One of the most surprising things, to me, was the culture shock. In fact, it was the lack of Hawaiian culture. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty Hawaiian culture to go around. I had just expected to see many more islanders walking around speaking in a language I couldn't understand. Well, sure enough, everyone WAS speaking in a language I couldn't understand, it just wasn't Hawaiian. What surprised me the most about Hawaii was the high number of Asian tourists and residents.
I guess I shouldn't be entirely surprised. Hawaii is a widely publicised tourist destination, and many of the visitors were there to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial, which makes sense....but still.
Anyhow, there were a lot of Asian couples wandering the streets. And lots of little Asian babies. I can't get over how cute Asian babies are!! No offense to all you white babies, I was one too, but there's no beating this:
Seriously, how cute is that? Another thing that just simply made me giggle was the number of matching Asian couples. I know it's a trend (I guess), but I was still shocked at how many of the guys actually went along with it. Everyone I was travelling with agreed that it was disgustingly adorable. Everytime we saw one we all wanted to squeal. And then freak out because we were grossed out by the fact that we thought it was so freaking cute.
But ya, biggest surprise to me was the sheer number of Asian people wandering the streets of Hawaii, getting married on the beach, taking their children to Denny's, etc. Threw me off a bit, but I loved it.
