Tropical cure for winter's bite - Maui

Okay I admit, November is not quite winter yet but it was still a great change to go from November in CA and be enveloped in Maui's warm embrace. I have always loved Hawaii - in any season - who would not when mercury dare no dip below 70 degrees any time of the year? We usually go to the same Island four to five times in a row so we end up knowing everything we want to know or like about any Island. I am very comfortable in Kauai and Big Island - In Kauai, for example, I know where you can get a fresh and tender coconut to drink for only $1:25! I can also tell you the best place to snorkel free and still see tons of fishes. Heck, I can teach you to snorkel and lend you my gear.

But, the world is big and we have to explore other places too - even if they are all in Hawaii and all the islands are more or less the same - I mean they all have great weather and flowers and pineapples and papayas but they also have their own unique personalities. For instance, in Kauai, the chickens run around everywhere making you think they are the real custodians of the island; while in Oahu, you can watch Waikiki's frenzied tourists, shops and the highrises that sway in the winds; and in da big island, be awestruck as you land on black lava stones strewn around the landscape like Pele's breath and spit. I especially, like Hawaii because the plants remind me of India, the hibiscus - which we called "sho flower" in India, the plumeria or temple flowers and crotons standing tall in their multicored leafy glory. The only new plant I see are the wonderful gingers - we probably have those in the tropical hills of the north eastern Indian states too. Just like the orchids - also hidden in the remote hills of the seven states of North East India.

It is always exciting to visit a place for the first time - the tourist in me wakes up and I am ready to sign up for all the possible trips and adventures that promoters tell you on the orientation breakfast except for that damn Luau. After attending two luaus in my life, the only thing I like about it is the taste of Kahlua pig. If you are an Indian vegetarian, just go for the Polenasian revue at the Polenesian center in Oahu - you get to see all the dances and arts - you may even attempt to play the ukelele and sway a hula but not partake of the food. On other islands, I don't see any luau without food, in which case, tip the bartender well and fortify yourself with strongly laced mai-tais. If you think about picking up the mai- tais lying on the tables, don't - thay are weak and taste like watered down juice with nary a trace of alcohol. So, tip the bartender five bucks and all your May-tais will be blessed with spirits. If you don't drink, are a vegetarian - may you like hulas and hawaiin music.

The best things to do in any Hawaiin Island are usually free but don't take my words for it because I never ever do a whole week with out always overbooking my activities - it must be because I don't go out much and want to have every day filled. However, experience has taught me to slow down so I now stick to 3 days of activities. In Maui, we went for a snorkelling cruise to Lanai,where Bill Gates got married - so said the captain of the boat and we saw a whale, rode a van to the road to Hana while listening to the driver tell you anecdotes about celebrities who live/bought homes in Maui and watched the spectacular views. We woke up at 2am to watch the sunrise and bycycled 36 miles downhill from the extinct volcano Haleakala.

We did these back to back - the earliest we woke up was 2 am and the latest was 6 am. After 3 days of activities, I felt doozy from lack of sleep and all I wanted to do was pass out on the beach and sleep forever. While I am on the subject of beaches, boy, was I dissapointed with the size of the beaches in Maui. I am so used to kauai's wide expanse of sands than Maui's beaches look like a joke - their biggest beach is called the Big beach and it sure is aptly named, it is their biggest one. Such a poor cousin to Hanalei's beach in Kauai where it takes one more than an hour to walk from on end to the other.

The sunrise was very dissapointing - see for yourself. It was an experience alright but instead of paying somebody to pick you up from your hotel, sleep till five and drive up by yourself - sunrise was ~6. 30am. We were picked up at 2:45am and till 3:30am, the van went to five other hotels to pick up the group. By 4 am, we were eating " continental" breakfast at the office of the adventure company. Continental breakfast mean muffins or doughnuts, slices of pineapples, coffee and punch or watered down juice as I like to call it. This was true for all the three trips we took. Anyway, who eats at 4am? I drank hot chocolate. From their office, it was about an hour's drive to Haleakala - the adventure began by us napping during this time while the van climbed up 10,000 feet and we got out bleary eyed and freezing. We were told to wear jeans and sweater.The tour company handed out wind breakers and gloves for everybody and pants to wear over our jeans for those of us who still feared the cold. I wore them all - it was colder than a witch's tits - what can I say.

Our guide gave us flashlights and took us for a small hike to get away from the crowd - there were over 200 people at the parking lot - and off we went to look at stars while we waited for sunrise. The sky was brilliant with thousands of stars - awesome but it is like that in any of the island.
After 7 am, we went back to the heated visitors center to warm up and did not start the bycycle trip until after 8am. We were give bycycles according to our sizes and allowed to practice in the parking lot for fifteen minutes or so. Now, this trip is for experienced bycyclist and was more for speed demons than for pedelars. You have to ride downhill 36 miles on the road from the peak to the destination town. Gravity is on your side and you hardly have to pedal but just steer a bit and just ride at 30 miles an hour or so. I did not tell the tour guide that the last I bycycled was 25 years ago - after practising on the parking lot for 15 minutes, I was so excited and so full of confidence that I decided to go for it. We all had the option to ride the van in case we changed our minds and if we were doing a bad job, the tour guide would automatically take us out for our safety as well as those of others. Fair enough, I thought.
Apart from the tour captain, there were 12 riders, I was the second rider - we were place according to weight - the lightest in front and the heaviest at the back. We were told to keep about 20 feet between riders and after a few more tips - off we went.

We started about 3 miles an hour, the newly wedded woman in front was petrified and braked constantly and after about 20 minutes of holding the brakes, she was taken off and rode the van. Now, I was the first rider and drawing into my daring spirit away we sped at the mighty speed of 8 miles an hour. Soon after, I went into the van and watched the other riders as they averaged 27 miles and hour and sometimes went 35 miles an hour. It was exhilarating to watch them zipping off - I did not mind that I was in the van - truth be told, I was getting scared as we sped up and if I had not been taken off, the rest of the riders would have been pissed - we paid $120 each and most of them did so to experience the thrill of speeding downhill. In fact, my husband complained that he wished they were not reigned in but allowed to go faster. Obviously, safety is an issue here. Nevertheless, I was happy that I tried and proud that I went 8 miles after 25 years of not being anywhere near a bycycle.


Although, I was a disgraced rider now sitting in the van, having surrendered the helmet and the bycycle, I was allowed to take pictures at the designated stops . It was still cold even after leaving the volcano park and I wore my gear till we stopped for breakfast after 30 miles.

I would recommend the afternoon bycycle ride from the volcano park but not the getting up at 2 am sunrise trip as well. We were too greedy and did both - although the sunrise itself was not as spectacular as the sacrifice of waking up early demanded, it was quite an experience and worth doing on your own. Just take your rental car and do it yourself - get up at 4:30 am - 5 am and you don't have to pay somebody to guide you up there. Sure, we got to watch the sunrise away from the crowd and experienced a novel hike with flashlight with the blistering cold and wind hitting us on all sides but I will go out on a limb and say that you may happily skip that anyway.

Each of our trips were fun but we learnt what not to do next time and figured out how to do things better, relax more and so on. Which is why, when you visit an island, once is never enough.