VIETNAM NOVEMBER 2019

ashy drongo

black-crested bulbul

bronzed drongo

emerald dove

Germaine's peacock pheasant

Siamese fireback (male)

Siamese fireback (female)

stripe-throated  bulbul

  

   

  A few facts about Vietnam:   There are nine  million people in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).  Vietnam is roughly the size of California with  96 million people in the country.  Motorbikes are the main mode of travel in the cities.  Traffic patterns seem chaotic but it is like a synchronized dance.  Rarely is there only one person on a bike, sometimes a whole family of four or five.  They carry unbelievably precarious loads.  Work crews often have a passenger carrying shovels and other tools.  Often each person (including the driver)  is looking at their cell phones and texting.  Women in dresses or skirts and heels are commonplace on bikes.  The storefronts lining every street are very small, specializing in only a few products.  Mini Home Depot-like stores, tire shops, cycle shops, bridal shops (sometimes a dozen  in a row!), coffee shops, food carts...it is an endless display of tiny businesses.  Usually run by a family who  live in the back.  Laundry hung out on every available fence, awning, basically any structure that can be hung up on.

Tuesday October 29       The day before our trip we received a "red alert" message from the tax office.  Some idiot printed out the wrong address on the return envelope.  Of course, we had mailed our check in!  When I called to explain that we were leaving the country for three weeks, I was assured they were working with the post office to catch all mail sent to the wrong PO Box.

Wednesday October 30    We left Glide at 9:30am, 26 degrees, clear and sunny.  We made a quick stop in Sutherlin at Ford's Pond to see the tundra swan.  It was around 2:30 when we arrived in Portland and checked into the Ramada.

Thursday October 31-Friday November 1    Day #1    Happy Halloween!  Portland to San Francisco flight two hours.  San Francisco to Narita (Tokyo) flight ten hours (I think by that time we were fourteen hours ahead).  Narita to Ho Chi Minh City  ( formerly Saigon) flight seven hours.  Lots of food, too much in fact!  It took about an hour to get our visas at Ton Sun Hut airport even though we had applied online.    Got our passports stamped, luggage collected, then met our driver for the Ibis Hotel outside.  Our room at the Ibis was beautiful (but cramped),  the bed and bedding amazing, with a roomy shower.  Ron was so rummy he saw "spiders" on the flooring, kept pointing it out to me.  Turned out to be a swirl on the wood floor!  We finally got to bed around 3am.











Saturday November 2  Day #2  We woke up  at 9:30am.  Ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and enjoyed the extensive buffet.  We had trouble getting our key card to operate the elevator.  After eating we spent some time organizing our packs.  We walked a few blocks to absorb some of the atmosphere.  So many motorbikes!  Lots of cafes and food carts crammed next to the narrow and tight sidewalks.  We swam in the rooftop pool, relaxed in the sun, checked out the bar.  Enjoyed an afternoon nap!  We ate dinner at the hotel, fried shrimp and rice and spicy beef stir fry.  Early to bed.

Ibis Hotel rooftop pool

 













Sunday November 3 Day #3  Ho Chi Minh City to Cat Tien Bao Nguyen (pronounced BOW NEW win), our trip leader and guide, picked us up from the Ibis  Hotel.  In the van already was Bryan and Diane (Montana) who had just arrived in Vietnam.  Then swung by the Victory Hotel for Ken and Helen (England), who had been waiting for us to join them for breakfast.  Bao had not let them know he was picking us up instead.  Next, we picked up Patrick (France) at yet another hotel.  We were on our way. We drove through narrow streets teeming with motorbikes.  We saw so many interesting shops and street vendors.  Our lunch stop was a family-friendly cafe about halfway through the city.  Our choice was broken rice (steamed rice) with either a pork chop or chicken leg.  It was delicious, but hard to cut using only a tablespoon!  Lots of tiny unidentified bowls of sides dishes, and dessert was a purple runny tapioca-like "pudding" with something like gummy bears floating on top.  Nice clean bathrooms however.  After another three hours driving through non-stop city (and at least a hundred bridal shops!) we arrived at the river crossing to Cat Tien National Park.  We needed to hand over our passports to the hotel for our stay.  Everyone except POLLY easily found their passports.  After digging through both of our duffel bags and backpacks mine was still missing.  We had clothes and gear flung all over the muddy riverbank.  Bao decided to let us look for it later in our room.  How embarrassing!  We walked onto the rough ferry boat for the short river crossing.  The river water looked similar to a mocha drink.  We had a short quarter mile walk with our luggage to our cabin, the "Thorn-bill" cottage.  The rooms were very clean, well stocked, electric kettle, two beds with mosquito netting, and a huge wardrobe.  For comfort we had a/c and ceiling fans.  The huge bathtub had a shower hose but no curtain.  Opened my duffel on the bed and the first thing that jumped out was my passport!  We took a "shower" standing in the tub using a glass mug  to rinse as we could not get the shower hose to work.  Ron developed a major head cold in the past half day and was stuffed up like a Thanksgiving turkey!  I started the daily laundry ritual done in the sink.  We all gathered in the communal dining building for drinks and bird list countdown before dinner.  Typical Asian architecture, open walls and thatched roof, wooden floor raised off the ground.  We could see the river through the trees.  Dinner was served family-style:  whole fried tilapia, rice, stuffed fried tofu with tomato sauce, stir fried beef, veggie dish.  We only had tiny bowls, like a fruit cup.  We later learned that when using chopsticks, you fill the bowl over and over with the different courses.  If you use a plate, you use a fork, not chop sticks.  We went on a walk to an open field looking for owls and nightjars.  Early to bed!

ferry crossing to Cat Tien National Park

Hornbill Cottage at Cat Tein

ruby-eyed pit viper

straight from the source

ginger family plant 

Monday November 4 Day #4  Cat Tien

We met at 6am and walked 2 or 3 easy miles on the park road to the pheasant blind.  We walked about 20 yards into the jungle to get into the blind.  It was tiny and cramped for 8 people.  It was muddy inside and was furnished with a few "seats", that is, almost miniature plastic stools and an overturned bucket.  Our targets here were the Germain's peacock-pheasant (tick!), the spectacular Siamese fireback (tick!) green peafowl (tick!) and the endemic grey-faced tit-babbler (tick!).  The viewing slits cut through the netting were awkwardly placed.  Only a few people had good views.  Back at camp around 7:30 we enjoyed omelets (plain fluffy eggs) and oven-fresh baguettes (bahn mi), soft white cheese (similar to Laughing Cow), and American style coffee.  After breakfast we walked  the same road, opposite direction, then veered  into the jungle again.  The mostly rocky trail led to another blind, this time our targets  were blue-rumped pitta and bar-bellied pitta (both no-shows) .  After a good wait for them we headed back through the jungle on the rocky non-path.  We posed for a group picture at the base of a gigantic  ancient  tung tree.  We kept walking on the park road, flicking off leeches once in a while.  It was  hot and humid.  Walked, walked, walked....Ron and I finally turned back as we were sort of exhausted, Ron's cold was acting up, and I was getting a blister.  Bao had fixed our shower hose and we were looking forward to cooling off.  As we peeled our sticky clothes off, a fully-loaded leech fell onto the floor!  As I rinsed off in the shower, I saw rivulets of blood coursing down the drain.  I kept rinsing off and I kept bleeding.  I finally located the source on my inner knee.  By the time we both had showered and dried off, it looked like a crime scene on the formerly white towels.  The leech bites kept on bleeding through about 3 bandaid changes, but after a time it stopped.  Between the chafing and blisters we hobbled to dinner. Dinner was a tasty sampling of typical "fixed menu" dishes:  tiny egg rolls, morning glory "spinach", chicken and onions cooked with turmeric, pork, rice....and Tiger beer.  We had the daily bird list countdown.  Early to bed.

morning glory

prawns for lunch

Tuesday November 5 Day #5 Cat Tien

Love the WiFi here, it is so strong.  I am able to post daily emails quickly.  I chose to skip the morning walk because of my blister, plus I felt my own cold coming on.  We met at 5:30am for breakfast.  Ron only had a bahn mi and water.  I chose "noodles",  actually dim sum soup, so delicious!  Ron  went on the morning walk with the rest of the group.  That turned out to be a three hour walk on the park road to the wetland area.  At least they got a jeep ride back.  I spent the morning puttering around in the room, hand washing in the tiny sink with the tremendous sputtering water faucet.  The worst item was my pants, I can't imagine how I didn't see the bloody mess on both legs from my leech attack!  Lots of sitting on the bed with my feet elevated and drinking hot tea for my throat.  Ron arrived back at 10:15am, soaked through with sweat (more laundry, ha ha!), but luckily no leeches. After his shower we napped until lunch.    Ron was jazzed about going back to the blind for an afternoon of photography.  He enjoyed having the blind to himself for three hours of great bird viewing.  More laundry on his return included a very muddy backpack.  More relaxing for me, a "day off".  Don't know what our fellow birders thought of us, missing out on more specialty birds.  We are to be packed and ready to leave early tomorrow.




Wednesday November 6 Day #6 Cat Tien to Di Linh & Nui San Pass
 
My cold came on hard and fast today, I went through all the stages in a matter of a few hours.  There was evidence of heavy partying last night in the dining hall. Many empty beer cans scattered all around, leaves and debris everywhere.   The staff hadn't even turned on the lights when we arrived.  We finally got our breakfast, sort of.  Fresh bread but not enough for everyone, fresh squeezed juice came after we were done eating.  I don't think we had coffee.  By 6:30 we assembled at the truck for our ride to the wetlands.  We climbed in and sat on wet metal seats.  I was glad we had our air cushions!  We drove for about an hour, ducking under branches.  We  walked back to the lodge.  I had a few leeches but the one on my boot left voluntarily and hungry.  We had two hours back in the room (more showering!) to finish packing and relax.  I made coffee, yeah!  Our lunch was fries, chicken tenders, beef/onion/pepper stir fry, our favorite egg rolls, and rice.  I had coconut water right out of the shell.  Talk about "farm to table" fresh!  We scrambled into the boat, crossed the river, loaded into the van heading to our next destination:   Di Linh and Nui San Pass.  Three hours later we checked into the Ivory Falls Hotel.  Our hotel host Phuong is a graceful beautiful woman  who sincerely welcomed us. What a spectacular view of the valley and coffee plantations! There is a beautiful pool here surrounded by gardens.  I imagined a scenario where I could spend an hour or two relaxing at the pool, but was quickly disabused of that idea!  As soon as we dropped our luggage in the room we jumped back into the van for our dusk  walk for evening specialties.  We did hear an owl and saw nightjars.  Back home for a late dinner of ginger chicken (Ron raved about that!), fresh salad, fried rice, and watermelon and red dragon fruit.  There was a crackling fire in the fire pit which felt great as it had cooled way down.  More "bathtub showering" created a wet mess in the classy bathroom.  Right to bed in the most luxurious bed ever!

coffee plantations

 

Mexican sunflowers everywhere

coffee beans ripening on the vine

view of plantations from our room at ivory Falls Hotel

   

we had no time to enjoy the pool!

Thursday November 7 Day #7 Da lat

Today started with the normal very early alarm, 4:30.  We drove to the point of last evening's road walk, only we walked down the road.  It was so active, birds everywhere, and all very vocal.  It was so much fun.  We turned back, made a pit stop (literally, a stand up over a hole in the floor bathroom!) at the store.  Boa bought a few packets of weird little cakes which he passed around.  Then he got his machete (!) from the van and we followed him up the road a ways.  When  he found the opening he was looking for, he straddled the cement drainage ditch and started hacking away.  We all watched with bated breath, and not a little trepidation.  The hillside he was cutting through was straight up, dense,  and muddy.  Then he turned back to us and invited us to follow him.  I really did not think I could jump across the ditch, and knew it was too deep to step down and up over it.  Patrick was first over it, merely a big step for him.  He held out his hand and I took the leap!  I did it!  We scrambled up using roots, branches,vines, and trunks to get up the steep slippery slope.  We got to the blind quickly, thankfully it was a short trail.  Bao laid out his meal worms and before we knew it, our target bird, the white-cheeked laughingthrush appeared.  After watching birds here for a while, we backtracked to the road.  There was another blind further up the road that I had to decline hiking down to as it was very steep.  I waited on the road, perched on the guardrail, for the gang  to come back up.  There was a lot of traffic that was fun to watch.  I did manage to photograph one of the elusive black butterflies.  Ron said I did not miss anything as there were no birds down the trail.  Back to the hotel for a fine lunch of barracuda (very tasty), salad, and watermelon.

dragon fruit & watermelon

Bryan Diane Helen Ron Ken

Bao with machete

typical commute

greenhouses

We left for next destination:  Da Lat,  a large busy city.  We stopped at a mall for Patrick to buy a new shirt as he left his other one at Cat Tein.  While he shopped we walked around the massive outdoor venue where  outdoor events take place, like concerts and parades  There were people racing remote control cars, groups having photos taken, models posing, families enjoying the flowers, many tourists like us (well, not like us birders!), and a lot of teenagers skateboarding.  Our hotel, Monet Garden Villa, was opulent and ornately  furnished.  Hated walking in with our dirty boots and muddy pants.  The female personnel wore  traditional iconic Vietnamese Ao Dai (pronounced ow zai) dress.  It is a tight-fitting long silk dress, slit to the waist, worn over long loose pants. We carted  our bags up to the second floor and immediately violated to pristine room with all of our gear!  We ate dinner at Chuong Dalat House, a delightful quasi-outdoor cafe.  The unusual wonderful addition of indoor hydroponic gardening made it special as I knew the greens came  from feet away from our table.  The fixed menu included soup, egg rolls, salad, beef stir fry, chicken,fish, shrimp..dishes kept appearing.  I was  full before even half the dishes were presented.  The service was fast and friendly.  I tried artichoke tea.... unusual and a taste to be acquired.

DaLat public square

DaLat public square

DaLat public square

 

typical coffeehouse, one of hundreds we passed

Friday November 8 Day #8 Da Lat

Breakfast buffet in the hotel, lovely presentation and too many choices, as usual!  We explored the Da Lat Plateau.  Our first hike on the ridge trail was through evergreen forest with stunning views of the valleys and hills, including Mt. Langbian (7100 ' elevation).   Lots of bird activity all around.  The trail got very steep, so I cut off from the group as they descended.  On my climb back up there was a fat brown snake in the trail.  It was too quick for my camera, so it remains an unknown.  We then walked down the road towards two other blinds.  We had to hop the guardrail, drop down the embankment, cross over a stream, scramble up a steep hill winding through various trees, roots, bushes on all fours.  This blind was a bit larger than the previous ones.  We looked down over the mesh netting walls.  The  viewing was easier but it  was harder on the feet due to the steep slope. We ate lunch at a very fun restaurant, Nha' Hang Datanla.  It was part of an adventure park that drew many tourists for the zip lining, high rope course, Alpine coaster (a wild ride in an open sled on a looped raised track), and a waterfall that people climb up.  After a delicious lunch (the menu included ostrich thigh steak, sauteed frog, rabbit in curry sauce, wild pork with lemongrass, grilled deer) we sat at our tables overlooking all the activities.  Oh, we are supposed to be birding! not watching the zip liners! We relaxed for almost two hours.  Then we walked on the road (Beyout) on the Langbian Plateau to Bat Lands waterfall.  It seemed like a long drive back to Da Lat, but as we entered the city we were already familiar with the landmarks.  After the countdown in the hotel lobby we ate dinner in the restaurant.  The service was horrible, waited over an hour for our meals to arrive, and then it was twenty minutes between one dish and the next.  It was just OK.

Mt. Langbian

Patrick Ken Diane Bao Helen Bryan Ron

Saturday November 9 Day #9 Da Lat

Forest walk:  "Khu Du Liob Da Ngoai Suoitia" Forest.  It was a nice walk in an open forest.  Lots of tourists passed on motorbikes.   At one point we had to cross over a muddy stream.  Bao was laughing as he videoed us as we stepped over rocks and boards.  I said it was a set up.  We had lunch afterwards at a gas station/quick mart/restaurant/coffee shop.  As per the usual, young twenty-somethings were running the whole place.  The food was outstanding, the service very friendly and efficient.  We had crispy fried rice with seafood.  My Americano coffee was delicious.  It was a very pleasant stop.  Afterwards, we walked on the Dalat Plateau in  Bidoup Nui Ba National Park.  We returned to Dalat House for dinner.  Oh yes, the hotel name changed today and new signs were up and WiFi changed!


 



November 10 Day #10 Da Lat to Yok Don

We drove six hours to Yok Don area.  It rained the whole time, Typhoon #6 Nakri.  Along the way we walked in the same park from a few days ago.  Then it was sunny and crawling with hundreds of teen aged students.  This day, in the rain, it was silent.  However, we managed to see our target bird.  Our driver picked us up at the bottom of the road, thankfully we did not have to walk back up.  We had a coffee break at a quaint local store and cafe.  We had  strong Vietnamese coffee (at this point we still did not know how to drink it:  iced and with a teaspoon of sweetened condensed milk. We were still trying to drink the tepid uncut bitter dregs).  Bao passed around yummy  lemon cookies.  Lunch was at a park hotel/resort overlooking a lake.  On a dry sunny day it would have been fabulous.  Today it was cold, windy, pouring rain.  The deck was just about floating.  The food was delicious, ice cream cones for dessert.  We arrived late afternoon at our home stay hotel.  The town was very small, in fact, we were surprised there was even a hotel.  It was very basic, thin mattress, shower but  no stall, tiny sink that drains directly across the floor so it is always wet.  However, the room is very clean and we have a/c.  As usual, I have laundry hung all over the room!  We walked in the  mist a few blocks  to our eatery.  Bao says this area is considered "low class" due to a lot of minorities, Laotians and Cambodians.  We are actually about 7k from the Cambodian border.  Our food was very good, served family style.  The best course was BBQ chicken, and I have finally mastered the art of using chopsticks.  We went to bed with the sound of pouring rain, under tiny thin blankets and on top of the thin mattress.

 


 






Monday November 11 Day #11 Yok Don

Up at 4:30...  We walked in Anh Duong National Park.  Foreigners must be accompanied by a local.  Bao had lots of permits to get for our trip.  We walked 3.5 miles, had breakfast in the park (again, run by all young people).  Our simple meal was one fried egg and a baguette, coffee.  Then back for another three mile walk.  It rained hard at times.  The walking was on paved park trails and roads, slow and quiet.  The park appeared abandoned and probably 90% of it was no longer in use.  The buildings were crumbling, the swimming pool looked like a swamp, the park statues were bizarrely painted figures, part folk heroes, partly cartoonish animals.  There was a huge Buddha statue rising out of the mist on a mountain hill. Ron and I decided to turn back. We spent some time sitting in one of the crumbling cement gazebos and we saw many good birds.  Soon, the rest of the group returned.  Lunch at the same place, so delicious!  We had  sticky rice cooked in bamboo, amazing smoky and fragrant flavors.  There were also kebobs, fish, cooked cabbage (wonderful flavors!) and Vietnamese coffee over ice, today it tasted like a mocha cappuccino!  Ron and I called it a day, stayed in the hotel for the afternoon while the group went off.  After a hot shower  we packed our gear. The relaxed afternoon on our own was a treat.  Ate dinner at the same cafe.

dawn breaking as we drove to Ban Don

 

Buddha in the mist

rice cooked in bamboo  over charcoal

 

hibiscus unfurling

Patrick Ron Bao Diane Bryan

Tuesday November 12 Day #12  Yok Don to Mang Den

We birded the Mekong River, a short drive from our "home stay".  It is a beautiful park called Ban Don.  The river was full and muddy but beautiful in the morning sunshine.  Another "abandoned" park, young staff running the operation,  and this place has an elephant!  We took lots of photos, even Shun took a selfie with the beast.  Our breakfast was called fried noodles and what an outstanding meal!  Bao helped me purchase two bags of local Vietnamese coffee beans.  We drove many miles to our next (and final ) stop, Mang Den,  T&T Hotel. Beautiful scenery along the way as we wound our way through the mountains.  Very nice room, a/c and fan (but no remote to turn it on!).  We had a pleasant two mile walk through the outskirts of town.    We questioned why every other building looked abandoned, only a cement shell two or three stories tall.  Bao explained that it was  planned  and developed in 2008 to attract visitors similar to Da Lat.  However, as soon as the required number of buildings went up, the backers withdrew.  Hence, the feeling of a town half finished.  In fact, Bao has purchased two of these buildings with hopes to open his own birding home stays.  (He also owns acreage in the Mekong Delta for  managed development for birding).  Our meal at the hotel restaurant was very good, but all the food is starting to look and taste the same.  We are to meet at 5am for breakfast. In bed early........soon the karaoke started, the local crowd got progressively drunker and louder and are all terrible singers!  It was so loud!  We buried our heads under the pillows, ha ha.  Fortunately, it was over around 9.

Mekong River after storms at Yok Don Park

 

elephant park at Ban Don

Wednesday November 13 Day #13 Mang Den

Breakfast was overcooked fried eggs (seemed almost like they were deep fried) and bahn mi (baguette), no butter or jam.  Strong coffee, personally if 6 ounces of hot water were added it would be perfect.  It was pleasant outside, sunny, breezy, and warm.  We started walking on the paved road, dodging traffic.  Then we angled over the berm and through a culvert onto the forest trail which quickly turned very steep.  Everyone had at least one leech attempt full contact.  They are tenacious little buggers!  Backtracked to the road and another forest trail.  There I had a magical encounter with a very cool moth who decided to stick with me for about ten minutes.  Photo op for our group.
















 Bao really wants us to see a special thrush,  he is  obsessed with finding it for us.  So we spent an hour staring up into the tree canopy and down into the brush.   The two of us were getting very restless, by now we were three hours and five miles into the morning.  We all piled in the van and were soon back at the T&T.  We had a bit of free time before lunch.  We  packed and took showers.  Meanwhile, in the restaurant there were early revelers drinking beer and making a pigsty out of the place.  I guess it is customary for folks to throw their trash and empty cans on the floor around the table.  Can't say we saw this behavior anywhere else in the country.  We left at 2:30 for our afternoon trek. By 3pm we witnessed a motorbike accident:  A family of four, including two toddlers,  wiped out on a curve and skidded a bit before falling beneath the motorbike.  Luckily, no one was hurt beyond scrapes and bumps.  It was frightening to witness.  Then, next on the very slippery trail, three people slipped, and Ron fell on his back, his feet flying out from under him.  Good thing his pack saved him from really getting hurt.  So, we gave up on that trail and drove to the falls parking area to wait for evening owls.  More  walking and waiting.  Finally, darkness came and we heard two owls calling. Headed back for dinner.  Another karaoke party right out front!

typical lunch offering

Thursday November 14 Day #14 Pleiku to HCMC

Our   last day with the group.  We joined the group at 5am for a special  breakfast of  steak and fries and bahn mi. We made a quick decision to stay back and forgo the morning walk.  It was blustery, nasty, and was the same walk as the previous day.  We felt like we were playing hooky!  We went back to sleep, set the alarm for 9.  We barely got up and showered and the group was back.  They had cut short the walk due to bad weather.  Everyone had leech problems!  Just prior to leaving, all of us already in the van, Shun prayed and left incense at the Buddha shrine.  We were driving out of town heading to Kon Tum by 10am.  We shared our final lunch in a popular local  crowded cafe.  The special dish was crispy  rice fried in a pottery bowl, making it extremely crusty around the outer edges and steamy in the center.  The servers scooped it halfway out of the bowl, and you could choose the crust or inner rice.   Of course, I loved the crust!  My second favorite course was the tofu.  We couldn't decide it if was an egg souffle bite or tofu.  There was also squid (calamari), single-bite pork ribs, fish, and vegetable dishes.  Our driver arrived before we finished lunch, so there was no long farewells.  The driver was a young man with a hot car, excellent driver and we arrived at the airport in Pleiku in no time.  It was only 1pm, our flight wasn't until 6:30pm.  We sat outside on folding chairs until 4:30 when the staff arrived for our flight.  There was no cafe or any inside seating other than a small couch.  It was interesting to see the ride-share motorbikes!  The passenger held his or her suitcase in front of them, behind the driver's back.  Ha!  I bought some Vietnamese cashews and a phin (about $2.40), the authentic Vietnamese coffee filter.  The flight to HCMC was smooth, quick, and enjoyable. Finally, we were on our own!  Our Ibis Hotel shuttle driver was waiting.

Vietnamese coffee phin (filter)

Friday November 15 Day #15

Flew to Narita (7:30 am), 6 hour flight and a three hour layover.
Flew to Honolulu, 6 hour flight, arrived at 6:30am.  Picked up our rental car, drove up the west coast of Oahu.  Stopped in McDonald's for coffee (yeah!!) and Subway for lunch.  Had to literally dodge all the homeless drug addicts in the parking lots and park rest rooms.  There were camps and shelters set up everywhere along the coast.  Many beaches and parks.  We made our way to Haleiwa AirBnb.  Our hosts own a large estate set in the hills above the town, with the ocean seen in the distance.  Malle, the owner, graciously gave me the use of her washer and dryer.  Yippee, no more bathroom sink laundry!  We did some grocery shopping, ate our quesadillas, chicken, and coleslaw.  We were in bed by 6pm.



 


Saturday November 16  

After 15 glorious hours sleeping on a wonderfully soft bed we felt rejuvenated.  Our three fans kept us relatively cool.  Breakfast was microwaved eggs (pop pop pop!), kielbasa, and English muffins.  We drove off a bit after noon and headed to  the top of the island on the North Shore.  Ron did a bird walk in an area set aside for nesting birds.  I took pictures of the waves.  When he returned, I walked down the beach a ways.  The waves were BIG and the beach steep, hence the short walk.  I wanted to eat from a  shrimp truck, Ron wasn't hungry.  So I ate a delicious local meal that included tempura shrimp, macaroni salad, and rice. We went back home for an afternoon swim, unfortunately the neighbors were already in the pool/waterfall/spa.  They hogged it for five hours, drinking with friends.  We never did get in the pool that day.

Pupukea AirBnb

Pool at Pupukea

Sunday November 17

Our internal clocks disrupted our sleep!  We were on a neighborhood nature preserve trail by 7am. The birds were out, permitting  Ron some good photography.  The trail was steep, forested, and lined with pine needles.  It ended on the very edge of the cliff.   There was a WWII pillbox, overlooking the ocean. Awesome view!  As soon as we got home, we enjoyed private time in the pool.  Same breakfast as yesterday.  Puttered around until noon, left to tour the NE shoreline.  There was rain and clouds, but it was 83 degrees.  We walked three different beaches.  When we arrived back at the  house, Gary met us and asked if the neighbors had bothered us.  He was quite upset over their unauthorized partying with non-guests.  He said they came back this afternoon and told Gary they wanted to have a BBQ and he said no!  So, they left and we had the place to ourselves.  Malle has a basket of hair products and bath gels to use with the fabulous outdoor shower behind the gazebo.  We finished off our remaining dinner foods.

Galapagos shark

Monday November 18 

We slept poorly as our circadian rhythms are still adjusting to the east to west migration.  I woke up to a giant cockroach running down my arm, ha ha, got to love the tropics!  We met our boat captain Ryan ("Finn-atic") at the Haleiwa harbor.  After a short safety session we headed out to sea around 6:30am.  Dawn was breaking, breathtaking!  We saw a green sea turtle fin, brown boobies  ("Ewa bird"), greater frigatebirds, Galapagos sharks, flying fish.  It was  so much fun, balmy with four foot swells.  Ryan taught us all about what makes North Shore  perfect for surfing--the swells originate 1500 miles away in the Bering Sea, as the energy builds under water, pushes up from the bottom of the sea, then swells into the famous curls.  We had broiled cheese buns (??, that's what my notes say, anyway!) for lunch.  I toured the grounds with my camera for an hour.  Swam, relaxed, Ron tried to sleep.  Took my book back  to the pool gazebo, read for an hour or two.  Ahhh!  So peaceful here, our own private resort.  Later, we drove up the neighborhood road to the end.  We thought it went a lot further, so after only a ten-minute drive, we headed back into town.  We sat at Pupukea Beach Park and watched the waves.  Ate spicy fish tacos from a truck at the beach.

 



Tuesday November 19
Today we drove down the east side of the island to Waialua Beach, rated "most idyllic" beach.  And it is, complete with gorgeous wide spun-sugar sand.  It was the perfect swim beach...but we did not indulge.  We ate lunch at McDonald's and entered Honolulu about 2pm.  We checked into our airport hotel, Ron walked back from returning our rental car while I swam.  Ten minutes into the swim/walk it started to rain.  Ron arrived back soaked to the skin.  We ate dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel.





Wednesday November 20

Our "free shuttle" to the airport was actually $10, oh well.  Our driver was late, but we still had plenty of time for our 8am flight out to San Francisco.  That flight was 4.5 hours, then San Francisco to Portland less than two hours.  We stayed at the Ramada in Portland.