Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [162]
If you just need necessities like suntan lotion, film, or a cheap pair of slippers, head for Kmart, 4303 Nawiliwili, Lihue ( 80 8/245-7742). If you need laundry done (and don’t want to waste a minute of your vacation doing it), drop it off at Plaza Laundry, in the Hanamaulu Plaza Shopping Center, Kuhio Highway (Hwy. 56) and Hanamaulu Road ( 80 8/246-9057), which offers a full wash, dry, and fold service for just $1.50 a pound.
Photo Opportunity: Hang Ten Without Getting Wet
Here’s your opportunity to take a photo of your trip to Kauai that will astound and amaze your friends—you on a surfboard. Oh, you don’t surf; can’t even swim? No problem. Drive down to Hawaiian Trading Post, at the intersection of Koloa Road and Kaumualii Highway. On the side of their building (facing the parking lot) is a fake backdrop with a surfboard and a huge wave (fashioned from plaster) that looks amazingly like the real thing. Bring your own camera (and bathing suit) and snap away.
KILOHANA PLANTATION
Kilohana, the 35-acre Tudor-style estate on Highway 50 between Lihue and Poipu, is an architectural marvel that houses a sprinkling of galleries and shops. At the Country Store, on the ground level, you’ll find island and American crafts of decent quality, koa accessories, pottery, and Hawaii-themed gift items. On the other side of Gaylord’s, the Artisans Room and The Hawaiian Collection Room offer a mix of crafts and two-dimensional art, from originals to affordable prints, at all levels of taste.
Up and “Rumming:” Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room
There’s now another reason to visit the Kilohana Plantation—the recently opened Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room, Retail Store & Gallery (next door to the Kilohana Plantation, at 3-2087 Kaumualii Hwy (Hwy. 50), between Lihue and Poipu, 80 8/742-1616,www.koloarum.com). Kauai’s first rum distillery makes white, gold, dark, and on occasion, specialty flavors of rum (like coconut and vanilla) using high-grade molasses and sugar from Hawaii’s only remaining sugar company (Gay & Robinson) and pure water from Mount Waialeale (one of the wettest spots on Earth). The tasting room is separated from the retail store (where the rum and other Kauai-made products are sold) by a small distillery, where you can see how the rum is made. In addition to sampling this premium rum, you will learn the history of rum and sugar in the islands, ranging from 1778 when Captain Cook, whose ship carried barrels of rum for his sailor’s daily ration of “grog,” made a landing in Kauai to the 1830s when Kauai built its first sugar mill for sugar cane, which was to become the island’s number one agricultural crop.
3 The Poipu Resort Area
Expect mostly touristy shops in Poipu, the island’s resort mecca; here you’ll find T-shirts, souvenirs, black pearls, jewelry, and the usual quota of tired marine art and trite hand-painted silks.
There are exceptions. The formerly characterless Poipu Shopping Village, at 2360 Kiahuna Plantation Dr., is shaping up into a serious shopping stop. Also in Poipu Shopping Village, the tiny Bamboo Lace boutique lures the fashionistas; its resortwear and accessories can segue from Hawaii to the south of France in one easy heartbeat. Across the courtyard, Sand People is great for understated resortwear (such as Tencel Jeans) and Indonesian coconut picture frames. Don’t miss out on Sand Kids, with its adorable kids’ clothes, books, gifts, T-shirts, and jewelry, plus cute stuffed “sea creatures” (like mermaids). It’s one of the best places to get sunglasses for kids. The newly renovated Overboard rides the wave of popularity in alohawear and surf stuff, plus great swimwear, linens, a selection of Tommy Bahama clothing and accessories, and other island-style merchandise. Take a break from all the shopping at Puka Dog, serving up a range of island hot dogs (even veggie ones).
The shopping is surprisingly good at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, with the