WAIKIKI: ZOO, KING KAM PARADE,MOMOSAN and GOMA TEI

Yesterday morning the 15 Craigside Photo Club had an outing to the Honolulu Zoo:

There are six turtles in that above photo.  Nothing moved below, including the boulders.

Lot of people, adults, too, wearing the appropriate headwear:

A strange bird:

Free food:

You don't see this sugar cane variety anymore, but if you find one and are allowed to harvest, do, for it is the sweetest  specie grown:

I bought a Honolulu Zoo t-shirt:

Turned out this was a smart buy, for when I later unpacked, I found I had forgotten to include any shirts.

In many ways the Zoo reminded me of 15 Craigside.  Like the occupants there, we get regular meals, have high security and can sit around and do nothing all day and night.  The van came, took the residents home, and left me for my Waikiki weekend.  On the way to my hotel, I noticed the King Kamehameha Day Parade had just begun:

This is a two-parade weekend for Waikiki, very unusual.  The King Kam parade is not a trivial walk, for it is almost six miles from Iolani Palace to Kapiolani Park.  I felt sorry for the bands, as they had to hike all that distance, while playing instruments.  I also couldn't help but have compassion for some of the horses, as they had to carry large humans at least twice the size of Roy Rogers.  That's why, I guess, they had spare horses following.

I noticed Momosan was open, so I got the best table in the house to watch the parade:

I had a pork belly bao (scroll down to my previous posting to find out what this is) with Japanese-poke over rice, hot sake and icee Kirin:

Two blocks away was the Princess Kaiulani Hotel:

The princess as a young girl:

I'm in Waikiki for the Pan-Pacific Festival:

I asked for a room with a view of the Sunday parade, and was so accommodated with a corner room:

Those are surfers.

Goma Tei Ramen in the International Market Place for dinner:

Truffles ramen and truffles gyoza, with beer.  A truly fabulous meal.

Back at the PK, as they don't have an executive club here, I was treated to a Blue Hawaii:

Night view of Waikiki Beach and our pool:

At dawn:

Sunrise:

The room came with a free breakfast, a value of $35.  Amazingly adequate for this hotel:

Too much food, and I'll probably repeat it tomorrow.  On to Waikiki Beach for my usual stroll

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