Hawaii Part II

So after a couple of days, I've realized

a few things I forgot to share

from my trip to Paradise.

We got there late Tuesday evening and the next

morning we had our

Polynesian Cultural Center tour.

It was awesome!

I was so impressed with this place. All the performers

are students at BYU Hawaii and they earn

their tuition by being a part of all the shows that

go on at the PCC.

I learned quite a bit.

There are six Polynesian Islands.

Hawaii

Fiji

Tahiti

Tonga

Samoa and

Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Each had it's own "village" and you would

go and they would teach about their

customs, cultures and way of life!

It was so neat!

Unfortunately I did not charge my camera

so when we got there I had a dead battery :(

So no pictures from the PCC. I know sad...so sad.

Thanks to Shar, I have this picture.

So Thursday night we turned in earlier

than normal because we were planning on getting

up and going to the temple early the next morning.

We got to our room, turned on the TV to the

local news and went into a little bit of shock.

They were reporting of an earthquake that

took place in Japan and now Hawaii was under

a Tsunami watch!!! Really!! On our vacation!!

We were a little freaked out. The only fear that

came over me was if this really happens how long

is it going to take for me to get back home to my family??

The hotel management came around and told us of

the plan to evacuate up when the time came.

All 15 of us gathered in one room and

my uncle offered a prayer of comfort.

We were up ALL night! ALL NIGHT!

Waiting for the dreadful 3:15 am to hit and

see what would really happen.

In the end...not a lot happened. Thank goodness.

Despite no sleep the night

before we didn't want it to ruin our plans.

We still made it to the temple the

next day. We were tired, but going to the temple

wasn't something we wanted to miss.

We hopped on The Bus (yes, public transportation)

and after a transfer and 75 minutes we were there!

The temple and the grounds were gorgeous!

After we went through a session we went

down to the cafeteria and enjoyed a

yummy curry dish and then headed

back out to the bus stop to wait for our ride.

We were very proud of ourselves when we made

it back to Waikiki safe and sound.

(Local transportation doesn't have the best

reputation, but it wasn't bad. I think it's

the best way to really experience life and people there)

Needless to say there was

Never a dull moment in our vacation.

We were busy going here and going there.

It was absolutely

WONDERFUL!