Travelogue, Day 3: Polynesian Cultural Center

Our third day we started our day with a nice, long walk along the beach. I saw my first bike on water (have you ever seen such a thing?) and Ben's twin. We also saw the BEST old people...you know the ones, they don't care what they look like and they're just all sprawled out for the world to see. We took a dip in the ocean, read, laid out a bit, then got cleaned up for the PCC.

We opted for the guided tour and our hostess was named Sarah. She was from the island of Japan, a newly wed, and really cute. We were put in "families" while we were there and toured all the islands together. The first show we saw was a canoe show.

Each of the major islands had a dance they did on canoes and it was very impressive.

I loved the Tahitian hula dancers the best.

They are the ones you think of when you think HULA and they know how to shake it! What I would do for those abs... They tried their best to teach me, but I think I'm unteachable when it comes to dancing. If you've made it a third of your life without knowing how to shake it, you probably just aren't going to get it. Oh well.

We then went and visited the various islands and saw demonstrations in music, dancing, and cooking. We also went on a little boat ride and it was very beautiful.

Everyone there was so happy and I just loved it. The scenery was also lovely.

The best part, of course, was the luau dinner and show. They gave us a fresh flower lei, ALOHA!, and then seated us in a huge room with a stage in front.

They brought up the roasted pig from the ground and had entertainment while the buffet began.

We ordered special frozen drinks in pineapples that tasted like dessert. They were so nice after a humid day in the sun.

We ate traditional Hawaiian food including these slimy, translucent noodles and purple rolls made of taro. The best was the kahlua pork and sticky rice though! During dinner we were recognized with about 50 other people for celebrating an anniversary. We did an anniversary slow dance on stage and I think Ben was embarrassed the whole time.

After dinner we had time to take pictures and buy souvenirs before the show began. Ben likes tikis. They each mean something: prosperity, long life, etc.

The luau show was called HA: The Breath of Life and it was stunning! I absolutely loved it!!! It was BY FAR better than the other luau show we went to on Kauai. There were probably 50 dancers that told the story of one boy's life as he journeyed to manhood. It was amazing. I loved the dance they did when he was married, the tradition they showed of wrapping the couple together in a quilt, and also the visual representation of death and the afterlife. So awesome! Oh, and how could I forget the fire dancers?!? He had to prove himself worthy of marrying the girl of his choice, so they taught him to walk on fire, then he joined the fire dancers for a number. It was so cool! Okay, wrong choice of words, it was so HOT! They served yummy pineapple icecream with frozen fruit and a maraschino cherry during intermission. It was an open air stage, we had very good seats down low and center stage, and a perfect night.

If you ever go to Oahu, I highly recommend spending an entire day and night at the Polynesian Cultural Center.