A Day of Variety

The start of my 2nd & last week in Honolulu revealed somewhat better weather than my first week here. Here are a collection of photos I captured.

There are several people who you'll meet around Waikiki who have colourful birds which tourists can pose with for a small fee. These folks have to live somewhere and little did I know that two of them live directly behind the suite where I'm staying.

Click on this thumbnail to see a nice panorama of Waikiki Beach.

If you look carefully at the upper trees, you'll see that it was quite windy. This might explain the sparse number of people at the beach!
This is how [some] business people go to work in Paradise!

The annual Honolulu Festival will be occurring this weekend though unfortunately I'll miss the big parade, which is its highlight.
In the evening I decided to go have Vietnamese food. I walked up to a neighbourhood adjacent to Waikiki, about an hour's walk away.
The weather here in Hawaii can change so quickly. As you can see, a lot of storm clouds had set in. Fortunately I had my great rain jacket with me, a piece of clothing that has proven invaluable on this trip! I liked the contrast of the grey sky and the pale yellow fire station.
On the advice of some locals I met, I decided to go to Hale Vietnam. It turned out to be a great choice!
The service was efficient but not so friendly, a trend that I've found frequently at Asian restaurants here in Hawaii. More importantly the good was great!

These Imperial rolls (think egg rolls a la Vietnam) were different than back home in Vancouver in that the tradition here is to wrap each roll inside a leaf of lettuce, and fill it with noodles & basil. A little messy but delicious!
I ordered the Pho, specifically noodle soup with rare slices of beef. It compared very well with the delicious soup I frequently eat back in Vancouver.
On the way back home I walked by the famous Leonard's bakery, though I did not get any malsadas (donuts) as you might have guessed! :-)