In 1810, Kamehameha I also known as Kamehameha the Great unified the Hawaiian islands under himself as one ruler.  In 1871, Kamehameha V (Lot) declared a holiday in honor of his Great Grandfather.  The holiday is celebrated in Hawaii on June 11 each year.  One of the biggest components of the events surrounding Kamehameha Day is the adoring of the statues of Kamehameha the Great around the country.  In Honolulu, large lei are draped on the statue in front of Aliiolani Hale to honor the king and his legacy.  To further honor Kamehameha the Great, hula halau my perform in addition to other tributes left for the king at the base of the statue.  The lei draped statue is a popular postcard picture sent by visitors to show their friends about their trip to Hawaii. To see pictures from different Lei Draping ceremonies, check out my Flickr collection For my other podcasts goto www.frikitikiproductions.com 

Trapped in Paradise

TIP EP0111-Kamehameha Statue 2011 Lei Draping

Let's take a look at some of the sights around the island of Kauai starting in Waimea Town and going all the way to the end of the road at the base of the Napali cliffs on the north shore of the island where the road dead ends at Ke'e beach park. First is a tour of the beach cottage where I stayed in Waimea Town.  Check out Inn Waimea at www.innwaimea.com.  The cottage was three houses from the beach and you could hear the surf in the living room at night.  The Captain Cook monument is also located in Waimea. Between Waimea and Poipu are the salt ponds which stand as a testiment to the old ways of deriving salt from the sea. In Poipu along the crags of the volcanic shore the sea enters following a tube up to the surface.  The water pushes the air forcefully expelling it with a whistle and a whoosh! The Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge houses a lighthouse used to guide the ships at sea and is home to a number of birds including the red-footed boobie, Laysan Albatross and wedge-tailed shears.  The lighthouse was decomissioned in 1976 to be replaced by automated beacons. Lastly we travel as far as we can on State Highway 560 stopping at the wet and dry caves before arriving at Ke'e Beach. Hope you enjoy!

TIP EP0110-Kauai Beauty

Let's journey to the back of the Manoa Valley and visit the Lyon Arboretum.  We'll take in some of the paths and views as we travel to 'Aihualama Falls area.  Hope you enjoy the vistas and views.If you'd like to check out Lyon Arboretum for yourself, check out their website at www.hawaii.edu/lyonarboretumOur main website it www.frikitikiproductions.com

TIP EP0109-Lyon Arboretum

In this episode of Trapped in Paradise, we explore a little bit of what was termed by Mark Twain as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. I am taking about the Waimea Canyon on the Island of Kauai. We will ll travel up some of the roads to get to the different lookouts inside the Waimea Canyon State Park. See the main canyon lookout and travel all the way to the end of the road to view Kalalau Valley ejoying sites along the way. When you see this episode, you will understand why Kauai is called the Garden Isle.

TIP EP0108-Waimea Canyon

In this episode of Trapped in Paradise we go the Sheraton Waikiki to visit with some of our neighbors to the north. The Langley Ukulele Ensemble is a group of students from Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Under the direction of Peter Luongo they have traveled around the globe showing the versatility of the ukulele and the showmanship that they share with their audiences. I was introduced to them by my boss who brought me to a Rotary Club meeting in Downtown Honolulu where they were performing. They have been coming to Hawaii for about a week each July over the past 15 or so years. It is not all fun and sun as they perform shows around Oahu. They were filmed on July 8, 2008 performing at the Sheraton Waikiki in the lobby. Their nightly show is about an hour in length and is tons of fun. With Peters permission this video shows 3 of the songs that they did during that hour. At the end of the video Peter talks about their CDs for sale. I personally own 4 of them and would encourage you to support the group with your purchase of their music. Their website is http://www.langleyukes.com. Find out more about them, their history and schedule as well as purchasing their CDs in the "recordings" section of the web site. I hope that you enjoy this video and support the Langley Ukulele Ensemble! Please rate us over at i-tunes. Feedback can be send to frikitikiproductions (at) gmail.com

TIP EP0107-Langley Ukulele Ensemble

In this episode I get to mix my two podcasts. In October 2007 the Disney Company announced that they were going to put in a Disney Vacation Club resort in Hawaii. I took my camera out to the Ko Olina resort where the DVC is going to be built and take a look at the location. Nothing going on out there at the moment, but in 2011, the expected opening year, there will be another 800+ rooms on this site. This is big for Oahu in that it is estimated that they will create about 1000 jobs with the building of this resort. With a number of people that commute into urban Honolulu from the west side of the island, the addition of these jobs is expected to have a big impact for that side of the island. Come with me as we explore Disneys Hawaii DVC. Please leave a rating in the i-tunes store

TIP EP0106-Hawaii DVC

Lets visit the Honolulu Academy of Arts Arts After Dark event. The last Friday of each month they have a different event. At this event the exhibit of Bhutanese Sacred objects are on display. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to video tape in any of the galleries. The show has monks from Bhutan who perform a cham with horns, drums and cymbals. In one gallery a monk was working on a mandalla. It was an incredible to watch the monk place grains of colored sand, a few at a time to make this beautiful pattern. In in outside area one monk was painting surfboards. Local restaurants come out and have specialty food available for sale For more information about the Honolulu Academy of Arts, goto their website at www.honoluluacademy.org

TIP EP0105-The Dragons Gift

In this episode of Trapped in Paradise we travel to Ward Warehouse to see an exhibition of Chinese Lion Dancing in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebrations for the Year of the Rat. The event was sponsored by the United Chinese Society and the Miss Chinatown Hawaii Pageant. See the lions dance, kung fu demonstrations and hear the explanation of why this is the year of the rat.

TIP EP0104-Lion Dance Exhibition

Join a 20 year resident of Oahu as he goes around and explores the happenings and sights in Hawaii. Some podcasts will be dealing with local events some will be places. Some episodes will be geared towards residents and some geared towards tourists. In any case come along with me and enjoy the sights and sounds of a place that people save for a life time to visit for 10 days. I get to live here and need to enjoy it more.