Happiness is a choice

I wanna be David Sedaris one day

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 18:54:00 +0000

While Taylor visited friends and family in Cleveland without me, I picked up the latest David Sedaris book "Calypso". I was so inspired by his sense of humor and decided to write something for Taylor as a welcome back gift.

You LIED to me

Google photos has this very nice feature called "Rediscover this day". I browsed through our wedding pictures and noticed something about Taylor.

"Hey, honey. Did you shrink? I have definitely dated guys who are 5 feet 7. You look shorter than I remembered."

"I am 5 feet 6 and a quarter."

"But you told me you were 5 feet 7!"
"I rounded up"
"You know that's not how math works!"

"Well, too late now. We are married."

Gift nonetheless

I am not lonely or jealous at all about Taylor hanging out with his family and best buddies from childhood for 10 days, without me. To welcome him back, I prepared some yellow croaker from Palama, Korean style. I pan-fried them to be so crispy that you can eat the bones. To make sure they taste good, I sampled some. One fish turned to two. In less than 30 minutes, I ate them all. I felt slightly bad. But hey, you left me alone for 10 days.

The thing about frying fish is that the smell spreads everywhere and the oil splashes all over the glass stove. Taylor has an addiction to clean the glass stove. He even bought special razors and cleaners just so he can clean it right. Before he had a full-time job, he used to clean it every day. I was worried that he would scrape the glass top thin over time. Luckily he is too busy now, and he only deep cleans it once every other week.

Since there is no more yellow croaker to show for, I make sure there is enough grease left on the glass top, especially the knobs. Taylor loves the knobs.

Nothing better than welcoming your loved one with something that he loves doing.

Brown rice is not rice

I am a very productive person in general, and even more so when Taylor leaves me alone for 10 days. I bought white rice while he was gone.

Before we left SF for our epic trip and migration, we both did a physical just to make sure we are OK and who knows when is the next time we would have affordable health insurance. The blood work shows that Taylor is prediabetic. We were both shocked and Taylor took it particularly hard. The doctor recommended a list of food to eat and not to eat. I was prepared to do whatever it takes. Unfortunately, white rice is on the not-to-eat list.

"What? That's BS. Japanese people have been eating white rice their entire generations and they are the healthiest people on earth. What do you mean no white rice?" As much as I resent the recommendation, I felt guilty. I was the one who force-fed Taylor lots of fried food, baked goods, and fatty seven-layer dips to clean out our pantry before the move. So OK, no white rice.

It's been more than a year and we have eaten a lot healthier and become more active. Taylor's latest physical reflected that. I am not gonna lie. I miss white rice. We only have brown rice at home, all 30lbs of it. Since Taylor is healthy now and his new doctor said his previous doctor may be overacting about the test result, I decided that it's time to bring back the white rice.

You know what. Brown rice is not rice. It's multigrain. Instapot said so.

Moana Falls, Aihualama and Pauoa Loop Trail - 7/17/2018 Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 02:49:00 +0000

We hiked the Moana Falls, Aihualama and Pauoa Loop Trail in one go. The hike is a moderate 7-mile round trip. It was like being in a lush tropical jungle. We got mud on our shoes and bug bites all over.

The trail has three different sections: an easy 0.8 mile section leading to Moana Falls. It is the site of various Jurassic Park and LOST scenes and has many people on it.

A couple of steps on the way back from the waterfall, we turned right onto Aihualama Trail. It's a more moderate and less trafficked 1.2-mile midsection. Since we were in the middle of the rain forest, it was mostly wet everywhere. Some parts of the grounds were covered by tree roots and they were super slippery. A girl I know always has sexy, attractive photos when she hikes, this is us:

After zigzagging in the muddy switchbacks, we reached the ~3 mile Pauoa Flats Loop. It started completely flat and we thought it would be for the rest of the loop. Once we passed a small bamboo forest, wildflowers, and several beautiful overlooks of Honolulu, we got to some rope ascent sections. The worst part was that it started raining right as I was grabbing onto the ropes. The thought of falling off the slippery rocks to my death wasn't really helping, but I was glad we took the loop counter-clock wise. It would be extremely difficult for me to descent in the rain while looking at the steep cliff drops.

Needless to say, we made it back in two pieces. The rain stopped right after we reached the top. With the nice breeze on the ridge, we dried off fairly quickly. The rest of trip to go back was uneventful. The trail is not completely marked but people do not report getting lost.

You will need food, water, bug repellent and definitely the song "Welcome to the Jungle" on this one.

Koko Crater Railway Trail - 07/05/2018 Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 22:10:00 +0000

We did the Koko Crater Stairs today. It's a 1048-step steep climb of railroad ties and 1.8 miles round trip.

I was hoping people did this after the hike:

What we had to conquer:

Way up:

The most difficult part for me was the "bridge" in the middle of the trail where it's hollow underneath. There is a path to the right to avoid the bridge. But I am one to conquer my own fears, so I got on my all fours facing down on the way up and facing up on the way down. We were lucky that there was a big chuck of fluffy clouds most of the time to provide some shade. We completed the climb in 40 minutes with plenty of breaks. The view on the top was amazing.

Crater View:

Hanauma Bay:

Hawaii Kai:

The way down can be tough on your knees. It's also slippery where the stairs and bricks are covered with sands. There is no shame in getting on your all fours. I find stretching out on my all fours and facing up to be the easiest. I heard that there are people who has done the trail in 12 minutes or less. I don't wanna compete, but I definitely hope my time will improve over time.

Kapalama Loop Trail - 6/23/2018 Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:25:00 +0000

We started via a bypass from Na Pueo Park in Alewa Heights. After walking below a water tank, we descended down a bit and walked along some fences on our left. At the end of the fence, we caught the start of the kapalama loop trail going counterclockwise on the east ridge. We didn't intend to go on the east ridge first. I actually wanted to start from the west ridge since I read it's hard to find it on the way back. We didn't find it on the way in either, so east ridge it was.

The ridge walk is pleasant with views of Nuuanu, Liliha and Kapalama nearby; downtown, Waikiki, and Pearl Harbor in the far distance.

The loop is supposed to be 7 miles round trip. 4 miles into it, we still hadn't seen any junctions or sharp turn to the left. After exploring a couple of non-paths, we got a little muddy and lost. We decided to trek back the same way we came from. Unfortunately we missed the junction to the bypass on our way back too. We continued on the trail, passed a private property sign, noticed the fences had barbwires on them, which weren't there when we started the trail and saw some markers that were new to us(we should have been on the bypass by now and not still on the trail), we then realized that we were at the start of the west ridge. After turning back, luckily Taylor spotted some pink markers on the other side of the fence, and we realized we were on the wrong side of the fence(no pun intended). So we backtracked to the end of the fence and saw the steps down to the bypass. Yay! We are not gonna die here on our second hike on the island.

Based on many reviews on alltrails.com, the trail on the west ridge back is overgrown and not well maintained. I would rate this hike as difficult and not moderate. Parts of the trail were covered with pine needles. It got slippery especially with descending. There are also many ups and downs with all the peaks. We went on a clear day. I can imagine if it rained (as it's very likely since it's in the rainforest), the trail can get even harder to manage. On the plus side, there are many tall trees, so the trail is mostly covered in shades and breezes make it more bearable in the hot weather.

I feel somewhat incomplete since we didn't do the loop. Maybe we will go back one day. We will know exactly where the west ridge starts this time :)

Diamond Head Crater Hike - 6/16/2018 Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 02:25:00 +0000

We took a redeye from Osaka and landed on Oahu on June 4th. For the past two weeks, we have been busy with job search and apartment hunting. We did our first hike today: diamond head crater hike.

We checked out the KCC Farmer's Market first. There were some produce stands and lots of ready-made food and drinks for sale. We were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of tourists, so we headed toward the trail head without spending too much time at the farmer's market.

Diamond head crater trail is a 0.8 mile one way and 560-foot climb from the crater floor. It took us ~2 hours round trip leisurely. It's not a difficult hike. With the heat and humidity, it can be challenging. We started early around 9:30am, filled one water bottle at the Comfort Station before heading up. The trail follows an uneven switchbacks. We went through a lighted tunnel (#6) after we hit some steep stairways (#5). For the final ascend, we took the loop trail along the rim instead of the 99 steps (#7) into the Fire Control Station. It had less people and better views. We climbed the metal stairs and went through the slits (#10). It turns out the spiral stairs lead to the 99 steps (#7) going down. We backtracked and climbed #11 to reach the summit.

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2G67F_diamond-head-crater?guid=2b39eeb4-fc3b-4b8c-ac69-9df610643024

Views from the summit:

The hike is very popular, with both locals and tourists alike. It offers an amazing view of the crater, Waikiki and Koko Head. The sight of Diamond Head Lighthouse is definitely a highlight for me.