Just a Little Bit of Culture

Thanks to a little thing called jet lag my morning started at 5am! I couldn't tell you the last time I woke up that early on my own... no, I take that back, I can tell you, NEVER! Well, they do say there is a first time for everything. I was awake and couldn't go back to sleep. So I was able to relax and take my time. I had to wait for the sun to come up anyway. When it finally did, this was my view...



How incredible! We are staying on the wrong part of the island to see the sunrise from the beach we are at but we can see the sunset from here. I definitely plan on catching a couple of those this week. After we were all ready for the day we headed out for a little bit of exploration.

We made a couple stops. First we stopped by a beach and went out on the sand.. I went a litte bit out in the water until I ended up with wet clothing. We were laughing because I am taking after my grandma who said she was just going to get her feet wet and ended up in the water up to her waist. I didn't go that far though. Just the bottom of my dress got wet. But it was very pretty and I can't wait to get out in the water without worrying about betting my clothes soaked.



We continued on. Next we stopped at La'ie Point. As with everything else here in the islands, it was beautiful.


Before our next stop, we decided to stop and have a little snack. This was my view from my seat...

I have to laugh a little bit about this one because this is where we stopped.

Next stop... Polynesian Cultural Center. I have wanted to go here for a long time. The last time I was here in Hawaii, the only time I was here on Oahu during the day, was on a Sunday and the Polynesian Cultural Center is closed on Sundays. So I had to wait another 3 1/2 years before I could come back. It is a really neat place. There are villages representing 6 different Polynesian cultures. Each village has a demonstration where they talk about some different aspects of their respective cultures. They also have a canoe pageant in their lagoon there and each culture has a canoe "float" where they are doing some of their dances etc. I really enjoyed it. There is:

Samoa:




Aotearoa (New Zealand):

Fiji:







Hawaii:





Tahiti:






Tonga:






We didn't catch the show in the Tongan village because of time. But we hope to go back for a little bit in the next couple days and catch that last show. With your admission, you get a 2nd day free within the 3 days after. That is really helpful because it would be really hard to do every single thing there in one day. We did walk around the shops there for a little bit before heading out and I got my requesite nativity. I have started trying to find a nativity from the different places I go to add to my collection.

The rest of the day/evening was uneventful and I am now ready to go to bed so I can start again tomorrow.