The Journey Ends Here

And so my journey of being an exchange student ends here. Yes, that's me living up to my surname, being tan. I'm stucked in the Narita International Airport in Tokyo right now. Just bought 4 boxes of matcha flavoured sweet stuff, mmhm.

These 4 months spent in Hawaii has allowed me to try some new stuff and pushed myself beyond my limits. I think everyone does deserve a time out from the hectic life in HKUST and that's why I am awfully jealous of those taking two semesters off. Well, starting next semester I'll be in my last year of university life and I just can't wait to see what I can achieve afterwards.

Will be spending most of the summer in Hong Kong and New York, not going to miss too much of Malaysia since I can't wander around easily in the country anyway. One thing I distress the most since I started living away from home. But, the amount of good food I get to savour on every time I'm back for a short while in my homeland kinda makes it worthwhile.

20 minutes till the boarding calls, can't wait to be back with my girl friends and spoil ourselves with good food around the island. This blog is finally back to its original, food, fashion and fotography.

Cliff Jumping at Waimea Bay

Just a little something I did while I was in North Shore last Friday. Took two days off before the finals to actually tour around O'ahu.

Look mom! I wasn't the only one jumping okay. I have to admit I took quite some time to prepare myself to jump off the cliff. Honestly there wasn't much to worry about because the sea water was so clear and you could actually see the sand underneath. Just had a little problem dealing with my wobbly legs. HAHA!

When I hit the water, it felt like my ass got spanked real hard. Nonetheless, the experience of cliff jumping was just epic!

Really short post to brag about it, *pats back* Off for my first finals, wish me luck!

Foooooooooood in Big Island

A super long overdue post since I haven't been updating much either. Spring break, intense scheduling for the trip and actual traveling actually made me felt like being a proper exchange. Before that, I almost lived like a regular student here, occasionally library cramming session, which is kinda lame I thought since my grades won't be transferred back anyways.

Anyway here goes, my first day in Big Island. It was an all girls trip but that does not mean that this is a shopping trip, just read on. This will be a blog post purely on the food I had in Big Island.

Kicked start the cold, rainy morning in Big Island at Ken's House of Pancakes. The place was only a 3-minute drive away from the airport, perfect distance since all of us were pretty famished at that time. Don't be fooled by the name of the diner, they have a loads of other stuff for you to pick from other than pancakes! Nothing much to rave about but dining at a place where the locals frequent will never go wrong.

Lunch was at Tex Drive In, had Loco Moco and Malasadas. Loco Moco is a local dish here in Hawaii, basically it's made up of rice, either brown or white of your choice, then you have a burger patty with the brown sauce and an egg, also cook they way you like it. As for the plain sugar-coated bun, it's called malasadas. Taste like doughnut but in a bun form, HEH! But just to mention, Tex Drive In has the best Malasadas I've ever had!

We got a visitor while we were having our lunch after snorkeling at Da Poke Shack. Poke bowl is one of my favorite local dished here too, it's basically raw fish salad and I always go for the Spicy Ahi (yellowfin tuna). So in my plate you'll see brown rice top with Furikake, spicy Ahi and potato salad. Major yums, but still can't beat my favorite poke place back in O'ahu.

Third day's lunch at Cafe 100. This is a place where I will go gaga over it, best Loco Moco ever! I used to think that there isn't any difference between the Loco Moco from different places until I had this! The sauce and meat patty, does make a difference. Paired with a large coke and fries, I lose my self-control when it comes to good food.

Grilled chicken with pita, pasta, shoyu ahi with sweet potato chips and crabcakes salad from Hilo Bay Cafe. Not too sure if the food was plain great or we all were just starving because the plates all ended up like below.

Squeaky clean! Everyone just started gobbling the food once it was served, no time for small talks. By the time we realise why the table was too quiet, all the food were already almost gone.

Always have room for desserts, Chocolate Lava Cake with Kona Coffee Ice Cream. *noms*

This is a major summary on the food research I made on Big Island, though I realise that I miss the famous shave ice place in Kona. That couldn't be help because by the time I knew it we were already back in Hilo, which is on the other side of the island.

Next blog post, more scenery pictures, no more tummy-torture ones.

Hawaii State and Its Islands

Credits to loclstylz

Was meant to introduce a little bit about Hawaii's geography since I came here. But I wouldn't pride on my geography knowledge to give you every a detailed view on Hawaii, so I'll briefly point out the places that I'll be blogging on soon.

I am on the O'ahu island, the place where the infamous Waikiki beach is, you've probably heard countless time about that beach. Nothing much to hoo-haa about it if you actually get to explore more of Hawaii. It's probably the most touristy places around here.

You'll notice the Hawaii island on the map, which is also known as the Big Island. The whole state in known as Hawaii because that island was where the King Kamehameha I was on when he united all the islands and named it as the "Kingdom of Hawaii".  Correct me if I'm wrong because I have not been educated by any Hawaiians yet. To simplify it, basically you have the Hawaii island and the Hawaii state.

Next moving on, I've been to Maui too. A petite island, compared to Big Island, with lesser Asian tourists flocking on the beach. Great food and lovely towns to explore. It is really near to the Molokai and Lanai island, near as in it's visible from the bay of Maui. I read that they have really amazing snorkeling sites around those two islands! Bummer that I didn't get to go there too.

Lastly Kauai, the only island left that I would really really love to be at but will not have the chance to do so since time is running up, and so is my moolah. I'm giving myself a 5-year time frame to save up and come back to this island. Until then I'll be in search for a lifelong traveling partner and trying to save money by not spending too much on shopping. I can already imagine my close friends giving my shifty eyes when I mentioned about restricting my shopping budget, oh wait, I've never even plan my shopping budget. HEH!

Done with another update! Will start blogging about my island hopping trips soon, this, I promise. Off to snorkeling with the girls now!

Monk Seal Hunting at Kaena Point

You know how they say when finals is here, everything else just seems more interesting, as long as it's not about studying. So yes, I've decided to blog about my monk seal hunting experience that happened aeons ago.

It was one of those weekends with the perfect weather. I was so glad of the ample sunshine that day until I realised the hike was just a long walk on a flat path all the way to the tip of this island. Thank god for sunscreen and so I managed to survive.

Seeing water and the perfect shade of blue sky just makes me want to stay.

Spotted sea cucumber as well, it elongates after a while. Yuck, I know and it squirts water too.

Finally the main character for the day, monk seal. Spotted 3 monk seals sunbathing way down the cliff on our way back. Hiked down and manage to take a few shots before my camera died.

This hike was also the last time I swam in a tide pool. Totally wasn't prepared to get into the water and so the girls swam with their bras on. Kick ass experience and you won't see me doing that ever again, I hope. HAH!

Izakaya Nonbei, Honolulu

No doubt I've been complaining how good-food-deprived I am here in Hawai'i but mainly it's because I haven't been actively wandering around the island and also am a bit intimidated to do so. Seeing homeless people sleeping on the streets, walking around with a push carts was actually the only culture shock that I experienced here and this is also the reason that I've made myself stay in my room more often.

Then again, I won't deny that there are actually pretty impressive hole in the walls around the island. Izakaya Nonbei is one of it and dayumm, the variety of good Japanese places on the island does not stop here!

Sharing the same liking as the boy, this places serves incredible Tamagoyaki (egg sushi)! Blogging about these just makes me want to have another round of it again!

The other dishes, also fanta-licious! My favorite was the wafu steak, the tenderness of the meat was impeccable. If you know me well, you could probably imagine me saying SO GOOOOOOOD, right after having it.

I've decided to share some of my favorite places in Hawaii and my trips to other island and California! Till I get back to Hong Kong, this blog will lack some fashion updates.

Not dead, just a little sick

Aloha guys! I'm not dead yet, unless you consider the ability of sneezing blood out of your nostrils is, then yes, maybe I am half dead. Caught a cold towards the end of my LA trip.

Thousand apologies for the hiatus over the month and from what I see, my stats still remain the same. Hopefully my blog isn't only visited by bots.

So I'm back in O'ahu (oh-a-hu), trying to get back to my regular schedule but the fact that I'm sick and having to wake up to sore back and shoulders doesn't quite help. Just need to get through today then I'll be off for another getaway.

Anyhoo, since I'm back, more updates will be coming up soon! Counting down 5 more weekends till I land in Hong Kong, until then I have to hit more beaches in Hawaii and do more sun bathing. Well, as you can see in the picture, I am indeed a few shades darker than I was when I first came here.

Kailua Beach Getaway

Weekends feels a little bit longer when you start it off perfectly on the Friday night and still manage to wake up early the next morning, and also for the following one. Hawai'i was soaked during the weekend, the lack of sunshine just forced me to spend more time with my bed, in the morning half awake.

Instead of the usual Waikiki beach, I spent the Saturday afternoon at the Kailua's, a small town that's 30 minutes away from the heart of Hawaii. Though the weather that day wasn't at its best, its fine sand and foamy sea water when washed upon the shore was enough to make up for my trip there.

Except for the lack of good food here, I'm probably having one of the best times of my life right now. No worries, but just enjoy what's left during my university life.

My Extended Weekends

A picture taken from the Lanikai Pillboxes hike last weekend. Woke up at an ungodly hour - 5a.m after only having a 2-hour sleep the night before that just to catch the sunrise. Definitely worth it since I still get to explore new places and had good food afterwards.

I'm glad I didn't choose my usuals, sunny side-ups and bacon and went for this instead. Red velvet pancakes at the Cinnamon's, perfectly temporarily satisfied my cravings for red velvet cupcakes. It was only close to 10 when we finished our breakfast and when I reached my dorm, I collapsed and only regained senses till 4pm.

Head down to Waikiki afterwards to catch up with the girls and plan our Big Island trip during the Spring break. We tried out Ramen Nakamura, where I had the best gyoza (dumplings) ever since I came here. Every time single time I have a bowl of ramen, it just reminds me of the more awesome and satisfying Butao back in Hong Kong! AHHHH, how I miss queueing up for it.

And this was from last week.
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Everyone in their shades, all prepared for a wonderful morning out in the sea to whale watch. Unfortunately the boat engine had to break down yesterday, which lead us to kick start our day with hefty American breakfast instead.

They have pretty awesome waffles, which we get to try while we were waiting for seats.

The special crabcake egg benedicts that Tady ordered. Pretty yummy!

Got my usuals! Next time, I'll try scrambled eggs, mmhm I'll try to remember.

As for today, I did another hike at the Chinaman's Hat island. Too bad I can't take any pictures since we had to walk/swim to the island. It was a semi tough hike for me, wish I could just not worry about so much things and just hike. Pfft!

Other than experiencing a 'scene' from the boys, I collected a few bruises and cuts from the hike. Well, at least it wasn't another sun burn, 'cause till now my skin are still peeling.

That's roughly what I do every weekend. There's so much to do that I've never really sleep in on the weekends, not complaining though.