Where is the time going? Since coming to Hawaii on August 6th to partake in the Asia Pacific Leadership Program it feels as though life
has been on fast forward. How did it suddenly get to be December 1? I’m left with just three weeks before returning to Thailand on December 20th and soon thereafter back to work at Smiling Albino in early January. I guess time has gone fast as I’ve been up to a lot of things, learning, exploring and loving life and the weather in Oahu. It’s been a few weeks since my last post and I’ll make an effort in the coming weeks to post a bit of final impressions of Hawaii, the program I’ve been partaking in and a summary of what I’ve learned. Until then a quick update on one of the coolest places I’ve been.
My girlfriend Erika came from Bangkok for a visit on November 19. After three-and-a-half months apart it was great to see her and we spent 10 days exploring Oahu and also went to Hawaii’s Big Island for five days. We rented a car and spent two nights at Volcano National Park. The terrain here was incredible. While the big draw for most people is to see lava flowing, it wasn’t flowing while we were there but it was still an incredible experience.
Multiple volcanoes have blown here over the years and there’s almost always been some sort of activity. We did get to see a crater glowing at night which was incredible. We were about 500m away and the glow was really bright. Amazing how Mother Nature does such things. We spent a couple days driving around the park, up to 2,000m for a view down on the active crater, down to where lava meets the sea and did a couple short hikes on the hardened lava. Our stay was complimented with two nights at the very comfy and romantic Volcano Rainforest Retreat – a must for couples visiting.
Here are a few photos from our trip and you can view the full gallery on Facebook.
Aloha!
