We went to the northern part of Oahu today. When you have a rented car, you try to make full use of it. It was the Dole Plantation that we originally wanted to visit, but when we realized it was pretty close to the North Shore, we thought we’ll just go up there to visit as well. There wasn’t time for us the explore the entire North Shore. We just wanted to hit Haleiwa, have lunch, then turn back to the Dole Plantation.
Driving today is heavily guided by GPS navigation on my N97, because there’s quite a bit of distance to cover and I’m on my own today (no other car to follow around). I must say the GPS navigation is really useful.
Haleiwa is at the western tip of where Oahu’s north shore is considered to start. It’s an oldish looking town that’s pretty crowded and busy, but yet at the same time quiet. The old buildings dotting the town is really picturesque. We had lunch at a place whose name I forgot, but it ‘s next to the Aloha General Store. The fish in their Fish and Chips wasn’t nice. But their seafood platter was pretty good: calamari, breaded prawns and crabmeat ball (and perhaps other things, but these are the ones that I remember because they were good).
The Aloha General Store had signs promoting their supposedly famed shaved ice. I was asking myself what’s the fuss over shaved ice. Isn’t that Ice Kachang? I had to go in to find out. I would have wanted to try it had I not been too full for lunch. I spied on the shaved ice, and saw that it really was like ice kachang. Syrup was poured over the shaved ice, and you have the option of ice cream under the shaved ice. I suppose there’s none of the usual ice kachang stuffs we have in their shaved ice.
It’s shocking to me just how popular the shaved ice is in Haleiwa. People actually form long queues along the road into some of the stores. We should setup an ice kachang store in Haleiwa and let the folks there try something that’s even more fascinating.
The Dole Plantation is a big pineapple plantation. I think there’s really not much that’s terribly interesting for adults, but we went there for the kids. There’s a maze, and there’s a train ride. It’s a novelty for the kids. We didn’t have time to the maze, so we just took the train. It’s about a 20 minute ride through the plantation. It’s mostly pineapple, although they do have a few other types of fruits to show off too. The main attraction, I think, is really the ride in the train itself.
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