Suhana Safar Part II

Interesting fact about Hawaii is that 2/3rds of Kauai used to be Sugarcane plantations and lots of coffee plantations, tea is not new to this place either. Alas, the old fashioned Kauaiians lost against the new hi-tech machinery and ample labor available in countries like China in producing sugar. So of all the plantations that had once flourished, whats left is just two plantations in the whole of Hawaii. The next day was fun.. Kauai is full of surprises especially in weather, the island has 10 degrees of variation from one part to another..the North shore is the prettiest, but most often the wettest, where as the south is as dry and sunny as it can get, the reason being the huge mountains that block out the clouds up in the north, the is the wettest spot on earth is situated right here, its called the Mt. Waialeale, the only other spot that manages to reach its average sometimes is Chirapunji in India.

Far beyond, the one mountain in the clouds is the wettest spot on earth.

So hoping that the weather stays clear, I set out to explore the island .. in ishtyle.. by air.. One of the most popular things to do in Kauai..and perhaps the one that is really worth all the money spent on it! The island is small, but has too many ridges and cliffs that commuting by road can show perhaps just half the island, for a grand view of things air is the best. And so I embarked upon the journey, least did I know that it would be such a breathtaking experience.

North East Shoreline.

Headed south to north through west and back to the east side where we had flown from. I was speechless, I thought the west side was amazing with a smaller version of the Grand Canyon called by Mark Twain as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" but the visuals that awaited me at the Na'pali Coastline were simply marvelous, at that time my mind was numb with excitement, but later I realized that these were places that were pristine because they were devoid of any human activity the pure air, the clear water, the clean beach, that's how I've always wanted beaches to be. Its not bad that the beaches have people, but its the fact that they eventually lose respect for nature that irks me, but well thats me, not many believe the same.

I was given a traditional kukui nut shell lei, these nuts take three years to grow and once they are harvested the shells are used for decoration and the nut is a delicacy. I was sad that the ride had come to an end but I was taking back not just the photographs but memoirs of perhaps the prettiest of the beaches and the pristine of the valleys.


Night life is not much in this island, but what I found interesting was there is a traditional ceremony of story telling by the natives, the whole thing started with them roasting their traditional dish (pork) in an Imu or their underground oven. They call upon the gods to bless the food and then after a scrumptious dinner put up a show, with their hula girls and surprisingly hula boys too, this is called the Luau. I went only for the show as I has dinner in another interesting place called "Blossoming Lotus" where they had dishes from all over the world, like Mahatma Moong dal, I thought that was hilarious than offending to the Gandhians, but I'm not really too fond of him so I cared lesser, went in for the Greek Aphrodite salad too, which was really good, but the best was the Mediterranean one and the bread made of lotus shoots. These dishes were a rarity and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

The show itself was great, but my only complaint was the native dancers were a bit on the fatter side.. (well that's really an understatement but I am trying to be nice for a change) well the stories were interesting though.. about the Goddess of Volcano who cursed and killed he God of Love 'coz he liked a mortal girl than her and how the other Gods felt pity on the li'l girl and got the God of Love back, but for the sake of her tears, and to make the memory of her love permanent a flowering plant grew in the valley where she'd sit and mourn, and its believed even till today that whenever someone plucks the flower off that plant, rain comes pouring down like crazy, and since it is after all the wettest spot on earth, one can't really disprove that theory! We had some exotic Tahitian dances too and thankfully these girls were thin and good looking! :) The show ended with some fire eating and dancing with firesticks kinda stuff which really looked amazing on that moonless dark night!


Well Good food and good endings always fill my heart. I retired to bed, the next day was my last day there, and I was gonna go on a long winding trip to the famed canyon and kayak and hike up the sacred Wailua river to the waterfalls where Jurassic Park was shot... Long day ahead and my eyes were drooping with sleep, wanting to preserve all they saw through the day....