I love learning and feeling the culture of every place I visit, and sometimes, the only way you really get to know a place is to go where the locals go
After spending some time in Honolulu, things were kinda starting to get a little old – most especially in Waikiki Beach. The place was filled with tourists from all over the world – majority came from Australia, Japan, some from New Zealand, and of course, from the mainland.
Lovely people
They actually thought that we were locals too, and were quite shocked when we said that it was our first time visiting Hawaii.
The universe really does give what you ask for, because they actually saved us from this trip. Before we landed, the mom had told us that if there was a way for us to drive to the North Shore, that we must. She was so sweet that she even gave us her phone number and asked for us to call her if we ever needed anything. So, after quickly realizing that Waikiki Beach was a tourist trap, we took her advice and drove to the North Shore. This was where the real fun began.
In the beginning, I couldn’t find a restaurant (besides Moana’s Breakfast Buffet) that I liked in Honolulu. Honestly, I was starting to get frustrated at first, thinking that I might have made a bad decision making this island my destination for my 30th birthday.
First off, the acai bowl from a food truck in the North Shore was the best acai bowl. Seriously, the best I’ve ever had! We drove back to the North Shore quite a few times in our week stay in O’ahu just for this. I tried some in Honolulu too, but it wasn’t comparable. This replaced my regular meals a few times. During our drive, we noticed this pizza truck that wasn’t going to open for the next few hours. The owner was still burning wood, but the way that he was so passionate about what he was doing, we were so intrigued that we felt the need to come back to try his pizza. We drove around to a few more places for a while, and on the way back, we just had to try it. And it was delicious. It’s not something I dream of just because I’m not a big pizza girl, but it’s definitely worth trying. If you see it while you’re there, just go for it!
I’m a fan of Teila Tuli (Taylor Wily)! We thought it’d be cool to run into him while we’re in Hawaii, and then we saw his shrimp truck. I almost knocked on their door to ask if he was there, although he probably doesn’t live there. LOL We saw BYU by accident, which was pretty cool for me. I grew up a Mormon, and I had considered going there for college in the past. I always wondered what it was like there, and I finally saw it in real life. My bf isn’t a big souvenir guy, unless he sees something really, really cool. We stopped gay male hookups at some local place off of Kamehameha Hwy in Kahuku that was selling fresh coconuts, and this nice gentleman, Tonu Naeata, was selling a lot of cool tikis that he and his son hand carve. Mr. Tonu travels all over the world, because of his hand carving skills. He showed us a lot of pictures that he had carved, and he’s super talented. This Lono was actually hand carved by his son, which we ended up meeting later on as we passed by his own shop.
