#43, Lanikai Beach

Jogging At Lanikai Beach, Kailua, Hawaii, May ‘08, artistic view.


Jogging Continues At Lanikai Beach, Kailua, Hawaii, May ‘08, artistic view.

This is one of the best beaches on Oahu, if you like to think that way. But you can easily find many as good beaches not far away from this one, if you want to. Whether you want to think of it as the best, or one of the best, is up to you. There are many good features about it; it is somewhat secluded, you always have people from private properties watching you – sometimes you may get a feeling that you are in someone else’s backyard pond (good/bad), white sand, about a mile long, slightly sticky clay bottom, a moderate number of people, plenty of swimming space, and lots of things happening around – outrigger canoe practicing, for example, so you can sit, watch and enjoy. On the downside, however, you may cruise around for a while in your car before you find a spot to park, remember it is all private property with very small and narrow streets, with up and downhills, so on holidays you better be either very early in the morning, or rather late in the afternoon. And finding a way to the Ocean can take a while, only small and narrow passages to the beach, after you found your parking space. Beyond that, everything else is just fine, put plenty of sunscreen and enjoy the sunny weather, and hope the clouds are not coming back today anymore. Two Mokulua Islands are always there, staring at you, and looking good in pictures! Also, the http://www.beachwalks.tv show originates at this beach almost every day.
It is getting late in the evening, it is time to find a car, get a sip of bottled water, boy it is hot, wash the sap and bird droppings from your windshield, wash your hands then, and head back to Ala Moana Shopping Center in Waikiki for a good sushi or sashimi dinner. Then off to your hotel for a cold beer.
Another beach in Kailua, not too far from Lanikai, is far more open and accessible since it is adjacent on one side to a small park. You actually may find this one quite pleasing as well, I know I do.
I need to stop now, because if I do not, I will most likely be booking another trip to Lanikai!

Dinner back in California: A Barilla Penne pasta with Chunky Ragu sauce. A glass of Gallo hearty burgundy, and a hot Lipton tea.
http://www.barillaus.com, http://www.ragu.com, http://www.gallofamily.com, http://www.lipton.com.

#42, Ala Moana

Looking Good Tonight, Waikiki, Hawaii, May ‘08, artistic view.

There are many people in Waikiki every night between 8pm and 11pm. You can walk around just watching tourists from many places around the world, especially Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and of course the US. All shops and restaurants are open well into the night and early morning hours, and people are indeed everywhere. End of May temperatures are already quite high and the humidity is also high. But everything is still quite tolerable, and after spending several days there, and drinking lots of bottled water, quite tolerable. It is only about 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean in some places if you want to go one more time to the beach, most likely after you already spent several hours on the beach throughout the day! You can find there lots of magicians, tarot card readers, gun school promoters, restaurant advertisers, portrait painters, street musicians, God converters, police and occasional hookers. I spend most time around the musicians, doing some window shopping, and taking lots of pictures. I love the last activity a lot. The reason I am not taking my video camera with me is that the light is very often quite poor, and the video looks very grainy. Also the video gear is a bit bigger and easily noticeable by the people I try to film. This is sometimes a very big hindrance, and some form of hostility from the people I try to film results. On the other hand, the still camera is quite small, and not very visible at night. You can take lots of good photographs if you practice for a while under low light conditions. Whereas with the video, the street musicians suddenly start to throw some notes that never belonged to their gigs, or simply out of the blue get tired and quit playing, with the still camera, those problems are usually gone. ABC Stores are everywhere, stores that offer all basic essentials to live on through the night. Question: Why is the Steinlager beer from New Zealand so cheap? In the morning, the streets look very different, and sometimes you wonder if what you remember from the last night even happened at all!

Breakfast back in California: Pumpernickel from Germany, Mild Ajvar vegetable spread from Bulgaria, Passport green Manzanilla olives stuffed with pimentos from Spain, and Lipton tea from India. Amazing, although bought at Longs Drugs, everything from outside of the US!
http://www.mestemacher.de, http://www.intldelicacies.com, http://www.monini.com, http://www.lipton.com, http://www.longs.com.