Today was our last full day with Ed and Angela as they were returning back to the mainland the next day. We headed to the northern-most point on Kauai,
Ha'ena State Park and Ke'e Beach. It took over an hour and a half to drive here from Poipu, with narrow roads and one-lane bridges. The Kalalau Trail trailhead that takes you along the Napali coast starts at Ha'ena, but we didn't hike it this visit. Ha'ena's parking situation had changed over the years...before, if the paved lot was full, you could turn right onto a dirt road into the forest and find some spots to park next to the trees. Later, the dirt road access was closed and an overflow parking lot was built a ways from the paved lot. When I was here November 2009, I was lucky to snag a spot in the main lot, but not this time, so I dropped everyone off, then parked in overflow. It was only a few minutes' walk to the beach.
The waves weren't super high at Ke'e, but it was enough where the lifeguards posted a "No Snorkeling" sign and barked at people who attempted to get in with snorkel gear. Some of the beach is protected, so we went swimming. Much of it was captured on video, so I only have a few pictures to share.
After swimming in the ocean for a couple of hours, we packed up and did a little bit of sightseeing (
Wet Cave,
Hanalei Valley Lookout) on the way to
Hanalei Bay. I was hoping to run into a surfing school on the beach so that everyone could take lessons. I didn't see any classes going on, though there were people renting surfboards, oh well. We swam there for an hour, then grabbed "linner" at the nearby
Ching Young Village strip mall, including picking up some shave ice at
Shave Ice Paradise, which wasn't that great. Should've gone over to the
Wishing Well Shave Ice roach coach down the street. We decided to call it a day since it was such a long drive back down to Poipu, plus, we had to check out of the timeshare the next day. The timeshare was only until Friday, and we weren't leaving until Saturday afternoon. I had hoped to find another week that would extend into Saturday, but no such luck, so fortunately, I saw a deal on
Travelzoo at the
Wyndham Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach. It turned out to be even less expensive if I signed up for their free
Wyndham Rewards card and booked their special member rates. I reserved a three bedroom oceanview villa for $361 total, the price you'd normally pay for a hotel room without a view at a luxury Hawaiian resort! The pictures of the resort looked fantastic.
Friday, we bade farewell to our home base at the Marriott Waiohai and did some sightseeing to burn time between checkout and check-in. First stop was the
Kauai Coffee Company, with free coffee tasting and a self-guided tour around the plantation. There were many flavors to choose from, regular and decaf. I don't normally like the taste of coffee, but gave in to peer pressure and drank some macadamia nut decaf (with lots of sugar and cream). Then we took the tour (which for some reason, was called a "maze"), inspecting coffee plants and harvesting/drying equipment.
Afterward, we headed into Lihue town to grab some local grub at
Hamura Saimin Stand. I had wanted to try this place out for a while ever since reading about it in the Ultimate Kauai guidebook, but didn't get a chance to do it until now. It was located on a side street in a shady part of town, next to motels offering rooms with no view for $75 a night. The eatery was set up as diner service, where you find a stool and sit down. The waitress throws you a menu that's seen better days, hand you a place setting consisting of paper napkin, disposable wooden snap chopsticks and plastic Chinese soup spoon, as well as a small glass of water. Four of us ordered the "special"
saimin and two got the wonton noodle soup. Wontons here are not the same as wontons in California. I think the inside was filled with unmarinated lean ground pork, nothing else, no shrimp, no mushrooms, or any sort of flavor. Not a fan of these. The other toppings were okay, nothing spectacular. It was $6.75 for a bowl, so it was an inexpensive way to fill your stomach.
After lunch, we hit another farmer's market at Vidinha Stadium in Lihue. The market was to start at 3pm, but tons of people were already milling about, looking at all the vendors' produce. Sheri's mom selected a couple of huge ripe papayas to purchase, but the vendor told her that she couldn't pay until 3pm. At around 2:58pm, a "grand marshal" of sorts blew a loud whistle, then everyone rushed the vendors! I wasn't sure what people were scrambling to buy. We picked up longans and starfruit in addition to the papayas.
Our last night in Kauai, boo hoo! (Ed and Angela had already boarded a plane back to the mainland) We headed back to Poipu and arrived at the Wyndham. I pulled the van up to the porte-cochere and went into the hotel lobby to check in. The desk agent offered me a fresh flower lei! She also offered to give leis to the rest of the group in the van, but I told her that they were all taking a nap after the long drive. When I returned to the van, I mentioned that they could get leis if they wanted, so Sheri, her dad and my dad went in to get some. The men were presented with kukui nut leis.
Our villa was on the 2nd floor in one of the buildings closest to the shore. The elevators were "semi-private", meaning you pushed the button corresponding to your villa, and the elevator would move, and once it reached your floor, it would open to your private hallway that led to the villa. (the opposite elevator door would open if you were going to the villa next door) The front door was made of really nice wood. Upon entering the villa, the "oohing and ahhing" commenced. The place was decorated with rich dark woods mixed with a soothing neutral color palette along with tropical accents. Plush duvets, fluffy towels and robes made it very luxurious. Three bedrooms and three baths...$361 was a bargain, versus getting three hotel rooms and no kitchen. (though we could have saved money by checking into the $75 motel near the saimin restaurant...NOT!) The "oceanview" portion of it was mostly a "filtered" view through the palm trees since we were on the 2nd floor, and the building had 4 floors.
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| king bed in master bedroom |
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| master bathroom |
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| master shower with Grohe fixtures |
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| master walk-in closet |
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| great room with wrap-around floor-to-ceiling glass doors that slid all the way open |
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| gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, Wolf appliances and built-in refrigerator |
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| one side of wrap-around lanai |
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| other side of lanai |
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| queen bed in 2nd bedroom |
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| 2nd bedroom's bath, which was also the "public" bathroom |
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| two twin beds in 3rd bedroom |
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| private full separate shower and bath in 3rd bedroom |
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| walk-in laundry room |
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| last day in Hawaii :( |
We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the on-site pool and hot tub, pretty much had it to ourselves. Here's a picture that I stole from the Wyndham website:
Later that night, I read a brochure in the villa that gave contact information in case we were interested in "ownership". Apparently, these villas were for sale, not as timeshares, but fully owned property that was managed by Wyndham if you wanted to rent it out. There were more buildings to be built in the next year. I looked it up on the internet, and to buy a place like the one we were staying at would cost close to $2 million! I think I'd rather rent...
Saturday, we checked out and headed to the airport to catch our flight at 2pm. My mom and I were upgraded on our flight from Lihue to LAX, yay! The flight had started non-eventful, with a decent beef curry dinner but not-so-great movie ("
Unstoppable"). But as we got closer to the mainland, a storm was going on, and we started experiencing turbulence, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then we hit an "
air pocket"...the plane probably dropped a few hundred feet. People were a bit shook up, but we brushed it off. The captain announced that the flight attendants should be seated. Then we hit another air pocket; we dropped sharply again and I heard a loud crash in the forward galley and a flight attendant screamed. I saw three flight attendants sitting on the ground in the galley, not knowing when it would be safe to stand up again. The phone next to the exit door was ringing (near my seat), but no one was there to answer. I turned around wondering if I should answer, but watched the passenger sitting in 8D take off his seat belt and grab the phone, probably the captain calling about status and did not know that most of the flight attendants were on the floor just right outside of the cockpit. The plane shortly stabilized with little to no turbulence, and everyone was on their feet again. What a scare! It was probably my second worst flight ever in all my flying history...I actually cinched my seat belt tighter across my hips. Eventually we made it all the way back to San Jose after midnight...an unforgettable end to our week-long stay in paradise. Mom and Dad, hope you enjoyed your 40th wedding anniversary trip (minus the air pockets)!
Where in the world is Kat Kong going next? I'm taking my 8-week sabbatical in the middle of April! (so long overdue) The only plans set in stone so far is a 9-day trip end of May with Babe to
Machu Picchu, which includes a 4-day Inca Trail hike up in high altitude. We're doing some practice hikes to prepare...last weekend, Babe and I hiked
Picacho Peak again. My legs are sore right now, but not as sore as they were when I first did it. Does that mean I'm in better shape or a smarter hiker? :) Next, we'll hike
Humphreys Peak after the snow melts, to get some altitude practice. Stay tuned!
