Oahu Day 3

I had been to the Polynesian Culture Center when I was 11 or 12. I all remembered from that was that it was raining the whole time and it had green bananas, which were really bitter.

But Felice had never been, so we went. We took the bus from Ala Moana Center. There are a couple morning ones in the morning leaving around 9:30 and 10 something, which will take you up to Kaneohe, then up the Windward (East) shore up to Laie where the Polynesian Culture Center is. It's bus 55, can't miss. PCC opens it's doors around noon, so no rush.

We prebooked our tickets to include buffet dinner and the show, Ha... breath of life. It has a "schedule," but you pretty much do whatever you want. I think we tried to plan at being in certain places, but there's really no need. You use the "schedule" to guide you in terms of where the biggest events are happening, but some are better than others. Aotearoa, which is basically the Maori of New Zealand, was good. Fiji was okay. Tahiti was kind of lame. Tonga was pretty good. Everyone will have different takes though. The Samoan coconut scrapper was pretty funny though.

This taro become poi. It's actually not that bad. Not good, but not that bad.

I forget what this was. A coconut bread baking oven?

Canoe show around 2:30pm showcasing the various island garbs. The guys are all ripped. I mean, they were ripped. I love the hula hip bouncing. It's so mesmorizing.

We were dorky and we got the Tahitian ink "tatoos."

The Tonga drum performance. They had people from different places come up and emulate after the main drummer guy. A guy from colorado, japan, and new jersey I believe. He referred to them by their place, "okay colorado, let's go!" It was really funny.

Tropical sorbet on fruit. Pretty good. They used canned fruit, which was kind of cheap. $5, served by your friendly waitress on a canoe. That is not actually a photo of our sorbet. We were too excited about the sorbet we forgot to take a photo, so we ended up leaning over a tourist's shoulder and taking a photo of their sorbet. Secretly...

Fiji stick stompers? 1-2, 1-2-3. 1-2, 1-2-3. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Ha... breath of life (aka adult human version of lion king). I thought it was so-so. It was like a showcase of the day's cultures, which I guess is the point of a culture center. Things were so-so until the fire dancers came out at the end. Then it was pretty awesome.

We took the 55 bus back. There are only 2 late ones around 9:30 and 10:30 pm. It'll take you back to Ala Moana Center, so you then need to take the 19 or 20 back to Waikiki, which will get you home around 11:30-12:30. I would sneak out of the show a few minutes early to take the earlier bus. The bus is a bit dodgy at night, so I was a little on edge, but nothing happened. In retrospect, I think I would have arranged for the shuttle to PCC and back if they didn't have just a one-way shuttle trip back. I don't think a car rental is necessary for the whole day since it is a whole day affair and there is a parking fee of $6 or something like that. I think the bus is safe overall, but it was a bit uncomfortable that late. Unscrupulous characters and whatnot. I don't think you need that feeling on a vacation.