on most nights, so at least that is an achievement! The volunteers, supporters and hydration points were just amazing. My family came out to see me at the finishing line which was awesome. I was as stiff as a plank walking back from Kapiolani Park to the apartment. We took the rest of the day easy.

The next morning, my eldest son and I went to the Hawaiian Convention Centre to collect my Finisher certificate and managed to take photos with the winners. After that we drove out to the west looking for a suitable beach for the kids. We wanted to have lunch at a organic farm but turns out that it is closed on Mondays. I should have checked. We came across a Taco Bell so that was our lunch, the first time trying it. We went as far west as Kae'na Point

Kae'na Point

but the waves were too big for the kidsto swim in. Besides the afternoon sun was scorching. We saw a monk seal though. The west is quieter compared to the east and south but we noticed more homeless people camping along some of
the beaches. We decided to go back to Waikiki for beach time, which made a lot of sense. We haven't spent any time on Waikiki Beach even though it is right in front of the apartment. The stretch we were at had calm waters because it is protected by sea walls. We were there from about 4pm to 7pm and witnessed the beautiful sunset. We made reservations for dinner at Roy's Hawaii Kai. 

Day 11 was our final day in Oahu. We went to the Tantalus Lookout for a breathtaking view of Honolulu and Diamond Head. Not too far away is the Manoa Falls but it had been closed to the public for the past few weeks due to a land slide. We were about to turn the car around but saw another

car drive up a hill. We decided to follow the car and it led us to the Lyon Arboretum. What a perfect find - we took a hike through the tropical forest to Aihualama Falls. For lunch, we made the customary visit to the Ala Moana Center. We are not shopping people and got everything we needed from the ABC stores during our week's stay in Honolulu. It took me a while to locate the car after lunch.

The Kelp Forest,

We flew back to SFO that evening and drove out to Monterey when we arrived the next morning. The highlight in Monterey is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It has many unique exhibits so don't skip it even if you have been to many aquariums. Next morning, we drove south on US Hwy 1 making many stops along the way to take in the stunning views including Point Lobos, Rocky Creek Bridge, Bixby Creek Bridge, Pfeiffer Beach and Mcways Falls. We ended the lovely day with 

Bixby Creek Bridge

dinner at Portabella in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a charming seaside town with interesting shops decked in Christmas decorations.

On our final day in the US, we drove around Pacific Grove, the 17 Mile Drive and Pebble Beach. There were so many

The Lone Pine

pictureque spots to choose from but try not to miss Lovers Point, Reckless Sea and The Lone Pine. We also managed to see some Monach Butterflies, which make their winter migration to a santuary here each year. We had lunch at The Bench, overlooks the 18th hole at the Pebble Beach Golf Link. What an awesome way to end the holiday.

After lunch we drove to SFO just in time for our 16 1/2 hour flight home to sunny Singapore. 

Oahu

Diamond Head crater from the plane

Although I grew up watching Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI, I've never thought of visiting Hawaii. Ok, perhaps I did dream of being on Fantasy Island, but somehow I did not relate that to Hawaii. Just as well because I googled and apparently, other than the opening scene, it was filmed mostly in Burbank, California. I showed the younger kids the opening scenes to these TV series before we started the holiday but Spongebob Squarepants is probably more relatable to them. But here we were in Oahu, 8 months after the holiday planning began.

Hula Grill  Outrigger Waikiki

Day 6 of our holiday and first day in Hawaii. It was an early flight out of SFO and by the time we got to our apartment in Waikiki it was about 3pm. The only plan we had was an early dinner and a stroll along Kalakaua Avenue (I couldn't pronounce that until now that I have to spell it out) . The lady at the reception recommended Duke's in Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort but I could not get a reservation, so we went to Hula Grill instead. It was a perfect introduction to some local tastes, and a beautiful view of the sunset. We were served by a friendly waitress who was born in Malaysia and migrated to the US when she was very young. We talked a little bit about the difference between the Asian food in Hawaii and the ones back home.

We rented a car for the next two days. We took the scenic Interstate Highway 3  ( John A. Burns Freeway) toward the east and stopped at the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden (I resorted to cutting and pasting the name to this blogpost). I say stop but we actually drove around the Garden. There were instructions not to stop along the road to take photos, and we didn't, but you see many posts on instagram of people walking, dancing or lying on the road. It is not a surprise because it gives you a stunning view of the ridges of the Koolau Range. Next we went up to the windy Nu'uanu Pali Lookout. Be sure you have a good widbreaker, and some coins for the parking because the credit card reader on the parking meter doesn't work very well. Great view from up there so don't give that a miss.  It is also a historic spot where the natives of the island were forced off the cliff in their battle against the tribe from the Big Island.

La'ie Point

We stopped in Kaneohe (which I initially mispelled as Kaheone) for lunch at Zippy's (which we keep calling Ziggy's). We ordered Loco Moco for the adults, a Chili & Chicken, and a large Sai Min (which is actually a charsiew noodle, so I think it means small noodle in Cantonese). No prizes for guessing who had the Sai Min. We had Mochizada from Napoleon's Bakery for dessert. After lunch, we drove along the east coast from Mokoli'i (aka Chinaman's Hat) up to the north. We almost gave up looking for La'ie Point in Northshore but thank goodness we persevered. Found at the end of a road in a residential estate. it is a beautiful lookout to a sea arch.

Pineapple Whip

Further to the north, we wanted to look for turtles at Laniakea Beach but there was a massive traffic jam and no parking, possibly because of the surfing competition around the same stretch of Northshore. On the way back, we stopped at The Dole Plantation for the Pineapple Whip. If you have to go all the way there to get it, go get it anyway. It is so satisfying. But turns out that you can also get it from the Lawson's in Waikiki, although you may not get it with the pineapple cubes topping option. I am guessing that you can probably find it in other places if you look hard enough.

Hanauma Bay

On Day 7 we went to the Hawaii Convention Center to collect my race pack for the Honolulu Marathon. After that we headed out to get some masaladas from Leonard's and took the scenic drive on the Kalanianaole Highway. This route has many amazing lookout points including Lanai and the Halona Blowhole. We had lunch at Kona Brewing Co. before heading to Hanauma Bay ( which my wife kept referring to as Hanuman Bay - wrong  culture). I've read about the limited parking but we didn't encounter any issue, maybe because we got there at about 2pm which is only 3 1/2 hours of beach time before the beach park closes. That was more than enough time for the kids to do a bit of snorkelling and play with their sand castle set. It is worth coming to Hanauma Bay even if it is just for a hike to the lookout point. It was formed after a massive volcanic eruption which left a crater in the sea floor.

Laniakea Beach

Day 8. We were going to give turtle watching another shot. We stopped by at Haleiwa for shaved ice, acai bowl and to look at the surf shop. The road in the direction of Laniakea was again very jammed. We were about to turn around when we still could but made a last minute decision to join the long line of cars. Eventually we got there and to my surprised managed to get parking just as a car was leaving. We arrived just before 11am and it turned out that the best chance of seeing the turtle coming to shore was between 11am and 1pm. So even if we came here in the evening two days ago we may not have been able to see the turtles. We waited expectantly for two hours. The younger kids didn't mind as they enjoy playing on the beach. Slightly after 1pm, when we were about to leave, my eldest son spotted the turtle. We probably spent another hour waiting for the turtle to come up the beach but it didn't. It might have been feeding on the moss and seaweeds off the beach, so we could only see it bobbing up and down with the waves. It was fun and exciting in any case.

Parade on Kalakaua Av.

We made a quick stop at Sunset Beach to look at the big waves before returning to Waikiki for an early dinner. On our walk back to the apartment, we saw the 78th Pearl Harbour Commemoration parade on Kalakaua Avenue. It was an early night for me as I was running in the Honolulu Marathon the next morning.

San Francisco

The kids are not the biggest fans of city holidays especially if it involves some amount of walking. There were going to be some challenges keeping them  entertained in the next two days. We started Day 3 with a walk through Chinatown to the Transamerica Pyramid (TP). Being from Asia, the kids did not find Chinatown that interesting. It felt too much like home for them. I would have loved to take in the sights and sounds of this historical part of the city. We took a few quick photos and marched on.

I did not visit TP when I was in San Francisco many years ago. Come to think of it, I didn't do many things on that trip. And after more than quarter of a century, I finally see it, all of 10 minutes. The "What so interesting?" question came up a few times from the kids over the next 2 days, which made be laugh. They did however enjoy the Transamerica Redwood Park next to the iconic building. So for those who don't plan to venture out of San Francisco, you can see the redwoods right here. 

We went to the Ferry Building for lunch. Many of the eateries did not have sitting space so we decided on The Slanted Door, a Vietnamese restaurant. Although my son wasn't so keen to eat in Chinatown, he was quite pleased to find Beef Noodle Soup on the menu. The helpful waiter said that the soup was quite large and customers normally ordered to share for two. As the Beef Noodle Soup was in the Soup section of the menu rather than the Mains,  we asked him if there were lots of  noodles in the soup. He said there is quite a lot so we ordered three of those and a main for my daughter.  The waiter sounded slightly confused with our choice of order, I think because we were ordering 3 starters which would have been enough to share for 6 persons. But it turned out to be our regular order of pho by Asian standards so we were really happy. Slightly different cultural understanding between us and the waiter on whether Beef Noodle Soup is a starter or a main.

After lunch, we walked from the Ferry Building to Pier 39 to look at the sea lions. The kids were counting the number of piers they walked passed and were relieved to discover that the pier numbers skip. I loved the buildings at the piers, the sea view, the view of the north end of the city and the trams that run along the Embarcadero . At Fisherman's Wharf, my wife tried the clam chowder at Boudin and we visited its museum.  After a decent amount of walking for the kids, we headed back to the hotel for an early night. Later in the evening, I took a walk up to Coit Tower, which offers an amazing  night view of the city.

My eldest son arrived on Day 4 morning and we were excited to see him. He tried to catch a nap but wasn't very successful so after breakfast we headed out. My wife stayed in for the day because she caught a bug.  We headed to Market Street for the cable car. I was expecting a long queue but it turned out to be okay at this time of the year. I got tickets in advance on the Muni app the night before. We stood at the back of the cable car and got a great view of the city behind us. We spotted Swensen's first ice-cream store on Hyde Street before we disembarked at Lombard Street to stroll up and down the most winding street in the world, well next to it at least. After that we went for a walk on the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts, where we saw a car theft; two car related encounters in 4 days!  Later we went back to Pier 39 for lunch and to show my eldest son the sea lions. Another early night for the kids as we were heading off to Hawaii the next morning. I took a stroll down California Street to the Ferry Building for some night photos and used the extra cable car ticket that I had leftover to get back to the hotel.

All in all, I think the kids moderately enjoyed San Francisco, which was better than I had expected. At the very least they could better relate to the names of some items on Swensen's menu when we had dinner there last weekend. They also enjoyed reading a children's book on the Golden Gate Bridge which we bought from the Welcome Centre.

Next stop - Oahu, Hawaii.