(Part 1) Hawaii Without the Beaches: 'Iolani Palace, Kamehameha Statue, Aloha Tower, Ala Moana Center

- May 19, 2018, Saturday.

- If you are expecting to see photos of beaches on this Hawaii blog series, I beg you to change your expectations. While there will be occasional photos of the sea, my take on Hawaii is not concentrated on the beaches. Why? Two reasons: one, I am not a beach person and actually dislike going to beaches (although I appreciate, acknowledge, and admire its ecological importance and yes I agree that we need to keep our beaches clean etc. etc. etc.), and second, it's because I wanted to help introduce Hawaii as a worthy place to visit for "culture and heritage" apart from its pristine - and tourist-crowded - beaches (I'm, looking at you, Waikiki). This was the same mission that I successfully accomplished when I visited another beach-famous island, Bali (click here and here.) However, I do know, understand, and recognize the influence of the sea and sea-life in the culture of Hawaii and the other Polynesian islands.

- Now that the disclaimers are over, let me introduce Hawaii to you! The State of Hawaii (properly spelled as "Hawai'i" and properly pronounced as "hava-i") is made up of 8 major islands and more tiny islands. The biggest island is the Island of Hawaii - yes, the Island of Hawaii is in the State of Hawaii (like how Manila is in Metro Manila,). The island of Hawaii, aka "The Big Island" is home to Kilauea volcano; the volcano made it to world news lately because it erupted a couple of times and its lava is swallowing estates in that region. However, the capital of the State of Hawaii is Honolulu, the state's largest city, and is located in the northern island of Oahu. Oahu is quite far from Kilauea, so my family was still able to push through with our trip despite the on-going volcanic eruption in The Big Island. Hawaii is around a 10-hour direct flight from Manila, and is 18 hours behind Manila time.

- We arrived in Hawaii in the late morning and checked in at Ala Moana Hotel, which is a big hotel between downtown Honolulu and the tourist beach paradise of Waikiki. I specifically chose that hotel mainly because it's close to the downtown - my main focus in this trip - and because it was recommended to my by friends who have been to Hawaii. After checking in, we rode an Uber to 'Iolani Palace (henceforth spelled as "Iolani,") the main royal palace of Hawaii. Speaking of transportation, the main transportations in Hawaii are the bus system (called "The Bus,") occasional cabs (but quite hard to get in the city,) trolleys (to be explained in Part 2 here,) and what most visitors use, car rentals.

Iolani Palace.

It's not as big as palaces in other countries, but it is actually quite spacious inside.

- The Iolani Palace was the main royal residence for a good 50 or so years, from the mid to late 1800s. It is one of the only two main palaces in America, the other one is the Hulihe'e Palace in the Big Island. Yes, Hawaii had its own powerful royal family tree before Queen Lili'uokalani was forced to abdicate the throne in 1898 and Hawaii became a US territory; Hawaii became a state after 61 years in 1959.  Currently, the royal family does not really have any political power, but some of the royal family's heirs are still around and managing the organization of the royal house. The two main royal houses in Hawaiian history were the House of Kamehameha, and the House of Kalakaua. The royal family was overthrown because of a US-backed coup d'etat (which is one way of getting hold of the Hawaiian islands.)

Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

Coronation Pavillion at the yard.

- Now on to nicer things: the interior of the Iolani Palace. The palace has two main floors and a basement level. It has several rooms, some of which are named after colors. One important thing about this palace is that it is one of the earliest (if not THE earliest) palace to have electricity. Thomas Edison himself installed the lighting system of the palace. What is also charming about this palace is its architecture's conscious effort to merge Hawaiian styles and motifs as well as western architectural styles.

Main throne hall.

I love this peacock dress.

More royal gowns.

Crowns and ceremonial swords.

Stairs to the second floor.

Some portraits of the Hawaiian royalty.  

The Blue Room.

Dining Hall.

Loving the carpet.

- The palace has some music rooms as well since several members of the royal family were gifted musicians. King David Kalakaua, for instance, wrote the words for Hawaii's current state anthem called "Hawai'i Pono'i," and the last queen, Queen Lili'uokalani, composed the well-known song "Aloha 'Oe."

Bedroom.

The study.

Old telephone!

My favorite: the gold room, aka the music room.

Music scores of some songs that some members of the royal family composed.

The crazy quit that Queen Lili'uokalani made white being imprisoned in the palace.

Queen's bedroom.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the chubbiest of them all.

- Right across the Iolani Palace is the iconic Kamehameha Statue. King Kamehameha I was the founder of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Behind the statue is the Supreme Court of Hawaii; the building where the supreme court is is called Ali'iolani Hale. Also built in the mid-1800s, it was supposed to be another palace, but was used as a government building instead as Hawaii used to lack one. (More on this in Part 5 here.)

It looks strikingly similar to the Iolani Palace across it.

- One thing about Hawaii is that a lot of food establishments close for the afternoon, and open again in the evening. Since we hadn't had lunch yet, I bought my family to the nearest "proper" restaurant that was open, which was a couple of blocks away near the Aloha Tower. I went back to the heart of the downtown to hopefully visit the Museum of Art (around a 15-minute walk from the Iolani Palace), but I got there just a minute after they closed. Sad about walking all the way back for nothing, I had lunch at a convenience store before walking all the way back to Aloha Tower at the other side of the city to meet my family. The Aloha Tower is a lighthouse the has been guiding incoming ships to the harbors of Honolulu since 1926.

Aloha Tower!!

- After meeting my family, we rode an Uber to Ala Moana Center, which is the big mall beside our hotel. Now one of my regrets was not being able to take photos of this nice, semi-outdoors mall mainly because I was busy looking for stuff to buy and rushing to meet my family for dinner (we went our own ways inside the mall.) One thing I can recommend is eating at Shirokiya at Street Level 1; it is a Japanese food court with some Japanese pop culture stores at the side. I can also recommend shopping for some souvenirs inside Ala Moana's Target for cheaper prices, or for variety, at the ABC Store at Street Level 1 near the center stage.

- The Ala Moana Center has a "secret" passageway that links the mall to the second floor of Ala Moana Hotel. I had an early rest that night since I planned for a semi-packed day for myself the day after since I realized that there were a lot more fascinating things to be seen in the tiny island of Oahu!!

- Don't forget to read Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here and Part 5 here!!