Aloha! - Polynesian Cultural Center

Today was Polynesian Cultural Center day. Our bus pick-up was at 10:20, so we had time for a bit of shopping beforehand. I picked up a cute outfit I'd been eyeing at the International Marketplace. We were going to go to the Internet cafe to check our e-mail, but its hours turned out to be 10am-10pm, so that would just have been cutting it too close.

Our bus picked us up at the Waikiki Trade Center - across the street and about half a block "Ewa" (away from Diamond Head). Our tour guide was a nice and funny young Samoan man named Tonu.

When we got to the Center, we signed up for a guided tour with Tonu. I'm glad we paid the extra money. He was able to time everything perfectly so we saw shows in six different countries, and had shady seats riverside for the canoe parade. Had we been wandering around by ourselves, we would have managed much less, I'm sure.

The evening luau was amazingly well organized. There were three different venues -- we were assigned to the Hale Aloha site. There were at least 1000 people in our location, and the food was served buffet style. I didn't count; however, there must have been at least 9-12 serving tables.

After dinner, we had about an hour until the big show, so we wandered through the various shops. The show was eye-poppingly beautiful with moments of sheer amazingness (is that a word?).

On the return bus ride (over an hour) we watched Blue Hawaii. Now we'll need to rent or buy it so we can see the end...