Day 5 - 1st anniversary time

Day 5 was special. In fact it wouldn't be entirely incorrect if I say that day 5 or rather the date that day 5 occurred on was the sole reason for this Hawaii trip. You see last year on this very date I was participating in the royal ceremony of tying the wedlock with the iconic missez of mine. I then went on and committed the horrible sin of ditching the honeymoon and flying back to this firang land that too alone. The agonizing 1 month that followed has been well documented in this very blog in the past. So you see this trip was sort of like my redemption. I was taking the missez on the mother of all honeymoons - a no holds barred week long trip to Hawaii, albeit a year too late. And I had a bagful of phrases to emphasize this very idea which I used althrough the trip and will continue to use whenever I am fighting a losing battle with the missez. Just the phrase, "....but I took you to Hawaii on our 1st anniversary, didn't I??" and all will be well in my stormy world. I hope it keeps working till eternity. Amen!!

But I digress, so day 5 had been very carefully planned to make it that extra bit magical in the words of a romantic. The morning was gonna be stress free, without any prior reservations we were free to roam around. And roam we surely did, spending a good deal of time at the beach and then in the long eluding hotel pool where I took a dip and the missez bathed in the sun. At the stroke of noon we were right in front of a surfing center. Yes...we were going surfing today. Now disclaimer here. The following part of the blog will be part fiction, because I sucked at this surfing thing. Yes sucked is the perfect word to describe my antics on the waves. And the parts where I describe myself surfing like a dude can be safely attributed to the missez. Because she had yet again taken to surfing like fish to water.In fact I sometime wonder if she was born fish in any of her prior incarnations and thus still has those fishy instincts. But thats just my jealousy showing its bright green color.

So we embarked upon the surfing adventure. We were an assorted group of 6 adventure seekers. Two young ones, a dad, a 40 something spinster from Seattle, the missez and yours truly. I was secretly judging them on their ability to grasp this tricky sport of surfing. I quickly choose my closest competitor and thus adversary.The spinster.Everyone else had way too much unfair advantage. The young ones, obviously. They are not afraid of anything, darn age. Missez too, obviously.The fish thing remember. The dad was now looking kinda shaky so he could also fall in my draw. So there was no pressure. I was surfing against a old lady and a shaky dad. Piece of cake man. Where's the dude trophy?

This one too , like snorkeling, began with a not so short course on surfing and this too as before was utter bullshit. On the beach ,I was still fumbling around with the instructions being thrown at me when it was already time to efficiently execute the very same at sea without someone actually throwing them at you. Pompously I assumed that I was a pro now and the 2 ft waves were looking like a mild disturbance on a calm lake surface. Bring on the good stuff, where are the 10 footers. Thankfully the natural forces that determine the details of the height of the waves were taking a coffee break and cared less about my lame provocations. My brain was running on overdrive and I let everyone else pass ahead of me. You see I was just trying to access what I was competing against so I could lower my ability and effort accordingly and still supersede them comfortably. Ohh such shrewdness,pat on the back dude. When ultimately my turn arrived, I paddled towards the instructor, swiftly ignored his last instructions and lo and behold I was one with my old pal, gallons of salt water. And with every turn of mine, we extended our friendship to higher levels. Over the 2 hours or so of this activity, my cumulative standing time on the surfboard was an impressive 5 and half seconds, counting the half second for the time while I was struggling on my knees to stand up. In hindsight I would officially like to blame this catastrophe on my body's center of gravity which failed to lift itself to surfing standards. Case closed.

As expected missez was doing superbly on her own and I was content watching her appreciatively while flapping my hands in the sea lying horizontally on the board.Soon enough it was over and we were back on the beach. It seems there was some dude who was taking our snaps during all these acrobatics in full 1280 HD glory. To his credit he had captured the entire 5 and half seconds of my verticalness on the board in 15 different snaps. And there was the graphic proof of my amazing surfing abilities.

Content, we were back in the hotel to chill out till the sunset cruise, icing on our anniversary cake. We had booked the priority tickets in the hope that we will finally get the flower garland welcome on the cruise ship. But all we got was priority seating which ended up being public after all. Initial disappointment withstanding we secured a cozy little corner for ourself. From then on till the dark of the night it was all about the sea, the sun and the sky. The 3 elements intermingling in innumerable formations of unimaginable beauty. The high point was when a mother and calf humpback whales decided to pay a visit to personally greet us on our anniversary. They were literally in touching distance of the boat. I captured umpteen fit-for-wallpaper snaps. The fading light brought with it some unwanted rain. Luckily we found an aptly shaded seating right on the deck while everyone else bar the captain ran for cover in the belly of the boat. So the scene was - lashing rain, fading light of the sun, the sea and the two of us. Magical.

Other passengers finally decided to brave the now thinning rain and ascended to the deck. Many interesting conversations followed including one with the captain of the boat herself. We also discovered a bunch of ghost boats, supposedly floating in the middle of the ocean with their lights turned off.

By the time we stepped back on land it was totally dark and it was curtains on a very special day. Lights out day 5. Snap count 550 something.

Day 4 - Scaling Halekala

Following the pattern over the last few days...day 4 began a good 4 hours before the crack of dawn. But today there was a noble reason for this insanity of getting up that early, the break of dawn itself, or as the lazy people like to call it, sunrise. Over the years this phenomenon of sunrise along with its evening buddy sunset have climbed the stairs to mythical proportions in my psyche. I have ended up making many a beelines to witness the aforementioned spectacles of sun's interaction with the earth. Today was no different. I was gonna drive in pitch dark on a curvy mountain road right to the summit of Haleakala - a not so dormant volcano.Add to that some freezing rain and it turns into madness, most definitely.

So that was the plan for today. The instinct reaction when we stepped out of the room to leave was to turn back and hunker down in the bed for eternity. It was raining and the sky was full of cumulonimbus clouds for as far as the eye could see. Turning back would have been a logical reaction. But ever the defiant of logic, and the fire of enthusiasm burning through the missez, we braved our way to the waiting Mustang. We had been warned about the freezing cold at the summit, so we were armed with nothing less than bulky towels because that was the best we could do in terms of gathering winter clothing in this tropical state.

The initial drive until the right turn on the Road to Hana was uneventful and kinda cozy. From then on it was a gradual-initially-steep-later on ascent to the top. Nothing much was visible on our way up , thanks to the pitch black of the night aided by the blinding rain. We literally crawled to the top, averaging around 15 miles an hour. The chances of actually witnessing anything remotely close to a sunrise were fading thick and fast in the gathering storm clouds. The elevation markers kept coming in and out of the focus of my headlights, indicating every 1000 ft of our accent. The observation center is situated at approximately 10,000 ft on the mountain. But when we parked at what we thought was the parking lot, there was no sign of anything apart from clouds. I bravely opened the door to access the weather situation outside and the left side of my body had turned comfortably numb within the few seconds that I took to correct my folly. Wrapped with towels around my head , I finally stepped out to find the observation center and more importantly to relieve my ailing bladder. Surprisingly there was a loo even at that crazy altitude and my dream of "public urination" in the US 0f A got postponed for yet another day.

The sun in the meantime was fighting a loosing battle with the dense clouds at this elevation. The sunrise time quickly passed and the crowd gathered to view the spectacle started thinning quickly ,utterly disappointed. I on the other hand was determined to sit out this minor setback and wait for that wee bit of clearing in the clouds. But my patience was being genuinely tested here. So we decided to drive a little further up all the way to the summit. Another 300ft or so up, just to let the sun and the clouds sort out their issues in private. Missez was frozen and flatly refused to entertain any requests of stepping out of the Mustang. So I wrapped my towel and headed out and to my utter disbelief the view that I saw first up was mind-blowing. I was standing at the summit of the tallest mountain on the island with a blanket of clouds all around and below me. The below part was particularly amazing. There were varying layers of clouds each moving at its own velocity and therefore creating a clearing every now and then enabling me lots and lots of glimpses of the breathtaking view below my line of vision. I recorded a 360 degree view of the panorama for the wife's benefit. And then just lingered on. It was so peacefully beautiful up there that I just couldn't make myself leave. My reverie was finally broken by the yelling missez who had to step out of her thawing state to find me. After a little cajoling she finally joined me in the panorama admiration society that I had set up in promptu. Absorbing as much beauty as I possibly could we drove back to the observation center keeping our fingers crossed. The skirmish seemed to have been resolved in favor of the sun for now at least. I made the most of it and click - clicked the camera to my hearts content.

On our way down the snaking road the rain was slowly giving way to sunshine. Every turn of the curving road opened to ever changing panoramas, each one more beautiful than the last one. We even saw a full rainbow and the faint hint of a double. It was simply breathtaking driving down that road. Almost all the way down the mountain we stopped at a roadside inn for breakfast. The eggs Benedict and hash browns were yummy and just perfect. With nothing specific planned for the rest of the day, we were taking it easy and stopping at all possible spots. Spotted at least 4 hump backs right from the shore on one such stop and explored another part of the island which we hadn't previously planned.The top was down on the Mustang and it was an amazingly beautiful day. Tummies full with the yummy stuff and hearts full of all the beauty we were off for an afternoon siesta.

Act 2 of the day was short and sweet and began late in the afternoon at around 4. We headed straight to a beach. Weren't too enthusiastic to take a dip so after a few minutes of wading we were off to the Front Street. Front street here is like the mall road of our Indian hill stations. Full of shops and eating places. We decided to stick to the chains and opted for the Hard Rock Cafe. Also caught a glimpse of a beautiful sunset over the pacific.

Thats was curtains on day 4. Snap count 400 and add to that at least 6 video recordings for the day.

Day 3 - Snorkelling and the Luau

Day 3 dawned upon us in all its pristine glory with an organized calm. The entire day was planned way - way in advance, so there were no options for me supposedly twisting the proceedings with my mammoth lethargy. Truth be told I was pretty excited myself. First order of day, checking in at the Pacific whale Foundation for a 6 hr snorkeling cruise, a continental breakfast and a la - carte lunch to follow. As it turns out the elements were pissed with my aforementioned state of excitement and had retorted to hitting the harbor (on which I was standing waiting for a catamaran to haul me to sea) with gale force winds. But this wrath of nature was a mere breeze as compared to the hell I was paying for supposedly forgetting our camera battery. Missez is nothing less than a hurricane when she is pissed and from plenty of first hand experiences I have learned not to retort to any sort of cheap defense in such circumstances. So I gave up my futile argument and scurried along the nearby touristy shops to look for the non-existent battery.

Finally my karma argument - which basically boils down to - past is over lets not linger on to it,lets live in the moment forgetting all my past faux pas, payed off, with a mighty boost from the launch of the catamaran with us as passengers. We headed out into the choppy seas, with the winds showing no signs of giving up at this point of time. Breakfast was quickly gobbled with the customary sea safety speech being announced in the background. Soon enough we were slowing down literally in the middle of the ocean to everyones surprise and the captain of the boat chimed in that a mighty humpback whale had been sighted in our vicinity. The captain was speaking in his sea lingo with port , starboard and various clock positions of 3 O'clock, 6 O'clock peppered in just for fun. I was flabbergasted. I had no idea which side to look, or was I instead supposed to look at the watch, that I was (not) wearing. Missez slid in with a piece of her mind and then on I followed her lead in the directions of vision. A little info flash here. Winter is humpback whale season in Hawaii and the surrounding sea. They, the whales, apparently swim the distance of nearly 3500 miles from their feeding grounds in Alaska to Hawaii, and specifically to Maui, for its warm and shallow sea. Back to the story, initially it was a little hard for us to locate them in the vast blue, but the signature whale breath fountain made it easier. And from then on I was a self proclaimed pro at spotting these majestic creatures. We slowed down and stopped many a times for these whale watching jaunts before we reached the island of Lanaii and to a cozy little creek where we were supposed to snorkel.For the ignorant Snorkel is a fancy name for swimming at or just below the surface of water while breathing with the help of a tube sticking out for air and apparently enjoying the underwater natural beauty. After a crash course in snorkeling on the boat deck, we were all suited up. The suit basically consists of a face mask and humongus set of fins for the feet. The clothing in between these two is apparently optional. But to my disappointment there were no exceptions.

The first touch of water was cold. Missez had already taken appropriate precaution by opting for a wet suit and was nimbly swimming like a fish in water. Me, thats a different story altogether, when I finally let go of the boat straightaway ducked under water quick and fast gulping copious amount of salt water. Apparently the snorkel crash course had been utter bullshit because it didn't include any directions on how to put on this god forsaken snorkel mask. A wobbling and thoroughly salted me emerged, thanks to the gallons of salt that I had absorbed from the water. The missez was thoroughly scared of my misadventures and was promptly by my side to inform me that I couldn't possibly sink because I had a floating apparatus around my body. Nervous calmed, I finally started enjoying the snorkeling experience. On later intelligent analysis I discovered that this show of shame and embarrassment on my part was partly the fault of my inability to breath with my mouth rather than my nose and mostly the fault of everybody else in general. But I digress. In fact I started to enjoy it so much that, much to the dismay of a shivering missez, I went back a second time after lunch and this time consistently kept my nose underwater admiring the beautiful corals and rainbow colored fishes in the process. Mucho fun indeed.

The return leg of the cruise was sombre with me admiring the sun kissed deep blue expanse and acting all zen-like while a school of dolphins performed their much adored skimming jump out of the water for us.I was given another slap on my head for forgetting the camera battery which prevented us from capturing the breathtaking beauty all around us for eternity. Further rounds of stops and slow downs for the whales followed before we were back on terra firma.

The next 45 minutes are a blur, at the end of which I was magically standing in a line for the entry into the Luau. The only thing that I faintly remember from the blur is the part where the missez transformed from a homeless on the street to a Greek goddess in under 10 minutes. That must be some sort of a world record or something. Info flash time again. Luau is a typically Hawaiian custom of partying like their is no tomorrow. Highlights being the unveiling of the ceremonial Kalua Pig which is later hogged down and various Hula's or dance performances. This I assume is the commercial form of the Luau. I have no idea how a non-commercial one pans out. So the Luau started with a typically Hawaiian welcome custom of tropical garlands (which for us non privileged ones were made of small sea shells) and a local drink called Mai Tai. While we were settling down the aforementioned Kalua Pig was unveiled from its cooking place which is under ground and taken for a round around the house. I have pictures to prove that it was totally gross. Ewwww....I just want to eat it...I don't want to look at it while its being cooked. I promptly washed down this ghastly vision with the remaining Mai Tai and ordered another one. But before we could get any comfy, the dinner was served and I attacked the food with a renewed vigour. Little shreds of Kalua Pig, local fish Mahi Mahi, local fried rice, a purple bread and delicious slices of pineapples were consumed in huge quantities. And just as I was settling down with an overflowing dish of dessert(s), the actual show per se started. What followed was a sequence of dances from all the Polynesian communities of the pacific starting with New Zealand, Tonga, Haiti and ending with Hawaii. The dances were performed by scantily clad hunks and babes and were a real treat for both the visual and aural senses. This was one of the be-their-to-experience kind of thing. The fire dance in the dying moments of the performance deserves a special mention, drawing ooohs and aaahs from the crowd and yours faithfully.

To be true, I was a little skeptical about this Luau thing to start with, but the Missez prevailed and we booked. Now in the light of experience it looks like a fine decision and really an experience to cherish. I redemmed myself by grabbing the aformentioned camera batteries during the blur and have loads of pictures to show from this colourful evening feast.

It was lights out Day 3. The photo count, although massively depleted courtesy the prior screw up, still stood at 310.

Day 2 - Road to Hana

Day 2 on the lines of day 1, also began early in the night. Somewhere between 3 to 6.30 AM. This would be the pattern of mornings through the vacation. I am talking of a good 3 and half hours in terms of range, that’s because we had originally decided to get up at 3 and head to a mountain top for the sunrise. But I chickened out...and so we decided to linger on to the bed...all the way till 6.30. I will come back to the ride to the mountain top later. The itinerary for today was, take the top down on the mustang and drive around the island like there is no tomorrow. Oops...that was what I was silently thinking. WUBI moment noted. Missez on the other hand had dug through the dearth of literature collected overnight and found a mile by mile "attractions guide" for the "Road to Hana". The erstwhile road is a zig-zag pathway through the rocky east coastline of the island. This would be quiet an understatement of the beauty of the road if I left the description at that and I will diligently correct my folly immediately.

As the name suggests, "Road to Hana" is basically a motorway from the center of the island, that is roughly the Kahului airport, to a town called Hana located on the easternmost point of Maui and beyond. I would love to have a map of the island right about now so that I can simply point out the spots. But then the picture that I am about to paint will be lost. Now lets follow the LIFO (in layman terms Last-In-First-Out) approach here. Starting with the beyond part, which basically consists of one spot as per the guide. And here I might be making the name up but bear with me. The seven sacred pools or Ohe'a Gulch. It’s supposed to be a series of waterfalls and pools. And I am speculating here because we didn't visit the spot...as it was way beyond and my adventurous spirit was taking a break in our hotel pool at that very instant in time. At one point of time one could circumnavigate the island going way way beyond from here...but a recent earthquake had rendered that part of the road useless. Continuing on our journey backwards...Hana is a beautiful little coastal town. It reminded me quiet a lot of Goa. The same colonial style houses, laid back atmosphere and pristine beaches. But the town per se is just the means to an end. Because if you just blindly run though the erstwhile road you would miss 99% of all the famed beauty and will end up massively disappointed with the 1% that you actually find at Hana. The last line is a gist of the story of a journo that the missez narrated to me during our drive. Her rationale behind the story was to make me stop at all possible touristy attractions peppered throughout the road. And she was partially right in that because I was driving literally like a hypnotized zombie, hypnotized by the sheer zigzags of the road and zombified by the top down mustang. The distance from the airport to Hana is roughly arnd 60 miles. An hours drive on a freeway, 40-45 minutes for a loony. But it took us nearly 5 hours to reach Hana courtesy the umpteen stops. We waded for some time on the black sand beach at Hana after I had stuffed my face with chips, grilled cheese sandwich and some local chicken delicacy. Right before Hana we took a left turn into some local park. Another missez discovery. Another black sand beach. There was also a very interesting lava cave right on that beach. We actually went inside it and it ended right into the sea. The rest of the coastline was pretty rocky, with picturesque stone arches formed as a result of the never-ending battle between land and sea. There was also a curious little hole in this rocky landscape, another cave evidentially with one end opening to the skies and the other end into the sea. It was aptly named Devils' hole credited to the ghastly noises of the sea breaking on the rocks underneath. Not to mention the chance of sucking in a hapless bystander.

Also along the way were umpteen shacks selling everything from barbecued kalua pig - a local delicacy to banana bread - another local special. Missez finally made me stop at one of them literally by pulling the handbrake. I promptly claimed that this precise shack was the one that I had been looking for all along and this was the best amongst all the rest, meekly pointing to the board that proudly said "Best Banana bread in the world".

There was another detour, before this whole banana incident. This one led to a spell binding rocky coastline. The waves were almost 6 to 8 ft high, thundering on to the rock face and we were standing right beside them to catch the spray of that clear blue and white froth of salty water. Its amazing how the same terrifying water on the rock feels so soothing on ones skin. I also must note the clarity of the sea water here. It was a uniform light blue and transparent allowing us to peep right into the belly of the mighty pacific. Also on our way was the "Garden of Eden". A small drive through of sorts amongst countless species of Birds and Bushes. At the U-turn point was a small cabin with a view of an amazing waterfall on one side and a beautiful valley opening into the deep blue ocean on the other. This waterfall is supposed to be the opening sequence of the first Jurassic park movie if you remember. I can't really confirm this fact but I would like to believe it. Incidentally a good part of the movie was shot in and around these islands. Also on the way was a supposed hidden waterfall, which remained hidden despite our valiant attempts at discovering it. I actually hiked 2 different trails to find even a hint of a waterfall, even a small puddle of water would have done in the end but failed. I promptly had my revenge by gulping down a full half liter bottle of water down my throat.

Also, before figuratively hitting the road, we had stocked ourselves with a 24 pack of water bottles, a sunscreen lotion, a beach mat and other assorted stuff. I generously helped myself with the sunscreen, but my original skin tan finally broke through soon enough. Part credit also goes to the top less mustang. The top was down throughout the TO journey and up and down in intervals on the FROM journey. There was a heavy downpour on our way back, but I still managed to open up the top on every few minutes of the clearing in the heavens above. Any description of the road would be incomplete without a comment on the actual road. It really is an engineering marvel. The road has been cut out literally from the rock face, and is right by the sea for the good part of it. Due to the terrain, it keeps dropping and rising in elevation every now and then leading to countless hairpin and blind turns through lush green forests. The ample bubbling brooks lead to countless bridges, with traffic on one side halting every now and then to let the oncoming traffic pass on the single lane path. The average speed is around 15 miles for an hour and should be a good 5 miles/hour less to appreciate the beauty surrounding you. The countlessness of the bridges and hairpins though is a writers privilege. There are 56 bridges and 600 curves on this enchanting motorway.

We stopped at a surfing beach on our way back, but a heavy downpour and 2 fragile bladders cut short the stay. It was already dark when we reached back to the hotel. So with relieved bladders, the taste of a frozen pizza in the mouth and the dream of a dip in the hotel pool, it was lights out for day 2.

PS : Needless to say, we clicked a lot of snaps. The count at the end of day was some 150 odd.

Hawa hawaii....day 1 and other BS

I have been postponing this for almost a week now...so in the words of "Rage Against the Machine"...it had to come out someday, it had to come out somehow...what better place then here, what better time then now...

True to the spirit of the blog, this ones a travelogue to a land far far away, in the middle of nowhere holding the promise of an enchanted world. The aformentioned land being the isle-land of Hawaii...or rather the islands of Hawaii. The trip promises a flurry of places with unpronouncable names, cliches upon cliches on the wonder that is nature...and loads of self promotion. I would not like to give away the entire plot right at the beginning...but you get the drift. So take your pick and think hard, very hard if you really wanna go through this long drawn out literary torture. I for one would just go ahead and keep writing assuming someone out there is praising my absolute grasp of the plot and language......

Another STOP sign, effectively the last escape route....and if you are still reading this....welcome to my world. You are doomed. Okiiiiieee...now that we have fulfilled the customary requirements of basic BS..lets get on with the story. The idea to visit Hawaii was essentially a "Eureka!!" moment. In a fit to please the missez...my brain got wired in some solemn way to pop this "Bulb" called hawaii over my head. So from then on till the day we left, started the continious squabbling over where to stay, which flight to take, which car to rent, what activities to book, what shorts to buy for swimming, what not for snorkelling, what swimsuit for sunbathing on the beach, which skirt for wading in the sea, which tops to wear at all the various occasions we were not going to attend and so on and so forth. The ususal stuff. And on the very last day before leaving...darn we do not have a "nice" camera. Nice being the operative word here. So Sony was made 350 $'s richer and I brought home a mat finish Sony DSC H3. All the banalities out of the way...we were packed and ready to embark on a week long vacation, which always seemed too short to begin with, and the missez had hammered that home time and again. I too secretly thought that it would be too short, but how could I ever agree with her without a fight. That would be like breaking atleast 7 different rules of "The Manual of Marriage" and another 20 different ones of "The 1st Anniversary Bible". So now that sufficient water has flown under the bridge, I can make this knowledge "of agreeing with the missez" public. There would be quiet a few "sufficient water under the bridge and I can make knowledge public" moments throughout this post. So from now on I would simply refer to it as a "WUBI" moment.

Day 1: Thursday Jan 24th' 08

We had to get up very early in the night that day, and this does sound like a contradiction but thats what it is. 3 AM to be precise. I slept around 4 hrs. Missez claims to have slept for like an hour becasue I didn't help her in packing...although I know that all the excitement had got to her. The first flight was at 6.05 from Newark. I had booked a limo, the prior night to avoid all the negative excitment in the morning but as usual the limo was late ,the driver was kinda lost. I took it in my stride and lo and behold we were chatting with a jovial sardarji on our way to Newark. I stumbled in my stride during the security check at the airport...there were too many things to manage...and the missez was overwhelmed by the moment. But we got through without being the subject of public humiliation. 3 something hours later we had landed at DFW airport in Dallas, TX. I must mention the size of that airport. It claims to be as big areawise as the island of Manhattan. And it really is big. One flight down, one to go. I spent the next 9 odd hours tossing and turning in an airplane seat, trying to find that mythical sweet spot of comfort. The missez on the other hand was all comfy in her petite frame and spent most of those hours sprawled on a couple of middle row seats. By the time we were over the islands, all the passengers were wide awake and the excitment was palpable....breaking into loud cheers on the first sight of land and sea through the pigeon hole windows of the airplane.

We had no checked in baggage and were out of the arrival area in a snap to catch the first glimpse of the magnificient view. A blue Mustang convertible was acquired as the vehicle of choice and the very first thing that I did was to take the top down. Missez loaded up on all the possible touristy material ever printed on Hawaii and off we went to our hotel. Hawaii as I mentioned before is an archipelago of islands. We had landed on one of them called Maui and would continue to stay on it for most part. Let me bore you with some history and geography or as I like to call it the "lay of the land". Maui as an island is a result of the convergence of the lava flows of 2 dormant and not so dormant volcanoes one each on its east and west side. Thereby providing a classic combination of pristine beaches and lofty mountain peaks all within a stretch of a few tens of miles. We were staying on the touristy side of the island, the west side, with all its resorts and shopping areas and miles of pristine beaches lapping at the foot of these resorts. Our hotel too was right on the beach...and our love affair with multistorried buildings continued as we were put up in a room on the top floor of a 12 floor building, with a view of the magnificient ocean right from the balcony or as it is locally known the lanai. The sliding glass door to the lanai would remain open thorughout our stay whenever we were in our room bringing in the sound of crashing waves and the beautiful view of the spotted blue and white of the ocean and the sky.These were pretty much the last things we heard and saw to end that very long day. Our bodies were still operating in Eastern Time and the tossing and turning had taken its due toll as well. So it was lights out for day 1 at 7.30 PM Maui Time.