Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [68]
Ala Moana Beach Park (Click here)
Hawai′i State Art Museum (Click here)
First Friday Gallery Walk in Chinatown (Click here)
Aloha Tower (Click here)
Nu′uanu Valley Lookout (Click here)
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SAVE OUR…ISLANDS
You may notice that Hawaii’s state flag is quartered with the Union Jack in the top left corner next to the flagpole. Hawaii was never part of the UK, although Kamehameha the Great thought the Union Jack would add an element of regal splendor, so he took the liberty of adding it to the Kingdom of Hawai′i’s first flag. The horizontal red, white and blue stripes represent the eight major Hawaiian Islands. Today Native Hawaiian sovereignty activists often fly the flag upside down, a time-honored symbol of distress, as happened when small groups of activists occupied the palace grounds twice during 2008, bringing attention to their cause.
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Chinatown
The location of this mercantile district is no accident. Between the port and what was once the countryside, enterprising businesses sold farm products, nuts and bolts and daily services to the city folks, as well as visiting ship crews. Many were established in the 1860s by Chinese laborers who had completed their sugarcane plantation contracts. The most successful entrepreneurs have long since moved out of this low-rent district into the suburbs, making room for newer waves of immigrants: Vietnamese, Laotians and Filipinos.
The scent of burning incense still wafts through Chinatown’s buzzing markets, fire-breathing dragons spiral up the columns of buildings and steaming dim sum awakens even the sleepiest of appetites. Take time to explore: peruse cutting-edge art galleries and antiques stores, rub shoulders with locals over a bowl of noodles and take a meditative stroll in Foster Botanical Garden. For a self-guided walking tour, Click here.
KEKAULIKE & MAUNAKEA STREETS
The commercial heart of Chinatown revolves around the markets and food shops on Kekaulike and Maunakea Streets. Noodle factories, pastry shops and produce stalls line the streets crowded with feisty grandmothers and errand-running families.
The 1904 O′ahu Market (Map; cnr Kekaulike & N King Sts; 7am-5pm) sells everything a Chinese cook needs: ginger root, fresh octopus, quail eggs, slabs of tuna, jasmine rice, long beans and salted jellyfish. You owe yourself a bubble tea if you spot a pig’s head among the stalls.
A block away is Yat Tung Chow Noodle Factory (Map; 531-7982; 150 N King St; 6am-3pm Mon-Sat, to 1pm Sun), one of the neighborhood’s half-a-dozen family-run noodle factories. Stop by in the early morning when a cloud of flour covers every surface.
The pedestrian lane of Maunakea St is bookended by the vibrant Kekaulike Market (Kekaulike St, btwn King & Hotel Sts; 7am-5pm) and Maunakea Marketplace (Map; 1120 Maunakea St; 7am-5pm), with its bustling food court (Click here).
FOSTER BOTANICAL GARDEN
Tropical plants you’ve only ever read about can be spotted in all their lush glory at this botanical garden (Map; 522-7066; www.co.honolulu.hi.us/parks/hbg/fbg.htm; 180 N Vineyard Blvd; adult/child 6-12 $5/1; 9am-4pm, guided tour usually 1pm Mon-Sat; ), which took root here in 1850. Among its rarest specimens are the Hawaiian loulu palm and the East African Gigasiphon macrosiphon, both thought to be extinct in the wild. Several of the garden’s towering trees are the largest of their kind in the USA. Oddities include the cannonball tree, the sausage tree and the double coconut palm capable of producing a 50lb nut – watch your head! Follow your nose past fragrant vanilla vines and cinnamon trees in the spice and herb gardens, then pick your way among the poisonous and dye plants. Don’t miss the blooming orchid gardens. All of the species are labeled, and a free self-guided tour booklet is available at the garden entrance.
CHINATOWN CULTURAL PLAZA
Covering the better part of a city block, this open-air mall (Map) doesn’t have the character of nearby antiques shops, but it’s still quintessentially Chinatown, with tailors, acupuncturists