Destination: Hilo, Day 4

Ahh.. my last day in Hilo.. as well as my mad rush to spend some last fleeting moments with my family. First off, was my older brother, Ryan. It was a surprise he was awake :P! haha! I don't know why he's making such an ugly face :(. Damn older brothers!


My mother and younger brother, BJ picked me up and we went to KTA. You can only find this shopping center in Hilo :P. It was once a small mom and pop store and grew from there. Good for them!


They care about helping the hungry. (I don't know who that guy is though :P) I found this sign funny haha! It's in pidgin :P


I saw these big island magnets :P. Next time, I should buy one, doh >_<


We got some bentos there.


Apparently that's not enough food according to my mom. (I told you Hilo is heavy on eating!) So we stopped by at a Chinese takeout (connected to KTA). I love Chinese food in Hilo! It's not the same in Oahu. :( I think there's a lot of Chinese in Hilo maybe. The Chinese food is unbeatable there!


My brother.. haha! looks like he's thinking "Oh my god! O_O" hahaha! :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


We then all headed to my Grandma's house. She looked at me like she saw a ghost! I guess she couldn't believe it was me. :P


I tried to take a pic. with her but she was busy being very fascinated with my phone. She said "You guys always have all these kind of gadgets!" Then she remarked at my cutesy phone charms; "You always have those kind of things ever since you were little." Haha. :P I wonder if it was the stuffed animal that made her think that :P. Or the useless, girly trinkets I always have. Either way, that would be me.


I checked out my favorite plant, Stephanotis, to see if any flowers were blooming. But, alas I found none :(. When I used to live here or visit, I'd always pick a Stephanotis flower and stick it in my hair on my way to school or work.


Here's some pictures of a small section of my grandma's yard. It's all pretty much crazy like this. Tons and tons of numerous species of plants grouped closely together. and all thriving. She has the greenest thumb I know. Can you spot any plants you know? I know the red flower one is Hibiscus, the state flower. That's the only one I can remember at the moment hahaha! :P Let me know if you recognize any others.


Here's more of her collection and passion. Over here hosts some of her orchids as well as a slough of other plants.



And more! I used to know all the plants in her yard :). I'd help her prune them and stuff. :) From the top left is: Banana Tree, ti-leaf plant, puakinekine plant (my 2nd favorite flower), pumkin plant (center), this citris fruit for mixed drinks only (right), guava tree (top right).


Here's my grandma and mom talking. I can't remember the last time that they've seen each other. (this is my dad's mom, my parents aren't together..don't worry I'm not sad :P.. They're better this way)


I like my grandma smiling like that :). She's 90-something.. (93?) and all she uses is a cane, still up and running! Taking care of all those plants! She's immortal! Must be that jade amulet she wears, it must!! Her older sister also walks around with just a cane (and wears a jade amulet). They say that jade can bring you long life. Boy, they weren't kidding! Hmm.. maybe I should go buy some jade :P.


This is the front of my grandma's house. Bye grandma! Aloha oe! Until we meet again :)! (which I hope is very soon!)


So now I'm off to the airport! But first a few goodbyes to my mom and bro. :)


I call this my "oreo" picture. Haha! I'm so white. I guess you know which parent I get the whiteness from :P.




These are a few of the native plants you'll see right on the airport lot. A very long time ago, my grandfather did the landscaping for the airport. Seeing the plants at the airport is similar to the style of planting at my grandma's house :P.
This is the very nice man that helped me at the airport. He filed my plane trip even though I was going to do it myself electronically. Then, he carried my bags for me! What service!


Now to wait in the security check line. Not too shabby.. and I spy Frank Delima behind the sign.


This is what the waiting area looks like.


And this is the view. You can see Mauna Kea in the distance.


Ahh..on the plane. Almost back home.


45 minutes later... I'm back on Oahu. I can feel the city's hurriedness already. And That's why if you come to Hawaii, it's a must to see the other neighbor islands. They're all unique and special.


Here's the moon from my house. It was very bright and full. :) Breathtaking.

Destination: Hilo, Day 3

Outside of my Dad's house, I see this. It's Mauna Kea and I haven't seen it in over a year. You never realize how much you take things you see everyday for granted until you don't see it anymore. (That's my brother's truck, waiting to pick me up)


I get a little obsessed and take more pictures :P


When I looked at it, it seemed closer than it did in the photos. But still altogether, beautiful.


I was real sad when I saw this. It looks like a patch of grass now, but last year it was filled with ginger flowers. There also was a house there that privately sold ginger and my dad would buy the flowers there with my grandma and I to put on my family's graves every week. And now it's gone. There's a building to the right of it called the "ginger patch" snack and deli shop. Now that name doesn't make sense. :(

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I did a quick trip to Big Island Candies! This is the only place where you'll find Big Island Candies. What makes them so great? Let's see..they use superb and fresh ingredients, their facility is super clean and you can watch them hand dip the cookies.


Here's what the inside looks like.


Pretty displays.


They have many products to offer. The most popular is their hand dipped shortbread and macadamia nut cookies. They sell them in golden boxes..ooooh haha! They also have a free sample ready for you as they greet you. Real aloha spirit. There's also free kona coffee samples. mmm P: They also sell food and drinks as well as ice cream, all the very best!


Here's a view of the workers. You can be very close to them. Must feel like a zoo to them. My aunty used to work there before she passed away. I noticed everytime I go there that there's only filipino women working there. Just something I noticed. My aunty looked just like them.


Out of the whole place, I find these products the most wacky. They chocolate coat everything here! This section is called "Hawaiian Da-Kines". ('Da kine' is the Pidgin equivalent of 'whatchamacallit') Here you'll see,(from the top) chocolate coated ika (aka: dried squid), chocolate coated animal crackers, chocolate coated crack seed. There's also things like chocolate dipped arare, chocolate dipped gummi bears, etc.
To learn more about Pidgin click here: Pidgin


My most favorite product personally, is the "Hawaiian Crunchies".


Here's what it looks like when you open it.


It's made of Milk chocolate, fresh macadamia nuts and fresh potato chips made on Maui. It's "onolicious!" :P (pidgin for delicious) And it's also the only place that I've found this combination, but it surely is my favorite :).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I spent some time with Charisse (also, my friend since kindergarten and my reason for the whole trip). We had a very nice luncheon at Pescatore which is located in downtown, Hilo.


The Hilo Bay Building. All of downtown was once destroyed by the tsunami in 1960.
For more information about Hilo and the Tsunami click here: Tsunami
More information on the culture of Hilo and more pictures click here: Hilo


After lunch, me and Reese headed towards the mall. I'm not surprised to find a "Blazin' Steaks" there. Serving meat, meat and meat. Probably on a bed of white rice. Hilo loves their steak.


Isn't this cute? It's a totoro kleenex dispenser shaped like a log!


I really loved this pillow/mat shaped like a bear. But since I make my own plushies, i opted to try making one of my own later one day instead of buying it :).


I did end up buying this sand thing. It reminds me of the ocean, (although to my mom, reminds her of the earth falling). There's a beach in Hilo called Richardson's that me and Charisse would go to often. The sand there looks exactly like that, so it reminds me of home :). Also, my mom used to have one of these when I was little, so it doubly reminded me of home. How could i not buy it?!


Here's me and Charisse in Hot Topic.


We took pictures in Tilt. I'll miss that silly girl :). Next time I'll see her, she'll have already given birth. I don't know when I'm going back. Her son might be 1 years old by then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Ahh.. I also saw my beloved friend Kate that night. She picked me up from my mom's place and we went to one of the local bars for a bit of dinner and some much catching up. I haven't seen Kate in many years (I think at least 2) although I've known her since kindergarten at Kaumana Elementary. Go Kaumana Stars! "We shine above the rest." We were a conceited school apparently, haha!


This is me and Kate :).


I saw this on myspace. Kate's hilarious! But yea, we can sometimes get in trouble :O. Or is it me that's trouble? hahaha!


After looking over the menu, I opted for a veggie burger w/ mushrooms and cheese w/ a side salad.. mmm P: It actually was an excellent burger and the salad was very good as well. :D If not for the weird old men (that could pass as my dad), I'd go back there and eat again.


It was pretty sweet there though, (minus the really old-drunken-weird men). There was live and free entertainment :)! Apparently, it was open mike night so a bunch of guys took turns singing classic songs the best they could perform. All I have to say is that some were better than others :P. Haha! Nonetheless, it was quite entertaining :)!

Here's a short clip of one of the dude's singing "Turn your lights down low" by Bob Marley... I can smell the bar beer already..



Here's the same dude singing "concrete jungle" by Bob Marley.


A night photo. Not a single car in sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Here's me and my bro, hanging out, soaking up the internets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, I went to my mom's. She really wasn't feeling good so we had to take her to the hospital. After waiting a very long time until she was helped, they gave her some medicine and she was fine. It was quite a day.