Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [121]
You can avoid parking headaches and traffic jams by cycling around town:
Bike Shop (261-1553; 270 Ku′ulei Rd; per day/week from $20/100; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) Top-quality rentals, repairs and cycling gear.
Kailua Sailboards & Kayaks (262-2555, 888-457-5737; Kailua Beach Center, 130 Kailua Rd; per half-day/full day/week $15/25/85; 8:30am-5pm) Rents single-speed beach cruisers.
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KANE′OHE
pop 37,070
Although Kane′ohe is blessed with Hawaii’s biggest reef-sheltered bay, its largely silty waters are not good for swimming. Outside the military base, this workaday town doesn’t receive nearly as many tourists as the surf-and-sun village of Kailua, but it does have a few attractions worth stopping briefly for on a round-the-island tour.
Orientation & Information
Two highways run north–south through Kane′ohe. The coastal Kamehameha Hwy (Hwy 836) is slower, but more scenic. The inland Kahekili Hwy (Hwy 83) intersects the Likelike Hwy (Hwy 63) and continues north past Valley of the Temples. Both highways merge into a single route, the Kamehameha Hwy (Hwy 83), a few miles north of Kane′ohe. Kane′ohe Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) occupies the entire Mokapu Peninsula; the H-3 Fwy terminates at its gate.
Bank of Hawaii (233-4670; 45-1001 Kamehameha Hwy; 8:30am-4pm Mon-Thu, 8:30am-6pm Fri, 9am-1pm Sat) Has a 24-hour ATM.
Borders (235-8803; Windward Mall, 46-056 Kamehameha Hwy; 9am-10pm Sun-Thu, to 11pm Fri & Sat) Stocks Hawaii-related books and maps and some mainland and international newspapers.
Kane′ohe Public Library (233-5676; 45-829 Kamehameha Hwy; 10am-8pm Mon & Wed, 10am-5pm Tue, Thu & Sun, 1-5pm Fri;) Free wi-fi and reservable internet terminals (Click here).
Sights & Activities
VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES & BYōdō-IN
The Valley of the Temples is an interdenominational cemetery that is famously home to the Byōdō-In (239-8811; 47-200 Kahekili Hwy; adult/senior & child under 13 $3/2; 9am-5pm), a replica of a 900-year-old temple in Uji, Japan. The temple’s symmetry is a classic example of Japanese Heian architecture, with its rich vermilion walls set against the verdant fluted cliffs of the Ko′olau Range. In the main hall, a 9ft-tall Lotus Buddha, covered in gold leaf, is positioned so as to catch the first rays of morning sunlight. Outside, wild peacocks roam beside a carp pond and a garden designed to symbolize the Pure Land of Mahayana Buddhism. The three-ton brass bell is said to bring peace and good fortune to anyone who rings it – and so, of course, everyone does.
From Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center, TheBus No 65 stops near the cemetery entrance on Kahekili Hwy, from where it’s a 0.7-mile walk winding uphill to the temple.
HO′OMALUHIA BOTANICAL GARDEN
Set against a dramatic backdrop of pali at the foot of the Ko′olau Range, O′ahu’s biggest botanical garden (233-7323; www.co.honolulu.hi.us/parks/hbg; 45-680 Luluku Rd; admission free; 9am-4pm) is planted with over 400 acres of trees and shrubs from the world’s tropical regions and was originally designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers as flood protection for the valley.
This peaceful nature preserve is networked by sporadically marked, delightfully grassy and often muddy trails winding around an artificial reservoir (no swimming). A small visitor center features displays on the park’s history, flora and fauna, and Hawaiian ethnobotany. Call ahead to register for two-hour guided nature hikes, usually offered at 10am Saturday and 1pm Sunday. The park allows camping (see opposite).
The park is at the end of Luluku Rd, over a mile mauka from the Kamehameha Hwy. TheBus No 55 stops at the Windward City Shopping Center, opposite the start of Luluku Rd, from where the visitor center is a 2-mile uphill walk.
SENATOR FONG’S PLANTATION & GARDENS
A labor of love by Hiram Fong (1907–2004), the first Asian American elected to the US Senate, these flowering gardens (239-6775; www.fonggarden.net; 47-285