Honolulu Beyond The Beaches, Part 2: Chinatown

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​Honolulu Beyond The Beaches, Part 2: Chinatown

...Continued from previous post:
      From the Izumo Taisha Mission (see previous post) we could see off in the distance what appeared to be the roof of a Chinese temple.   ​

      We walked over, passing a couple of interesting buildings and shops along the way, 

...and discovered the Kuan Yin Temple,

...a place that radiated color and joy.

       We also discovered that behind he temple, right in the heart of downtown Honolulu, was a vast, beautiful botanical garden we'd never heard of, the Foster Botanical Garden.

       Admission was only $5.

     After our visit to the Foster Botanical Garden we walked along Nu'uanu Stream,

...until we were deep in the heart of Chinatown.

      As it was by now well past lunch time, our destination was a Thai-Lao restaurant on Hotel Street we visited last year and liked called Olay's,

...which looks rather typical from the outside,       

...but inside is charming and whimsical,

...and which opens into a likewise charming, whimsical garden patio,

...where there's a koi and turtle pond. 

        To our surprise, our server asked us hadn't we been here last year? When we told her that we had she said that she thought so, because she recognized us. We figured either we're a couple of unforgettable old folks or our server was just serving us some typical Hawaiian aloha, or friendliness.

      For lunch we split an order of Pan Woon Sen, a dish made with glass noodles, veggis and chicken, which was very good.

     After lunch we strolled around Chinatown, looking at the shops, markets, and plazas.

       The Maunakea Marketplace on Maunakea Street

      Gifts left for the statue.

      We then took the bus back to Waikiki, where we arrived in time for dinner at Happy's

      After dinner we walked into downtown Waikiki,

...joining the  crowd,

...and stopping for a shave ice at the Island Vintage Shave Ice,

...which surely makes the worlds most delicious shave ices, 

...and which are best when eaten in the Royal Hawaiian Center park.

...where we did in fact eat ours.
      To be continued...