Chandan and Payal spent the night over at our place the day before the journey’s commence. Payal had to fly to Oregon on an official purpose the day after our return. So she had packed two bags one for Hawaii and one for Oregon.
The next morning we were all packed and ready to go. Charan dropped us at the Oakland airport. The flight was on schedule, so we had breakfast at the airport café, checked in, and played some UNO before boarding. The flight ride was smooth and we soon arrived at the Maui airport. Unlike Oahu, Maui was not sultry and humid. It had drizzled and the temperature was in late seventies, with the weather being just perfect.
After baggage claim and rental car pickup we were on the road to explore Maui. We decided to stop for lunch at Paia (en route to our vacation rental home located in Haiku) south east of the Kahului airport. We found a Thai restaurant owned by a mother and son from Thailand. They had fresh coconut water and we all had one. Since we were very hungry and they didn’t seem to have any food, we decided to go back in the direction of the airport to find something to eat.
We hit the supermarket, did some grocery shopping. Just when we were starting to head to Haiku we found a Subway restaurant. After gobbling our sandwiches in hunger we were back on the road. It was pouring rain and the weather got a little chilly. The Paia highway to Haiku also becomes the Hana highway. There are small shopping stores lining the highway while passing the Paia town. Just past the stores on the ocean side of the highway is Mama’s Fish House a gourmet seafood restaurant. They serve exotic sea food choices but a tad pricy. Past the restaurant comes Hookipa lookout were the ocean waves pounce on the shore roaring and crashing. You can watch the Hookipa Beach sea surfers battling the waves and performing amazing ocean acrobatics. The lookout is just for watching the waves and the surfers. The Hookipa beach is meant for pro surfers and not for sea admirers.
The highway is lined by the ocean on one side and thick luscious deciduous rainforest mountains on the other. The view is tantalizing and remains etched in your memory.
We started noting landmarks, one was the flower stand on the mountain side of the highway and the other was a cemetery on the ocean side. Around a mile or two past in the south east direction there is a small paved road the East Kuiaha road which lead to Hale Hiluhilu home, our rental place. The winding road had many beautiful houses lining the entire stretch, many with huge yards and tropical plantations. Déjà vu all over, Shashi was looking to see if any Breadfruit trees were in the neighborhood, just like he did during our Oahu trip. This time we had come prepared with “Chane ka atta - Besan”(chickpea flour) and “Hing” (asafetida) for making “Jivkadgi Phodi” (That is Konkani for crispy breadfruit fries prepared by dipped in lentil batter). Soon we arrived at the Hale Hiluhilu house off the Kuiaha road by a paved gravel path. The house stood on a humongous maintained yard with tropical plantations (no breadfruit) and was magnificent, more than what we had expected.
The house had many rooms, completely furnished and equipped with a large up-to-date kitchen. Another exciting feature in the home the guys discovered was a very fancy commode. The seat had warmers and water jets for washing your rear end at the press of a button. Well what can I say!
Overall the house was fabulous. We brought our luggage and settled in. We drank beer, played UNO, listened to music and relaxed. We decided to leave the activities for day 2.
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