Arrived in Hawaii after a really long journey from Malaysia.

Im really jet lagged at the moment as we crossed the international dateline. This was good cause i gained a day but bad cause im totally knackered! When i arrived at 10.00am i found the hostel where Kelly and Jenny were staying and checked in at 11.00 after spending an hour walking up and down the beach. It wasn't as hot as im used to although all the Americans were walking round with no clothes on. After checking in i went for a shower in my dorm. This is a dorm of 4 which is good as Kelly and Jenny have the other beds. Its really basic though and $30 per night! This is much, much more expensive than im used to. Its clean and friendly enough though and the showers are hot! This is a real novelty s i hadn't had a hot shower in about 2 months.

In the afternoon we went to the beach and it seemed really busy despite being the quiet season. Was a bit cloudy and when the sun came out in was baking. After about 30 mins though it started raining really hard so i went back to the room and slept. In the evening decided to sample the Hawain nightlife. Went from bar to bar, its hard to get used to being asked for ID every time you walk into a place. The whole tipping thing is easy to forget too as you are expected to give the bar man a couple of dollars evey drink you buy. Had a massive glass of Gin and Tonic in one bart with 9 shots in it. The bar men where a bit worried about us as the glasses are normally used for several people and we had one each! It was a Sunday night so not too much going on. We got back pretty late and slept in, missing our excursion to the North Shore the next day. Woke feeling really rough at 5 in the afternoon. Went for a subway foot-long (i discovered subway last week in Malaysia and have had 4 since!) and came here. We have booked an excursion for tomorrow to Diamond Head and we are defo going as we all feel pretty bad for wasting today. I think we are pretty jet-lagged at the moment though so i won't let the gin take all the blame!

Tuesday:

Well we walked to Diamond the next day and it took about three hours which i enjoyed as it was good to get some exercise at last! We walked up to the edge of an old volcano crater to a disused military watch station where we looked out over the island of Ohiu. The view was really good and i have put photos on my facebook. There was a carload of Americans parked outside the entrance to the crater when we walked back. They asked how long it took to walk up the actual crater and when we told them 30 mins they turned the car round and drove off, lazy gits! Had a pretty early night that night as we where really tired!

Wednesday:

We had arranged for a trip to the North Shore but it was canceled. We decided to take the local bus ourselves. The North Shore is a load of beaches where the surf is really high and loads of people are surfing really well. Also lots of sea turtles knocking about. We went on mission sea turtle to try and spot one but didn't do too well. Ended up being a mad beach to beach dash looking for one. Saw one swimming along the shore which was pretty cool though and then got the bus back. I had another early night this night as we had a dive booked for Thursday and i was pretty exited about it.

Thursday:

Went scuba diving! This was a pretty funny day as the instructor was a very American-American and kept trying to crack onto to Jenny! The first dive we didn't really see too much and i was really, really cold. The second dive was really good though as i got to swim with real life sea turtles. Saw three and some really cool fish too, this mad me forget how cold it was. I was freezing and starving when the boat got back in though so we went for food straight away in the bar nearby. Had the largest portion of pasta i have ever sen in my life! Managed to eat it all though and then had to go for a lie-down as i was stuffed. The lie-down turned into a sleep, and the girls stayed out all night drinking. I don't know what it is about scuba diving, i love it but it really tires me out.

Friday:

The girls had been to Pearl Harbour before i got to Hawaii so i decided to go there by myself. Got the shuttle bus there, it was early in the morning and i had to listen to a very over enthusiastic bus driver telling me how the local ABC shops came about. He said it was very interesting story but i was inclined to disagree, especially as i was before 12.00 noon.

Got to Pearl Harbour and went straight to the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. Got my ticket to go out on the boat to the site where the Arizona sunk taking 1117 members of her crew with her.They have a floating chapel above her where you visit. While i waited for my boat i went and looked round the museum. It was hard to walk round cause there where loads of Americans on audio tours in my way (walking round with headphones telling then what they are looking at). I thought they had these cause Americans are stupid and can't read, i later found myself walking round with some on myself at the Bowfin museum. They had kept everything in the museum from dinner plates to the telegrams they sent out to the wives telling them their husbands were dead! Needless to say, this wasn't the happiest of museums. In true American style they had wheeled out some poor old pearl Harbour veteran to sign the merchandise from the gift shop. I felt a bit sorry for him really he looked really old and tired, like he would rather be off bowling than re-living the most tragic day of his life constantly!

Went on the boat over and saw the list of names of those killed. There was also a separate list as there are still veterans of the Arizona who survived and lived a full life. When they died later asked for their remains to be out with their crew-mates.I found it a little disrespectful that people where on the monument taking photos of each other smiling and waving.

After this i went to the U.S.S. Bowfin submarine museum yes, me at a sub museum and not being dragged there. I had nothing else to do so i thought why not? Got one of the head sets i had been laughing at earlier and did an audio tour through the Bowfin sub. This was put into action shortly after Pearl Harbour and used in the Japanese waters. It sunk loads of Japanese Boats, 15th best ever out of about 200 American subs. They have restored it really well and the audio tour was really informative. They had two different levels on the audio tour, one for normal people and one for 'familes' or if you are really stupid. I managed the normal one all by myself! I also went to the museum of submarines as it was included in the ticket price. This charted the history of the sub from the start right through to the present. It was quite interesting but i think my Dad and brother would have appreciated it a whole lot more than me. I then got the local bus home which took two hours and was really crowded. Once again another early night with my book as i was so tired!

Saturday

Writing this on Saturday at 11.19am. Its the last day and im off to Mexico today. Flying out tonight! Will probably go to the aquarium and see the fishes today. Hate the day when you fly, you just feel like you are hanging around constantly.

Will probably just go to Mexico and then home as its gong to be expensive and if im coming back early i may as well come back with some money. Also our other stops are Panama and Peru. Panama can be quite dangerous so i may just stop to take a look at the canal. Everyone goes to Peru to see Machu Picchu and its the wrong time of year when i get there. Will see what happens though!

Lucy x