Hawaii

I guess we can't stay away from Hawaii for too long. Erik landed a business trip to Hawaii, so I took the opportunity to meet him there! It only took 6.5 hours from Japan (somehow the return trip took 10 hours!).


We also can't resist hiking. Yet again, I found myself hiking in a skirt. Maybe I could publish a guide to hiking in style.

Lyons Arboretum was next to the Manoa Falls trail and so we got in two hikes. All of the hiking pictures are from the arboretum...I think.

For some reason, there were roosters all over the place. The flora in Hawaii is breathtakingly beautiful. I guess that is in contrast to the fauna (sorry rooster).

Hawaii does get chilly in the winter. Rachel and I were a little braver then Stephen and Erik and managed to do a little snorkeling. Hawaii was even more enjoyable having my wittle sissy around.

Both pictures are views from our hotel rooms. The first room we had overlooked the city and the second the beach. Both were spectacular!

Kawaguchiko

Wow! Fuji is cool from our balcony, but it's even more spectacular up close. We opted to take the train there and got an all day bus pass that circled lake Kawaguchiko. It was a cold weekday, so we didn't have to fight off many tourists.

We had the option of an entire fish grilled on a stick or a hot dog for lunch. We went for the hot dog and boy was it good. I guess either way we ended up eating some internal organs.

This is mochi pounding. Erik usually doesn't like mochi so he was pleasantly surprised by how good fresh steaming hot mochi is. We accidentally fell in with a tour group and played the foreigner card to get some homemade soup as well!