Dingy Exploring in Thailand

Back to the Thailand vacation... man these trips are tough!  You know, Malaysia, Thailand, now Hawaii.  Yeah, really tough, but someone has to do it, right?  Need to support the tourist industry.  Better yet, I need to have a clear understanding of our world  :-)

While on our adventures in Thailand, we rode a boat to look at caves.  The boat would take us to the general area, we would hop off of it into a dingy, explore, then come back, hop back onto the big boat and go somewhere else to do it all over again.  We always had a guide with us in each dingy, so no worries about being lost.  We had a blast!

"DUCK!!"  is what the guides said when we went to see the caves in Thailand... they were AWESOME!  Not like the normal caves that I am used to seeing in the states, these are in the sides of juts of land out on the middle of the water.  Some went into the land, others went through a wall of it into an open center with a... lake?  for lack of a better word.

So when we got to one particular area...

And the guide strongly suggested we duck...

He really was not joking!

Over the head lighting was not even going to work:

What did we see the once we made it through the cave?  Yes, we did make it through  :-)  You will have to wait and see that tomorrow... this post is too long and I am bushed from our day today.

Hope you can wait!   ;-)

First Day In Kona on the Big Island

Well, I am absolutely positive that we made it to Kona perfectly safe.  Today, I am planning to wake up, cuddle my nieces and nephew, hug my sister and promptly go snorkeling!

I am sure by now, after being here 5 days, Shari has found the perfect snorkeling places.  We should be out the door early and playing in the deep blue sea (on my bucket list) for a good part of the day.  First I think we have to go to Costco to get snorkeling gear though.  So, I am off to shop. I bet.  

Too bad I posted this days ahead while I am sitting in the airline lounge in Tokyo, Japan, right?

Ok, so am I crazy for setting up my posts ahead of time?  Don't answer that..  I know I am, but this is short lived... I don't have these posts set up for the entire time I am on holiday - so you will just have to miss me. 

If you are lucky, I will get to post the real stuff (live) at some point, but rest assured, if I don't, I will be back as soon as the plane lands back in Singapore - the third week of June!  Until then, miss me or enjoy reading my occasional guessing posts - guessing what I will be doing...because I honestly do not know.

Aloha!  :-)

Diamond Head

We did get to see Diamond Head.  Today we walked the from our hotel to Waikiki, went on a drive around the island - beautiful of course - and went to a luau.  It is just as amazing as I thought it would be - and maybe a bit more.  I have had a wonderful time!

This is just a couple of pics I got of Diamond Head:

What is that massive black frame around my pictures for?  Ugh, too tired to fix it - sorry folks  :-(

We went up on the pass and saw the mountains - and froze our backsides off too! Who woulda ever thought I would freeze in Hawaii!  Someone shoulda told me!  It was also a bit windy:

That is my fragile ancient aunt getting swept away by the steady wind - this is not a wind gust!  lol.. and she isn't fragile - trust me  :-)  She is almost (I did say almost Aunt Con) as onery as my other aunt - but not quite.

I found an awesome friendly little bird who was trying to sweet talk me into something yummy.  Too bad I didn't have anything - but he let me take his picture anyway.
 

Scoped out a great snorkeling spot - can't wait to try it out next week.  Hopefully we won't be too warn out:

But I think lots of people have found it:

That is coral in the bottom of the water - not slime  :-)  I could see wonderful fish in it from where we were too!

The scenery is gorgeous here!  Can you tell?

You listening?  I have to tell you, I have a couple more Thailand posts set up and posting over the next couple of days, but I will not be here for at least a week.  On June 10th we are flying to California.  Until then I doubt I will be on as I am going to be hiking on a volcano day and night, snorkeling and having fun with my family.  Can't wait to see the rest of the crew.  I will stay a bit with my sister in Kona then go to Volcano and stay with my aunt on the Hilo side.  This oughta be fun.  She says she has a 'little cottage on the side of a volcano'.  I know her idea of a 'little' cottage and lives in the sticks...  Here I come Hilton!  :-)

Be waiting... you know I will have pictures, right?  

Are you lovin' them?  Is there any reason to share?  Let me know someone is out there, ok?

Today...

Just what do you think we will be doing today? What about Diamond Head?  Yeppers, I think we will get up early to go explore Diamond Head.  Sounds awesome doesn't it?  My aunt, her friend, my hubby and I should set out to explore that and other parts of the island - if all goes well.  You got it, I am posting this ahead of time again, but have no fear - the picture below was taken two days ago...

While waking in the park, I got this picture of Diamond Head:

So today, I am planning to get a better shot of Diamond Head and see what else we can see on the island.  Steve strongly suggests Wakiki... I think it is out of the way.  We will go around the island the long way to miss it, thankyouverymuch!

In a couple of days, we will be outta here - truly away from internet.  You can miss me then, but for now, I will be here off and on... lol... 

Off to hike the island!

Pearl Harbor

Indeed we did get up early and make it in to Pearl Harbor - just as I said we would.  It was a very long and memorable day - in so many ways...

We got up early and raced to Pearl Harbor to get in on the tours - we had heard they sell out early.  Man, I am really glad we got there early - we were the first tour on the Memorial.  Why was that so special?  Take a look at the picture I got of the first officer arriving at the memorial and prior to us boarding for the tour:

Breathtaking isn't it?

While we were on it, I looked out at the USS Missouri battleship:

Today was tremendously sobering.  It took us 10 hours to tour the entire area.  10 sobering hours of what the nation went through during WWII.  You hear about it growing up, but you just cannot really wrap your mind around the horrors.  Today, it really sunk in for me.  I will never again look at pictures of this site and not have very deep emotions surrounding it.

Thanks to all the men and women who served during the wars, and thanks to those who come back to tell us more about WWII; to relive it - day in and day out - it was such a pleasure meeting you today.  I will never forget the impact today had on me.  You are treasures for coming in and sharing your lives and time with us...

  

Today you truly did make a difference in one person's life.  I never have taken for granted what the men and women of the US Armed Services give up for us, but today, it touched me to the very depths of my soul.  You and this memorial really put it in perspective.


Thank you.

Hawaii, Finally!

Yes, we did indeed make it to Hawaii!  WHOOT!  I am so excited!  And yes, I am sitting in the hotel in Honolulu - not in Singapore this time!

I have just a moment to post... I promise this will not be a regular occurence as I do not want to spend my time hanging out here by the computer.  But, I just had to show you:

We found Honolulu:

Walked around a park by the beach, and found the perfect tree:

Waited for the sun to set:

Walked back to the hotel looking back at the beach:

Went onto our balcony... the night view is breathtaking, don't you think?

We were supposed to have an ocean view, but at 8am, this is the one they had open so we took it, settled in, showered and went right to bed.  We were pooped and still are dog-gone-it!  Sucks to get old  :-(

The trade winds are wonderful!  It is in the mid 70's here and so very breezy and comfortable!  I could fall in love with it really easy!  I can't wait to explore some more, but we are really tired from the trip...

So now we rest.  Tomorrow, we are going to Pearl Harbor at 6am.  We have a dinner date tomorrow night with my auntie  :-)  I won't be posting, but I promise I will take pictures to post later.  

Hawaii takes my breath away!  I think it will be every thing I imagined!  Now off to see Paris pics on Stephenie's blog... it is linked from the left hand side of my blog... You should check it out  :-)

Hawaii!

We are in Hawaii now - I just know we made it ok... I scheduled a few posts to update you and this is one of them... I was still sitting in Singapore when I wrote this  :-)  

Today I think we are planning to go to Pearl Harbor!  So, off we go... sit tight and wait for the next post...