MaH2alO Oahu

When I arrived at the Waikiki hostel, on the court yard TV Frodo was entering Mordor, and when I returned after the sun had set for several hours, the hobbits were celebrating the return home back to Hobbiton. It was a very odd realization that one can measure the passing of time based on the time differential between various scenes from Lord of the Rings.

The hostel was a money saving choice. I've never stayed in a hostel before, and the variety of individuals here are many, strange and varied.

Waikiki seems largely manufactured for the Japanese tourist population. People walk the streets wearing billboard advertising events completely in Japanese. Ramen shops and sushi joints scatter the downtown landscape amongst the Saks Fifth, Armani, Fendi, and Dior boutiques lining the main thoroughfare. Many indoor malls and boutiques ala Bangkok have nested in the bellies of the skyscrapers littering the skyline. The city is alive and bustling, but calmly - in a Hawaiian sort of way. I encountered something I thought I'd only encounter in NYC - a Water Bar - maH2alO. Other wonders no doubt await. The 1/2 an hour drive from the airport around rush hour in the tourist district wasn't bad.

In the midst of the rag tag group of backpackers, kids who ran away from home, and frugal world travelers, I find myself completely exhausted from my prior day's lack of sleep. I'm sharing a room with 5 strangers. I have a top bunk. I met the guy who's staying in the bottom bunk. He's British, and red like a lobster. Beyond that, I know nothing about him or the rest of the odd smattering of Europeans throughout this hostel.

Wondering the streets I sat and watched the world go by - busses announcing next stops in soothing female voices, people cleaning and sweeping the streets, traffic - but with no horns blowing, smells and sounds of busy restaurants, and the far away lights of houses lining the reclining slopes of mountains in the distance behind the towers of the metropolis. Its like the bustling clock town from Spirited Away.

Tomorrow I will visit the two locations of where the World Medicine Institute is located. One location in Waikiki is a student clinic and the other is the school located in the Taoist Temple in the hills just outside of Waikiki. My horoscope for this week indicates that I will be at odds with myself. No doubt the possibility of transferring to this program if I find the program compelling will create an internal conflict if I let this dominate my vacation. My intention in coming here was clear - to evaluate this program.

Its 8pm, and though exhausted from lack of proper sleep last night, I'm going to go get some food before going to sleep early. I'm hoping for a restful night despite the 5 people likely to be in various forms of incapacitation and snoring. The cheapest alternative I've found is about $70 per night, and for 5 nights, this will cost me more than I am willing to pay.

I miss the city and I feel at home in the midst of the organized chaos. The vog is here, but it is extremely diluted. One can actually see the mountains here.