When I hit the road towards Hana, it was still cloudy. The road to Hana is very famous and therefore full with tourists… like me, so I won’t complain. As I would not touch that pancake mix ever again, I decided to have breakfast in Pai’a. I just love having a good long breakfast with heaps of coffee and eggs. Most days I’d just grab a salat for dinner, because of the already mentioned plate sizes.
Pai’a is a small city that really doesn’t have much to offer when it comes to sights or famous sons/daughters of the city. It isn’t at the shore, but nervertheless popular with surfers. The good surf spots are just a couple of minutes outside the city. But it is cute, with little shops and nice cafés and therefore perfect for a breakfast-loving person like me. To be a little crazy, I ordered my eggs scrambled this time.
I got back on the road to stop about two miles outside town for the first scenic stop, which was a big surf spot. I felt like surfing too. Sadly the only spots where I could have surfed during my stay in Hawai’i, were at the beaches up Lahaina. But at the time I was there, there were no waves at all. Ok, I would not call myself a surfer… I know how to surf, but like everything you get to doing only once a year, you can’t get any better. So I still suck at surfing, and probably always will stay in the white water belt… having a hell of a time though. I always wonder if other surfers experience the sudden flow of saltwater out of the nose, everytime they bow down to e.g. tie their shoes, even hours after they have been in the „washing machine“. Or is it just my weird respiratory tract? Maybe someone can tell me.
From Pai’a to Hana it is a 45 mile drive, most of it winding road. There are heaps of waterfalls, scenic lookout points, little hikes and stuff like this on the way. I wasn’t planning on getting out of the car for every waterfall, but stopped, whenever I found parking. The road is not made for sudden stops as it is very narrow. If you get a spot at one of the very small parking lots, you are lucky. I stopped at fruit stands, waterfalls and saw some very nice beaches. I would recommend to have a co-driver on the way, that keeps an eye on the mile markers and matches it with the map of stops. Most of them are not signposted and located somewhere hidden behind bushes. It is a very nice drive. If only there wasn’t those endless winding roads. Usually I have no problem with carsickness when I am the one to drive, but the road to Hana got me. And then came the rain. It was pouring so heavily that some cars stopped. I didn’t feel like driving any further and hoped that something savoury might comfort my troubled tummy. I decided the „Island chef“ would just be the right choice and stopped. The restaurant is a food truck and a roof. They offered coconut shrimp, fish and chips and a hawaiian pork dish. Sadly I couldn’t eat the coconut shrimp I ordered, because they tasted very sweet, something my stomach refused to accept. I stayed for at least an hour at the place and the café next door and watched the rain. Just before sunset I arrived at Hana, in a fabulous resort (thanks for paying that one, Papa). My room had a balcony with seaview and a kitchen. As I was still very hungry I made my way to „Hasegawa Gerneral Store“, where I got spaghetti, tomato sauce, organic rice milk and Granola, but also could have bought chainsaws, tires and big bags of fertilizer. Great place! I cooked my spaghetti and ate them on the balcony listening to the waves.
