After a refreshing night’s sleep, we both woke up early local time (around 12:00 noon Eastern time) and went to have a big buffet breakfast (we LOVE the buffet at the Hilton Hawaiian Village!). It was nice and relaxing, sitting at the Rainbow Lanai. The day promised to be beautiful and sunny.
Already, we were feeling holiday-ey and summery, and laaaazy! Check out this hibiscus (bunga raya), the state flower of Hawaii (of course, the hibiscus is also the Malaysian National flower!)
[[image:hi22.jpg:Yellow Bunga Raya:center:0]]
After breakfast, we walked around the hotel and saw a bunch of different animals right in the hotel area. There’s a lot of open air areas, ponds, and vegetation all around:
[[image:hi06.jpg:Shy flamingo:center:0]]
[[image:hi07.jpg:Blue Macaw:center:0]]
[[image:hi08.jpg:Red and Blue Macaw:center:0]]
[[image:hi09.jpg:Green Macaw:center:0]]
[[image:hi10.jpg:Penguins and Turtles:center:0]]
[[image:hi11.jpg:Molting Penguin:center:0]]
[[image:hi12.jpg:Big turtle and little turtles:center:0]]
[[image:hi13.jpg:Green lichen turtle:center:0]]
[[image:hi14.jpg:Cicak with funky red sac that inflated – or maybe funky tongue?:center:0]]
[[image:hi15.jpg:One of the many koi ponds:center:0]]
[[image:hi16.jpg:Really big koi:center:0]]
We had decided to go to Hanauma Bay in the afternoon, and stopped by the Hotel Visitor Center for some complimentary gifts (got a new Hilton beach bag, woooo!) and the very friendly lady manning the center advised us not to go to Hanauma Bay in the afternoon on a Friday. There is limited parking there, and once the parking lot is full, they close off the parking lot. Chances were, we would not even be able to stop at the place! So we decided to put off our snorkeling trip until the next morning to ensure we would get there before the parking lot got full.
Given our open afternoon, we decided we were too lazy to find something else to do, so we got our books, snorkels, and our beach towels and headed to the beach (Waikiki beach) for a little swimming and reading.
[[image:hi17.jpg:Vin with Diamondhead in the background:center:0]]
After getting a little sun and fun, we went back to our room to hang out on the balcony (getting a little too much sun at this point). Here’s Vin enjoying the balcony (or lanai as they call it in Hawaiian):
[[image:hi18.jpg:Vin and his sunburnt feet reading on the lanai:center:0]]
And, the view from the 33rd floor of the Tapa Tower:
[[image:hi19.jpg:Honolulu, with Diamondhead in the background:center:0]]
[[image:hi20.jpg:Tapa pool from the 33rd floor (gayat!):center:0]]
[[image:hi21.jpg:Diamond Tower, part of the big pool, and a bit of the Pacific:center:0]]
I also tried a few photostitching. This first one is of the hotel, and not too well lined up I’m afraid. I had to leave in the white bits so I didn’t crop off random parts of the hotel:
[[image:hi_st01.jpg:Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu:center:0]]
[[image:hi_st02.jpg:Waikiki Beach and Diamondhead:center:0]]
[[image:hi_st03.jpg:The view from our balcony:center:0]]
One of my favorite pictures, this blue has occupied my dreams since we got back from Hawaii:
[[image:hi_st04.jpg:The blue waters of Waikiki from our balcony:center:0]]
Paradise, indeed.
