Anahola, Hanapepe, Waimea, Kapaa
In case you're wondering why it's taking me so long to blog it's because the wi-fi at the hotel was total crap. It would've taken me hours just to put together one days worth.
Ok. So we woke up at the crack of dawn so we could catch the 6 am sunrise. I think we woke up at 4:10 to leave the hotel a little before 5. We were kinda weary because we weren't sure how safe it was going to be. We were pleasantly surprised that no one even took a second look at us. There were a couple of cars there but I don't think we even saw a single person till 5:45. Unfortunately there was no spectacular sunrise but at least it didn't rain and we didn't get mugged.
After the sunrise shoot we headed back to Lihue for some breakfast at Tip Top Cafe. On the way back we saw this sign at one of the Kapaa beaches. Had to pay my respects...it's been almost six years since he has passed away and there's still a strong presence here :(
After breakfast we went back to take a power nap since nothing is open this early in the morning. Our next stop was Taro Ko Chips in Hanapepe. We called in an order for 20 bags last week so we had to pick up our stash. I loved Hanapepe. It was such a cute little town, it felt like we traveled back in time.
I refused to sit on these chairs so Jalna volunteered instead. I woulda felt so bad if I broke one of them!
Jalna made some new friends. This is Stanley on the left, Dale on the right. They were quite intimidating at first but then Jalna softened them up and they ended up being very nice
Here's a funny story...I have a friend that I workout with at the gym, his name is Ryan. He has a lot of family on Kauai so he visits often. When I told him I was going, the first thing he says is "go to Hanapepe, stop at the Shell gas station, you can't miss it. It will be on your left hand side. Broke da mouth fried chicken, better den Zippy's!" So of course I was excited to go check it out. If you have never been to Hanapepe, it's an extremely small town. You couldn't miss the gas station if you tried. We pull up to the gas station and we're thinking, I don't think there's any chicken here, there's supposed to be a sign outside. And the store part looks really small. Jalna walks in and I swear the only thing you can buy in that place is gas and soda. We're already giggling to ourselves cause we're shame to ask about the chicken cause obviously she doesn't have any. She asks the lady at the counter and she tells us that we've probably mistaken it with the Waimea gas station. They sell chicken there. So I call Ryan and told him what she said. He insisted it was Hanapepe! We're cracking up in the car, arguing that there is no damn chicken in Hanapepe! I told him forget it, we going Waimea to go eat chicken there. No more that 3 minutes later I get a call and he's laughing on the other end...I WEN GET THE PLACES MIXED UP! WAIMEA GET THE CHICKEN, NOT HANAPEPE! We got to Waimea 5 minutes later and lo and behold look what we found:
We got lucky too. There were only 3 small pieces left in the warmer. It was good chicken! Especially the skin..
So the next time someone says go to Hanapepe to get some broke da mouth chicken, don't believe him!! Go to Waimea instead!
After the chicken stop we ran into a shave ice store named JoJo's, so we stopped in for a quick snack. Sorry, gotta go to Jalna's blog for those pics.
We weren't going to visit the canyon until Saturday but it was still early and we had nothing else to do so we took the trek up those windy roads. I must say, the signage going up there is pretty horrible. We took a couple of wrong turns and we also saw a lot of other cars parked on the side of the road, probably getting lost like us...but the view was pretty amazing once we finally got up there.
Jalna regrets not getting a haircut before she came on this trip...you'll see why in a later post :)
I forgot to mention...I swear there are more chickens than people on this island. It's pretty funny. You see them EVERYWHERE!! And it's so strange, I think i've seen a 5:1 ratio of roosters to hens. Yikes!
We found out before we left that Kapaa held their Bon Dance on Friday night. We told ourselves if we weren't too tired and if it wasn't raining that we'd check it out. I'm glad we did. So cute!
When we told people that we might go, the first thing that came out of everyone's mouth is "Flying saucers!" I had no idea what the heck it was but they said it was a sloppy joe type of sandwich pressed between two pieces of bread. I guess it's a Kauai thing. A must buy if you go to a bon dance. I think it was $3. It was pretty good!
They also mentioned a Pronto Pop, a corndog with a homemade batter. I liked it! I think this was $3 too.
Chinese pretzels for $5/bag
I also bought a 2 pack mochi for $1.50 but I forgot to take a picture of it
It seems like the whole town showed up!
You see those clouds in the background? Those aren't happy clouds. It started to rain so we left early.
12 comments:
Awwwwwwesome!!! You totally captured our busy day. And your blurry water shots are sooooo nice!! So worth the early 4 am wake-up, yah.
So worth it! Good thing we got to take those naps though, otherwise you'd have to keep nudging me to keep me awake while driving. I can't believe how much we actually accomplished!
I miss Kauai now, we used to go every summer when my grandparents were alive. I never knew about the Waimea fried chicken!
Yes WAIMEA, not HANAPEPE!! ahahahaha! you should try it the next time you go. Pretty tasty!
LOL about the fried chicken - YOU wen get it wrong, lol! There is a store on the West side - Japanese name - Ishihara or something, had the BEST li hing mui and their bentos and poke was da bomb!
And what a shockeroo when I spocked my friend's kids and sister at the bon dance! I gotta send the link over to her. Such a small world!
Great pics, mahalo for sharing!!!
Aunty - Awww man! I wish I knew about the li hing mui and bentos! Never have good food on the west side! Poke too?? Shucks.
Wait, your friend's kids are in my picture? What's the chances of that? So funny! If it's those two girls with the cute obi coats then I have a few more pics of them on file.
Aunty - "BEST li hing mui"?? I hope hope hope it's the same one that I bought two bags of at Kauai Kookie. I didn't know the price of them, and when the cashier told me $18 for my two bags, I almost fainted. I already gave one bag away and am hanging on to the second bag, but I neva open it yet in case I remember somebody I forgot to get omiyage for.
I'm waiting for you to open your bag to see if it's any good. For that price it had better be the best damn li hing mui you ever ate! Oh and the manju that I bought was a different texture than the ones we ate at the bakery. I guess gotta have preservatives in them? But mama Kuba ate one last night and she said it was cakey. Ours wasn't cakey was it?
Hahahahahaha!!! Okay, wait little bit longer and I'll bring it in for a taste test. The manju we had at the bakery had a flaky crust, not cakey. I busted open the leftovers that I put in the tin foil wrapper last night and scarfed um. So glad I kept them.
Good thing we bought the fresh one then!! Randy said it was only ok. Too bad we couldn't bring home the lilikoi cheesecake pie!!
Leslie and Jalna, it was the Ishihara Market in Waimea - super good li hing mui - probably from China, and was kinda expensive but not as expensive as your $18 li hing mui.
My friend got a huge kick out of the bon dance pictures with her kids. She has her back to them in one of the pictures, not sure who the 2 little girls are but her family was all there for kind of a one year memorial for her husband's passing.
The first bon dance picture with the "geisha" was of her good friend Lee Sueoka who always dresses up and is such a spark plug!
That's so neat. There were so many people there I can't believe I got pictures of them! Jalna - if we go back we going to Ishihara Market!
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