So its been a week since we came to Hawaii and I have some pros and cons to share. Its all my personal opinion and Im going to stick with it. Pros: Love the beaches and the nature. Most beautiful Ive ever seen and they are all different depending on which island and what part of island you are. The weather here is almost always perfect and there are no seasons (I personally dont like seasons). Although its a tropical climate though so it rains sometimes. No mosquitos or any flying biting insects. At all. I can sit on a terrace all evening and wont hear or feel a thing. Or I can sleep with open windows without screens and wont be bothered by a single bug. Variety of beautiful flora and fauna. Good authentic Japanese food. Great locally grown produce, which is a no brainer in this climate. Yummy macadamia nuts and acai sorbet. Both products are local and very popular. Cons: Bad food. I mean really bad. And Im not even a foodie (and I hate the word foodie). Maybe I do have my standards high, being a New Yorker, spoiled with amazing restaurants we have, but seriously, Hawaiians have a pretty sad undeveloped palate and just bad taste. Their favorite dishes are oily greasy fried rice packed with butter and pork, all things pork and everything with Spam. They really put Spam into everything, they even have Spam sushi and spam cupcakes. Finding good flavorful thai, vietnamese, indian or italian is next to impossible so dont even try (like I said, Japanese food is the only good one). Vegans and Vegetarians will only find 3-5 places with strictly veg cuisine and those places will really suck ass. Big time. So stick to simple veggies and fruits if youre a veg. Hawaiians love their meat... Everything is about 1.5-2.5 times more expensive than Manhattan. The only explanation to this is a huge amounts of Japanese tourists and Japanese people having pied-à-terres here. Styrofoam everything! When I got my coffee in a styrofoam cup the first day I was wondering if it was some kind of a green recyclable kind, but hell no, it was actually a styrofoam that the whole entire world is being polluted with and vast majority or environmentally conscious states and countries are staying away from. And its not just cups, its also plates, packages and everything you can imagine. Where New Yorkers use paper or (also bad) plastic, Hawaiians use styrofoam. They also dont have a good recycling program. Its mostly glass and plastic only, nothing for paper, and even that is not mandatory like in New York. Hawaiians can not drive! They text and talk on the phone while driving, they dont see you and they dont care. Hawaii doesnt have a mandatory helmet law, so most people ride their scooters and motorcycles without helmets. Even on freeways. Yep. Hawaiians are suuuuper slooooow. In everything they do, really. Including customer service. 3 people in the line can easily take 30 minutes. Our friend who lives here told us, that for anybody from the big land, especially from rom New York, it can be an extremely annoying experience, but after a while you get used to, as he calls it, the mahalo spirit. It only took him a year… This is it for now. If I think of anything else, Ill add it.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:32:39 +0000