Aloha!: farmers' market, ala moana shopping center

Mara organized a beach get-together at Magic Island this morning. Sandy and Ona gave me a lift to the beach as they had some errands to run somewhere near the area.

But before they brought me over, we stopped by Farmer's Market coz Sandy had to look for someone there. This is the market Ona and Sandy go to every Saturday morning, and I thought it was a typical market. It was pretty fun fair-ish thought. Locals come here for the fresh vegetables and stuff, while they also have stalls catered to the tourist. This Market was located near Diamond Head actually, at the carpark of Kapiolani(?) Community College.

'Paniolo' means 'cowboy' in Hawaiian. Ona says that there are many cowboys on the Big Island!

actually it's quite nice. as i type this now i'm actually drooling. haha

- ok the pictures of us taken at the beach is mostly with Mara. I'll post another update once she has sent me most of the photos -

Not wanting to waste the rest of the Saturday, I walked over to Ala Moana Shopping Center, just a stone's throw away form Magic Island. The following two paragraphs are from Wikipedia.

Ala Moana Center was one of the largest shopping centers in the United States and currently holds the distinction of being the largest open-air shopping center in the world. Located at 1450 Ala Moana Boulevard in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Ala Moana Center is part of the commercial, retail, and residential district of Ala Moana, south of Makiki, east of Kakaʻako, west of Waikīkī and across from Ala Moana Beach Park...

Though there are a few stores (such as Longs Drugs, Sears, and KayBee Toys) which offer products to local residents, many of the Center's stores target the tourist economy on which it so heavily relies. The shopping center focuses its marketing on tourism, providing brochures in Japanese, one of its major clientele. There are more than 260 shops and restaurants, including boutique stores of leading international fashion designers. Its current anchor tenants are Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Sears; Nordstrom is slated to open in 2008. The Center boasts one of the world's largest food courts, featuring cuisines from around the globe. Designer stores, such as Juicy Couture, Prada, Armani Exchange, Christian Dior, and the like have heavily influenced the atmosphere of Ala Moana, reportedly making it a hotspot for visitors and locals alike.

Nordstrom just opened two-three days ago...they've been building this for like 3 years i think

actually honolulu is a real shopping haven! i love the many factory outlet stores they have coz u can get stuffs at real good bargains! haha

Because it is difficult to differentiate north and south on an island, directions are normally given in terms of local landmarks. The most common terms that you will run into are mauka (MOW-kah) meaning "toward the mountain" and makai (mah-KIE) meaning "toward the sea". In the case of Honolulu, which is located on Oahu's south shore, "mauka" is a rough north, and "makai" roughly south. You will also hear Ewa (EH-vah) and Diamond Head used a lot...in relation to downtown Honolulu, the former roughly means "west" (toward the town of Ewa on the southwest shore of Oahu) and the latter roughly means "east" (toward the famous landmark crater on the southeast shore).