Yi started her conference today so I explored the city by bus on my own. First stop is Manoa falls and only one bus ride away. The problem with public transit is its long freq. 60 min between buses. I was surprised at the number of tourists taking the same bus. The trail was pretty damp and slippery due to its popularity. The scenery is not great and the falls is the smallest I've seen here in Hawaii. Just a small ribbon and the area is so congested. People ignored the roped off signs and bathed/soaked in the tiny pool with kids. Making matter worse, there were about 40-50 military styled people there hiking/camping out, all shouting various slogans, taking group photos. Very unpleasant spot. I left as soon as I could.
I waited for over 30 mins for the return bus to show up. Some people waited much longer. On the way back, a young Japanese couple asked me in Japanese for direction. I figured out they had missed the final stop (where I got on the bus) due to the loop nature of the bus route. I suggested for them to get off and walked back up. It's faster than riding the bus all the way back and then up again. They took my advice and jumped off. However, I wondered if I gave the right advice... what if they got lost?
I transferred to another bus for Leahi (Diamond Head) and hiked up to the summit in the sun and heat. Totally different environment from the earlier hike. This trail is very popular with tourists and were very crowded. All kinds of groups (youth and elementary school) jammed the trail. The scenery is excellent giving a great view of Honolulu plus the south coast line.
For dinner, we tried out a pho shop which also served great oxtail soup. Compared to our first night dinner at the mall food court, we found meal is cheaper and better outside the mall. Overall, Honolulu (and Hawaii as a whole) is a very place to live. Paradise has its price, I guess.
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