Tips For Egypt

Traveling to Egypt is nothing like going to Japan for our family.  Since we live on the West Coast, Tokyo is a relatively short 10hr nonstop flight to Narita, usually landing in the mid afternoon.  Customs and immigration is a breeze – plus you never have to wait for your bags at Narita!  It does take awhile to get to downtown Tokyo but we have a nice evening ahead of us…check into our accommodations, shower and eat a great Japanese meal.

I’ve mentioned this before in my previous post, but getting to Egypt is a long haul from the West Coast.  Our usual route is through Amsterdam and getting to Amsterdam is already a long flight from San Francisco.  If you don’t break your journey in Amsterdam, you are looking at 7-8 hr layover and then a night flight to Cairo, landing at an ungodly hour.  The process at the Cairo airport isn’t quite the easy peasy experience at Narita.  The immigration officers may give you a hard time for no apparent reason.  Once you leave customs and immigration, you are greeted with mayhem – the porters.  And remember, you are bleary eyed and tired.  The porters all come at you wanting to help with your luggage and looking for baksheesh – useful word to know – that’s tip in Arabic.  In Japan, everyone tries to do their best and there is no tipping!!  Egyptians are usually friendly and nice but are not known for being meticulous and conscientious.  I understand the difference in culture but the experience is still jarring.  The best thing to do, make sure you have lots of change.  No one seems to want to part with the small notes, so when you get a chance, get a lot of small notes.  You will need it everywhere and lots of it.

The two most important factors to consider when traveling with young children, as you all know – safety and health.  We cart the girls’ car seats to Egypt.  It’s a pain to haul the large unwieldy seats but you have no choice.  Driving is terribly dangerous in Cairo. 

We only drank bottled water and also used bottled water for brushing teeth.  Our younger daughter had a little issue with diarrhea during our entire first trip to Egypt.  The culprits were milk and ice cream.  At the hotels we stayed at, milk was served in large jugs or from metal servers found in many hotel buffets.  We found that when she had milk in Cairo from individual cartons made by Juhayna she did not have as much of a problem.

The girls only ate fruit that was peeled or washed by us.  I ate fruit salad from the buffet and I was fine but the same cannot be said for peeled vegetables and salads at buffets.

As a precaution, we requested antibiotic prescription from our pediatrician before we left the US.  We took it in powder form so it would last longer.  You should also carry the usual assortment of over the counter medicine with you.

Sturdy closed toe shoes are best for walking around Cairo.  The sidewalks are uneven and dirty.  Flip flops, unless you are at the beach, are definitely not a good choice.  Hats are a must!!

We also took a lot of snacks with us.  I am not sure if you need to if your children are older than our girls who were 2-5 years old at the time of their travels to Egypt.  We always take peanut butter with us.  We like our PB from Trader Joe’s and don’t leave home without it.  There are plenty of supermarkets in Egypt where you can find almost anything you need.

We opted not to give the girls typhoid shots.  The girls did have hepatitis A shots as part of their regular vaccination schedule.  For further information for vaccine requirements for travel to Egypt check out the CDC website.

Where And What To Eat In Cairo With Kids

Since my husband has family in Cairo, we are treated to homemade meals while in Cairo.  We are very lucky.  All of them are really good cooks.  We enjoy fresh molokheya soup (jute mallow or jew’s mallow – green, slightly slimy), the national dish of Egypt, roast pigeon, roast chicken, various stuffed vegetables – tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, cabbage, grape leaves, lamb etc.  The desserts offered are no less tantalizing – loukoumades, puffed honey balls – which we had for the first time in Marsa Matrouh and which the girls went crazy over – easy to understand why!, konafa etc..

Our girls' favorite dessert - loukomedes

If you aren’t visiting friends or family in Egypt, well, there are many places to eat but honestly, none can match the quality, flavor and variety of food offered in the homes of Cairo.  Below is a list of some of the places we ate at while in Cairo:

Fateer
Finding food kids like to eat isn’t too much of a problem in Egypt.  Fateer was a big hit with our kids.  It is similar to pratha which is one of our girls’ favorite treats.  We like to eat pratha with sugar in the morning.  It is definitely unhealthy so I only serve it on ‘special’ occasions like first day back at school, birthdays, days we need a pick me up etc… (OK more often than we should eat it.)  Pratha is basically made out of dough and ghee (clarified butter).  Although our family likes to eat pratha with sugar, pratha is also eaten with a savory dish such as chicken curry.  Fateer is similar to pratha but unlike pratha it isn’t flattened and twisted to produce many layers when cooked.  Fateer is often called Egyptian pizza or pancake – but really, it is simply fried flat dough, thus the reason for the children liking it. 

The best fateer (and in my opinion, even the best fateer doesn’t compare to a good pratha) we had was in Marsa Matrouh, at a beach side shack near our hotel.  In Cairo, we had fateer at a restaurant at the perimeter of Khan Al Khalili bazaar.  We like fateer in general but it wasn’t that good and the restaurant wasn’t that clean.  It seems The Egyptian Pancake House is often recommended.  We ate next door to it.  Personally, both places looked the same – a dive and food that was OK, but certainly safe to eat.  I am not sure you can get sick eating fried dough, however, it may be because we wanted it plain with sugar.  You could get the savory kind and have meat and vegetables stuffed in the fateer.

Koshari
Koshari is another kid friendly dish.  It is a poor man’s meal and you can eat koshari for under a dollar.  Koshari is made of small wheel, tube etc pasta, rice, mixed with lentils, chick peas and tomato sauce, usually spicy but not for the kids.  It is topped with fried onions. I love it!  The girls like it too – but without the lentils, rice, chick peas and fried onions – right, that would be pasta with tomato sauce.  Oh well.  You can get koshari anywhere in Cairo but we did not get a chance to eat out at any of the roadside stalls or restaurants that server koshari.  We only had it at ‘home’ at my in-laws place in Cairo.  My mother-in-law did not approve of us taking the kids out for koshari – I suppose because it is considered a plebeian meal. Too bad because I know I missed out!!

Sabaya at Semiramis Hotel
We took some of my husband’s relatives out for dinner at Sabbaya, a Lebanese restaurant located in the Intercontinental.  Is it kid friendly?  It was fine because we ate early and there was no one else in the restaurant besides our group.  The décor was plush, dark, very Middle Eastern – not exactly kid friendly but it was OK.  The service and the food were very good.  We ordered the mezzas and we also ordered meat and fish entrees, mostly because it was Friday, and the fish was good.  The kids like the hummus, the breads, olives, tabouleh etc and so this would be a good choice for a family looking for an upscale place to dine.

Beanos
One evening we met up with my husband’s cousin and his family for dinner at Beanos, a local coffee chain, at its Zamalek outpost.  I didn’t particularly want to eat there because I like Middle Eastern food but it was a kid friendly choice.  The café is clean and well lit.  There are many sandwich options and of course drink options.  The food was decent.  However, the service was horrendous.  Because it was Ramadan, Beanos refused to serve us food until it was sunset.  Since we weren’t observing Ramadan and the café was open, it made no sense.  Despite our pleas they refused to serve us until the predetermined time.  I don’t think they would have refused service if we were all unmistakably foreign looking (I’m Asian…not sure if they count me as a foreigner in their minds) and if we weren’t with locals.  We gave up and waited.  If you are missing a western café I guess you can give it a try.  Apparently Beanos serves great coffee – but I can’t say for sure since I don’t drink coffee.

Maison Thomas
Located in Zamelek, Maison Thomas has an inviting storefront.  We decided to give it a try since it was recommended by family and by the Lonely Planet.  The storefront may look inviting but the seating available isn’t.  There aren’t many tables to start and the chairs are all very high with no backs.  There was a wait but we decided to stick it out and managed to grab a table when a couple left.  We ordered pizza and waited and waited.  It seems there was a mix up in the kitchen, but no one bothered to come by to let us know that the wait would be long.  No one bothered to apologize.  We asked a couple of times about our pizza and they never had a good answer for why our pizza was not ready.  It finally came and the pizza was good.  The best to be found in Cairo.  I don’t know what came over me…perhaps the French name, but I ordered the tarte tatin for dessert.  It was fine…but let’s face it, why would you order pizza at a restaurant with a French name in Cairo and finish off with a French dessert…because you don’t have too many options.  No matter, our girls enjoyed their pizza and wanted to go back for another meal.

Naguib Mahfouz Café
If you are in Khan Al Khilli and you don’t feel like eating fateer in a place that looks less than clean, have lunch at the Naguib Mahfouz Café.  It is named after the Nobel Prize winning Egyptian author who frequented the café.  The atmosphere is nice and it is clean! The food is fine but that’s not the reason you dine there.  It’s in Khan Al Khilli and you are hungry and you want a nice quiet clean place.

Le Pacha 1901- Piccolo Mondo
My mother-in-law wanted to host a family get together in a nice restaurant that would also be kid friendly.  She asked for recommendations from her family and decided on La Pacha 1901, a large boat docked on the river near the Marriott Cairo.  La Pacha boasts 10 restaurants!  One of the hippest is L’Asiatique.  Naturally, that’s not where we dined…my mother-in-law chose well and we had a fun dinner at Piccolo Mondo.  The food is fine and you can see the boats and feluccas go by on the Nile while you enjoy your dinner.  The most important criteria for my mother-in-law for the evening?  The restaurant had to be clean – and it was.


Mandarine Koueider
We were looking for sweets to take back to the US from Egypt.  One of our favorite sweets is malban or Turkish Delight.  Our Egyptian driver recommended Mandarine Koueider in Zamalek that has been in business for years.  There is a long line of customers waiting to buy its sweets - especially during Ramadan.  The sweets are sold by weight.  My husband and I bought three 1lb boxes of the malban.  The texture of the malban was soft but dense with lots of pistachios inside.  The malban is displayed like ropes in the store.  If you tell them how much you want, they just cut the right amount for you.  We shared the malban with our family but honestly, we ate most of it.  It was incredibly delicious!!  My mouth is watering just thinking of it.  Perfect with a cup of tea!

There’s Sand In My Eyes! Can We Ride Horses? Do We Have to Wear the Slippers? Why Does It Not Have a Nose? - Pyramids, Solar Boat Museum And The Sphinx

The Great Pyramids of Giza

Naturally you must visit the pyramids.  We’ve been to Egypt twice with the girls and we visit them each time.  They are magnificent and mysterious.  However, the first time I saw the pyramids, I was disappointed – no, not with the actual pyramids, but the approach to them.  I had no idea that Cairo had grown right to the footsteps of the pyramids.  It was heartbreaking to me that the awe inspiring and elegant pyramids did not have the silent desert to themselves anymore.  Depending on where you view the pyramids, you can block out Cairo and pretend you are far away from modern civilization.  Imagine very hard.

The girls are still too young to really appreciate the mystery and the mind boggling feat required to erect these wonders of the ancient world.   Though the girls were interested in going inside the pyramids, I think hoping for a burial chamber full of treasures.  Of course there isn’t one.  You can go inside the pyramids but we opted out.  I understand it is very hot and cramped inside, and no treasures to behold. 

Once the girls knew we wouldn’t go inside, they were done with the pyramids.  Of course there is no shade and it is very hot.  The girls were melting and uncomfortable.  (Make sure to wear hats and bring lots of water.) 

After viewing the pyramids up close and clambering up some way up the pyramids, you should get back in the car and drive around to get a better view of the pyramids from afar.  But before you do that, a visit to the Solar Boat Museum is worthwhile.  To make things interesting for the girls and for us, we hired camels to take us from the front of the pyramids to the Solar Boat Museum and amble around a bit.  Personally, it was just about long enough for me.  The camels are really tall.  The scariest part for me was when the camel, after you get on while on its knees, gets up unsteadily.  It pitches back and forth wildly.  As a tourist and a mom looking for a Christmas photo, the camel ride was a must.  The first time we were in Egypt with the girls who were then 4 and almost 3, we did not ride the camels.  My mother-in-law took so long picking a good looking clean camel (impossible) that by the time she found an acceptable camel, the girls were too scared to ride them.  (By the way, be very clear when you negotiate the price with the camel drivers.  And even then, you might be in for a rough back and forth.  We thought we had a price but when my husband paid the drivers, they asked for more.  This happens a lot in Egypt.)

The Solar Boat!

The Solar Boat Museum is tucked behind the pyramids and there is an admission fee, and not a small amount.  However, I highly recommend visiting it.  The boat is impressive for its size and its impeccable state of preservation.  It is astounding that a full size boat was taken apart with all pieces intact, buried and untouched until discovered.  The boat is beautiful and unlike the pieces in the Egyptian Museum, someone had vision and taste when it came to displaying the boat.  My girls were not suitably impressed.  It is remarkably hard to impress 6 and 4 year olds.  They were most concerned with the shoe cover slippers we had to wear in the museum.  There weren’t covers small enough for the girls, especially for my 4 year old, and she spent what concentration she had making sure the covers did not come off her shoes.

Back in the car, we made our way to higher ground to view the pyramids from afar.  You can get really good shots of the pyramids without Cairo in the background.  With the sand in the foreground, you could imagine a time when all there was in the desert was the cluster of the majestic pyramids.  Now there are hordes of tourists, hawkers, cars and buses.  On top of that add all the camels and their drivers and horses and horse carriages.   You have one busy scene. 

We always try to get shots of the girls in front of the pyramids from this vantage point. It’s always the same.  We coax the girls out of the car, they whine, they refuse to stand where we ask them to, and finally when they do stand, they won’t open their eyes.  Once they do open their eyes, they hold their hands over them while their hair is blowing wildly around their head.  We ask them to smile just once, okay twice, our pleas getting insistent and the girls complaining about the sand and sun in their eyes, try feebly.  And that’s our best shot with the pyramids in the background…I figure, everyone will be looking at the pyramids, not the girls, so good enough!

Horse Drawn Carriage Ride at the Pyramids

There are camels and horses all around.  On our first visit, we hired a horse drawn carriage.  It’s very tame compared to riding a camel or a horse into the desert, but the girls at 4 and 3 enjoyed it immensely.  Like in Japan, and in most places, for the girls, the main attraction of most places is the transportation.  So the camels and the horses win over the pyramids and Sphinx.

The Noseless Sphinx

You can ride a camel or horse to the Sphinx.  You can pretend you are an adventurer in an ancient time…it’s fun; or you can take the car.  The Sphinx is magnificent.  You can’t help but marvel at the skill, patience and sheer force it took to erect these colossal monuments.  The girls – well the girls, just couldn’t get over the lack of nose (and beard) of the Sphinx.  We told them the theory of Napoleon’s men using the Sphinx for target practice and the questions did not end.  You all know what I am talking about.

Can you believe the view from Pizza Hut??

The Sphinx is your last stop.  You can contemplate lunch at this point.  There are options such as The Mena House Oberoi, which was my choice.  It sounded lovely…lunch by the pool of a historic hotel with the view of the pyramids. I was outvoted, however, and we ended up at Pizza Hut, also with a view of the pyramids and the Sphinx to boot.

Cairo Highlights - Especially For Kids

Now finally to what you can do with your children in Cairo!  A lot actually.

One of the walkways at Al-Azhar, with the Citadel in the background

View of a restaurant in the park

Al-Azhar Park 
Al-Azhar Park is one of my favorite places in Cairo. It is beautifully landscaped with wide paths and views of the citadel and the rest of Cairo.  There is lots greenery, space, views, water features, restaurants and cafes and no crowds!  (There is a very small entrance fee which probably acts as crowd control.)  The restaurants have decent food and wonderful views.  You can actually sit and relax.  There is also a children’s playground, maybe the only one in Cairo open to public.  In the end, the reason why I like it is because it is hard to find an expansive, green space in Cairo.  My girls loved that they could run around!   I have to thank my sister-in-law for telling me about it.

Pharaonic Village
I don’t consider it to be worth a visit but others may disagree.  I suppose it is an option if you are desperate for more kid oriented activities in Cairo.  It could have been great but the setting is just so so.  The first part of the tour involves a boat ride on the river.  The boat passes by replicas of statues of gods and monuments and then stops at various educational stations such as pottery making, papyrus making, furniture making, farms etc…The park’s mission is to educate the visitors on how ancient Egyptians lived.  It’s a great concept but poorly executed.  Our girls were bored and hot sitting on the boat.  The second part was even harder on the girls.  We walked around replicas of temples and houses with a guide.  The girls were not interested.  (Perhaps if your children are older, they may appreciate it more than our girls did.)  It was so bad we had to cut the tour short.  Our visit might have been more interesting if the arts and craft center was open.  The girls then could have had a hands-on experience but because it was Ramadan, the center and restaurant were closed.  Too bad.

Al-Foustat Ceramics Centre
Our driver suggested stopping and we were glad we did.  The center showcases ceramics, brass work, gypsum, tiles and other crafts.  You can watch the artisans at work.   The center puts on exhibits and once the exhibits are concluded, one can purchase the handicrafts.  It’s a shame that there wasn’t a store on site because the works were beautiful.  The buildings housing the Ceramics Centre is ‘new’, officially opened by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak in 2001.  It is definitely worth a visit.

The hook! for the kids!

Coptic Cairo
You wouldn’t think this would be a kid friendly activity but all you need is a hook!  Visiting Coptic Cairo is actually quite pleasant.  The alleyways are clean and car free – one of the few places where you can walk around in Cairo without dodging people, cars, donkey carts, garbage etc…

Coptic Cairo houses a church in which baby Jesus and his family purportedly hid while fleeing from King Herod.  Our girls were fascinated by this story of baby Jesus and this kept their interest level somewhat high during our tour.  The remodeled Coptic Museum is beautiful and worth a visit.

Egyptian Museum
It’s large, crowded, dilapidated looking and overwhelming.  Not the guards necessarily but the people who work there did not seem too friendly.  Just my observation.  The museum has so much to share but it is hard to navigate all the pieces on display.  It is also a shame that more care has not been taken in the way the artifacts are displayed.  You will get more sense of wonder and enchantment if you visit the British Museum in London.  Go anyway because this is the only time you can press your nose against the glass separating you from the absolutely gorgeous and beautiful golden mask of Tutankhamen and no one will arrest you.  The other artifacts from his tomb are equally amazing, for example, the chariots, boats, etc.  Our older girl was very interested in finding out what artifacts were found in the tombs and so she focused on that aspect at the museum.  We didn’t stay long but she remained interested in studying the items from the tombs on display, including the mask of King Tut.  The Royal Mummy Room is another great place to take the kids unless your kids are easily spooked. 

View of the Cairo Tower from below.

View of the Nile from top of the Tower

Cairo Tower
We stopped by the tower, also known as Borj Al-Qahira, before dinner one early evening.  What a treat!  (We learned that it had been recently remodeled and the restaurant and café were under new management.  We did not try the restaurant, although the idea of a revolving restaurant with a view, sounded like a fun experience.)

The lighting was gorgeous, the wind atop the tower was refreshing, the view was spectacular.  We all had fun looking through the telescopes, spotting the pyramids in the distance and identifying landmarks we had visited.  Loved it.

Felucca Ride on the Nile
Sailing down the Nile in a felucca is fun and relaxing for both kids and adults.  We caught a felucca in front of the Semiramis Hotel.  Two obstacles before you can enjoy the felucca.  One, we had to cross the busy street in front of the hotel to reach the waterfront.  This is a death defying experience.  We would have never made it across if it weren’t for a policeman who took pity on us and stopped traffic just long enough for us to scoot across.  It was a potential sacrifice on the part of the policeman…he could have been hit!  The cars barely obeyed the policeman.  Second, you have to bargain.  It took my husband’s cousin, a native, at least twenty minutes to negotiate.  It’s part of the experience.  Once on the boat, enjoy the breeze off the Nile and the sparkling lights of the many hotels that line it.

Gezira Sporting Club
Located in Zamalek, it’s an oasis for families in the middle of bustling Cairo.  It is a private club but I believe you can buy temporary memberships/passes.  We knew some Club members and were invited in as guests.  The girls loved going to the Club.  There are tennis courts, a swimming pool (rumor has it not that clean), squash courts, restaurants, riding stable, golf etc and playground.  We enjoyed sitting in the evenings by the playground, visiting with friends and family.  The girls ran around where they pleased and we knew they were safe (well in and around the playground, they didn’t venture too far…).  If you are looking for squash lessons (the best squash players in the world at the moment are from the Gezira Club!) or golf, check it out!

Other Ideas
You can hire horse drawn carriages in Zamalek.  We did not.  I wasn’t keen about being on a slow moving carriage in Cairo with kamikaze cars all around.  (We did however ride the horse drawn carriages everywhere we went in Luxor.)  You can also visit the Cairo Zoo, but as my sister-in-law put it, “Visit it for a cultural experience.”

Cairo And Where To Stay, By The Way, Don’t Expect Too Much Service…

View of Cairo from Al-Azhar Park

Due to our backgrounds and where we grew up, we have taken our children to Japan and Egypt.  Tokyo is a large and densely populated city like Cairo but that is where the similarities end.  Tokyo is a model of efficiency and punctuality.  It can be overwhelming but there is a sense that it is controlled chaos.  Everyone knows their place and everyone follows the rules.  Cairo is the polar opposite.  No one follows any rules in Cairo.  What traffic laws?  You have to have a death wish to try and cross the street as a pedestrian.  Nothing runs on schedule.  The sidewalks are cracked, the city is covered in dust and it’s hot, really hot.

You don’t have to worry too much about cleanliness in Japan nor about the safety of water and food.  It’s a breeze traveling with kids in Japan compared to Egypt.  I am worried about my children’s safety while driving around Egypt…despite the fact we carted car seats all the way to Egypt.  In contrast to our concern, our Egyptian driver was puzzled by our insistence on using car seats for our kids.

Despite all the inconveniences and the inevitable bouts of traveler’s diarrhea, travel to Egypt is rewarding, educational and fascinating.  My children are growing up in a very sterile world of suburbia USA.  I made fun of the Hilton Waikoloa as Disneyesque but really, compared to the rest of the world, all of America is Disneyland.  I hope by traveling to Egypt our girls will appreciate part of their heritage but also experience another type of life that occurs outside the developed countries like the US.  Of course we didn’t quite have the full experience since we did stay for our first visit at the Cairo Marriott.

The Cairo Marriott is built into and around the Gezira Palace.  Khedive Ismail built the palace to house dignitaries, in particular Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, who came to Egypt to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.  We enjoy staying in hotels with history and if you do too, this would be a good choice.  I want to be clear that the lobby, restaurants and banquet halls are in the historic portion but the rooms are all in the two modern towers.  The rooms are fine and the rooms we had a wonderful view of the Cairo Tower and overlooked the Gezira Sporting Club.  It was wonderfully relaxing to have an unobstructed and expansive view in Cairo.

We were upgraded to the Executive level, mainly because when we checked in at 4 in the morning, they could not provide us with connecting rooms that we had requested when we made the reservation.  The service was poor.  We were tired with two young kids and the check in took at least an hour!!!  Initially, they were going to give us two separate rooms on the ground floor.  We were not pleased.  There was no way we could stay in two separate rooms with our young girls.  The night manager finally came out to help us and upgraded us to the Executive level.  (One major benefit being at the Executive level was the access to the lounge and free breakfast...so convenient with kids.)  In terms of service, I would have to give the hotel low marks – for the check in delay and the initial unaccommodating stance on our request for connecting rooms.  I also have to give it low marks for not making our rooms on our first day.  We suspect it was due to the lack of tip.  In our jet lag haze we did not tip that first day but boy after finding our rooms unmade at the end of the day, my husband found the housekeepers, all men by the way, and tipped for our entire stay upfront.

The hotel has a very large pool, a necessary amenity even if you aren’t traveling with kids.  It’s a great way to cool off in the Cairo heat.  The downside, the pool wasn’t that close to our rooms and we did have to pass by the outdoor café seating area in order to reach the pool.  We tried the hotel restaurant and it was really bad.  Nice atmosphere, just bad food.

By the way, do not be alarmed at the security measures of the hotel.  All the cars are stopped and checked before entry into the hotel grounds.  Everyone has to go through a metal detector and all bags have to be x rayed, each time you go in and out.  A royal pain plus my bag got really dirty each time it was put on the belt to go through the scanner.

There are many other hotels besides the Marriott but it is the only one I believe with any historical interest. I also like its location in Zamalek, an island neighborhood in the middle of the Nile.  Zamalek is green with lots of colonial era homes, embassies, galleries, restaurants and cafes.

Overlook the bad service and enjoy exploring the grounds and palace wing of the hotel.  Take a deep breath, put on sturdy shoes and walk around Zamalek.  It is one of the few neighborhoods in Cairo that is ‘walkable’.

No Other Way – You Have To Land In The Middle Of The Night, Cairo Egypt

Getting there is half the battle and in this case it’s true.  I am of course being US centric.  From Europe, say Amsterdam, the flight is a little over 4 hours to Cairo.  However, from the US, and for us from the West Coast, it takes forever.  It takes nearly 10 hours flying time from SFO to Amsterdam.  And if you are not spending time in Amsterdam, you are looking at 8 hours or so of layover at the airport before boarding a flight in the evening to Cairo.  (And if you are spending time in Amsterdam, which I recommend, like we did on our most recent trip, check out my earlier posts on Amsterdam under January and February 2010.)

There are other flights to Cairo besides KLM.  Both times that we have traveled to Egypt, KLM flying out of San Francisco, offered the lowest airfare to Cairo.  KLM also offered the lowest airfare from NY to Cairo.  British Airways is another good choice to Egypt, again we went with the lowest fare available.

KLM is very kid friendly.  It offers baby bassinets that attach in front of the bulk head seats.  At the beginning of the flight, all the kids receive little goodie bags containing colored pencils, origami, card games etc…The flight attendants are also laid back, friendly and helpful.  Snacks are plentiful.

The downside of course is the ten hour layover in Amsterdam!  Our solution on our first trip was to get a room at the airport hotel for the day.  The Hotel Mercure, although conveniently located inside the airport, is a bare bones operation.  Our room was a windowless, dark, back packer standard room.  However, we all slept for about 6 hours, showered and ventured out to central Amsterdam which was about 15 minutes by train.  The more civilized solution is to schedule a stay in Amsterdam.

Flights to and from Egypt land and depart at ungodly hours.  Our KLM flight left at 8:45pm from Amsterdam and arrived in Cairo at 1am – yes that’s right, 1:00 in the morning.  On the return flight we left our hotel in Cairo at midnight (we woke our girls up and left them in their pajamas on the drive to the airport) to catch a flight to Amsterdam which left Cairo at 3am – yes, this is not a mistake, 3:00 in the morning.  Yikes!

October 2007, August 2009

Are We In Disneyland Or Vegas? Hilton Waikoloa plus Dinner at Monstera and Pahu i`a

Tram at the Hotel Lobby

One of the boats ferrying the guests at Waikoloa

Beautiful but cold pool at Waikoloa

I don’t recommend island hopping but we had to hop.  Our cheap flight back to the Bay Area left from the Big Island.  I did try to find a flight that would get us back to the Big Island from Kauai in time to catch the flight back to the mainland but wasn’t successful.  I should have tried connecting through Oahu…well the point is we had to spend two more nights back at the Big Island; two instead of one because one night would mean just sleeping and packing up.

Thinking I would try a different hotel and thus a different experience, I booked two nights at the Hilton Waikoloa through Expedia.  It was inexpensive, which was a bonus.  It also looked like a crazy place so I thought the kids would get a kick out of it.

The Hilton is a crazy place so I was right on that count.  Get this…as you walk into the hotel lobby, there is a tram ‘station’ and a dock for a boat!!!  The hotel is so big you could use a ride.  As I suspected, the girls loved the hotel transportation.  We didn’t really need to ride either the boat or the tram to get to our room (luckily ours was not in the hinterland) but we did…I mean why not?  The boat is actually a good looking one.  The tram is very modern looking.  I was told the tram cost $4M!

The room was a little musty smelling and we had a view of the roofs but also of Mauna Loa.  We were also close to the pool, important when you have young kids.  I had prepared the rest of the family…the room probably wasn’t going to be great (which it wasn’t) but for the price and two nights stay, we were not going to complain.

We were all excited to explore the hotel so the next morning, we set out for the hotel grounds.  First of all, it’s unclear what this hotel is trying to be…to me it could be Disneyland or Vegas.  It didn’t matter…either way it doesn’t feel relaxing, it feels very commercial and it is just over the top.  The Hilton has animals behind glass on the way to the pool…ne ne birds, the Hawaiian state bird, turtles and flamingos!  Why??  What is the point?

As the pool comes into view, we see a hanging rope bridge which looks pretty cool over the pool.  There is also a slide which got the girls excited.  However, it turns out, the pool is very cold.  The girls did not last long at all.  After a couple of runs on the slide, the girls find the hot tub and the ping pong table –which is a lot of fun.  I find out that the hotel is getting new pool heaters next year.  In the meantime, the pool is very cold. 

We set out to search for the lagoon but on the way we see the dolphin pool.  The Hilton offers a chance to swim and interact with dolphins – Dolphin Quest.  We passed on the offer since it would have meant being out of $500 for just the girls to interact with the dolphins.  We definitely did not win the popularity contest with our girls.

There is another large body of water on the grounds besides the pool and the dolphin pool.  The lagoon is huge and is filled with saltwater.  You can rent kayaks and can also go snorkeling.  Purportedly, you can see turtles in the lagoon – we didn’t since we didn’t venture too far in.  Again, like the pool, the water was so cold!

After a very bad lunch at the Queens' Market Place Food Court near the hotel, we decided we needed to leave the hotel in search of the ‘real’ Hawaii.  So we headed to Hapuna Beach and remembered why we came to Hawaii in the first place; soft sandy beaches, warm waters and waves and the refreshing breeze off the ocean.   We had had enough of the fake world of Hilton! 

Our last two nights on the Big Island, we tried to find new places to eat.  The first night back from Kauai, we had dinner at Monstera, a Japanese restaurant located at the Shops at Mauna Lani, next to the Fairmont Orchid.  We had heard that the chef was originally the chef at Fairmont’s Japanese restaurant. 

First off, the service slow, very slow.  I think it was the kitchen not our server.  Our server was nice but he didn’t get all our order right…wasn’t a big deal, easily corrected but it shouldn’t happen.  The food was just average but then we didn’t order sushi (except for kappa maki for the girls), which seems to be the thing to order, looking at the reviews online.  We love sushi but we had spent the first part of the summer in Japan and we have a very good sushi restaurant back home so we didn’t feel compelled to order sushi.  I saw some Korean influenced dishes on the menu and the homemade kimchi intrigued me.  That was the hook and I ordered a pork dish with kimchi.  Kimchi was good but the pork was a bit dry and tough.  The lady at the next table ordered a pork dish but not with kimchi and we overheard her complaining about it.  She sent her plate back.  My husband ordered the misoyaki butterfish which was decent but a little heavy.  The girls had kappa maki and udon.  Would I recommend it?  Not really but try the sushi if you decide to go anyway.

On our last night, we decided to splurge on dinner at Pahu i`a at the Four Seasons.  The setting is absolutely amazing.  The view is incredible!  The food is OK.  I expected more from the Four Seasons.  I think my older daughter’s chicken noodle soup was the best thing on the menu.  I had three appetizers for my meal…all some form of sushi and rolls and that’s because nothing else sounded great.  My husband had a fish dish which was average.  However, I am glad we went.  It was incredibly relaxing and beautiful.  The sunset was gorgeous.  It was the perfect place to spend our last evening in Hawaii.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Chance Encounters and Sunset at Beach House

Rainbow in Front of The Beach House, Kauai

Lawn in front of The Beach House

You’ve heard it, “It’s a small world”.   You’re thinking, I’ve visited Disneyland and ridden the ride, so what?  No, not in that context…you know, when you run into people randomly.  We have had our share of unexpected encounters.  You’ve all had experiences running into celebrities, politicians, TV journalists and personalities.  In our family, my husband spots the politicians and journalists and I spot the celebs.  What does that say about us? I guess it’s a function of what’s on our Tivo play list.

My husband spots Senator Schumer in shorts on vacation in Amsterdam (I like him better in a suit), Senator Hatch on a plane, Condi Rice at brunch, Al and Tipper Gore (when they were together) at a club in DC etc…I spot the B list celebs.   And I do that again on this trip.  It is my role in life to point out to those around me “Hey! That’s Roseanne Barr at breakfast!” to which my sister goes, she doesn’t look like her, until of course she opens her mouth and you know without a doubt it is indeed Roseanne Barr.  (One time I sat next to the mayor of Boston on a plane.  Right before deplaning, I assume his aide, nudges me and says “You know that’s the mayor right?”  I look at him and say “No I did not!”  I wonder why he felt he had to tell me…did he think I needed to be enlightened, obviously, but what would the point be at the end of the journey???)

Other than famous people, we also unexpectedly run into people we know when we travel.  Those encounters are the ones that make us feel lucky.  Like the time my husband ran into an old classmate at CDG airport in Paris.  Or this time when I spot a familiar looking face at our hotel in Kauai.  I go up to him and ask whether he went to a school in Philly and of course he did.  A classmate I had not seen for 15 years, now married with three wonderful children.  Who needs Facebook to reconnect???  I’ll take the chance encounters any day!

Probably the most bizarre chance encounter, actually a series of encounters, happened 10 years ago.  This is before kids and we were in Australia around Port Douglas.  We meet a young mother on a dive boat.  She is vacationing with her family.  Then we meet her again, days later, on a street corner in Sydney.  OK…we were surprised but not out of the question, since we were all vacationing and still in the same country.  But we see her again weeks later.  This last chance meeting blew our minds.  We cross paths while trekking in Nepal in the Anapurna region.   Really. She had left her family behind and was trekking all on her own with her own team of porters.  And here we were, my husband and I, and one of my dearest friends, and our porters.  Nothing tops that…Great Barrier Reef, Sydney and then Nepal.  Bizarre!

So I digress…our last two days on Kauai was spent getting in as much time as possible at the beach and pool.  Our last night on Kauai, we enjoyed the sunset from the spectacular vantage point in front of the Beach House.  Even if you don’t eat there (we don't think the restaurant deserves its reputation but the the view is amazing), park yourself on the lawn in front of the restaurant and take in the scene…the waves, the surfers, the sky and this time a double rainbow! and the sunset.  Absolutely gorgeous!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Red Salt At Koa Kea, Not For Us

Another leisurely day was spent kayaking in the saltwater lagoon at the hotel, going down the slide, body surfing (just my husband) at the beach.  Of course before this leisurely day started the girls had a meltdown.  The younger one recovered quickly but my older girl took longer, much longer.  This meant my older daughter and I stayed in the room pretty much the whole morning while my husband and my younger one enjoyed fun pool time. 

I thought I would try something new for dinner and made reservations at Red Salt.  I saw a blurb about it in Kauai’s dining magazine and the chef’s stint at El Bulli.  I was excited!  Red Salt is located in Koa Kea Hotel (used to be Poipu Beach Hotel until a hurricane damaged it).  Described as upscale and boutique, for families with kids, the more apt description is adult, as in parents with kids will not feel comfortable or welcomed.  Undaunted, we ‘dressed up’ for dinner and arrived at the hotel – to an empty dining room.  Yes we were on the early side 6pm (I tried to change to a later time, but was told 6pm was prime time for sunset viewing from the restaurant).  Apparently I was the only one privy to this tip.  We sat down and looked at the menu, which was small and to me, average looking.  We looked at the girls, then each other and knew, this wasn’t going to be fun for the girls or us.  We apologized profusely and left the dining room, empty once again.  I didn’t get to taste a hint of El Bulli that night but enjoyed great music, fun atmosphere and over sauced chicken cashew stir fry at Keoki’s.  The girls enjoyed their cheese quesadilla and fish tacos.  And you know what?-we all shared an amazing hula pie, that was worthwhile.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Poipu Beach v Shipwreck Beach

Poipu Beach

The beach in front of the Hyatt is not appropriate for water play for kids. It is a fun beach, however, to sit and watch the surfers and jumpers. Jumpers you say??? Not the same kind off the Golden Gate Bridge. No, these jumpers take off with or without their boards off a cliff to the left of the beach. It’s a pretty daring thing to do, to say the least. They jump, making sure to clear the rocks beneath waiting to grind them to pieces. Well, it’s probably safer than I am making it sound but it looks dangerous. One afternoon, we watched five jumpers dive into the ocean below. Except for one, all tried some fancy moves, and one jumped in after his board. Cool!

Due to the rough waves at Hyatt’s beach, appropriately named, Shipwreck Beach, we decided to spend the morning at the calmer and more kid-friendly Poipu Beach. We also wanted to go say hi to my older daughter’s classmate and family who were also vacationing on the island. Poipu Beach is a narrower beach than Shipwreck but it is a great beach for families. You can also take beginner surf lessons at this beach. The only downside is parking. The parking lot is small and you have to find street parking which isn’t plentiful since the Sheraton occupies the bulk of the street. It’s worth a visit though. The kids and adults have so much fun playing in the waves.

The afternoon was spent back at the hotel pool and dinner was at our Hawaiian standby, Roy’s. I ordered what I always order – butterfish, but I did vary the appetizers. I also noted that the menu at Kauai’s Roy’s was a little different from the Big Island’s location, which makes sense. A little variety makes it interesting.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Daddy! Mommy Forgot Underwear!!

The slide…it’s one of the main reasons the girls love the Hyatt. We had not been to Hawaii in a couple of years and this year, my younger daughter started begging to go to Hawaii. We thought it was a bid odd, her perseverance and her insistence it had to be this particular hotel. It’s a nice hotel so there is good reason to want to return to it but didn’t seem to warrant persistent begging in our minds; until my husband figured out that it was the slide. Our younger daughter has not been able to go down the slide. She’s been too short and it was a sore point with her. You can’t go down with an adult. You have to be able to do it on your own. Before I booked the hotel, I called the hotel and learned the height requirement was 42”. I measured her with a measuring tape and she was just about 43”. She was going down the slide this time!

So slide it was and our whole morning was spent going down the slide. Usually the line for the slide is long, but because an entire wing, about 400 rooms were shut down, the hotel seemed a bit emptier than usual. This allowed the girls to go down the slide so many times we all lost count.

Unlike the Orchid on the Big Island where the casual café served incredibly bad food, the Docks restaurant at the Hyatt actually had good poolside food. The chicken tenders were crispy, moist and tender! We also got coupons everyday for free small frozen yogurt. The girls were hooked.

With kids you never know what will come out of their mouths. Parents, you all know what I am talking about. We had one of those moments while waiting for our lunch poolside. Instead of sitting in wet swimsuits during lunch, we usually bring a change of clothing for the girls. Nothing more than coveralls; and of course I bring their underwear as well. However, I forgot their underwear this time. My husband had finished helping the girls out of their swimsuits when I approached the girls and my younger girl asked me if I had their underwear. I told her I had forgotten. Then my younger daughter proceeds to yell loudly at her dad who was coming towards us from across the other side of the pool “Daddy, Mommy forgot underwear!” The couple at the table next to us burst out laughing, naturally. My younger daughter didn’t know what was so funny and was confused and embarrassed. I tell you, things that come out of babes’ mouths.

We’ve always like Kauai because of its lush and wild landscape but also because it wasn’t as developed as Maui or Oahu. Slowly that seems to be changing. Since the last time we were in the Poipu area, there are now many new condos being built and a new shopping center. Fortunately, I thought the shopping center was in good taste, evoking a sense of old plantation homes.

With no plans for dinner we decided to wander around Kukui'ula Village and see if there were any good possibilities for dinner. There were a number of choices but we settled on Merriman's Downstairs Café, mostly because it was new for us and the prices seemed reasonable. First off the ambience could use a little more punch. The shopping center was mostly deserted. It applied to the Café as well. We wondered if the closure of a wing at the Hyatt was having a measurable impact on the number of tourists in the Poipu area. I ordered an eggplant flatbread which I thought was good, not fabulous, but good. One of the girls had pasta with marinara sauce. I tasted the sauce and I thought it tasted very fresh. She didn’t much care for it. My other daughter had a burger. It was plain (off the kids menu) with french fries. My husband was too full from breakfast and lunch and figured he would eat the girls’ leftovers of which there was plenty. Would I recommend it? I would…you can tell they use fresh local ingredients. Unlike the ‘local’ eateries, it wasn’t too heavy. But I wish atmosphere was more lively.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

From The Moon Back To Earth, Big Island to Kauai

View From Our Room at the Grand Hyatt Kauai

We spent our last morning at the Orchid swimming in the lagoon.  We wished we had made plans to stay longer on the Big Island.  We had a great time at the Orchid.  It had good facilities, good breakfast buffet, a fine pool, fun and safe ‘hot tub’ for kids, lagoon where kids practiced surfing and accessible snorkeling, restaurant and café on the beach and turtles!  And to boot, we had gotten a good deal.  Oh well, now I know for next time.

The Hawaiian Air flight from Kona to Lihue on Kauai shouldn’t have taken long but I don’t believe there are any nonstop flights between the two airports.  Therefore, what should have been a 30min flight and travel time turns into a 2-3 hour flight and travel time, via Honolulu.  That is the downside of hopping between islands.  You waste essentially half a day and have to deal with all the hassle of packing and renting/returning cars when you island hop.   This too, now I know for next time.  (It’s OK and worth it if you live in the Midwest or the East Coast and have to endure 10hr+ flight to get to Hawaii, but for many Californians, island hopping may not be the best option, especially if you know you will come back to Hawaii another time.)

We arrived in the late afternoon to Kauai and was struck by the vast difference in scenery.  Whereas the Big Island was barren, brown, rocky and vast, Kauai is green, lush and more populated (nothing like Oahu or Maui).

This wasn’t our first time at the Grand Hyatt Kauai.  Our whole family loves the hotel for its ambience, its extensive pool system and slide, keiki hula shows and the beach in front for access to surfing.  We have a very strong preference for rooms in the Shipwreck Wing of the hotel.  Unfortunately for us, the whole wing was closed for renovation.  Major bummer!  The room we ended up with was at the very opposite end of the hotel from our preferred location.  We were not happy.  This wasn’t what we had signed up for…I had called ahead to make sure we would be getting rooms in the Shipwreck Wing and so was very disappointed when we were told the timing of the construction had changed.

After a quick dip in the pool we all got ready for the keiki hula show at the Seaview Terrace.  Our girls love watching kids hula.  They can’t get enough of it.  Lucky for us, we arrived on a Tuesday which was keiki hula day and we were going to get to see it again on Saturday.  Perfect.  As we ordered some light food for dinner at the Terrace, our server asked us for our room number.  When he told him our room number, he quipped “You had a marathon getting here!”  And he was right.  My husband responded “Our room is at the absolute end of the hotel”.  (To get a sense, the hotel sits on 50 acres with 602 guest rooms – it’s huge and spread out.)  To which my older girl replied “No Daddy.  There are two rooms next to us closer to the exit door.”  Yes, that would make a difference!

Our stay just wasn’t going to be what we expected if we stayed put in the far corner of the property.  So my husband spoke to the front desk and they were nice enough to switch us to a much better and closer room the next day.  It still wasn’t a room in the Shipwreck Wing (couldn’t do much about that since the whole wing was under construction) but it was so much better than where we were initially assigned.  It pays to speak up.


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Excitement at Hapuna Beach, No Not The Waves

Another Amazing Sunset

My sister and her family are having a string of bad luck.  Their youngest injured himself three times in a row, the last one requiring a trip to the hospital.  Today it was car trouble.  After a morning at the lagoon/beach and bracelet making at the hotel, we decided to head over to Hapuna Beach, a beautiful wide sandy beach nearby.  My brother-in-law and his older son headed out way before us.  When we arrived at the beach they were just leaving…this was about 4pm or so.

This is probably the first time I saw the girls actually play in the ocean with waves.  Prior to this, both of them would run up the beach as soon as they sensed the waves.  This time, they both swam into the ocean, waves and all, and dove under the waves.  I was so proud of them…thankfully they don’t take after me.  I wasn’t as brave as my girls at their age.  We didn’t stay too long, about 30min, and we made our way back to the parking lot.  When we look up we see my brother-in-law, phone in hand coming towards us – which of course was unexpected.  They should have been back at the hotel getting ready for our last dinner together.

As it turned out, his car wasn’t starting.  It seems he got the car keys wet by accident.  He said he was relieved to see us, and I am glad we ran into each other.  He would have had to wait for a new car to be delivered.  So…this is the downside of technology.  Smart keys, can’t get them wet!

The hotel and car deal I bought from Costco was good, but I didn’t pay attention to the size of car.  It seems I paid for a mid-size.  My husband informed me as he came back to the airport to pick us up that mid-size was a tad small for the family.  I didn’t think it was too bad, but in this particular situation, I wished I had sprung for a full size.  We had to leave my mom behind with my brother-in-law to make room for our nephew.  After dropping us off at the hotel, my husband had to go back to the beach to pick up my mom and my brother-in-law.

Our last night together was turning out to be a somewhat stressful one.  By the time we got back to the hotel, I had 15 minutes to shower the kids and myself to make our 6pm dinner reservation at Brown’s, Orchid’s beachside restaurant.  We didn’t quite make it. Luckily for our motley crew, the restaurant staff was really nice and patient.  They were so gracious.  My girls and I were the only ones at our table with a view for 45 minutes! And they didn’t pester us at all.  In fact, our server, J’aime was absolutely wonderful.  The rest of the crew finally showed up, including my brother-in-law.  He didn’t think he could have dinner with us since he would have to go back to the beach with the rental car agents.  We talked him into ordering the entrée banking on him getting back after the apps were served.  As it turned out, he didn’t miss dinner after all.  The Hawaiians showed again how nice and accommodating they were.  The rental car agents delivered the new car to the hotel and offered to pick up the other car at the beach.

Our last dinner together was wonderful; amazingly beautiful evening by the beach, good food and superb service.  Absolutely perfect.




Monday, August 9, 2010

Trip To The Sanctuary And Really Good Vietnamese Crepe in Kona

Though we had made plans to go snorkeling off a boat, we canceled given our nephew’s condition. We opted to go to ‘the place of refuge’ Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park , a sacred ground for the Hawaiians where we could see turtles (though we saw turtles anytime we wanted right at the Fairmont). The drive was longer than we thought – it took about an hour. It was worth it…it was very pretty and there was a calmness to the place (mired only by a couple of local boys spearing fish with no intent of eating them). We were promised turtles and we saw turtles. The turtles were playing just by the shore.

We all walked out on the lava rocks (the boys had their water shoes on this time) and enjoyed the small tide pools hidden among the rocks. My brother-in-law decided to go snorkeling right there and my husband and the kids, minus the injured one, all got into the water. The water was apparently beautiful and clear and they saw lots of fish.

Come lunch time, we found out there was no picnicking on sacred ground except in designated area which seemed too hot so we opted to drive 30min+ back to town for lunch. I’m glad we did. My sister knew of a Vietnamese place from their last visit which served Vietnamese crepe only on Sundays. And of course this being Sunday, we had to go.

BaLe-Kona is non-descript, in a strip shopping center one door down from Payless Shoes. The food on the other hand was great! I wish we had this place in the Bay Area. Although we have many Vietnamese restaurants, many aren’t good at all. The crepe was crisp but not greasy and it came with a large plate of lettuce, fresh cilantro and mint. My youngest girl pretty much polished off four large fresh spring rolls declaring they were the best (they were gigantic and good but hardly the best – but then she was hungry). My husband’s pork dish was sweet, moist and tender. The rest of the gang had noodle soup, chicken and more crepe…all good. I couldn’t resist and ordered a tapioca dessert in sweet potato flavor, the purple kind. It was awful…so can’t recommend their desserts but highly recommend the rest of the menu.

After lunch we went shopping at Kohl’s and Target for water shorts for the girls. We thought they needed more protection while playing on the surfboards. It isn’t easy to find the equivalent of board shorts for girls. Girls’ shorts all were really short barely provided any more protection than their swimsuit. With a lot of coaxing, and I mean a lot, we talked them into getting boys’ shorts – they were cute, red with flowers, but the girls weren’t happy but I think their thighs were glad for the extra protection.

We had no plans for dinner that night and we thought we would just wing it at the hotel when my sister called me urgently around 7pm to come to the Japanese restaurant, Norio’s, at the Fairmont. She was holding 9 chairs at the sushi bar and if we didn’t come right away we couldn’t have them. Luckily we were almost done getting ready and I ran over with the girls. My sister was there with one of her boys, not showered, holding down the fort. She tells me that the kids can’t sit together, that the adults had to sit between them. It sounded like she had a horrific time trying to get the seats for us – took her 20minutes of sweet talking (I couldn’t have done it, I don’t think)…the hostess did not want to seat our group with the kids for dinner. She actually relented after much persuasion and her first offer was to stick our kids in a corner at the bar by themselves away from all adults – including the parents!! My sister at this point switched to Japanese (since the hostess was an older Japanese lady) and didn’t give up trying to come up with a workable solution. Thank goodness for my sister!

Of course the question is, was the dinner worth my poor sister enduring the nasty hostess? The food was good – expensive, as is the case with restaurant food in Hawaii. (The miso soup that I ordered for the girls was $8 for a bowl!! with nothing but soup in it…I didn’t know how much it cost and didn’t think it would cost much…I was wrong.) Some of the rolls were 50% off from 7:30-8:30 so we lucked out with the rolls. It was a good choice for dinner since we had no plans, some rolls were half off and it was right at the hotel. You can’t complain too much when you are in Hawaii….you are in paradise after all.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Third Time, Defintely Not a Charm, Actually It's a Trip to the Hospital

The morning started off well enough, with a big breakfast buffet, where my husband and I gorged on ripe papayas and sweet pineapples.  The girls on the other hand thought fruit loops and doughnuts were more to their liking.

After breakfast we made our way to the lagoon where the girls and their cousins all played with the surfboards.  I was thinking how cute…all four of them sitting on one surfboard.  Then I saw the board go towards the lava rocks…and the boys scramble up the rocks and the board with the girls drift away.  All the adults were on the beach and when we saw the boys on the rocks, we all knew it was not a good situation.  We told the girls to go back to the boys and when they all came back to shore we knew there was trouble.  There was blood, lots of blood.  My younger nephew had cut his toes very badly.  My sister is a physician and when she couldn’t stop the bleeding, I knew this was serious.  It was terrible.  This injury warranted a trip to the hospital.  Since the toes weren’t easily accessible for suturing, the physician at the hospital used derma bond…super glued the wounds.  Really unlucky!  My nephew had fallen twice the day before and had arrived at the hotel with huge bandages on his shin…a fall at the waterfall and at a shave ice stand, and now this.  This of course meant that my nephew was out of the water for the next couple of days and we cancelled our snorkeling trip. 

While my sister and her husband took their son to the hospital, we spent the rest of the morning at the pool and at the lagoon with our girls and our older nephew – had a great time but we worried about the rest of the group at the hospital.  They finally got back around 2:30pm – they had left around 10am.  We hung around the hotel and we were off to dinner at Roy’s to celebrate my sister’s birthday. 

Roy’s as usual is located in a shopping center – this one King’s Shops, located at the next turn off from the Orchid.  The food was good and the view of the fake lake fine (reminded me of Foster City, CA).  I ordered what I always order – misoyaki butterfish, with a spicy tuna appetizer.  For dessert – the usual – chocolate soufflé cake – yum.

As we spent more days at the hotel, we learned of more families whose kids had cut their feet on the lava rocks.  My husband ran into a man who was waiting for a wheelchair at the lagoon who had moments ago cut his feet on the rocks.   We were puzzled the hotel did not have visible signs warning about the sharp rocks.  It seemed that injury on the rocks wasn’t uncommon.  Maybe the Hawaiians know all about the sharp lava rocks but us naïve tourists certainly were not as aware.



Saturday, August 7, 2010

Big Island-The Orchid, Better The Second Time Around

Sunset in front of the Orchid

It’s brutal taking an early morning flight with kids.  I feel so bad waking them up.  Our flight on Alaska Airlines to the Big Island left out of San Jose at 7:30am, which meant we were out the door around 6am.  The kids seemed OK being woken up but then on the flight we realized quickly they were missing their sleep.  Both were so cranky and the flight to Hawaii isn’t short…about 4 ½ to 5 hrs. 

What made the flight somewhat bearable was the crew and service of Alaska Airlines.  I had never flown them before.  I was impressed with how nice, friendly and helpful they were – from the moment you line up at the ticket counter, you are greeted with smiles…imagine!!

We arrive into Kona about 30 minutes early, around 9:40am Hawaii time.  The airport is small.  There aren’t any jetways…you walk onto the tarmac off the plane…you feel you are now truly away.  The landscape also helps to make you feel you have traveled far.  When you start driving, as far as the eye can see, you see old lava fields, brown and rocky.  Very barren looking compared to the other lush islands of Hawaii. 

I found a good package deal for the Fairmont Orchid through Costco (although I think you could have booked directly through the hotel for a comparable rate).  The Orchid was built as a Ritz, but changed management years later to the Starwood group, and in its latest reincarnation was now the Fairmont.  We had stayed at the Orchid before many years ago, prior to kids.  Neither my husband nor I remembered it being particularly memorable but this time with kids, we really liked it.

I remember not being impressed with the manmade beach on the property but this time around thought it was one of the highlights!  The girls loved the beach where we bought an activity card for $60 that allowed the kids to rent lots of fun water equipment.  The girls took out a large foam surfboard and practiced surfing.  I snorkeled around the mouth of the lagoon and immediately spotted a honu, a green sea turtle, which swam right underneath me!  That made my trip.  We pretty much spent the whole afternoon at the beach. 

Since the Bay Area was 3 hours ahead of Hawaii, by 5pm all of us were starving and opted for dinner at the Hale Kai restaurant right by the beach.  The food was pretty awful but the setting was wonderful.  As we were having dinner, my sister and her family who were already on the island joined us.  They had just returned from the Volcano National Park.  We watched as the sun set and the sea turtles rested on the rocky beach in front of the restaurant and knew we were indeed in paradise.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Miyakojima, Okinawa – Sparkling Blue Waters And Sand As Fine As Sifted Flour

View From Our Hotel Room

June – July 2007

As I was planning our first trip to Japan with our girls, my husband looks at me and said, “I want to go to the beach while in Japan.” I looked at him and thought and remarked, “Are you kidding??? Who goes to Japan for a beach vacation???” I mean – we live in California for crying out loud! Okay, the waters in Northern California are too cold without a wet suit but still, the beaches are pretty and we don’t have to drive far to find them.

He was persistent…it’s actually his strength, unless of course I am the one being worked on, then it’s a problem. As I considered his unusual request, I recalled wanting to go to Okinawa when I was living in Japan. My family never did go to Okinawa. The airfare was too expensive back then. Now that I was living in the US I had an advantage…I could purchase internal airfare at a discount. (I think we paid perhaps as little as a third of what the Japanese would have paid for air.) I decided on Miyakojima, a smaller island south of the main island of Okinawa. We avoided the main island mainly due to cost. All the hotels and resorts I looked at on the main island were expensive. The Miyakojima Tokyu Resort was reasonably priced and I was happy with the email exchanges I had with one of the reservationists.

After a week or so in Tokyo we took the 5:45am flight out of Haneda Airport to Miyakojima. We had a taxi waiting for us to take us to Haneda Airport from Roppongi. We had a nice driver but not the one we would have chosen, if given a choice. He was a soba noodle shop owner who was driving a taxi on the side to make ends meet. I very much doubt he knew the best way and to make my point, he circled within the airport 3 times before getting us to the right terminal at a cost of JPY7000.

When I called to confirm our flight, the lady on the line had told me we could get to the airport 15min before departure – which seemed totally ridiculous so I decided we could get there 30min ahead of time. We left the hotel at 6am and arrived at Haneda around 6:35am. Our flight was at 7:20. There was no line. The airport was large and there were quite a few people, but it was very quiet. It’s something that you notice here – silence in large public spaces or restaurants. Unlike in the US where most people talk loudly, the Japanese are very respectful of noise. I appreciate the silence but I felt self conscious with our energetic and yes loud girls in tow.

The flight to Miyakojima took about 2hr45min on Transocean Air, an affiliate of JAL. No food was served but it still felt like a full service airline. They stocked kids books and candies. The kids got to pick a toy each from a basket full of toys the flight attendant brought. They served consommé soup in addition to the usual drinks. The hot soup was a hit with our girls. They asked for seconds!

Miyakojima was hot and appeared underdeveloped, natural – unmanicured. However, its beaches were amazing. The sand was soft as sifted flour and the water varying shades of blue. Perfect. The hotel itself was OK. The price was comparable to the Grand Hyatt Kauai but lacked the extensive pools and lagoon, scale and pristine landscaping. Our first room had a faulty air conditioner and a bathroom that was miniscule. I am not tall, 5’2” actually, and I could touch the walls of the bathroom both ways! with my arms out stretched. There were two things going for the hotel - Maehama Beach in front of the hotel with its creamy white sand and clear blue water and the Restaurant Shangri-La’s buffet. Both breakfast and dinner (we had the meal plan) were amazing!! My husband could not get enough of the steak at dinner and the first time he went back for seconds, the chef looked a little surprised. He must not get too many people eating such large quantity of meat in one sitting. (My husband grew up eating large chunks of meat everyday so seconds on steak was nothing for him.)

Despite the wonderful spread at the hotel, we opted to go into town one evening to soak up the local scene of Hirara. It was a very bad decision. When we reached the entrance of the recommended restaurant, Uomiya, my older daughter sniffed. I also smelled the odor and it did not bode well. She also remarked as we walked into the place “this does not look like other restaurants”. It did look shabby and smelled funny. We should have skedaddled out of there as soon as we smelled the place! We sat in a private tatami room and ordered the JPY3000 course.

We started off with a vinegary and sweet seaweed concoction. That was bad really bad. But the rafute or braised pork belly was good. Next was fish in cream sauce and sashimi. Sashimi was great but the most interesting thing about it was the umi budo seaweed. Cool. The highlight of the dinner the crab/prawn was not good. It was tasteless and cold. However squid ink gohan – rice - was good and so was the miso soup.

We had a 10 minute walk to town. The most distinctive thing about it was the smell of raw sewage. Not worth a visit at all. It was an expensive night as well, what with the taxi fare and dinner north of $80.

Overall, our family really enjoyed our visit to Miyakojima. We were very lucky with the weather during our stay. We found out that the rains just ended before we came and the weather would be dry until typhoon season in August. We loved our daily walks on the beach around sunset. The lighting was magical. I am so glad my husband persevered and didn’t let up on wanting to go to a beach in Japan. Okinawa is highly recommended. Keep in mind, there isn’t much to do in Miyakojima, but if you are looking for great beaches, Okinawa is the place.

Hakone - Cheesy Hot Springs, Pirate Ships, Ropeways etc...

Friday, July 6, 2007

On our visit first visit to Japan with the kids in 2007 we took two trips outside of Tokyo. One was to Okinawa and the other to Hakone. Okinawa entails flying and planning before you arrive in Japan (it is cheaper to buy air outside of Japan) whereas Hakone you can decide once you arrive whether you want to go or not.

There is absolutely no need to take the shinkansen (bullet train) to Hakone from Tokyo but our family really wanted to take the shinkansen so we did. If you have a JR Pass, by all means take the shinkansen.

Our shinkansen to Hakone departed from Tokyo Station at 9:56 am. The ride from Tokyo to Odawara took only 37minutes – too short to really enjoy the shinkansen. We arrived in Odawara and naturally my husband had to wait around on the platform after we got off to see more shinkansens pass the station. (No he is not 6 year old boy…but he might as well be.)

We took our time at Odawara station, buying food, buying the Hakone pass etc. By the time we got to Hakone Yumoto station via Hakone Tozan railway, I was really surprised that my sister and her family and my mom had not caught up with us from Kyoto. They were coming by shinkansen from Kyoto and meeting us at Hakone. Again we took our time at Yumoto, eating lunch etc. We then caught a bus to Hotel Kowakien. The bus ride took about 20 minutes, a twisty climb. The view was nice – very lush landscape.

Our introduction to Hakone was so so. The bus driver, although not in a very mean way, grumbled about the wrong bus stations being pushed. (That might have been our girls…) The man at the reception of Hotel Kowakien was a snob taking forever to find our reservation only to inform me that our reservation was at a sister inn – and he made it clear it was an inferior hotel. Anyhow we finally got the reservation cleared up and we arrived at the New Pegasus Inn. My sister and the rest of the group arrived about 20 minutes later.

http://www.fujita-kanko.co.jp/english/kowakien/pegasus/

The hotel is a virtual maze. We go up and down and on and on down long hallways and when you find yourself where you want to be, you have no sense of the relationship from where you started. We decided to check out Yunessan hot springs water park and leave the rest of the Hakone circuit for the day after.

http://www.yunessun.com/english/

Boy, were we in for a treat. The hotel is connected to the water park via long confusing hallways and elevators. Once we found it, we had to endure a 10min intro/info/rules of Yunessan. It took us what seemed like forever to find our locker rooms. And then it took another eternity to get to the various pools. We were now equipped with electronic wristbands which could open lockers, buy food and with bright color jackets to wear while in transit to various pool sections.

The outdoor pool and slides were disappointing for us because both girls were too short to go on the slide (they were then nearly 4 and 2 ½). The indoor pool (all pools are very warm since they are hot springs) had a Vegas type water show every 30 minutes. All of it was just cheesiest of cheese. The best part was the ‘natural’ outdoor onsens. Again the macha, coffee, wine onsens etc…were unbelievably cheesy but the natural pools were nice and the landscaping outside was actually in good taste. This is the kind of experience you can find only in Japan. Who thinks up hot springs made to smell and look like green tea, coffee, red wine etc??? The kids all enjoyed it though. The cheesiness was all lost on them.

Dinner at the hotel was buffet style but it wasn’t as good or high end as the one we enjoyed at Miyakojima Hotel in Okinawa. My older daughter ate a lot of French fries! And oh – to top it all off – really unbelievable, you just had to laugh about it, there was a chocolate fountain!!


Friday, July 6, 2007

We tried to get an early start but we were delayed by 40min. Our goal was to start at 9am from the hotel, do the Hakone circuit and end up at Yumoto station by 3pm.

The kids did well considering. First it was a short bus ride to Hakone Open Air Museum. The Pass gave us a measly discount and so we passed on it (not very cultural of us I know – but we had 4 kids under the age of 6, wasn’t worth the admission fee). Then it was a walk (should have waited for a bus) to Gora station where we caught the Cable Car to Sounzan. It reminded me of the Victoria Peak Funicular in Hong Kong. We then moved on to Ropeways – 2 sets of them to take us down the mountain to Lake Ashi. The views were spectacular and we got a Ropeway car all to ourselves.

We catch sight of the ‘pirate’ ships which ply the waters of Ashinoko – again only in Japan. If you get in the spirit of things, it’s quite fun. We break for lunch at the View Restaurant, aptly named for the full frontal view of the lake from its windows. The food was good too. My older girl ate 6 fried smelts. Wow!

The boat ride was nice – lots of fresh air and beautiful views. The only thing that marred our experience a little was the horde of Thai tourists who ran amok on the boat.

We disembarked at Hakone Machi where we had ice cream (and ruined a new shirt) and caught the express bus, a 20 min ride, to Yumoto station. We were able to change our tickets at Odawara for an earlier Shinkansen and we arrived back at Roppongi at 5pm. So that was our Hakone circuit experience…you can skip the cheesy onsen/water park and certainly have a more sophisticated experience. But then, no one back home would listen to your Hakone stories with a look of disbelief…what? you soaked in coffee??

http://www.odakyu.jp/english/sightsee/hakone/index.html