Amanda Torres blog

Aloha Readers,
Tuesday January 6, 2009. Today we had our Multicultural Island Tour which was lectured by Gay Satsuma from the University of Hawai’i: Manoa. We started out early this morning in Chinatown where we completed a small scavenger hunt and got to enter the Kuan Yin Temple. This temple housed a very large religious icon of the Buddhist faith. The local people come to this temple to pray and bring offerings such as fruit and they also burn incenses. The Maunakea Market Place, which was also in Chinatown, was filled with different shops, types of foods such as the Vietnamese soup Pho, a museum on the upper level and an open fish market.On the drive to the next location, the view was amazing. All you see are tall, rich green mountains and crystal blue oceans that are filled with white waves that are crashing on the shore.
Once we arrived at the Valley of the Temples (our 2nd location) we were able to see Byodo-in Temple, which is a replica of the temple in Uji, Japan. This temple was gorgeous as well, colored with red and gold. The ponds out front and to the sides were filled with bright orange and some white coy fish (they were huge). Stop number 3 on the tour was Kahana State Park and we went to the Kahana Valley. The state park is home to 31 families. In Kahana Valley we were able to see the Huilua Fishponds, which were once used to gate in fish for the people as well as the royal family. Auntie May was very gracious enough to show us some of the cultural traditions of the people of Kahana. One thing that I found interesting is that before they go up a mountain to pick food they say a prayer. Also, on the way up the mountain you never pick any food, only on the way down.
The next stop was to The Mormon Temple in Laie. This temple was big and white. Out front there was a large water fountain. Inside the visitor’s center we were able to watch videos about the Mormon faith and use computers to trace back our genealogy. We continued our tour passing by Sunset Beach and more beautiful mountains. We saw many of the locals out surfing and hanging out on the beach. I know many of us are anxious for our surfing lesson on Saturday. We also passed Turtle Bay and got to see a big turtle just chilling on the beach. We made a quick stop to Aoki’s Shaved Ice where almost all of us devoured delicious shaved ice cones in a variety of flavors. On the drive to the last stop we passed the Dole Plantation where pineapples are grown! Our last stop was the Manoa Chinese Cemetery at this locationhere we got to see an amazing view on the city. I found it interesting that all the children in this cemetery are buried in the same spot. Overall we all had a long but amazing day, learning about different cultures and religions while taking in some of the most breathtaking views and enjoying some shaved ice.

Mahalo (Thank You) for reading!
Amanda T.