Hawaii: Big Island / Oahu

[pinkytoe69]

On a few short trips to Oahu that was what I felt.
Then I spent a month and a half working there, and found a lot of other things that I liked.
Then I went to Kauai for a tourist trip and loved it.
Then I went to Kauai for work and hated it.

Time for the big island.

Haha, yeah I know what youre saying.

Most people who grew up there love the place, but most of us also have to "get off this fucking rock" at some point as well.

Every island has its highs and lows. Oahu's biggest plus is actually the other islands biggest drawback...Honolulu/Waikiki has a decent nightlife so there is a hell of more to do after 9pm other than see a movie or dropping too much cash at a korean hostess bar.

Maui is also getting a little too Oahu-like as well. New housing and commercial developments everywhere. I could totally see myself living on the big island instead if I ever move back again.

 

[pinkytoe69]

Some other tidbits for maui...

You can drive around the backside of west maui as well. I would advise to go clockwise cause the road is close to cliffs and one lane in spots with little or no guardrail. After you pass kahakaloa, you can stop at camp maluhia for some views. The restaurant at the waiehu municipal golf course has some pretty good food.

Ichiban in wailuku is a little shack that sells takeout japanese food. My favorite tonkatsu on island. The Ichiban in kahului is also pretty decent for japanese food and sushi.

Sam satos in the wailuku mill yard has awesome saimin and dry mein. Its small, so expect a little wait at lunch peak (I dont think they are open for dinner). Their manju is supposedly good too, but I dont like manju.

Tobys in paia has the best shave ice. Most of the places to eat in paia are pretty good, so dont be afraid to be lazy and stay close to your accommodations to eat

Mamas fish house is, of course, fantastic.

Hookipa beach right outside of paia is a good place to take your kids to walk the reef and see all the little sea critters in the tide pools. There are tons of big sea turtles there too. Theyll come up really close to the reef and pop their heads out.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

Some other tidbits for maui...

You can drive around the backside of west maui as well. I would advise to go clockwise cause the road is close to cliffs and one lane in spots with little or no guardrail. After you pass kahakaloa, you can stop at camp maluhia for some views. The restaurant at the waiehu municipal golf course has some pretty good food.

Ichiban in wailuku is a little shack that sells takeout japanese food. My favorite tonkatsu on island. The Ichiban in kahului is also pretty decent for japanese food and sushi.

Sam satos in the wailuku mill yard has awesome saimin and dry mein. Its small, so expect a little wait at lunch peak (I dont think they are open for dinner). Their manju is supposedly good too, but I dont like manju.

Tobys in paia has the best shave ice. Most of the places to eat in paia are pretty good, so dont be afraid to be lazy and stay close to your accommodations to eat

Mamas fish house is, of course, fantastic.

Hookipa beach right outside of paia is a good place to take your kids to walk the reef and see all the little sea critters in the tide pools. There are tons of big sea turtles there too. Theyll come up really close to the reef and pop their heads out.

Thanks for all of the tips. The last few times we went to Maui we went to Paia. It has a cool vibe. We figured that it made more sense to stay there instead of battling the hordes at Kaanapali. I realize that Maui is filled with tourists and I happen to be one, but that doesn't mean that I want to be near the rest of them. We've had much more success in recent years by renting condos or homes through VRBO or Homeaway.

I love about any Asian inspired noodle soup, so I'll eat saimin whenever I get the chance. It's funny, but my 6yr old daughter loves spam musubi and requests that I make it whenever we take a plane for her lunch.

Any recommendations for loco moco? It's another guilty pleasure of mine.

 

[pinkytoe69]

Yeah, life in Paia revolves around the beach, marijuana, health food and walking around half naked...its a nice spot!

Im at work, so apologies for me ripping thru this stuff.

Tasty crust in wailuku also has good saimin.

Kaohu store (now apparently called wailuku market?) had some of the better spam musubi, but I dont know if the name change also involves a new owner/recipe? If it is still made with a seasoned piece of spam sandwiched (vs. on top of) in the rice it is probably the same.

7-Eleven, believe it or not, also has pretty good musubi and like 6 different kinds of it. Their pork hash isnt bad either.

Tiffanys on lower main has a huge selection of really good pupu-style asian/local food. Bonus: it is owned/run by a former korean bar hostess and has a "is this place a front for organized crime?" feel to it Archies next door also has good food.

Loco moco:

The thing with Hawaii is, you can get a pretty good plate lunch almost anywhere. Therefore, if you dont make yours well you arent gonna last long cause plenty of other places do.

I would hit up L&L all the time just cause it was close to work and good enough. It is hard to find places that still make fresh (vs frozen) patties for hamburger steak/locomoco. Da Kitchen I think does, but beware as their servings are HUGE.

FYI, you can make it yourself pretty easily. Just make some burger patties seasoned however you wish, make some brown gravy with the $.99 packets from the grocery store, make rice, fry up some sunny sides and enjoy!

If you havent had portugese sausage you should.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

Portuguese Sausage? Umm, yeah! I had a portuguese sausage & egg musubi when I was in Kauai. Holy shit. Awesome. I love spam musubi, but the portuguese sausage musubi is definitely a notch above. One day as I was walking in my local Japanese grocery store here in Seattle, I was browsing around in the mystery meat section and guess what they had: Redondo's portuguese sausage sliced for musubi. It was like I found the holy grail.

Thanks again for the recommendations.

 

[thequickervicar]

Driving the back side of West Maui did have its tight moments, but really wasn't that terrible. I do think the warnings are warranted for most rental car drivers though. The south side of the island was tight as well, but I managed to follow a local who knew the road and kept the speed up. Highly entertaining! (We made better time on this gravel section than we did on the paved road to Hana)

FYI, I rented a Jeep Liberty CRD from Bio-Beetle and was quite pleased with the experience. Yes, the truck was beginning to show its age, but I fell in love with that engine in no time.

 

[manny]

It's been a while since I was their but Hanama Bay was great for snorkeling with my kids, North Shore is great for boogie boarding, Pearl Harbor Memorial was a must see for me and Waikiki night life was a blast.


Manny
2K D2

 

[manny]

Almost forgot to mention we went to what I think is called Germains Luau, yeah we did the tourist thing but we had a blast.


Manny
2k D2