Our dear California friend, Mike had a longer layover in Hawaii last month. He's a pilot with Continental Airlines. We were so happy that we'd be able to see him this time.
We went first to the Waikiki Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin for some pork tonkatsu. It's always been fabulous before, but I have to tell you it was so so this time. We were a little disappointed, but that was OK. We had fun catching up with each other's family doings.
We rarely go down into the city, much less Waikiki where Mike was staying so this was a good excuse to see the International Marketplace one last time before they closed it down for good on New Year's Eve. It opened in 1957 and was filled with a lot ofcheap less expensive knick knacks.
This will all be replaced with high end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue.
It felt sad and nostalgic to walk around the shops under the old banyan trees.
I was happy to be able to capture a flavor of the area one last time.
The banyan trees are tall and beautiful.
Mike, Art and I watched a Hawaiian music show for a while.
All the vendors were trying to sell off their merchandise. We didn't see a lot of prices listed so you couldn't be absolutely sure you were going to really get a good price.
In the end we didn't buy anything. We actually prefer buying Hawaiian touristy items at the Aloha Stadium at their swap meets on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Although Aloha Stadium is where we take friends who want to buy Hawaiian gifts to bring home, it's still sad to see the International Marketplace closing down. It feels like more of older Hawaii giving way to high end, modern, mainland type, rich people stores.
I wonder if they'll keep the trees.
We went first to the Waikiki Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin for some pork tonkatsu. It's always been fabulous before, but I have to tell you it was so so this time. We were a little disappointed, but that was OK. We had fun catching up with each other's family doings.
We rarely go down into the city, much less Waikiki where Mike was staying so this was a good excuse to see the International Marketplace one last time before they closed it down for good on New Year's Eve. It opened in 1957 and was filled with a lot of
This will all be replaced with high end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue.
It felt sad and nostalgic to walk around the shops under the old banyan trees.
I was happy to be able to capture a flavor of the area one last time.
The banyan trees are tall and beautiful.
Mike, Art and I watched a Hawaiian music show for a while.
All the vendors were trying to sell off their merchandise. We didn't see a lot of prices listed so you couldn't be absolutely sure you were going to really get a good price.
In the end we didn't buy anything. We actually prefer buying Hawaiian touristy items at the Aloha Stadium at their swap meets on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Although Aloha Stadium is where we take friends who want to buy Hawaiian gifts to bring home, it's still sad to see the International Marketplace closing down. It feels like more of older Hawaii giving way to high end, modern, mainland type, rich people stores.
I wonder if they'll keep the trees.
