Paradise Cove Luau (West - Leeward)after our arrival we unpacked and mucked around in our resort condo - outrigger luana waikiki! the place was so nice! the kitchen wasn't really a kitchen as it wasn't very equipped, but other than that the gym was nice and the condo itself was in the middle of everything, located a few mins walk to waikiki beach!! the best thing in the condo was the massive plasma that had awesome cable channels! i love american tv! oh and instead of paying 219.00 USD a night, we paid 1/3 that :P - SCORE!!
paradise cove luau. arrived on the leeward side of the island, with a nice beach setting, surrounded with tiki torches. we were greeted with mai tais, hawaiin music and lots of hot hawaiin guys and girls! we then strolled through the hawaiian village to learn some arty activities and also tested our skills at some traditional hawaiian games - the stroll was meant to be a casual one, but we couldn't hold the excitement and started running around the island to hop between one activity to another while sipping our maitais. mmmm those maitais were SO good. we kept going back to the bar for more rounds, even though we were bright red already! kath, addy and i (why is it always us three) got dragged out to do the hula dance - so damn embarrasing. we couldn't do the dance properly of course, i was laughing hard while trying to copy the coconut bra + grass skirt-wearing hawaiin chick - she was so good! after the ceremonies and performances, a traditional hawaiin buffet dinner was served, and whilst eating, their award winning dancers performed in the "paradise cove extravaganza". and wow i LOVED the performance. it was the highlight of the night and looking back, it is still one of the major highlights of our entire trip! the dancers were excellent and the guys omg - drool! for anyone going to hawaii soon - paradise cove luau is a must!!! i would go back to luau's again and again. so well worth the money!! (the super hot guys/girls alone will make it worthwhile, trust me :P)
the sunset backdrop ...
say cheeeeez
hot guy + minh
must've been the first mai tai i'm holding - not red yet
you can see minh in the bg concentrating hard on perfecting her orchid headband .. 
hahaha. yes. us hula "dancing". rofl.
the awesome performance!
addy and i could not leave w/out taking a photo with the boys & girls. we screamed when we saw them off stage then made the rest of the girls get back from the exit before asking for that photo opportunity. woooooooo. *sets wallpaper*.Waikiki Beach, Cheesecake Factory, International Market Place (South)no wonder the string of beaches are so famous! waikiki is one
very pretty beach. the beach is surrounded by many skinny palm trees and the water is bright aqua blue. i fell in love with it the minute i saw it. the atmosphere, the weather, the water and the people made it all so enjoyable. the beach itself is very nice. we all thought those pictures on the net were photoshopped until we saw the beach in person! it actually
is that
beautiful! i thought that the beach would be packed with people, but it actually wasn't bad at all! damn i wish sydney beaches could look like this. the incredibly clear & calm water was perfect for us girls. of course, for those surfers out there, the north side of the island would be more suited. waikiki was so relaxing, once in the water we felt that the trip was worth that plane ticket already!
after sunbathing and swimming @ waikiki, we explored the area and came across the cheesecake factory! with NO lines! so minh and i ran in both agree'ing that we'd eat there right there and then! oh those cheesecakes! those salads! those meals! we loved it so much we went back to it while we were @ beverly hills, la. this was by far my favourite restaurant in the states! psst the godiva and oreo cheesecakes are to die for! *drools*
strolling through the park to the beach. loved the convenience!
omg soo niceeee.
poo & kath walking to the pretty beach area.
adeline and her cheesecakes!!
tourist shot @ the cheesecake factory :) 
godiva godiva godiva godiva godiva godivaaaa cheesecake!!Diamond Head Crater (East - Windward)the famous hike. it was strenuous and tiring on a hot summer day in windward hawaii! we caught a bus from waikiki and got to the bottom of the crater. not knowing what to expect, our thoughts were unanimous:
this BETTER be good. there were alot of japanese tourists and interstate americans in their sports gear from head to toe. which kinda freaked me out a little, as we certainly did not look as prepared as they did! and as we slowly hiked up diamond head, we were envious of those coming down. we enjoyed the views as we got higher and higher up the mountain. but did stop off at a few lookout points and probably rested about 5mins each time. how unfit are we? haha. the hiking reminded me of our bushwalking trips. (except we couldn't get lost here :P). and the final set of stairs were painful. they were steep, dangerous and
packed with tourists! i was holding onto the railing for dear life. and after those painful stairs came the creepy tunnel we had to walk through. we didn't take ppl's advice to bring torch lights, so we blindly walked through it. and before we knew it, we survived the hike and made it to the top!! woo. and was it worth the hike? HELL YEAH!!@#! it was worth every sweat and aching muscle! THOSE VIEWS OF WAIKIKI WERE GORGEOUS! i was in love with the island! we could see the surrounding bay areas of the south and east areas. the mountains and ocean views were so breathtaking. i will let the pictures do the talking :) they all look like postcard shots!
so damn right about the hot sun, winding trails, steep stairs and dark tunnel!
the happy girls before the hike
haha. you can just see how forced those smiles were. us taking another "break".
while walking up those set of evil stairs ...
top of the crater. awww waikiki! lovely!!
the gorgeoussss 2 mile beach. such a beeeaaautiful island!
we maaade it we maaaade it. minh and happy me.
kath and random .. "after climbing 271 steps, long winding trails, steep spiral cases to reach to the top of Diamond Head crater, i made it!" - wootness - go kathh go kathh.Snorkelling @ Hanuama Bay, Dole Plantation, Haliewa Town & North Shore (North) o.m.g. hanuama bay is one gorgeous beach. perfect for snorkelling with its clear water and the beach itself is so beautiful. i was in love with this place, i dont think i can describe it in words. snorkelling aside, the sunbaking itself was so relaxing. the entire setting, secluded location, weather, along with my favourite palm trees made it perfect. no wonder its been voted the best beach year after year. the snokelling was so much fun as well! saw so many different types of fish, got a little scared at the start because there were some fairly huge ones. didn't need to swim too far from the shore to spot the fish - which was good! we had to hold the little one's hand while snokelling so she could get used to breathing through her mouth, i dont think the floatie did much, but after some flirting we got it for free. muwah. hanuama bay ROCKS. oh i love hawaii. i will be back soon. real soon.
sunrise @ hanuama bay. i love.
us in our fancy snorkelling gear. go the floatie! so cute.
perfect postcard shot.
pretty beach matched with pretty girls :P no coughing please. haha.
awwwwwwwwww.
happy me & addy.
minh and kath looking photoshopped!
goodbye hanuama bay! *sob*
sunset maitai's at our favourite bar - duke's, right on waikiki beach!Ala Moana Shopping Centre & Chinatown (Downtown)oh i wish pitt st. mall could look like this! set in the downtown honolulu area, this is the largest shopping centre on the island. palm tree surroundings with all main american brands to be found here together with all the upscale shops. it holds a few major department stores as well as the most important two stores namely, sephora & abercrombie + fitch. it made kathleen's day when she saw the two shops. literally squeeled in our ears. so excited she had to have her photo taken in front of the massive sephora (see below for evidence)! make up galore!! i feel so ripped off in Sydney, mecca cosmetics are SO overpriced compared to the states. damn i should've gotten more for ebay purposes - i'd so earn a fortune! and with abercrombie. prices are around the $100AUS mark per piece of cardi. but they're nice ones. the cashmere ones ohhh so soft and pretty. around US$160 each. abercrombie is a nice adventure on its own. u are bound to find the hottest eurasian guys and girls in there. going in for a round of perve makes our day. hehe.
chinatown. ok apart from the fact that i discovered some hot asian guys driving around in their honda AND those addictive plums we had to go back for. .... well chinatown sucked!! hahaha it was so scary walking through it! it was dead as well! we were running through the "main" street like there was no tomorrow. until we felt safe in a pho restaurant. rofl. first week and we craved asian already. it was the first time we had food at an asian place where they'd expected the 15%-18% tips. damn i hate tipping in the states. more on that later.
- suzie
blurry picture of us @ the shopping centre
tony romas express - its the food court version!
sephora = make up heaven. kath looking v. happy.
us @ neiman marcus Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona Memorial & Aloha Stadium Swap Meetthat day was an early morning for us. we wanted to beat the tourist crowd and get there in time just before the memorial opens. after surviving poorani's excellent driving (minus the on-coming vehicle incident), we arrived in one piece for some lining up. we were shown a movie before being sailed out to the memorial, and were shown some real footage of the actual bombing as well as stories told by witnesses. it was informative and moving at the same time. and as we departed for the wreck of the uss arizona battleship (now the memorial), i felt chills going down my back - i was standing right where the batteship was sunken - and a few remaining gun towers/chimneys could be seen at water level, together with oil droplets surrounding it. pics below:
uss arizona memorial
the remaining chimney from the battleship ..
