Greetings to all the avid readers of my blog (Who am I kidding!?)I know, I know; it's been a long while. I just think there hasn't been a reason to blog. (Who am I kidding again, u don't need a reason to blog!)
But enough of the rif-raf, I will get on to my post, which is about the Garden Island - Kauai.
Think opening scene of the helicopter entering Jurassic Park, that is the island of Kauai, with the picturesque Na Pali coast. Yes, the Na Pali coast somehow defines Kauai. It is probably the most beautiful coastline of mountains with lush greenery bordering the ocean. I'm gonna try real hard to put this in as few words as possible. So here goes,
Highlights of our trip -
- Best view - Kalalau Lookout: Walking up the stairs to the lookout we didn't know what to expect, but once we reached the top, it was breathtaking. On one side we could see the ocean with a view of the forbidden island of Ni'ihau (privately owned). On the other side was the canyon.
- Best touristy thing we did - Na Pali coast boat tour: This was supposed to be a a 'Romantic sunset-dinner' cruise.We went with Kauai Sea tours. They talked to us about the island, Na Pali coast, the ocean and the creatures of the ocean. On our way we saw whales and dolphins swimming right by our boat. The captain stopped and let us watch and take photos. We couldnt take pictures becauese our camera wasn't waterproof! :( It was a lovely cruise nevertheless.
- Best Lunch - Mermaids Cafe: Handsdown! This is a little hole-in-the-wall. They have a small kitchena nd there's 2 tables outdoor, but the queue to the cashier proved it was a restaurant worth trying out. We ate there on 2 occassions, had the noodles with tofu in spicy sauce one time and the rice with satay the second time.
- Best Dinner - Duke's: We had a a voucher to eat anywhere so we obviously chose the best. They had the best salad bar which had the potato salad, ceasar's salad, pasta salad, and other usuals along with the best bread and muffin! We had crab cakes for appetizers (too oily so I didn't eat more than a bite), for main course I though I'd try somehting different and since it was our last meal and I decided I had to have fish being on kauai. So I asked the waitress for something that didn't smell fishy and I had the roasted firecracker ahi (fish) with blackbean and avovacdo relish - Yummo!. It was spicy and went to well with the relish. o top it off, we had the famous 'Hula Pie' - Apparently this is what the sailors swam to shore for! It's basically a macademia nut ice cream, covered with hot chocolate fudge and topped with whipped cream. Hubby and I shared and we had quite a fight!
- Best drink - Cold Coconut water: in other words... elaneer.. the holy grail of drinks in the scorching heat!
- Best drive - Drive from Kapa'a to the North shore: I have not been on a more beautiful drive, it was like driving thru' the amazon jungle. On one particular stretch, there were humongous trees on either side of the road that were so tall they joined at the center of the road to make a tunnel. Then on another stretch was some waterfalls and they were - just there, by the side of the road.
- Best Pleasant-surprise - The San Marga Iraivan Temple: Yep you read that right.. The temple was built by an 'American' vadyar. When we visited there were about 10 shilpis from Tamil Nadu carving out the sister temple - Kadavul temple. It was the most serene, beautiful and peaceful temple we'd been to, with an elaborate 3 hour Shiva puja. The floors were of marble. The main idol is Nataraja, with Ganesha and Murugan on wither side. All around the walls of the temple were small bronze statues of Nataraja about 1-ft, in different dance poses!
- Best Beach - Anini Beach: Probably cause we were there in the early hours of the day and were almost the only ones. We strolled, played frisbee, wet our feet and just gazed at the horizon.
- Best sunset -Kalapaki Bay: We had dinner at JJ's Broiler which had huge bay windows with a a view of the Kalapaki Bay and the sunset... Gorgeous!
- Best nap-on-the-beach - Salt Pond Beach Park: It was out first day, we were still jet lagged. We took a 1 hour nap under the coconut trees in the hot sun.. Never felt more relaxed...
- Best Stupid-thing-to-do - Napping in Salt Pond beach at 1:00 pm. Turns out 18 months of Indiana weather groomed my skin to bear winter weather. I was burnt rotten! My skin burned for the next week and then peeled off.. You read that right! - peeled off.. I still have the tan to prove it..
And with that I end my list.
Well we got to relax and enjoy some sunshine, which was why we got away in the first place; and boy are we glad!
