Day 188 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 188 – 13th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36596

Met up with Reece at 10am and we walked to Waikiki Beach. Had a swim but the water was a bit cold as it was early on in the day. The wind was blowing a little so sand was blowing everywhere. I only spend 90 minutes on the beach then walked back to the hotel via the marina.


Honolulu Marina

The marina has loads of fish in it and you can see dozens of jellyfish in the water.



Jellyfish


Jellyfish


Fish

Got back to the hotel and Jill and I walked to Ala Moana shopping centre, we grabbed some food and I went back to the apple store for them to upgrade my ipod software and get it fully working. I spent almost 2 hours in the apple store chatting to the staff and updating my itunes and ipod software. Jill and I then wandered around a few shops and went back to the hotel. Keita and Reece joined us for a few drinks and we watched TV and chatted. We went out to grab some food and beer and then came back to the room for the night.

Day 187 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 187 – 12th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36596

Keita and Reece wake Jill and I up around 10:30am and we decide to head to Pearl Harbour. We walk to Ala Moana shopping mall and catch a bus, after several buses turn up we eventually catch the correct one and are on our way. The Bus journey takes about 40 minutes and when we arrive we have to check all bags and purses etc in before we can enter the memorial site.


USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbour

It is free to enter and we start off by watching a 20 minute film about what happened at Pearl Harbour and the history of how America joined the second world war.


Gun Turrett visible on the USS Arizona


Dedication Plaque

We then are taken by boat to the memorial which is actually in the water above the warship USS Arizona as this boat had the most deaths, with over 1100 people dying on board. You can still see oil seeping out of the boat to the surface of the water, many bodies still lie within the sunken vessel.


The USS Arizona Memorial


The USS Arizona Memorial

The boat then takes you back to the shore and we walk around the Memorial Gardens which shows you maps of how the America Fleet were docked on that tragic day of 7th December 1941. Lastly we walked around the museum which has several artefacts from the boats and many letters just written from the men on board. We then had some food and caught the bus back to Ala Moana. I then headed back to the hotel and slept for a couple of hours. We met up with Keita and Reece again at 8pm and we went to a near by pub and had a few drinks and chatted for several hours before returning to hotel and getting some sleep.

Day 186 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 186 – 11th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36558

Got woken up at 4:30am as a fireworks display was set off to celebrate the start of the Honolulu Marathon. The runners started at 5am and over 28,000 people ran down the street next to our hotel, with people cheering and shouting and horns going off. So I had to get up and watch the runners for a bit. I eventually got back to sleep and got woken up when Keita turned up just after 10:30am banging on our door. Keita is a friend of mine who I met in Hawaii in 1999 and have since then seen several times, he has flown to London twice and I have flown to Japan once to see him.


Keita Sato

So Keita arrives and we all go to Ala Moana for some food and a wander around a few more shops. We head back to the hotel around 3pm as he has been told he can not check into his room until 3pm. So Keita is sharing a room with Reece and they are staying in the tower behind the building that Jill and I are in, the have a nicer room than Jill and I but no wireless internet. Keita decides to sleep for a few hours and Reece and I hit the beach, we swim for an hour and then sunbathe and dry off. We head back to the hotel as the sun sets and then wake Keita up and head into town for a beer and some food, we find a Thai restaurant and I have a fabulous Thai Yellow Curry. We then walk back towards the hotel and stop at a pub a block away for a few games of pool and another drink. We get back to the hotel just after 11pm and Jill and I sit and watch The Goonies on TV before sleeping

Day 185 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 185 – 10th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36556

Reece and I headed out around 10:30am and made our way to the Hawaii Convention centre as the Evangeline Lilly from the TV series Lost was signing autographs. Reece and I arrived and joined the queue, whilst queuing we got chatting to a few America’s who now live in Hawaii.


Evangeline Lilly


Me with Evangeline Lilly


Evangeline Lilly

The Convention was for the Honolulu Marathon so it was very busy we queued for about an hour and then got my photo taken with Evangeline Lilly and a signed photo. Other people signing was Naveen Andrews who plays Siyad in Lost and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa who plays The Baron in the new film Memoirs of a Geisha. We then headed back to our hotel and met up with Jill then took a walk along the whole of Waikiki Beach.


Waikiki Beach


Palm Tree


Jill on the Beach

We stopped at Duke’s Beach bar, where we sampled a couple of cocktails.


Jill and I sampling the cocktails


Jill in Dukes

We then lay on the beach, Reece and I went for a swim, the water is lovely and warm.


Reece and I on the Beach


Jill on the Beach


Reece and I in the sea

Then we sat and watched the sun set before walking back to the hotel.


The Setting Sun


The Setting Sun


The Setting Sun


The Setting Sun

We sat and watched TV and Jill went and phoned her parents and then I did the same, we stayed up late chatting and watch American TV.

Day 184 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 184 – 9th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36553

Had a long lie in at got up at around lunchtime, we walked down the road to Ala Moana Shopping centre and had a wander around and visited a few shops. I bought GTA for my PSP and we looked in David and Goliath store we also visited the bookstore so Jill can catch up on the music gossip. We then ate at the food court and then I went to visit the apple store. The apple store said they could help me with regards to my ipod if I made an appointment so I made an appointment for 30 minutes times and hurried back to the hotel to collect my ipod. When I got back they said my Ipod was fried and just handed me a new one. We stopped for a beer at Ala Moana shopping centre and then headed back to the hotel. In the evening we just sat around and watched TV and checked the internet before sleeping.