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Visiting the Hiking Hawaii Cafe in uptown Honolulu
Situated right in-between the Ala Moana Shopping Center and the famous Waikiki district, the Hiking Hawaii Cafe is located on the first floor of the Hilton DoubleTree Inn, and I found it by accident. Actually, Yelp popped a message up on my phone: Check Out these Hot&New restaurants in your area! (Yelp is not sponsoring this, lol). Usually, this message is garbage for me, as Yelp loves to suggest steakhouses and Seafood restaurants despite my profile clearly indicating that I don’t eat meat. Where’s that eyeroll emoji when I need it? This time, though, it was exactly that thing I’d been looking for my entire time in Hawaii! The reviews said…
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Nice photos from a restaurant I didn’t really enjoy.
It can’t all be roses, I guess! But when you’re paying $20 and up per plate, you’d think that there would be a nice selection of things to order. But skip the Surf Lanai if you want a decent selection. As a vegan, anyways. Or anyone with vegan friends. One thing I will give the Royal Hawaiian’s beachfront restaurants are that they’re pretty. The RH is probably the prettiest hotel in Waikiki, unless you think that the classic architecture of the Moana Surfrider is nicer. It’s a tossup, really! But, I mean look at this. The menu, though, was so laughable that I didn’t even take a photo of it. There were…
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Afternoon Tea at the Halekulani
Endless blue skies and gorgeous summer weather. That’s what I think of when Afternoon Tea comes to mind, and Halekulani’s Orchid restaurant, set right up against Honolulu’s world-famous Waikiki Beach, didn’t disappoint. In a way, it was perfect. Here’s me sitting at the table, surrounded by clean, warm air and the quiet chatter of other tourists. Getting There Waikiki is conveniently located right in Honolulu, along the oceanfront (duh!). Most of Oahu’s major hotels are in Waikiki, so the Halekulani is just a short walk away! If you’re coming from somewhere else, the best way to get there is to drive East along Kalakaua Ave and turn right on Lewers…
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What I miss about living in Japan
All caught up on emails.. I think! And comment replies. If I missed you, poke me again! What’s the thing you [will] miss most about Japan when you leave (either on vacation, or move away)? What do I miss about Japan? This has been on my mind a lot, to be honest. As most of you know (but not everyone. It’s buried back there in blog entries from a month or more ago), I finally left Japan. I thought that I’d never leave Japan. Ever. Well, I mean, when I first came to Japan, I thought that I’d only stay the one year that I’d agreed to, and then I’d…
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Tokyo’s annual Furusato Matsuri
Ahaha, so, what thing of awesome did I do BACK IN DECEMBER? (The London posts needed to be finished first, and as you saw, there were so many!!) I went to the annual Furusato Matsuri, which was held in Tokyo Dome! Furusato Matsuri basically means, “home town festival,” and it is exactly what it sounds like: a big old japanese festival featuring different regional specialties, from food to crafts to performances. It’s indoors, which takes some of the fun out, but I mean… it’s december in Tokyo and it happened to be pouring snow when I went. So there you go.. appropriate for the Hokkaido snow festival, maybe. It was…
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Tamagawa fireworks festival! (*^-^*)
Every year (except last year– you know, Earthquake and all), Yokohama city throws a huge fireworks display on the Tama river. I didn’t realize that it was going on yesterday until around 5 (it startsat 7), and so I threw on a dress, grabbed my camera and tripod, and flew out the door to join my friends! I made it just in time. 🙂 This is my first time taking pictures of fireworks with a DSLR, and even though I used a tripod, I don’t think that I got professional-level pictures. I definitely, definitely have a long way to go! It was a blast experimenting, though! Want to see some…
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Hamburger pancakes :)
Yesterday afternoon, I met with a friend up in my old neighborhood- Kichijoji. Kichijoji is such a quaint, artistic neighborhood. In some ways, it’s really bright and vibrant, and in others, it’s a big dull. But it’s definitely one of my favorite places that I’ve lived. I guess you could say that it’s another suburb of Tokyo, but much closer to the city center than I am. ^^ We ended up going to eat at a little cafe that I absolutely adore, called, get this: Pancake Days!! Here is their website, it is adorable, too: http://www.pancakedays.jp/ How adorable is that??!! I Love it!! (*^-^*) I snapped a few pictures of…
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Okinawa a-go-go 5
The sun dawned bright and early on our last sweltering day in Okinawa! I was exhausted, but in no way did I want to leave! How could anyone want to leave somewhere so warm, and so beautiful?! On the roster for the last day was a bit of sightseeing, a bit of culture, and a cave! (368 geeks have read this)
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Okinawa a-go-go 4
Next, we went out to hit up the Aquarium. The Naha Aquarium is supposed to be one of the largest, most awesome aquariums in Japan! It had giant turtles and jellyfish, so it was definitely awesome. Any place that has jellyfish is awesome in my eyes. I loooooove jellyish! To look at. Not to eat. They don’t taste all that delicious. So, yes, jellyfishiiiiiiies!! 😀 (316 geeks have read this)
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Okinawa a-go-go 3
PINEAPPLE PARK!! Seriously, how cool is that? I love pineapples!!!! Who doesn’t love pineapples??!! (446 geeks have read this)