hawaiiantraveler

In the Hawaiian language there is a word that describes the feeling I came away with after this weekends 3rd Annual Fodor’s Asia board Hawaii GTG. The word is “ohana”. Ohana means “family”.

AS we drove away in our car last night waving our goodbye’s to everyone the feeling that struck me was that I just had a great time with our “ohana”.

OK enough of the mushy stuff now for the details.

It all started with a wine and “pupu” reception party Friday evening at 5:00 pm which was hosted by Mr. & Mrs. HT with the help, donations, and planning from lcuy and kuranosuke and Jackie (Mahalo!). The event was held in our room at the Westin Moana Surfrider Hotel. The first hotel built on Waikiki Beach in 1901 the Moana has a prime location in the heart Waikiki beach and a feeling of old Hawaii.

Kuranosuke arrived a little earlier as planned for the “warm ups” and was soon followed by the others who included lcuy, Kathie, lavenderstreak, Guenmai, bradinbangkok and simpsonc510. You also know them as Lucy, Kathie, Cheryl, Guen, Brad and Carol.

Well needless to say the wine flowed, the pupus were enjoyed and many travel adventures and just great life stories were discused between all as the beautiful Hawaiian sunset happened as a backdrop and went unnoticed as we all had such a wonderful time.

We had planned a couple of hours for the event and then to join the “hoolaulea” (a block party) downstairs on Kalakaua Avenue fronting the hotel for the remainder of the evening. Well we all were having such a good time that it was 10:00 pm before I think Linda or Lucy said “What about the block party”? So off we all went downstairs to join in the festivities.

The Hoolaulea is an event held in conjunction with The Aloha Week Festivals which are held every September in Hawaii. During the Hoolaulea, Kalakaua Avenue is blocked off for 8 blocks and 8 music stages are erected at each block. Different types of music and entertainment happens on the various stages throughout the evening and you can stroll down the street and have a myriad of different venues of entertainment to enjoy.

Well enjoy we did as we all dance the night away to songs from Blood Seat and Tears to Earth Wind and Fire and Beyonce. I remember dancing with the crowd and listening to the Beyonce song when I turned to see our own Guenmai busting some dance moves that had everyone around her dancing and following her lead.

Somewhere between EWF and Beyonce we lost Kathie, Cheryl, kuranosuke and lcuy so we danced a little more and retired to an undisturbed sleep.




Saturday:

We spent the night at the hotel so awoke Saturday morning and decided to walk down the beach at Waikiki. Even though I was born and raised here I am still awed by the beauty this place has to offer. Anyway, we are walking down the beach and who do we happen upon but Cheryl and Kathie enjoying the sunrise and having their morning walk.

Cheryl, the consummate photographer is snapping pictures of surfers, canoes, trees and people. I can see by the gleam in her eyes that she is having a good time. We also ran into them at a restaurant for breakfast……small world!

The GTG event itself was held at the Side Street Inn in Honolulu. SSI is a quaint little out of the way place which serves local style comfort food in a very raucous atmosphere as it is the local sports bar and restaurant. The perfect venue for a Fodorite GTG!

In attendance was lcuy and her DH Milt(finally got to meet him), Kathie, Cheryl, Guen, kuranosuke and DW Jackie. MelissaHI was there as were Mari808 and her friend whose name escapes me now. Also in attendance were Sarah, Carol and Brad along with Linda and I.

We enjoyed the local foods, Ahi Poke, Fried Rice, Pork Chops, Chinese Chicken Salad, Spinach Salad, Spicy Chicken, Garlic soybeans, fried calamari along with rounds of desserts which included a home made bread pudding with hagan daas ice cream, creamsicles which were made with Cointreau and a chocolate lava cake that was out of this world. Thanks Mari and kuranosuke for your planning and leadership in this event.

Linda and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with you all this weekend and can never thank you enough for all your long travel and efforts to make this GTG the success it was. MAHALO!

We have also affirmed that the Annual Asia Hawaii GTG is now an yearly event and will be held in September at around the same time each year in conjunction with the Aloha Week Festivities as to afford our mainland guests with a lot of entertainment with affordable air and hotel pricing during that period and with the hopes of luring you all to come and enjoy and become one of the “ohana”.

Aloha!

simpsonc510

Peter,
Thank you for the great start on the HNL GTG thread. You managed to capture the spirit of aloha in your report. And yes, we are "ohana."

You failed to mention the gift bags that Linda brought for us mainlanders. Thank you, Linda! What a wonderful assortment of Hawaiian items to take home as a fond remembrance of this event.

I will, of course, second the notion that everyone had a great time. We laughed and laughed, we shared our travel stories, and enjoyed the beauty of the location. Ah, Wakiki and Diamondhead!

One of the funniest parts of the evening, at the GTG dinner at SSI, was when the desserts arrived. Mari ordered a fantastic selection!! The favorite was a chocolate decadence cake. We devoured the first one, so a second one was ordered. When it arrived, it was passed down to ME first, and I shared it at my end of the table. It wasn't long before Kathie and Cheryl and Lucy were banging their spoons on the table, in unison, demanding THEIR SHARE... I doubt that there is a photo of that little episonde as photographer Cheryl was too busy banging her spoon... lol

Brad says that he is really glad we ended up for dinner at a "local place" which we would never had found on our own. It was such a great venue!! We were able to relax, unwind, eat great food, plus watch the football game (Hawaii won big time) on big screens and cheer along with the rest of the crowd.

To the other Asia fodorites who enjoy attending these GTG's, please put the next one on your calendar! You'll be sorry if you miss it!

Thanks again, to Peter and Linda, Ken and Jackie, and Lucy! You did GREAT!

Carol and Brad

hawaiiantraveler

OMG how could I forget? A big Mahalo to Guenmai for the picture magnet she presented Linda on Friday night of the infamous "flamenco dance". We now have it on the fridge to remember Pasadena fondly.

Aloha!

Kathie

Peter, Cheryl and I were talking this morning about the feeling at the gtg and "ohana" captures it perfectly. It's such a wonderful group of people!

The Side Street was the perfect place for this rather raucous group. The food was fun - I'm so glad we were able to convince Mari to order for us!

And of course, Waikiki is such a beautiful venue for a gtg. Cheryl and I were up early again today and took a swim in the ocean before breakfast.

We have next year's HNL gtg in our plans!

Mahalo to all of the Hawaii Fodorites for the warm welcome.

PS No one has mentioned the great guacamole made from avocadoes from Mari's back yard... yum!

rhkkmk

DAMN< DAMN< DAMN....we hate to miss a good party with the asia group....

maybe next year or the year after....i think next september our english friends will be visiting here....it is to celebrate 50 years of the women being pen pals....maybe we should celebrate in HI????

thank god you kept guen under raps.....she gets rocking and rolling and no telling who will end up in her congo line: the mayor, the governor and even some other royality....

hawaiiantraveler

Yes Mari thanks for the guacamole. It is really ono!

lcuy

What can I add to the above comments? Thank you so much Peter and Linda for the pupus and wine and use of your room on Friday night.. It was amazing that the manager never showed up to complain of our noise... As each new Fodorite entered, they each commented,"We could hear you all from the elevator!"

So nice to have a relaxing space with a Diamond head & beach view to catch up with everyone. Mr and Mrs HT always do things with such class!

When we did finally make it down to the Ho`olaulea, it was a different sort of fun...lots of people in the closed off street, many different stages with all sorts of music. And boy, could some of these Fodorites dance...linda, we all remember from Pasadena,,,but Guen, Carol, Peter especially had their own little conga line going!

Saturday night was a lot louder...both a bigger crowd, and the big screen football game going in teh background, not to mention Jackie's enthusiastic support of the UH Warriors!

Mr lcuy was a last second additon to the crowd, he was warmly welcomed,and had a great time. Only wished we'd thought to shift to the other end of the table, as he didn't have a chance to talk much with Carol, Brad, HT, Mrs HT and Guen. Oh well, NEXT TIME!

The wine at our end was great--the wine selected by Kuranosuke, Kathie and Cheryl was so nice, I think we reorded it 4 or 5 times.

And with Mari ordering the food, how could we possible go wrong? I loved the fried chicken, the pork chops and surprisingly, the fried gizzards! The chocolate decadence and the fried pound cake will have me back at SSI in the very near future.

Thanks to Mari also for her homemade guacamole (YUM!) and avocados fresh off her tree. New friend Dana brought a great book of Malaysian recipes. MelissaHi of course brought a splash of glamour to our end of the table.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that it was a really interesting and fun group of people, every one of them!
It felt like a family reunion. A good family, without all the old grudges and drunk Uncle Billy...

I loved saying goodby to Guen...
ME: Will I see you in Boston next month?
G: No, sorry. How about Bangkok at Christmas?
Me: No, I've got to be in Idaho this year. I'll be in Bangkok & Singapore this spring. How about then?
G: Nope, I'll be in Paris for the springtime..
and so on...

Thanks for coming all this way Kathie, Cheryl, Guen, Carol and Brad! And look forward to seeing 'Sarah", M/M Kuranosuke, the HTs, Mels, Mari and Dana again soon

Hana Hou!

mari808

These GTGs get better every year! Everybody was v happy and animated, at least at my end of table. Poor Guen was keeping her stomach on Calif time so cd not eat, and I hope the molten chocolate being passed back and forth in front of her did not cause upset. Only regrets: those who cdn't be there, that Melissa had to leave early, and that lilikoi baby back ribs were not on the game nite menu.

True Asia travelers did not mind being sandwiched between 2 giant-screen TVs and a 4-foot speaker, stuck on conference chairs in the back room of a local dive in a seedy neighborhood. Nor did anybody seem to mind sticking their spoons into a parade of communal desserts, and thank u v much for sending the Cointreau creamsicle my way.

Pls enjoy the guacamole at room temperature. Thanks to everybody for coming, hosting, organizing. See u all next year!

mari808

OK, I guess I wasn't finished.

lcuy, Mr lcuy is v sweet! No longer elusive and alleged. Mr lcuy is waiting for somebody to plan a surfing vacation.

Unfinished business from GTG:

--I quote lcuy: "I'll finish that trip report."

--Did Mrs Ksuke agree to cook Malaysian food sometime?

--Next May/June's SEAsia foodie destinations: Malaysia? Vn? Singapore? Thai?

hawaiiantraveler

lol, hahahahaha. lucy was that fried gizzards and not calamari??? Better not tell Linda till the next party, lol.

Aloha!

MelissaHI

10 p.m. sunday night: My head still sort of hurts. You'd think I would have learned by now!


Thank you all for such a great GTG! Yep, those were gizzards--organ meats, gotta love um. I'm sorry that I didn't get to spend much time on the other end of the table, but our end was animated nonetheless!! Sorry I had to leave for the concert. I inadvertently double-booked myself all weekend. Just call me "The Hilton" from now on, ha ha.

Thanks Mari for the guacamole!! Mm mm mmm. So lcuy.....when is the next installment of the trip report??

Shanghainese

Ooooooo, always happy to hear you guys had loads of fun, Aloha!!

Craig

I think Bob said it well:

"DAMN< DAMN< DAMN....we hate to miss a good party with the asia group...."

Hopefully we will make it to a future Honolulu GTG - haven't been to Hawaii since our honeymoon almost 17 years ago.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to being with our "ohana" at the Boston GTG in less than 2 weeks.

Guenmai

I'm speechelss. It was absolutely wonderful...as wonderful as the 1st Honolulu GTG. Thanks a million for everything. The room/view of Diamond Head where the "pupu" was held was beautiful, the festival great fun, and the GTG restaurant a lot of fun,too.
Once again I've can't remember when I've laughed so much...especially at the street festival. The funniest moment for me was when I glanced over to the side of the street and saw Kuranosuke just dancing away, by himself, hips swinging faster than Elvis'. At that moment Linda, Peter and I were dancing like crazy people and singing along with all of the Old School R&B hits that the band was playing. There was a different band at about each block.
I remember we got to the end of the block and stayed there for some time and then started walking back to get to the side street where my hotel was which was at the beginning of the party. Well, I thought it would be a quick walk back...Wrong...Linda, Peter, and I were walking down the street and then heard a band blasting, "Y-M-C-A-". Well, we had to go loudly singing and do the YMCA arm signal all the way down the street. Then we get to the area where the band was and the band starts up with old school R&B tune one after the other followed by new R&B tunes. When they got to Beyonce, we kind of lost our minds...a very uninhibited group. I could see all of the youngins...the teenagers staring at us in amazement and laughing hysterically. We were definitely moving our bodies at double the speed that they were moving theirs. I just thought to myself..."Look out Beyonce background dancers because we may be taking your job!" It was great. So, it will be on my schedule as an annual event. And you guys are definitely Ohana! Mahola. Happy Travels!

rhkkmk

damn, damn, damn...

Guenmai

I forgot to add that by the time Carol came over to my hotel to meet me for breakfast the next morning, Saturday, my voice had dropped a few octaves from all the singing of every R&B hit that the bands had played the night before. It took a while to get my voice back.
When I got home last night and unpacked my carry-on suitcase, I had to dump all of the clothes into the dirty clothes bin. There was definitely no way of getting two wears out of my Friday night's clothes. I think they were pretty much drenched. I'll have to throw the tennis shoes into the washer,too. Smiles.
Oh, Kathie, Cheryl, and I were on the same flight from S.F. to Honolulu as I had to fly from Burbank to S.F. first and then change planes. We didn't even know that we had been on the same flight until we got to Mr/Mrs. HT's pupu that night. Happy Travels!

MelissaHI

I also regret forgetting my camera at the office. When do the GTG photos get posted?

kuranosuke

what a fabulous fog in honolulu.

a hundred mahalos to peter and linda for the great warmup party in their room. yes, we had such a great time that we forget about the time and got to the hoolaulea abit late.

what can i say thats not already been said. great music, fun group, lots of dancing(don't believe everything you read here about me, lol). too bad i got to see only half of the hoolaulea.

mahalo to mari for the excellent selection of side street cuisine. everything was great, including the calamari.

glad to see sarah at her second gtg, and to meet dana. hope they both become regulars.

also was happy to finally meet mr lucy. peter and i were giving lucy a hard time the nite before about his existence, so i guess she finally convinced him to come. nice guy, that milt.

also mahalo to mari for the guacamole dip. it was delicious(i added a half of a hawaiian chili pepper).

hopefully, some of the east coast gang will be able to attend next year.

btw, fog=fodors ohana gathering.

lcuy

lol, K-Suke!

also fog= my brain going home saturday night!

Guenmai

DO believe everything that is said about Kuranosuke. Smiles. Happy Travels!