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Phở Wars

Phở is comfort food! And it’s been my quest this year to find the best phở on O’ahu. I’ve combined my love of walking with my passion for eating and sampled over 20 phở restaurants. Now you can’t try every single phở shop on the island. There are too many. I’ve had to screen them via word-of-mouth recommendations, as well as Yelp.

pho

I always order the “combination beef” phở. This is usually the house specialty. I also believe that fatty brisket & beef tendon is the only way to go….

When preparing my plate of dipping sauce, I add equal portions of Sriracha sauce, hoisin sauce, and chili oil. Then I stir it up. I use the lime, a few basil leaves, and all of the coriander. I don’t care for bean sprouts in my phở, but I digress….

And the winner is….

I mean my favorite is…. Phở My Lan on Maunakea Street in Chinatown. The broth is so good that it tingles in your mouth like a fine wine. You can’t mistake this place because of the large aquariums filled with arowana.

I also liked Phở Huong Lan (Chinese Cultural Plaza,) Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine, and Anh Hong (both on corner of King & River.)

Hope to continue updating this post. Having a phở-bulous time….

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Ukulele Festival

Attended the Ukulele Festival this morning at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand in Waikiki. Had a great time!

I actually took the city bus (with a few crazy people and a bunch of normal people.) This was my 2nd time catching the Bus in 25 years.

I got off near “Walls” at Waikiki Beach. The weather was spectacular.

There was a beach volleyball tournament going on.

The bandstand is a really nice venue. There’s a small pond off to the side. Entertainment was ongoing. There were local artists, as well as international artists. There were ukulele schools from all over. And fortunately, the sound system was really good.

There were thousands in attendance. It was crowded! Behind the seating area were tents with families picnicking and enjoying the day. The coolest part was seeing so many people in the audience with their own ukes. They also made a killing selling those blue festival t-shirts.

There were food tents, shaved ice, malasadas, and ukulele manufacturers. Here are a few beauties from the Kamaka factory. There was even a tent giving free ukulele lessons to tourists. Too cool….

This was especially a great event for the hundreds of ukulele students who got to perform before family and friends.

So…. my plan was to get in some exercise today, so I walked the 3-miles home. I walked along Kalakaua Avenue.

I passed by the world famous Waikiki Beach on the left and the International Marketplace on my right. I crossed over the Ala Wai Canal and turned up Kapiolani Boulevard by the Convention Center. From there, I passed by the Ala Moana Shopping Center to get home. Man, it was hot today.

Feel like practicing my uke now. Had a blast at !

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3 Years at 909

Time flies. Today marks my 3rd year of living here at 909 Kapiolani. I still enjoy every minute of it. My condo is small, but that makes it easy to clean. I have a view, and I have AC. (And I don’t have to clean yard….)

But what I like best is the location. My commute to work is only 20 minutes. I’m right across from the Blaisdell Center. I live near Ala Moana Beach and the Ward Entertainment Complex. I can also walk to restaurants, cafés, shops, and museums. With the revitalization of Kaka’ako, there are cool events to check out.

Here’s the YouTube video that I made a couple of years ago. Happy Anniversary 909….

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Happy Vacation Day

Took a vacation day today (for no special reason.) Decided to hike it around Diamond Head. Parked my truck at Kapiolani Park and slipped on my Nikes (shoelaces untied as usual.)

I started walking along the bike path at Kapiolani Park and then continued up Diamond Head Road.

I passed by a couple of nice beach parks and a few amazing beachfront properties.

Passed by the lighthouse and walked down a steep, paved path to the beach.

Popular surf spot. Walking back up was the toughest part of the entire hike.

The views from the lookouts were pretty spectacular. Someone is also growing a garden up there.

I circled Diamond Head and passed Triangle Park and KCC. I came down Monsarrat Avenue.

I stopped for lunch at South Shore Grill. I had the mix plate with a fish taco, BBQ chicken, and kal-bi ribs. Hit the spot.

Walked around Queen Kapiolani Garden and then back to my truck.

Went home to shower & relax, and then walked over to REAL a Gastropub in the afternoon. Had the duck confit and a nice ale.

It was a great way to spend the day….

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San Diego Trip

Very blessed to have attended the ISTE Education Technology Conference with my Kamehameha Schools EdTech team. Here are my posts from the conference.

We arrived late Saturday night and checked into Hotel Solamar. It’s a great boutique hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter. They played Ed Sheeran music poolside.

The Gaslamp Quarter is all about restaurants & pubs and is right across from the convention center.

I spent my free day visiting Balboa Park. It’s an awesome place filled with gardens and museums. And it’s free. The concierge told me where to catch the bus. Unfortunately, on Sundays you have to walk up to the college trolley station. When I checked my iPhone map I was halfway there, so I ended up just walking the entire two miles uphill. It was definitely worth it!

We had cool places to eat right around the hotel. We were three blocks away from the convention center and two blocks from the baseball stadium. On 5th Avenue, you could find everything from a good steak, to gelato, to an ice cold glass of Stone IPA.

A highlight for me was when our group took the trolley into Old Town.

Old Town is really…. old town. It’s filled with shops (souvenirs, taffy, candles, cigars, tile, beef jerky, etc.) We sampled the beer tasting & wine tasting in a saloon on our way to the Casa Guadalajara for dinner.

It was great having authentic Mexican food. Had a nice time in SD….