Maui pictures

Here's a link to the public photos from my Maui trip.

Last day in Maui

Today is our last day and we started it with one last snorkel by Black Rock. This time, we arranged to meet Sharon and her family at the beach. I figured out that the snorkel mouth piece I was using the other day was leaky, plus we brought along better float gear, so I was able to get out deeper into the water. The turtles were back again. There were 3 today floating around by the rocks, eating, being buffeted about by the tides, swimming among all the gawking people. It's kind of amazing that they are so calm about the whole thing. I accidentally touched one of them when it swam under me from behind. I thought there was a rock all of a sudden that I didn't notice before! You're not supposed to touch the turtles and I wouldn't have if I'd realized what that was. At one point, I was watching two turtles swimming together and it just felt like I was in Finding Nemo. The variety of fish is amazing, with little weird noses, long trailing fins, stripes, fluorescent purples, long skinny ones. I was also able to check out some brain coral, anemones, and sea urchins that live amongst the rock. It was a really hot day today, the trade winds have died down, so the water felt really good. Mei's kids and Sharon's kids got along famously. You'd never know that this was the first time they'd ever met. By the end of the day, the girls were holding hands.

After snorkeling and the exhausting task of washing the sand out of every nook and cranny, we headed back to the Westin where Bryan and Vivian had an informal grilling party for their guests. The hot dogs, steaks, tortilla chips and cookies really hit the spot. The grills are set up by the hotel for their guests and it's first come first serve, a very nice set up. It was really hot and sunny though so the crowd kept drifting along with the shade. After lunch Mei, Sharon, Shih Ah-yi and I headed with the kids to another pool area where there was a shallow kiddy pool complete with giant pirate ship full of slides, nets and other fun things. The kids invented all kinds of amazing ways to get down the slide together. After a few hours in the pool, we headed up to Shih Ah-yi's room to get the kids changed and head to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. I was still stuffed, so I didn't eat much, but it gave us a chance to catch up with Sharon and GP, who we don't get to see often. After dinner, we all walked down Front St. to Ulalena's Shave Ice for one last taste of the island treat. Before we got in the car to head home, we stopped at Hilo Hattie's for a last shot at souvenirs and I finally found a nice flip-flop pendant at a good price, something I've been looking for all week! It was a nice way to end the day. All that's left is the packing, heading to the airport tomorrow with a brief stop at Costco for some Macadamia nut chocolates for Mei.

Wedding

Today was Bryan and Vivian's wedding. The ceremony was planned to take place on the lawn at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas. This is a beautiful time share property with a lovely lobby, landscaping and pools. We got there early to take pictures and ended up waiting around for the bride. It was a very warm morning. When the bridal party was finally ready, most of the guests stood near the back while first the kids and then the attendants processed past. Finally, the bride arrived accompanied by her parents. The music was provided by a local Hawaiian singer playing slack key guitar. Bryan's brother-in-law, GP, was the officiant and he performed an amusing but also short and effective ceremony. After the ceremony, some time was spent taking pictures with the newly married couple and then everyone was free to go off and spend the afternoon as we pleased. I took my nook to the cabana and read with the sound of waves crashing on the beach below me. I felt like I was in a Corona commercial (but with more people, and no beer).

We re-dressed for the reception and headed back to the Westin. This time the dinner was in a tent a little further down from where the ceremony was held. Table seating was free for all. The formal events started late, so there was a lot of milling about and chit-chatting among the guests. Apparently, Bryan went surfing with a few of his buddies and ran late! Dinner was a very nice buffet spread including saffron rice with seafood, teriyaki steak, bbq ribs, and a cream of potato soup. Dessert included fruit tarts, guava custard tart, banana cream tart, coconut cookies and peach lychee cobbler. A small wedding cake sat among the various mini dessert tarts. They also provided an open bar with mixed cocktails, beer and wine, fruit juices and sodas. As we ate, we watched a beautiful sun set over the ocean. After dinner, there was some speechifying by the attendants. Then we were treated to a wonderful show, including Hawaiian hula dancing! The dancers were wonderful and we all got a chance to try our hand at doing some hula. The highlight of the evening was a samoan fire dancer. He was amazing, touching the fire to his hands, feet, tongue, twirling it all around. I could tell it was the genuine article because he walked near us quite a few times and I could feel the heat from his torches.

Following the show, Bryan and Vivian's friends put together a slide show with music of old photos from both their lives. It was a good 35 minute show, probably one of the longest wedding slide shows I've seen. After this the couple finally cut the small cake and we got to sample some tasty fruit flavoured cake (as opposed to fruit cake). It was a very long but lovely day and Neve and Mason lasted through the entire thing (with a nap in the afternoon to tide them over).

Turtles

Today we went snorkeling. We learned from the concierge that Black Rock, just down the beach, is a great place to see fish and even turtles. A golf cart from the office took us to the beach cabana, and from there a short walk took us to the Sheraton, which is right in front of Black Rock. We could already see a lot of people in the water. The weather was overcast and very windy which made for rough seas today. There were a lot of fish swimming very close to people and in shallow waters (where I could stand up in it). Among the fish I saw were damsel fish and sargeant majors. The fish were in little schools and were being buffeted about by the waves just like the people. A couple of Israeli tourists were throwing some kind of food in the water which attracted the fish in large numbers right near their feet (I later learned the food was cookies, and that cheerios were really the best thing to use). You're not supposed to feed the fish but we enjoyed the results of this illegal activity. After we got out and were starting to head back, Stephen heard that turtles were spotted. We ran back to check them out. The waves were much stronger at this point. A giant turtle was swimming right by the rocks and when I popped my head under water to see him, I realized that the waves were going to shove the turtle right at me. It was a giant creature (at least 4' diameter) so I tried to scramble out of the way, which then caused me to lose my balance and get tossed around by the waves a bit, but I managed to regain my footing without getting bashed into the rocks. The turtle seemed really comfortable around people and kept popping its head up to breathe and then would dart back in the water. Neve later saw a smaller turtle swim under the boogie board she was laying down on! It was a really remarkable sight.

At this point, we had to get ourselves out of the water, head back to the hotel and get ready to meet the Huangs for lunch. Boy, I can't believe the places that the sand got into. I had clumps of it stuck behind my ears, in my bathing suit and in pretty much every nook and cranny. It took awhile to rinse it all out and I'm not sure I got all of it! We met the Huangs at the Westin Resort Villas where they were doing a rehearsal of Bryan and Vivian's ceremony. Sharon and her kids were joining us for lunch. We drove up to Napili to The Sea House, which like most of the restaurants we've been to has a view of the ocean. I had some delicious pork tacos as Mei's kids and Sharon's kids all immediately got along. After lunch we headed to Lahaina for shave ice. Bryan had told Sharon about a place called Local Boys so we went there. Well, we learned that Ululani's is really the best. The Local Boys product was coarser, icier. The server didn't poke holes in the ice before pouring the syrup, and the syrup flavours were not as nice as Ululani's. We ate the treats under the giant banyan tree, then strolled back up Front St. on the way back to the car. I stopped at a small jewelry store and got myself a plumeria lei Hawaiian ring to replace the one I lost that I'd had since my last trip to Oahu back in the 90's for my friend Shaun's wedding.

After a brief stop at home, we headed off to Whaler's Village to have dinner at Leilani's. This restaurant is beautifully situated right on the beach, with torches lining the sand and looking out over the water where sail boats and catamarans of all types were heading back in from a day out in the ocean. I had a delicious shrimp scampi, my first Mai Tai of the trip in a cool tiki glass, and we shared a delicious tropical cheesecake. After dinner, we headed back to the condo, where we did a brief check of the night sky, seeing the Milky Way, Cassiopeia, and the tail of Scorpio, which is called Maui's fish hook among Hawaiians.

Surfing!!!

Today I finally tried something I've been wanting to do for a long time-surfing! I refuse to get in the water in the LA area because it's cold and filthy, but the water in Hawaii is warm and so clean! There's a ton of places to take surfing lessons, but the concierge at our condo complex suggested Maui Wave Riders. I stopped by in the morning at around 9:30a to sign in and wait for the instructor. An older lady showed up a little later with her husband (who was clearly not about to go ride a wave). Turns out they are from New Brunswick and are here with a whole group of people, although she is the only one trying out a surfboard. Our instructor is Sonny. He walks us across the street to where the surfboards are stored and shows us how to carry them to the beach. The first thing we do is learn about the water we'll be in-it's a rocky bottom, but only about 4' to 5' deep so we will be able to stand up. The next thing to learn is the move we'll need to get up on the board. After practicing that a few times, we drag the boards to the water, place the leash on our ankle, get up on the board and start paddling out. Right away I realize that my weakling arms are going to be getting a real workout today! Paddling is hard work and it's 95% of what you do when you surf. We take turns paddling out to where Sonny is, waiting for a proper wave. He sets us up, tells us when to start paddling and gives us a little push to get started. I had a hard time staying up the first couple of times because I kept wanting to look down! When I finally was able to get up, another beginning surfer was heading straight towards me and we crashed. But what an exhilarating feeling, standing on a surfboard riding the waves! Although it's tricky for me to get up and balance, the hard part is really the paddling part. I was able to get up quite a few times, but I was never able to figure out how to sit back down. The water was beautiful, perfect temperatures, clean and clear and I felt totally safe the whole time. I'm going to be super sore tomorrow, but I'm so glad I did this! The company has a guy who takes pictures of you from the beach with a nice long lens, so I have documented evidence of my experience.

After the surfing, I met up with Mei and family to have lunch at Kimo's. We got a nice table on the second floor with a beautiful view over the water. There is a cruise ship docked out there today. The food was great, I had a grilled fish with a delicious sauce. We all shared their famous Hula pie, which is basically a giant mound of vanilla ice cream on a chocolate cookie crust topped with chocolate shell and whipped cream, sitting in a pool of chocolate sauce. We pretty much scarfed it up. The service is a little slow (or perhaps over worked, as there was one server for the entire upstairs) but it was a lovely lunch. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and everyone took a nap. In addition to my arms being sore, my back muscles are as well and I've got rashes on my knees and hips! We planned to have dinner at home today, but first we wanted to research some good snorkeling. The concierge suggested Black Rock, which is just at the next hotel south of us. We head to Whaler's Village to check out equipment rentals, but the shack is closed. This is a really nice mall, and we'll probably be back to do some souvenir and gift shopping, but for now, I picked up a few trinkets for friends.

Dinner is the opah fish we bought at Costco, steak and broccoli from Safeway, plus the various leftovers from our meals here. The kids thought it was the best meal yet!  The opah is a really nice fish, very thick, white mild flavoured meat, excellent with just a seasoning of salt and pepper.

After dinner, I took out my Google Sky Maps on my phone and headed out to see the stars. Although the sky is not all that dark, it's still much darker than LA and I can clearly see the milky way above us. I can also see the constellation Cassiopeia very clearly. There's probably a bunch of other unique constellations that we don't see from North America. I'll have to check them out another night.

Maui Arrival and Haleakala

Bryan and Vivian decided to get married in Maui, so provided a great excuse for some of us to pay a visit! I arrived in Maui yesterday, flying over the Pacific for the first time in probably over 2 decades. The first thing I had to do when I got to the airport was take off the layers I'd worn on the plane to ward off the air conditioning. It reminded me of my first visit to Hawaii, on Oahu, way back in the 90s. I met up with Mei and family at the car rental (wow, talk about crowded!) and after a brief visit to Costco to stock up on a few things as well as for a quick lunch (consisting of the exact same menu as you'll find in your local Costco) we headed for Kaanapali where we'd rented a condo. The unit turned out to be really nice. The pool is right outside our back porch, I have a separate room which includes a sitting area, TV, sink and mini fridge and coffee maker. The main room has a huge bathroom, living and dining areas and a fully stocked kitchen (everything but the food). They even have some pool float toys and a laundry (which will come in very handy). On our first afternoon, after settling in, we headed for Lahaina, the main little town in the area. We strolled around lots of shops selling the usual Hawaiian fare: patterned shirts, sun dresses, jewelry and beach paraphernalia. We stopped at a shop and Mei and family picked up a set of matching shirts/dresses for Bryan's wedding while I got myself a sun dress. We stopped at Longhi restaurant for dinner, a place with an unexpectedly pricey menu. We weren't all that hungry because our stomachs were still on PDT but we got a little bit of food in us as we watched the sun set over the island of Lanai. After dinner, we headed back to the car but stopped for shave ice at a stand that our cousin Hao recommended. Good call! They have a ton of great flavour combinations plus you can get ice cream with it and they have a mini size which is just perfect. You just don't get this kind of fine shave ice anywhere but Hawaii, and they have the best flavours including all kinds of tropical fruit.

Today, our first full day, we planned to get out early to head to Haleakala, the dormant volcanic crater on the eastern side of Maui. It's a long-ish drive but we're all still on PDT so we expected to be up early. The drive was challenging, very winding for the 26 miles up the side of the mountain. As you climb, you see yourself getting higher than the clouds. There are pastures with goats, cows and horses scattered along the mountain side. The higher you go the more desolate the landscape until it's mainly just dark brown rock with a few hardy plants. We made it to the top of the summit and immediately had to pile on the layers-it's really chilly and windy up at the top! Apparently we lucked out with a sunny day, because I was told it does get a lot colder. There's a series of observatories on the top of the mountain (two run by the University of Hawaii and one by the US Air Force). You can see the big island of Hawaii from the top with its two active volcanoes! The clouds below are big fluffy piles pushing up against the sides of the crater. The Visitor Center, a little farther down from the summit, has better views of the crater.

After the long, slow, winding drive back, we rested for a bit before hitting the pool. After snacks and showers, we drove again into Lahaina for dinner. We chose a spot called Cheeseburgers in Paradise, that has casual food and views of the ocean so we could watch the sunset. It was really very spectacular. Another round of shave ice and a stop at the grocery store for fresh fruits and veggies ended the evening.

Scottish Ballet

This company came to LA recently for the first time in over two decades. They brought an program that included a new work by Jorma Elo and a piece by Kenneth MacMillan, Songs of the earth. The Elo piece started the night and was a lot of fun! The choreography is set to Steve Reich and Mozart (an interesting combination). Elo mixes technical ballet movements along with more modern steps in a fast moving piece with a dash of humour. The audience loved it. The dancers were strong and wonderfully varied in their body types. The Macmillan piece was beautiful. We don't get to see a lot of work by this choreographer, he is more popular in Europe. His most well-known piece is Romeo and Juliet. This piece is set to Mahler's work of the same name, which used German translations of Tang dynasty poetry (talk about multi-culti!) and there is a sense of foreboding and doom throughout. However among the various songs that make up the piece, there are instances of silliness and humour to break up the melancholy mood. The dancers were superb in this piece, with the primary female and two males being in just about every song. The final duet is classic beautiful Macmillan. It was a pleasure to be introduced to this wonderful company, and I loved that they brought such a unique and meaningful program.

dineLA October 2011

For this most recent dineLA, I went to 3 places: Border Grill, Bouchon and Mas Malo. None of these really stood out for me. I've been to Border Grill, so it was not a new experience. Frankly, this is a great place to go for a margarita, some tacos and tamales, but their entrees are nothing really special. Bouchon is Thomas Keller's bistro recently opened in Beverly Hills. The food was top notch for bistro fare, but you can get a lot of top notch bistro fare in LA. The service was fine but not outstanding. The decor of the dining room is really nice but the prices are high and I'm not sure it's all worth it. Mas Malo is a fun little mexican restaurant in downtown. The food is inexpensive, the room is noisy but fun and they have a lounge-y bar downstairs for nightcaps. We were rushing to a show afterwards, so I appreciated their quick service. I would come here again with a group of people to share drinks and food.

Great food, great dance

I was in NYC for a short business trip and was able to squeeze in a night at NYCB. I hadn't made any dinner plans, figuring I'd just find some place cheap and close to Lincoln Center. Before heading up there, I checked Google Maps for what was in the area. I noticed the Jean Georges restaurant has a bar area and that Bar Boulud is across the street. I walked up to the area, stopped first at the Jean Georges, found they were full, walked up to Bar Boulud, they had a table right at the front in the traffic path but that didn't bother me. The wait staff was wonderful, very attentive which is always nice when you are dining alone. I planned to order the boudin blanc (I read great reviews about it) and the waiter suggested a viognier to go with it. Amazingly, they presented the bottle to me, let me taste a bit of it before pouring the glass. I've never had that kind of presentation of wine ordered by the glass (and a tasty glass of wine it was). The boudin blanc was amazing, tender, moist, soft, it was beyond just a sausage. The sauce it came with was rich and delicious. I ordered a vegetable jardiniere as a side, and the only misstep by the restaurant was that the vegetables I expected were not in the dish. I ended up going ahead and eating the veggies because the boudin sauce made them taste okay. For dessert I had the Figaccio, fig ice cream with speculoos crumbs (a type of Belgian biscuit) with fig sauce. Unbelievably delicious, I finished the whole thing. I even had some entertainment during dinner, listening to the conversation occurring at the next table. I left the restaurant with a silly grin on my face, ready to watch some great dance.

The program at NYCB started with Square Dance by Balanchine, well danced by Ashley Bouder with a young corps dancer, Taylor Stanley, partnering her. This was a great piece, lots of Balanchine's wonderful patterning, strong dancing to beautiful baroque music. The second piece was In Memory Of by Robbins to music by Alban Berg. Before the dancing started, the orchestra pit raised up and the conductor gave a brief lecture, with musical examples, of the structure of the music and the way the story is reflected in the music. It was so great to have had that information prior to watching the dancing. It added a lot to my understanding of what was being conveyed, but mostly I was focused on the dancing because we had Wendy Whelan in the lead role. I love her dancing, it always feels like she's not doing choreography, but rather that the movements are just coming out of her. And then on top of it, to have her dancing Robbins' choreography, whose style is very naturalistic was amazing.

The final piece was West Side Story Suite, which Robbins adapted from his choreography for the musical and movie. What a wonderful piece! The steps are not technically challenging, but I loved seeing dancers doing them, rather than show folk. And the piece included singing (by singers off stage) as well as the dancers shouting, snapping, clapping. It was a wonderful way to end a difficult trip and was truly inspiring.