Day 171 - Ala Moana

This morning was shopping morning! Dad first drove us girls to Walmart where we (not dad) could buy Hawaiian trumpery and whim-wham. And finally we had these popular "Mauna Loa" macadamia nuts with lots of chocolate. We spent the rest of the morning nearby in the Ala Moana Shopping Center, the world's largest outdoor shopping mall that caters mainly to Asian tourists - with expensive brand bags, jewelry and apparel. Before we (not dad) could go window gazing we (I) were chatted up by a Marc who was pretty confident, though. What he all said in front of my sister's and mother's eyes and ears... In the end we lost five minutes of our small shopping time budget for nothing and hurried up and down the shops, and even scrambled through a hhhuuuge Victoria's Secret mess of strollers, bras, bikinis, wheelchairs, sportswear and diverse underpants.....

Shopping is no fun anyway at peak times, when you're in a hurry, and when you know you can't buy anything anyway, because both not only very expensive, but also your suitcase is at the 50 pound limit.

In the afternoon we went to the Ala Moana Beach Park (close to the shopping mall) to watch not only the sunset, but also a poor boy being forced to a photo shooting by his parents... By the way, this beach park is an artificially created peninsula where a new resort was planned that then never was built. Actually, I generally don't support such big landscape alterations, like in Singapore, just to create room for even more business and attracting ever more people. I am aware that, by visiting Honolulu, we are a part of this problem, probably even worsening the situation. At least in the case of "Magic Island" (how this part of the Ala Moana Beach Park is called), however, the new space is not used for hotels, condos, businesses or even casinos (like in Singapore), but to create a space for recreation that seems to be welcomed by locals as well as guests.