If you think paradise is an emerald isle ringed by blue waves, kissed by a gentle sun and tickled by sea wind — but with air-conditioned Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Hermes boutiques a stone’s throw away from the beach, then head for Hawaii.
You will surely get lei’d in Hawaii, the Aloha State, where each visitor is welcomed by a lei of orchids or frangipani (calachuchi). The lei is free, and so is the use of the beaches, whether behind a five-star hotel or a wall of trees or a cliff.
“This is paradise,” says Vince Espino, a Filipino-American who owns the franchise to the popular IHOP chain in Hawaii, where he has four outlets. A former resident of New York and San Francisco, he says Hawaii has the best of both mainland USA and the tropics — strewn over six beautiful islands.
Hawaii is indeed the American Dream — you have the surf on the one hand and Neiman Marcus on the other, Hawaiian shirts on the sidewalk and Pucci in the mall, Salvatorre Ferragamo and all the flip-flops in the Pacific on the same sunny side of the street (Kalakaua Avenue).
We flew to Honolulu on the inaugural flight of Hawaiian Air last week, and we were billeted in the historic Moana Surfrider Hotel on Waikiki beach about 20 minutes away from the airport. The hotel, originally built in 1901 but restored, modernized and expanded, has that colonial charm with its all-white façade and latticework, verandas that face the busy street ahead and the beach behind, where you can drool over the grandeur of the ocean or the six-packs on the surfboards.
Waikiki is like Ayala Avenue and Boracay’s long beach (except Waikiki’s sands are beige) placed side by side. You cross the line from urban chic to resort bliss by just crossing the street.
Coconut trees, robust banyan trees and pine trees with trunks as thick as an acacia tree’s stand proudly all over Honolulu, which is on the island of Oahu. Small tropical birds have a run of the place (They sometimes peck on your chips, that’s why chips and nuts are no longer served at the veranda of the Moana Surfrider).
“We have the same kind of trees back home,” says Bernice Arcenas-Parsons, a Filipina businesswoman based in Hawaii. “Except that the trees in Honolulu seem to be on steroids!”
The trees and the ocean breeze make the atmosphere light and clean in Hawaii. Smoking is forbidden indoors and outdoors, except in designated smoking areas that are few and far between. There are also no casinos in Hawaii, and drinking alcohol on the beaches is prohibited.
And yet tourism is the number one dollar earner in Hawaii (though it dropped 14 percent last year), displacing pineapples. Military establishments are the number two income generators in the state.
About 300,000 of the 1.26 million people in Hawaii are of Filipino descent, almost one-fourth the population. Filipinos constitute the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii, next only to the Japanese.
Thus, says Mark Dunkerley, president of Hawaiian Air, he is bullish about the prospects of flying to Manila from Honolulu and back. The numbers simply speak for themselves.
“With the economy in the Philippines growing 6.7 percent, and with the significant number of Filipino-Hawaiians in Hawaii, the prospects are very, very good,” said Mark during a luau he hosted for the Filipinos at the Hawaii State Art Museum, where we were again welcomed with a lei and a glass of mai tai. Last year, some 170,000 people flew between Manila and Hawaii.
That figure is expected to double, with Hawaiian Air now flying five times a week between Honolulu and Manila, with an introductory price of $499, plus taxes (call 02-860-2300). Manila is Hawaiian’s first gateway into Asia, and the airline is the only US carrier providing non-stop service between Manila and Honolulu.
The 10-hour straight flight (a big come-on for balikbayans who don’t like stopovers) we took to and from Honolulu was smooth and pleasant, and Filipino dishes, like adobo (albeit Hawaiian-ized) are part of the menu. In terms of miles, it is the longest straight flight of Hawaiian, followed by the Honolulu-Sydney route.
Mark says Hawaiian has several Americans of Filipino descent among its 3,500 employees.
* * *
In my three days in Honolulu, I found Hawaiians to be warm and friendly, their disposition and temperament, a reflection of the idyllic place they live and work in. The weather (a combination of Boracay and Tagaytay climes), the virtually stress-free lifestyle (traffic build-ups are the exception rather than the rule), dress-down culture and the everyday conveniences of America, make for cheerful people. Crime rate is low and police patrols are said to be not busy — they respond right away when neighbors report that the husband and wife across the street are arguing.
Consul Lulu Tabamo, deputy head of post at the Philippine Embassy in Honolulu, says life is good in Hawaii, especially if you have a job. A market vendor can earn $60 dollars a day.
In fact, a post in Honolulu is one of the most sought-after in the diplomatic service.
But you don’t have to live in Hawaii to enjoy it. You could just visit it and come back home with a lei, a tan, a bag of macadamia nuts and a shopping bag from the 50-acre Ala Moana Center, the world’s largest open-air shopping center. Now isn’t that a dream vacation?
(On Thursday: Pearl Harbor)
* * *
(You may e-mail me at [email protected])
