Hawaii trip

Yeah…我們回來囉！

Hawaii 好玩嗎？山明水秀、遊山玩水，當然好玩啦… Hawaii 浪漫嗎？有人特地選擇在此结婚、拍照，當然浪漫啦…

Hawaii 由幾個小島组成，被美国佔領后成為第50州。它還有一些土族，不過已有很多其它美国州人及其它亞洲人到那里生活，所以已有很多混血人。

經 Steve 的朋友介绍去 Maui（Hawaii 的其中一個島），我們八晚都住在 Maui 的 Kaanapali Beach Hotel。沙灘很美，又可在细沙上漫步、在海灣游泳看魚及珊瑚、看日落… 你看過月落嗎？有一晚，傍晚六点左右太陽還没下山，眉月已出現，八点左右我們看着它慢慢從日落的方向落下不見了，是不是月落呢？月光不見時，滿天星星开始燦爛閃爍…

我們参加四個旅遊配套﹕

1. 两小時乘小型飛機，空中觀看 Maui 的風景及“Big Island”（Hawaii 最大的島）的 活火山。摇摇晃晃的飛行令 Steve 差点須要吐袋…

2. 六小時乘船，如眉月的死火山 Molokini

浮潛看珊瑚、魚… 及到 Turtle Town 浮潛，不僅有魚、珊瑚，還有一些很大隻的海龜和我們一起游泳…

3. 十一小時乘旅行巴士，到Hana Town，觀看 Maui 的海岸、雨林、瀑布、黑沙灘、吃蛇鼠的 mongoose，Kipahulu 的 Ohe’o 池。可能是美丽的風景令人陶醉，600個弯弯曲曲的30哩山路却没令人暈睡…

4. 八小時乘旅行巴士，上到10,023呎的 Haleakala 火山頂峯，稀有的花草，如銀葉開花的Silversword。看到稀有的鳥類 nene（Hawaiian鵝）。及到 Iao Valley的 Needle 石…

我們選擇有包括租汽車的旅店房配套，所以我們自行駕車去 水族館，購物市场及Lahaina、 Kihei、Wailea、Makena 的海岸。不一样的沙灘有不一样的水上活動…

最后一天早上，我們又到旅店的海灣游泳，我習泳所以游到较深的地方，我很喜歡看魚及珊瑚…突然一件大物體游近我只幾吋的距离，我驚吓不知是何物，等牠游开一点之后，在水中從泳鏡看到牠…原來是海龜。前天到此游泳時都没見這里有海龜。牠到水面抬起頭看了我一會，又游向深處不見踪影了。Steve 說牠是來向我們说再見的。

再見了，Hawaii！多么豐富的婚后的第一次生日禮物！感謝我的丈夫！

謝謝媽和 Terri 寄给我生日賀卡，及Gong，TaiLing，CA，CY，MX，Wilson的賀语，以及其他人的無聲無語祝賀！

Yeah…we are back home!

Was the Hawaii trip wonderful? Sure it was wonderful, with a lot of picturesque scenery and enjoyed the beauties of nature… Is Hawaii romantic? Sure it is. It’s the place selected by some couples to get married or taking photograph…

Hawaii became the 50^th state after it was conquered by the US. Hawaii has a few islands with only a few native Polynesians left. Nowadays most people are from other states in the US and also other Asians living there, so there are many people of mixed races.

Since Steve’s friends recommended we go to Maui (one of the islands in Hawaii), we stayed eight nights at Ka’anapali Beach Hotel in Maui. The beach is beautiful; we strolled and swam at a small bay with fishes and coral, and watched the sunsets… Have you ever seen a moonset? One night at around 6pm, the crescent moon was in the sky before the sunset. We were watching the crescent moon slowly going down until it was gone in the direction of sunset. Is it moonset? In the sky without moonlight all of the stars are twinkling beautifully…

We joined four tour packages:

1. Two hours by small aircraft to see the scenery of Maui and an active volcano on the “Big Island” (the biggest island in Hawaii) from the air. The tumultuous flight almost made Steve airsick – he had the airsick bag ready in his hand…

2. Six hours by boat to snorkel and see coral and fishes at Molokini, an eroded tuff cone shaped like a crescent, and to Turtle Town. Turtle Town not only has fishes and coral, but also has a few huge sea turtles swimming together with us…

3. Eleven hours by van to the town of Hana to see the coast of Maui, the rainforest, waterfalls, black sand beach, mongooses (which eat snakes and rats), and the Ohe’o pools in Kipahulu. Perhaps the scenery was too beautiful – no one fell asleep or had motion sickness even though the road has 600 curves in 30 miles…

4. Eight hours by van to see the rare native plant Silversword, a plant with silver leaves and flowering at 10,023 feet on the Haleakala volcano summit. We also saw a rare bird, the nene (Hawaiian goose). Then on to the Iao Valley to see the Iao Needle…

Our hotel room package included car rental, so we could drive to the aquarium, shopping malls and the coastal towns of Lahaina, Kihei, Wailea and Makena. We saw different water activities at the different beaches…

The last morning, we were swimming behind the hotel in the bay again. I could swim at the deep area and I like to see fishes and coral…suddenly, a large guy swam beside me, just a couple of inches away. I was surprised and didn’t know what it was. After it swam a little farther away from me I saw it thru my goggles in the water…it was a sea turtle. I didn’t see any sea turtles when I swam there two days earlier. Its head came to the surface and it looked at me a little while; then it swam back to the deeper area and disappeared. Steve thought it came to say goodbye to us.

Goodbye, Hawaii! Such abundant presents for my first birthday since being married! I am so appreciative to my husband!

Thanks to mom and Terri who sent me birthday cards, and the birthday wishes by Gong, TaiLing, CA, CY, MX and Wilson! Thanks for those silent wishes by anyone!

19.10.07