Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa

The last place you'd be on a tropical island: atop a 13,000-feet (4,000m) mountain. There are actually two of them. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, meaning "White Mountain" and "Long Mountain", respectively.

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano, with a celestial observatory on the summit.

A plant called "Silversword"


A spiritual hitchhiker we picked up on the way up.

The altitude got the better of me, my brain not getting enough air. You'll feel "high" naturally.

Cool-looking dome. There are 13 telescopes on the summit, each representing a country or a research institution. Japan has one called "Subaru" set up there.



We came back down Mauna Kea and went up Mauna Loa sitting next to Mauna Kea. This one is active. The road to the summit is very rough.

Claw marks of lava fingers all around. So surreal. Last time it erupted was 1984.


The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).

A Day at South Point

Driving on unpaved road for 10 minutes watching wind mills along the way.


There are ranches alongside the road.


Finally, the ocean!


This is the southernmost tip in the States. Hence the name "South Point". It's not touristy at all. Windy, dusty,dry and barren. No information center or guides available. Still people just go there to see what it's like. It's more known as a good fishing spot. That's why I spent two hours driving there. I didn't catch anything, though.

Happy New Year!

We went to Kona to spend the new year's eve into 2009, thanks to a friend couple in the neighborhood who invited us over. The east side of the island where we live gets a lot of rain this time of the year, so this trip was a nice getaway. We'd like to go there again for a change. It's only two and a half hours by car.

Kona Trip Vol.3

More hula dancers. They presented how Hawaii came about, with different dances and songs.

Lava tube. It's 7 miles long and goes into the mountain nearby. The earthquake of October 2006 caused it to cave in itself.

The sunset. Because we live on the eastside with a 4,200 meter high mountain in between, we don't get to see this often.

Kona Trip Vol.2

Hapuna Beach. One of the popular spots with a cozy beach.

Waikoloa Village. A resort with a shopping mall.

We enjoyed free hula performance.

Kona Trip Vol.1

Took a 2 hour car trip to Kona on the other side of the island with two good friends.

Waipio Valley. It takes 45 min to go down there on foot, 3 hours to come back up. Will try some other time.

Day 8

Day 7

Moke and I spent one extra day in LA, mostly recuperating. We'll fly to Honolulu tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll be able to walk out the airport with a big mahalo.

Day 7 (LA)

Day 6

Left Las Vegas around 7:30am. Arrived in Covina, CA around noon, where the shipping company inspected and checked in my car. I was told to wash my car a bit, because a dirty car would just slow things down during the quarantine, even if it's a dead bug on your window shield.

Enterprise came to pick me up at the shipping yard, and I moved all my belongings into the rental car.

Finally checked in to the hotel near LAX airport. Will sit back and relax tomorrow for the big day.

Day 2

I stopped for gas somewhere in Illinois, and found a motel where I could get piggy-back connection to the internet in the parking lot. 350 more miles to Topeka, KS where I'll be staying in a hotel for the night. It's pretty hot. My cat is doing okay if not great. He's resting under the seat..