Arriving, May 7 2010 Friday

After anxiously anticipating arrival for the past 45 minutes on the Boeing 777-300, touchdown onto the black tarmac was an exhilarating experience. I was arriving in Kona International Airport, on the leeward side of  Big Island, Hawaii. Looking out the window from my seat, I saw a vast area of irregular land burnt charcoal-black and deprived of vegetation or shrubs, as though someone had recklessly poured black tar all over the area.

Greeted by locals wearing a large smile and brightly coloured Hawaiian shirts, loose collared and short sleeve shirts with big Hibiscus flower-prints on a backhground either deliriously vermilion or a hint of the ocean, pale blue. They carried a large yellow sign which said, "ALOHA" in multicolored letters, resting upon the gray tarmac.

Everyone smiles on this land, even the tired passengers, mostly Japanese, which had boarded the plane with me from Narita, 8 hours ago. Their energies renewed by the crisp morning air, a bright sun shining onto the main airport building, which was itself another surprise. Looking like a white igloo, it was composed of stretched white PVC material flapping slightly in the wind, topped by a spherical roof and a cyclindrical entrance. Entering this building, I was in the waiting area for arrival customs and immigration. I was again pleasantly greeted by immigration officers, who also wore prettily colored Hawaiian shirts. "What a relaxed culture!" I thought to myself, " Everyone is geared to enjoy a vacation, and their most formal attire? The Hawaiian shirt."

I stepped out of the airport into the waiting area, where a couple of cab drivers had gathered with a large sign which said, "TAXI" and headed to the rows of empty gray plastic chairs to sit down and wait. Kenon would be coming to pick me up shortly.

***

Pulling up into the parking space of KOA WOOD HALE, we tipped the cab driver, who off-loaded our humongous luggage containing the dive gear and our smaller bags of clothings. It was only 1030h, and our reserved room was not ready, so we left our belongings in the office of the hostel and went to the nearest stretch of beach-front shops for lunch.

We walked to Ali'i Drive following the instructions of Aki, the hostel manager. Strolling slowly, we breathed in deeply the waxy sweet fragrance of the Plumeria, which grew abundantly on the sidewalks of Hawaii. This particular tree on the corner of Ala Ona Ona street just down from the hostel had flowers which were white on the inside, with a yellow stain in its centre, and pink on the outside. I picked up a freshly fallen flower, and put it in my red hat, grinning widely. And looking silly, to which Kenon laughed and shook his head, so I attempted to put one on his ear as well. Laughing as I jovially fought to keep the flower behind his left ear, and he, struggling to flick it away. He succeeded as we passed the tree, and crossed the street.

Ali'i Drive was a narrow street with 2-way traffic, lots of pedestrians and pedestrian crossings, lined by 2 rows of shophouses facing each other, displaying tourist-targetted items like T-shirts, local crafts, and jewellery, including a few activity houses with large cardboard adverts for sailing, snorkelling, diving, canoeing, boat-surfing, swimming with dolphins, etc. We were completely immersed in our roles as care-free tourists, putting our faces near the shop windows, marvelling with curiosity at the display items, aimlessly moving along the side-streets. We ended up at the Kona Inn Shopping Village, and upon casual chatting with a woman organizing sea-related actvities with respective companies, she pointed us to an outdoor cafe facing the sparkling blue sea.

The waitress was exceedingly friendly and cheerful as she outlined the specials of the day, and I ordered the grilled fish of the day, which was Macha [a type of promfret] and rice Pilaf. Kenon ordered the Classic Hawaiian burger, both of the dishes turning out to be above-average delicious. Washing down my meal with my first cup of richly aromatic Kona Coffee, we rushed back to the hostel before the office closes at noon to 5pm for the afternoon siesta.

***
Both of us were rather pleased with our lodging for the next week, as we were shown into our private apartment. A red-painted wooden balcony stretched surrounding the house, from which extended a view up the slopes of the volcano, dotted with individual houses surrounded by fir trees, and down to the denim blue sea fading into a smokey grey-blue horizon and then brightening upwards to the blue sky. High above, the sky was laden with vog by the afternoon, a volcanic smoke and haze front with a yellow tint, mostly obliterating the sun's rays but allowing majestic escapes at certain places.

Removing our shoes at the door, we walked onto white roughened stone tiles which lined the living room, which had a small box TV opposite a very inviting blue couch. Behind which, lies a long birch dining-table framed at its two ends by wicker chairs. Our kitchen was small but cosy, with functional microwave oven, electric stoves, kitchenware that were clean and usable and a small terry cloth.

After a long-anticipated hot shower, I flopped onto our soft queen-sized bed with 2 pillows for each person, and snored the afternoon away.

***

Just as the afternoon light faded, we awoke and lazily got ready for dinner. Walking in the opposite direction after we descended Hamburger Hill - a local nickname for the hill upon which the Koa Wood Hale was located on, so called because one of the island's few McDonalds was located right at its foot - we discovered a very busy eatery. As age-old wisdom dictates, a highly popular restaurant is likely to serve good food, so we entered the Big Island Grill.

I received a rather wide-eyed shock when my dinner was served up, a large plate of rice topped with a mountain of cabbage fried with kalua pork, [which is pork covered with leaves and then traditionally roasted in a heated sand pit] accompanied by a smaller dish of barbequed pork. As Kenon says, Asian food is 2D and cannot be seen far away, but everything here is 3D, you can tell what dish it is from 1 mile away.

Having satisfied our stomachs, we proceeded to explore around Kailua-Kona, in the slowly diminishing evening light. We came upon the oldest church on the island, Mokuaikaua Church, which was built by the first Christian missionaries who landed on the island almost 2 centuries ago. Completed in 1820 on land given by then King Kamehameha III, it was originally just a thatched hut, but was rebuilt with coral and lava rock in 1837. Approaching the church from its backlane, we went round a charming cobblestone street, just wide enough for one person. By that time, the sun had set and the closed church was no surprise, as we stood in the cool night air. The temperature must have dropped to below 20 degrees Celsius as I started to feel goosebumps on my arm.We gladly settled for dessert at a little cafe just further down, which served Vanilla ice-cream, made from vanilla beans home-grown by the owner at his little farm behind the shop. It was delicious. This time, truly, I was overtaken by exhaustion and after shivering the whole way back to our room at the top of Hamburger Hill, I settled into comfortably warm blankets and dozed again for the night.