South Pacific: Mo’orea ~ Island of Love

Since Mo’orea is one of those spectacular places in the South Pacific and sometimes called ‘The Island of Love’ we thought we’d offer it as a bit of a romantic getaway  today in honor of Valentine’s Day.

So whether you are ready for the romance of exploration or the romance of love – hop aboard. We are sailing south. . .

Can’t you just smell the sweet scent of the blossoms that explode from trees and bushes alike?



Can you feel the sun’s rays warming your soul as well as your skin? 

Decisions to be made. . .stretch out on the white sand beach or sun on the private deck of your thatched-roof bure, or bungalow, out over the water?

Or do the kayaks and paddle boats lure you into that turquoise water that laps gently against the shore?

Or you could spend a few hours just sittin’ on the dock in the bay. . .

That’s as far as we will go with suggestions in the PG-rated post.  But let your imaginations soar. . .what would you do if you found yourself on a South Pacific island today?

Note: We took the photos used in this post during a lunch stop we made while driving around the island in our rental car during the one day we had here during on our South Pacific cruise last October.  
This is the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa.  There are 54 bungalows built over the water – each has glass panels in the floor and steps that lead to the waist-deep lagoon.  Another 49 bungalows are clustered together on the resort grounds.

Just in case we’ve tempted you with this post – the resort has no rooms available this Valentine’s weekend.  However, I checked dates for this coming October (the month in which these photos were taken) and you can book one of those garden bungalows at their Best Available Rate of $548 a night or an over-water for $742.  Oh yes, WI-FI is extra!

Rather pricey in our book, but then again, what price romance, right? 

Happy Valentines Day!

We are linking this week with:
Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday.
Travel Photo Discovery on Monday

Hawaii: SPAM and Other ‘Ono Grindz’

Ono grindz:  means good food in Hawaiian.

One of the ways Hula Babe and Beach Boy ‘go local’ is by the way we eat!  But that can be said of us no matter where in the world we travel. Half the fun of travel is trying the local cuisine.

And there’s no bettah way, as they say here,  to get a taste of Hawaii than by eating some of the killah ono grindz and that includes, my friends, none other than. . .SPAM!

SPAM, its name derived from ‘spiced ham’ was the creation of Minnesota-based Hormel foods back in 1937. They came up with a recipe to use left over pork shoulder and an employee is credited with giving it the immortal name of “SPAM” as result of a contest.

Despite what some of you may believe is in those ubiquitous cans, it is a mixture of ground pork and ham, with salt, sugar and other special ingredients.  It is cooked then canned and cooked again, then cooled in the can. 

Of course, in Hawaii they have versions of SPAM we never see back home, like the little SPAM singles to the left. 




In Honolulu they have an annual SPAM JAM event that spans several days in honor of this tasty treat. (Even at KoOlina, where we are, weekly SPAM carving/cooking/creating contests always draw contestants.)

We were blown away by the varieties now offered – think Starbucks and its variations on a cup of coffee - compared to the original flavor,which many of us at this age recall eating in our childhoods.

Hawaiians consume more SPAM than anywhere else in the world, with Guam a close second, and South Korea in third place. (SPAM is sold in exquisite gift boxes and considered a luxury gift given for special occasions like Lunar New Year in South Korea, according to numerous mainstream media articles.)

But man cannot live by SPAM alone, so another of our favorite Hawaiian treats is poke.  Pronounced, POH-kay, it is a Hawaiian verb, meaning ‘to section or slice’.  It is made of fresh fish -- okay you squeamish ones out there -- that is, raw fish that has been ‘marinated’ in a sauce or doused with spices.

Fresh ahi (tuna), shrimp, mussels in spicy flavors, soy or oyster sauce draw us to the massive poke bars at the local island supermarket, Foodland and even Costco offers a poke bar in the town of Kapolei.  Poke is traditionally served as a side course or appetizer, but we’ve often made entire meals out of two or three of these tasty treats.

And then there is Kim Chee. also known as Kimchi and gimchi; some of our favorite Korean vegetable delights! These are fermented and/or pickled vegetables – spicy hot and usually served on a bowl of rice. Since we are cutting the carbs, we eat them as sides.  (Remember, finicky ones, sauerkraut is fermented vegetables as well).

I almost worship this bar each time we enter our local store and never leave without a carton of the cucumbers in spicy hot sauce.

Hawaii is an international melting pot of culinary delights and we must give a nod to the Portuguese for bringing their hot spicy sausage to the islands so many decades ago.

If you can’t bring yourself to try some SPAM and eggs for breakfast, you must try Portuguese sausage and eggs!

And then there is Lau Lau, a local favorite made of pieces of pork and butter fish wrapped in taro leaves and steamed.  (If you’ve ever been to an authentic luau you will have had this dish along with poi (made of taro) as your buffet selections.)

So do they really eat this stuff, you are probably asking yourself. Yes, we do. We buy the lau-lau ready made and steam it in its leaf wrappings as shown on the left, below. While it steams we put Kim Chee and poke on the plates. . .unwrap and add the lau-lau. 

And there we have it, one of many of our dinners. . .

. . .a feast that would have even made Hawaii’s King Kamehameha proud!

That’s it for today.  Hope you have a great week and see you back here soon! We appreciate the time you spend with us and always look forward to your comments.

Linking up:
Inside Journey’s Foodie Tuesday

Pape’ete, Tahiti: A Morning at Le Marche

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we aren’t fans of cruise ship organized tours.  We’ve taken a few but prefer to ‘do our homework’ prior to a trip and set out to explore a port of call on our own. 

That is why our first stop in Pape'ete, Tahiti was its "Le Marche". We'd arrived on an early morning in October, the first of three stops in French Polynesia on board the Celebrity Solstice. 

Shortly after docking, we set off on foot to find the town’s public market, Le Marche, as part of our own walking tour; one that filled our morning hours. The afternoon was spent on a bus tour – that we booked independently on shore – and we rounded out our day with a fabulous meal on shore before returning for our 9 p.m. departure. (the dinner I told you about a few weeks ago.)

We wandered the market’s aisles first north and south, then east and west; upstairs and downstairs. There was no doubt, it was a 'real' market for locals – not one filled with tourist trinkets and souvenirs as evidenced by the products for sale.

From vegetables. . .

To fruit. . .

And fish. . .the market was alive with color and smells.  It was just the first of many sensory overloads we were to experience in the South Pacific.

But the sight that made my heart skip a beat, was the overwhelming flower displays. . .those tropical stems that can cost $10 or more each back home in the States. . .

The towering bouquets above could be had for 2,500 French Polynesian Francs, about $29US.

Fragrant, colorful bursts. . .

Flowers, flowers everywhere. . .including halos for the hair.  Again, this wasn’t just for tourists (although a few halos were later spotted on ladies from the ship).  One of the prettiest sights in these tropical islands were the flowers being worn in the hair of local ladies – young and old.

We have more Tahitian tales for you and those will come in future posts.  Remember that local tour I told you we booked on our own?  Well this was the vehicle in which we rode. . .but that story is also for another time. . .

If You Go:
Le Marche is said to be the island's oldest surviving institution. It is located in the heart of the city, a few short blocks from the port.  It is open Monday to Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays until 9 a.m. (a busy time there when families stock up for their Sunday meals).


We are linking up today at Budget Travelers Sandbox for Travel Photo Thursday 
and with Travel Photo Discovery on Monday
and Sweet Shot Tuesday . 
If you like our travels and want to see more photos, start following us on Instagram.
And please don't forget to come back here - soon!
Until then ~ Happy Travels ~ Joel and Jackie

Bookin’ it to the Beach: Novel Destinations

Winter – whether you spend it basking on a beach or snuggled up in an easy chair by a fireplace – is one of the best times of year to escape to a ‘novel’ destination. I wrote this post while still back in the Pacific Northwest and used a photo taken last year in Hawaii at its start. Good thing I did as we've had very little beach time in Hawaii this year - wet and wild weather, the norm the last couple of weeks, as I told you in the previous post - has kept us inside for much of the time.  All the more reason to have stuffed the suitcases with some good books!

Beach at the Outrigger Canoe Club - Honolulu, Hawaii

Some of our favorite destinations are reached by simply turning a page. So, let me tell you about some of the 'novel' places we’ve been in recent months:

New Zealand:

Bay of Islands - New Zealand

We traveled to New Zealand aboard the Celebrity Solstice last fall and then I returned via “The Bone People” by Keri Hulme, a Maori who grew up in Christchurch and Moeraki.

This Booker Prize-winning novel was published in 1983 and I first read it more than a dozen years ago and will likely read it again and again.  Part mystery, part love story, this contemporary novel highlights the relationship of three central characters as well as the Maori and European cultures in New Zealand.

Italy

Tuscany, Italy

“Beautiful Ruins,” was written over a 15-year period according to its Spokane, Washington author, Jess Walter.  And the work he put into it is evident as you travel between places and times, fiction and reality.

This is, flat-out, a love story with unexpected twists and turns some of which take readers from mid-century Italy’s Cinque Terre to modern-day California, Northern Idaho and back to Italy.  Walter moves the reader forward and backward in time, his smooth transitions between times and places made this one of those books you didn’t want to put down.

Seattle, Washington

Panama Hotel lobby - Seattle, Washington

Jamie Ford’s “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” was my favorite read of the summer.  Another love story; this one set in the heart of Seattle’s Japanese/Chinatown – The Panama Hotel --during World War II.

Regulars to TravelnWrite will recall I wrote about the hotel following my first visit there. Click here for that post.  I’ve since been back to the TeaRoom/CoffeeShop and recommend it as a 'must visit' if your travels take you to Seattle and reading this book is a definite must whether you ever visit or not.

Greece

View overlooking The Mani - Peloponnese, Greece

 TravelnWrite regulars also know of our love of Greece, so anything written about that country, is a popular read at our house. 

This book, written by British journalist Marjory McGinn, with a groaner of a title, “Things Can Only Get Feta”, is non-fiction, but an easy and entertaining read about her first-hand experiences living in Greece as an ex-pat. She and her partner and dog had a three year adventure living in the southern Peloponnese . . .one of our favorite places.

For you blog readers and writers out there, she also writes a blog, www.bigfatgreekodyssey.com

And some of our 'novel' destination travels we are taking while in Hawaii this month include:

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese, a professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, opens in mid-century Ethiopia and follows the story of two brothers coming of age as the country hovers on the brink of revolution.

This book came recommended by many who told me it was the best book they had read – I had a hard time getting into it (too much medical detail for my taste) but once I got past the medical jargon, it really was hard to put down.


The Scout has been reading “Lost Luggage”, by Jordi Punti, the story of four brothers living throughout Europe who share the same father and don’t know that until  . . .

(You’ve got to read the book to find out, just as we will). This is the first novel by Punti and it has already been translated into 15 languages and is the winner of the Spanish National Critics Prize and the Catalan Booksellers Prize. I will be heading to it next!

And who can go to Hawaii and not read a Charlie Chan Mystery? I am currently re-reading “The House Without a Key” by Earl Derr Biggers because it is set in Honolulu and features our favorite detective, Charlie Chan. I am loving it as much as the first time I read it when it was republished in 2008.

“The Potato Factory” by Bryce Courtenay, is set in the 1800’s with the first half of the novel in London and the second half in Australia – following the lives of characters who arrived at ‘the fatal shore”.

And this is the one that got away; well, it didn't arrive before we left. The books by this author get rave reviews -- this one was recommended by an acquaintance from Sydney -- but the only negative seems to be how difficult it is to get them in the United States. This one shipped in early January but had a delivery date range of three weeks! It didn't make it before we left.  This book is the first of a three-book trilogy, . . .they need to get some copies here!!


So what reading recommendations do you have for us?  Leave a comment below if you are reading the blog or send us an email if you receive the posts in your inbox. . .we’d love to hear where you’ve been traveling via the written word!

And note:  I am putting all of these on the Amazon wheel found on the lower right corner of our home page.  Click here for the link. The FCC* requires that I tell you if you click on it and purchase a book, we get a few pennies from the sale.  (In full disclosure: I must tell you that I've had books on that wheel for nearly three years and I have yet to receive the minimum check of $10 . . .so much for salesmanship!!  (*yes, bloggers are regulated by the FCC. . .)

Wet and Wild in Hawaii

That would be the weather to which this title refers, not Hula Babe and Beach Boy.

Our time here began 10 days ago in a picture-postcard setting; the type for which Hawaii is known. . .

. . . Mai Tai weather . . . . with tropical breezes, blue sky and plenty of sun.  These shots were taken during an outing we took along the coast to Ka’ena Beach Park at the tip of the western side of O’ahu.

Within a couple days of our arrival came the first ‘weather front’ – a storm strong enough to close the beaches on the island because of the dangerous high waves. A tourist was killed while golfing when a tree branch was blown down. A half dozen homes lost their roofs.

That tropical sunshine went into hiding behind heavy dark clouds; being fickle and peeking out  for a brief ‘sunset’ one day. So this week’s photos show you O’ahu when it isn’t postcard perfect – on the other hand, when it sure is interesting:

Our second outing was a Sunday drive under gray skies –  the kind of skies we  have in the Pacific Northwest . We passed Aloha Stadium an hour before kickoff for the Pro Bowl – I snapped the photo above between swipes of the windshield wipers. 

Those gentle Hawaiian tropical breezes have gusted throughout the week, sending sand and leaves flying. Grounds crews at Ko Olina, where we are,  have been kept busy cleaning up fallen leaves and blowing sand that has covered the grassy areas.

And the sea gods really threw a hissy fit this past week, tossing enormous waves at the shore– some the largest they’ve seen in 20 - 30 years.

These photos were taken on the day after ‘the front’s’ arrival – yet the waves still pounded the shore with a deafening rhythm.

We are reminded that while you can control many things about travel, Mother Nature still calls the shots on the weather. The photo on the left was taken a week ago, the photo on the right this Tuesday. Admittedly we aren’t suffering freezing temperatures like the mid-western United States nor fighting snow in Atlanta, but we are having a rather unusual, wet and wild time in Hawaii.

Gotta run. . .the sun’s finally out and the surf is finally down. . .just sprinkles and some wind. Time to get some rays. . .Hope you’ll return here soon. . .

Linking up this week:

Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox
Travel Photo Discovery on Monday

Hawaii: Tales from the Hale. . .

Hale ~ ‘home’ in Hawaiian.

A week has passed already and we are settled in to our Hawaiian lifestyle. We went from replacing a driveway and tree trimming at our Pacific Northwest home two weeks ago, to our carefree (no home improvement projects) lifestyle in a high-rise condo where our view of the Pacific Ocean reaches the far horizon.

I’ve written several times about our timeshares – or as we think of them, 'second homes' – in Arizona and Hawaii. I've told you how we’ve extended our stays by purchasing and using  two-bedroom ‘lock-off’ units. Lock-off, as the name implies, means we lock off one side, and use each of the two sides consecutively: two weeks for the price of one!
 

I’ve written about living in ‘the big house’ side before, so this time I wanted to give you a tour of our first week 'hale' at Ko Olina in ‘the lock-off’ or small side --  an over-sized  hotel room with small balcony and kitchenette.

I’ve jokingly called it a ‘glamping’ (glorified camping) because you need to be a bit imaginative when menu planning and shopping to stock up a tiny kitchen; although it probably is as big as many in Paris apartments. It is definitely small compared to the big side.

The week in the small side is always a good excuse, . . .ahem. . ., reason, to visit the many Happy Hours that are within an easy walk of home. 

But we also eat most of our meals in; dining on that table in our nest-like balcony. The small in-room microwave and  the communal barbeques simplify the task.

In fact, gathering at the bank of bbq’s is one of our favorite features of this lifestyle.  We’ve met  fellow owners as well as those who’ve just come for a visit -- and they come from all over the world.

The Scout, aka Beach Boy, in the photo above is visiting with a friend from Gig Harbor and fellow Ko Olina owner while the two sip wine and cook our dinners.

The room is 360-square-feet with the balcony adding another 18-square-feet. In reality, it’s plenty of room for two people who spend most of their waking hours outdoors at the beach, pool, gym or off exploring.

You do need to improvise at times. . .for instance that is my beach bag, shoes and a box of papayas (from Costco!) sharing a bit of storage space.  I photographed the door because it is the link to the full-side condominium --  had we booked the whole unit for a single week it would have been open. 

Marriott Vacation Club - KoOlina, O'ahu

Yesterday we moved into the large side -- ‘the Big House’ as we owners call them --which is home for the next three weeks. . .I am in the real den, The Scout’s in the living room, we’ve been to the gym, I’ve done laundry, and tonight we are dining at home – we’ve got a couple big steaks to grill.

Last night, a woman clad in a swimsuit, and riding the elevator as we headed back to the room with our grilled Mahi Mahi and roasted corn on the cob exclaimed, “Oh! You actually cook on vacation??!!” I almost replied, “No we are cooking  at home tonight.”

That’s it for this weekend.  I know I promised some ‘novel destinations’ but those will come soon.  We’ve had to get settled into our island lifestyle first.  Mahalo, or thanks, for visiting today. Hope you’ll be back often!

If You Go:

Ko Olina is a planned  development on O’ahu’s West (Ewa) Coast, about 20 minutes from Honolulu International Airport; the nearest city is Kapolei.