In all honesty, Hawai'i is not of the destinations that I would have listed in bucket list but I was there anyway.
Waikiki
I have always known Hawai'i to be one of the favourite destinations of the Japanese but the numbers exceeded my expectation. It is probably an understatement to say that Waikiki has been invaded by Hello Kitties and Japanese tourists and strangely, I felt very much at home. Hello Kitty sourvernirs are easily found in shops. The signages on buses, advertisements, menus, stationery in the hotels can be found in the Japanese language. I wonder what the Japanese like about Waikiki. The technicolour on the light blue sky? The splash of gold on the horizon? The fireworks that erupt in the blanket of darkness?
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| Sunrise at Diamond Head |
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| Sunset view from room |
Video: Fireworks courtesy of Hilton Group every Friday at 8pm
I am such a sucker for fireworks. If only...
The paddle? The fish in the clear water?
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| Los 3 amigos From L: Jessie, Corey, Andrew |
Mayday
I was evacuated at 1 am one morning. The good news were:
- it was not snowing outside!
- I knew my evacuation route
- the fire escape was brightly lit and the fire exits were not blocked
- it was good to stay in a place where guests were mostly Japanese who evacuated the building in a calm and orderly manner
- I evaluated and realised what I should have brought along in a real emergency next time (I only took my passport, phone and key. I know technically I should not be carrying anything but next time, I would be bringing the torch and the personal alarm too.)
Video: evacuation
The bad news was:
- I had to climb 28 flights of steps back to my room (For once, I was so glad I was not staying at the penthouse on the 38th floor)
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| Sitting in the dark while the firemen check what happened |
Many of the guests dispersed into the lobbies of hotels across the road to wait. I went to sit on the grass from across the hotel. Gradually, many guests congregated at the hotel lobby to find out if it was safe to return. We were given bottled water and were told to take the stairs to go back to our room some 45 minutes later.
The next day, a letter was left in our room to inform us that the evacuation was due to a broken water valve which resulted in hot water leaking into all lift shafts. I wonder how our hotels would have reacted under such circumstances - Do we circumvent our alarm system and check the cause before reactivating the alarm to evacuate the guests or do we let the evacuation process take place before proceeding to check the cause? Would we have bottled water on the ground floor? Do we use a loud hailer to notify guests where to gather and update them on the situation? Would a staff remain with the guests at the gathering point? On the following day, would we provide something complimentary to guests as an apology - a bottle of wine? breakfast? transfer to the airport? Something to check when I get back.
Pearl Harbour
Pearl Harbour was named after the pearl oysters that were once harvested in the area. It was the onset of World War II and the only naval base in the United States to be designated a National Historical Landmark. The Japanese wanted to establish an empire in Asia and believed that the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was their only threat. They ambushed the Americans in an aerial attack in December 1941 and took out its battleship fleet. (The Americans were not prepared for many reasons - the US War Department had advised that the Japanese were weak and unlikely to attack as they were thought not to have seaborne aircrafts and they had over-extended their military presence elsewhere; there was a breakdown in communication between Washington and Pearl Harbour resulting in an intercepted Japanese threat being delivered to the commander in Pearl Harbour only after it was attacked; the attacking planes were sighted but were thought to be returning American planes.) (Sources: www.gohawaii.com and http://www.pearlharboroahu.com) 2 months later, on February 15, 1942, Singapore fell to Japan for 3 years and 8 months.  |
| Remembrance Circle |
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| U.S.S Bowfin Source: www.gohawaii.com |
Pearl Harbour historical site unfolds how the infamous World War II took place and how the battles were fought. U.S.S. Bowfin, for example, was one of the 288 U.S. submarines that carried out the war in the Pacific during World War II. It has since been decommissioned and turned into a submarine museum to give an insight of battle under the seas.
One of the most painful places to visit in Pearl Harbour was perhaps the USS Arizona Memorial, built across the wreckage of U.S.S. Arizona. In the first wave of attack, Japanese torpedo planes dropped bombs on the battleship which was sunk in 9 minutes, killing 1,177 men on board. From the memorial, one could see some of the remains of the battleship in the water, the final resting place of those killed.
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| A model depicting how the memorial is built across the body of the battleship |
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| USS Arizona Memorial |
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| Lest we forget |
Dear Lord
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me to remember
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?
~ Poem Eleanor Roosevelt kept in her wallet during WWII
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