Dole Plantation

Saturday. Rainy morning. Members of the Japanese Club are sitting on a 52 Wahiawa Circle Isle, armed with their iPod nanos and touches, and DS games to keep themselves occupied during the one-hour long journey to Dole Plantation. While we were on the bus, the rain poured harder and harder. It made me feel sad because I was hoping the weather would get better. What fun is it to walk through the Pineapple Maze when it is raining?





According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Pineapple maze is the world's largest maze. I found it surprising that the largest maze would be found on the tiny island of Oahu! :) The maze was a lot more difficult than I imagined it would be and I relied on Wai Chu to find our way in and out of the maze (thank you dear, you're my hero!) I seriously would not have been able to get out without her!


The above picture shows Wai Chu marking our route on the little map the ticket lady gave us. I thought that it would be easy with the map, but everything is still very confusing! Since it was raining (on and off, little drizzles) when we were in the maze, we had to walk through wet mud and large puddles. Sometimes, there would be some small openings between the bushes, which made me feel very...happy (and excited?) for some reason. Wai Chu pointed out that it was like in the movie, "My Neighbor Totoro." I realized that that must be it. :)

We finished the maze in about an hour half and ate afterward. For lunch, I had Sara's delicious musubi, a chocolate-covered pineapple stick that I bought for $2.50, my bento, and some of sensei's chili cheese fries. I was so full~! XD


We went on the Pineapple Express, a fully narrated twenty-minute train ride tour that took us around the plantation (two miles!) I didn't pay too much attention to the audio explaining the history of pineapples because the scenery and rain distracted me. The one thing I did catch was that the dirt is red because it is filled with iron and other kinds of nutrients that help the pineapples grow.

I put together a collection of the photos I snapped on the train ride:




After the train ride, we took a closer look at some of the pineapples that were growing by the fish pond. There were different breeds of pineapples from all over the world! You can see my snapshots here. I regret not jotting down notes on each snapshot so that I could remember where each pineapple came from. I only took note of the pineapples from Vietnam and Hawaii. Sensei eventually left us, while we stayed behind to look at the shops. Well, it was one shop in particular that I got really excited about. It was a stand that sold beautiful Swarovski crystal and other beaded jewelry. The owner, a Korean woman, explained that many of the jewelry are her own original creations so you can't find them anywhere else. :) Not only do I love her work, I really respect people who make things by hand (my sister and I do it too and understand all the time and work that goes into making something!) The prices are also very decent! I surprised myself by talking to her because I usually shy away from people, especially salespeople. But I was even bold enough to speak a little Korean!

She immediately asked, "Where are you from?"
I replied, "Here." XD

I couldn't stop myself from staring at all of the jewelry and I had a difficult time deciding what to buy. I only brought $40 with me and if I wanted to buy a lot, it meant I had to buy the somewhat cheaper items.

Here's what I picked out:

I like how pretty these earrings ($9) are and I bought them with my sister in mind, who said that she wanted pretty stud earrings. (There is no harm in getting them in case she isn't crazy about them because I am!)


I had to buy this ring ($12) for Jenni, who was supposed to be there with us that day but couldn't make it because she was sick (for a whole week!) :( I really missed her there~ and a gift should cheer her up. I get sick very easily (at least once a year) so I know how horrible it feels. Brown is her favorite color and the design of the ring is so lovely I wanted to buy a pair for myself (BUT NO! MUST RESIST!) And I did because I didn't have enough money anyway. XP If Jenni wore a brown dress to prom, wouldn't the ring look lovely with it?


I was jealous that my sister owned so many pretty necklaces so I wanted to get one for myself (especially one that is a Swarovski crystal. :) Since I didn't know the color of my prom dress (and I might just wear this to prom), I chose a clear octagon shaped crystal (that turns blue against black) necklace ($10). <3

Before we left, I exclaimed, "I can so easily spend $300 here!" and the Korean lady laughed,"Yes, I'll bet you would." She also said that she could tell, among all of my friends, that I was the "shopper." >__<

The really beautiful and intricately designed ones were $45. People might gasp at the price tag, but high-quality beads are expensive and many places don't sell them cheaper. I've tried beading before, and failed miserably. I wonder how long she takes on one project. She showed me some of her current projects and explained that she wanted to go back to Korea to take some classes and learn new beading techniques. "Many of the women in Korea do handmade jewelry like this and it is very beautiful."

One of my friends, who tried on an expensive choker, didn't have enough money with her and really wanted to come back to buy a necklace for prom.

I asked, "You want to take an hour bus ride all the way out to Wahiawa just to buy jewelry?"

"YES!!!"

Honestly, I would like to do that too and preferably when I have a prom dress already. But it feels a bit silly to visit a pineapple plantation, not for the pineapples, but for...

Well, girls will be girls and I like pretty things. So maybe. :)