Morning markets, babes by the beach, dinner at Dukes and Society of Seven

Mel and I got up bright and early this morning so we could hit the markets early. I wanted to be out of there by 10am, before it started to get too hot. It was a good plan, as there is not much cover out there. We arranged for a shuttle bus to pick us up at our hotel at some hideous hour, if I remember correctly it was about 6:45 am (I try to put bad experiences out of my mind as soon as they happen - think happy thoughts!) Well, I am on vacation in the tropics, where the most strenuous thing to do is decide which cocktail to have with dinner. Getting up this early is just not on.

Anyway, the market was full of stuff. Any kitschy little thing your heart desires, as long as it is loud, and/or has a Hawaiian theme. :) Let’s see, I bought a hooded sweat top with Hawaii written on the front, a handful of gorgeous bookmarks, no, really they are gorgeous.

I found a stall where a fantastic photographer sold his work. His photos are so beautiful, but I didn’t want to muck around buying posters, so bought a handful of bookmarks to hand out to my friends back in Hobart. I bought a few other things, and a bowl of fresh tropical fruit for breakfast, but don’t try to get a decent cup of coffee at the market, you will be bitterly disappointed, just as I was.

We called the shuttle bus to come and take us back to Waikiki at about 9:45, luckily he was already there, and we just had to run to catch him before he left, and back to the hotel with us it was. Mel was in the mood to shop some more, so when we got back to the hotel and unloaded our market buys, she headed off to the Ala Moana shopping centre for a session with her credit card.

As it was a stunning day, I wanted to head back to the beach to catch a few of the photos I missed the other day when it was cloudy.

I had a wonderful day. I met so many lovely people down by the beach. One person in particular, he was a local schoolteacher who was wearing a beautiful green t-shirt with the word ‘Believe’ written on the front. His t-shirt really caught my eye and I asked him what the significance of it was. He told me a lovely story about one of his students who had been diagnosed with cancer and all her classmates and teachers rallied around her and her family, and made up the shirts in her favourite colour to sell and help raise money to pay her high medical bills. I was touched by this story and I spent quite a while chatting with this lovely man.

I asked how the girl is now (it’s always a dicey question) I am happy to report, the young girl is doing very well.  

I stopped for lunch at Lulu’s Surf Club across the road from Waikiki Beach. Whatever you do, don’t order a Pina Colada here, it was watery and a waste. Live and learn. The lunch was delicious though and nearly made up for the second-rate cocktail.

While I was enjoying my lunch, there was a little bit of excitement happening just below the window where I was sitting. I’m not quite sure what happened, but some big strong firemen rode in on their yellow charger (fire truck) to rescue someone.

We finally managed to have dinner at Duke’s tonight.

We were not disappointed; we had a lovely meal and a couple of cocktails. I can’t remember what I ate here, but I do remember the cocktails. The first was the Kalapaki Rita, a concoction of juices of passion fruit and pineapple, gold tequila and triple sec. The second cocktail I tied was the Tropical Itch - I knew as soon as I saw the long back scratcher sticking up out of my glass that this would be a head spinner. With passion fruit juice, orange Curacao, vodka and rums, I was not wrong. Luckily for me, I only had to walk to the showroom of the outrigger Waikiki where Dukes’ is on the ground floor to sit and watch a cabaret show called the Society of Seven.

I was a little worried that it sounded like a brain washing group. I wasn’t far off, they kept telling us how good they were and to make sure we spread the word to everyone we meet and send them along to see the show.

It was a fun show, but I would not have gone to see it if Mel didn’t really want to go, and even now after having seen the show, I still would not go and see it. If you think you might like seven blokes singing and dancing, dressing up and imitating real famous people then maybe, this show is for you. However, I would have rather spent my evening and money on something better. As I mentioned however, it was fun and I did laugh throughout the show.

I hope you like the photos I took today; I sure had a good time collecting them.