Now since I'm in a blogging mood, I'm finally going to blurb about my Hawai'i trip! Yes, I've been lazy for that long, it took me a month to get excited to blog about it.

Anyway, it was my first time to the Islands, and the first time for Chris too. And so far it's the happiest place I've ever been to! Hawai'i is just so filled with aloha and the people are so relaxed and are just going with the flow. Sometimes I can't believe it's part of the US. It's definitely one of my favorite states. Majority of the tourists were Japanese though. Their numbers are equivalent to the number of Chinese people in Vancouver: to the point that signage is translated to Chinese. And of course, there's no shortage of Filipinos either.

When Chris and I landed and got to our rental car, we were floored with the prices of the accommodations! Rental cars, hotel fees (valet was mandatory) and we booked the cheapest hotel possible and it still shocked us! Vacations can be expensive, especially in tourist trap places. When we finally settled into our room we were like... Shit. I wanna go home now. Our money was half spent and we just landed. But we bit it out and forced ourselves to enjoy the week. At the end of the night we were just laughing at ourselves with what we have gotten into.

As the week progressed though, we found out that it wasn't so bad. In fact, we managed to save a lot with our Go Oahu card with all the attractions we managed to squeeze into our 9-day itinerary. Turns out those were the only things that were expensive: hotels, activities, and rental cars. I mean, tourism, after all, is one of Hawai'i's main sources of income. With the card we saved about $200 with all the activities we wanted to try. I highly recommend it if you're traveling to Oahu (unfortunately they don't have one for Maui).

I'll let these pictures do the talking now:

Day 1 at Ala Moana Beach. Just decided to chill.

The weather... you would either call it divine or disastrous. We've talked to fellow tourists and some didn't really like the humidity (why go to a tropical island then???) and some found it too hot. But Chris and I loved it! Although he was scared he would turn really dark. We bought two sunscreens, he had SPF 80 and I had SPF 15.
I don't tan. I'm a fair-skinned southeast Asian. People mistake me for anything from Chinese to Japanese due to my skin color. But I am neither of those. And I am what you would call a shrimp. I turn red. Angry red, when exposed to heat. It's terrible when it's summer because having a burn is NOT fun and I give people the impression that I stay indoors all year round and hardly getting any sunshine. Which I actually do. Hehe.

 That was from one hour of tanning. One. Frickin. Hour. And Chris had SPF 80 on, stayed for about twenty minutes and he got a perfect brown tan. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THE WORLD???

Anyway, on to Day 2:

Day 3: Snorkeling at Laniakea (Turtle) Bay

Courtesy of this really awesome food truck!

I normally don't really like quinoa, but this food truck had it made with PESTO and it was genius! So effin' good!

He got too happy seeing a turtle

Day 4: Diamond Head hiking and Makani Catamaran sailing

View from the top

Day 5 was my birthday luau! We also went to Sea Park. Nothing too awesome there, really, just sea creatures and a half dolphin half whale.

Pooping.

And finally... Day 6. Some last Island exploring.

Hanauma Bay. I will snorkel you when I come back.

Chinaman's Hat Island

Sunset beach

Day 7 was our rest day after all the salt and sand. And we wanted to give our wallet a break. Overall it was so far the happiest place I have been to. My sister was very jealous of the trip, so for sure I will come back. Chris and I felt like we didn't explore the place enough.

By far the best birthday! And it was all thanks to my man <3