Day 3!!
So we went to bed early the night before because we knew again that we were going to head to the North Shore the next day and it was supposedly like a 3 hour drive or something, plus we had to stop by Walmart and buy some snacks and extra towels so we wanted to leave as early as possible.
After we went to Walmart we drove by Yogur Story - I saw this place on instagram when I was looking through the Honolulu tag and thought that the purple pancakes looked interesting and I wanted to try them but I figured it would be too far from our place, but it turns out it was super close to Walmart, so we stopped in for breakfast.
Ube pancake and Crab cake benedict
I got the ube pancake (which is made from Okinawan sweet potato that's what makes it purple or something) and Steve got the crab cake benedict. The crab cake benedict was pretty salty to us.. but otherwise I probably would've gotten it over the pancakes. The pancakes themselves weren't too sweet which was nice but there was something about them I didn't really like maybe I ate too much of it?
Waimea Beach
Definitely the nicest beach I've ever been to, I previously thought that Hanauma bay was the nicest beach I've been to but this was just... I mean look at it!
Snorkeling wise - not much to see its literally just water and sand. If I knew how to swim I would've been in the water longer. The waves at this beach were so strong, Steve and I went into the water to see how cold it was and we were like WTF because these waves were like crashing all over us lol and its shallow when you take your first 2-3 steps in but then it suddenly drops and gets deep.
If you can't swim bring your own life jacket because there doesn't seem to be a rental place nearby, I was glad that I bought that snorkel set with the life jacket.
Not many people when we got there
Had we left without going to Walmart and having breakfast we would've gotten a parking spot so if you plan on going, leave really early. There's a random lot like across the street but you have to pay like $10 or something. There's a shower and bathroom facilities at this beach which was nice and also a lifeguard but there didn't seem to be any food stands or anything so bring your own food.
Endless sands
If you've ever been to Vancouver and been to the beaches you'll know how shitty our beaches here are. There are tons of rocks and sticks everywhere, I'm paranoid that I'll step on broken glass or needles when I go there but here.. its so clean lol
I forgot to mention that there are no lockers that we saw when we were here so I was pretty paranoid about leaving our stuff unattended but it was fine but be vigilant.
In Waimea Valley
So when we were parking, we were curious about what was along the path, we asked the guy who was in charge of the parking about it and he said there was like a small hiking trail that led to a waterfall or something so we decided to go in.
If you're totally into nature then its a nice park but otherwise its kind of a boring walk lol. Did I mention I hate tourist sites? Not many tourists were here but I think it was like $30 for both me and Steve to go in, which was a rip off, there wasn't really much to see but Steve seemed pretty happy about it.
Waimea falls
So we didn't know that you could go swimming at these falls but wearing a life jacket is mandatory if you want to go into the water. But the water looked dirty so we were like ... no lol.
Ashley told us that at these falls they filmed Lost (I think I gave up after season 2 lol) and that they made it look super huge when it was actually really tiny lol.
I think the total amount of time spent at this park was like an hour? Walking from the parking lot to the falls and back. Yeah... don't want to do that walk again lol. We got back to the car and when we drove back we stopped by the Dole plantation.
Near the train
So we only got to ride the stupid train and there's also like a pineapple maze but we didn't get to go lol. We did explore the gift shop and the mini garden they have.
Pineapple express and a random pineapple growing!
This thing was so boring! LOL that's because I have no interest in how pineapples grow and the random stuff that dole grows lol. Steve enjoyed it - he even bought the soundtrack that the train plays lol.
A shitload of koi
After we got off the train there was a group of people around the pond so we wanted to see what was happening. Then bam! we were like WTF? there were so many koi! I felt bad that they had to fight for food T_T
Foood
Our first proper meal of the day. I got the BBQ pork quesadilla and Steve got the BBQ pork sandwich (the sandwich tasted better lol) The lineup for food took FOREVER, we didn't get a chance to get the ice cream which looked mighty tasty because we were too full from the food.
There's a lot of meat in there
I ate almost half before I gave up, it was pretty good though and it wasn't too expensive.
After we ate we went to the shop and bought some dried fruits and candies to bring home to our friends/family, which I regret. I bought a bag of dried coconut for my dad because I know he likes coconut and my fucking asshole mom gave it away because she's an asshole - I said that's the last time I fucking buy anything for them when I go on vacation if she's going to give away shit I buy for my dad.
Anyway.. we drove back afterwards and headed back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and shower. I know I took a nap before we went to dinner and Steve sucks at putting sunscreen on people I kept getting burnt on the places where he applied the sunscreen -__-'
Go Sampler at Doraku Sushi
Ok so most of the places we went to I found on Yelp, this place was.. a disappointment. But I'll get to that in a minute. We wanted to drink again so we got this sake flight because I never really had good sake before and I can't really drink that much anyway so it was mostly for Steve lol.
What we had from left to right
The sake was ok, the very last one was so dry and bitter I hated it but the middle one was my favourite and there was also one that was really like soju.
Toro Sashimi and Tuna Poke
So why the disappointment?
The price - the food itself was good don't get me wrong but for the price you pay it is overly expensive (especially because they are small plates). The sashimi you see above cost $16 for 4 pieces.. the quality was good but I can go to a sushi place in Vancouver and if I paid $16 for toro sushi for similar quality I could get way more - maybe there's a low supply? Not sure but definitely not worth the money.
Based on the reviews I didn't think this place was a izakaya style restaurant, I wouldn't have picked this place if that were the case.
Surf and Turf roll
One of the best rolls I've had in a long time, great combination. Frankly I would've just got a bunch of rolls had I known that this place was going to be so expensive.
Miso butterfish and our bill
That was the best fish I've had in a long time but it's such a tiny portion for almost $15. Anyway as you can see, we spent like $80 on 4 small dishes and sake.. we were not full AT ALL and if we ordered more food it would've cost like $250-$300 to get us both full. So we decided to go back to the Korean restaurant which was like down the street LOL.
Pork this time
So we got the Pork combo which was like $40 or something, which was super filling we couldn't finish. We were like "we wish we came here first" the whole time.
My outfit
Semi-red from all the drinking but yeah we were really disappointed about Doraku Sushi... Now we know not to go there again if we go back to Honolulu.
Otherwise Day 4 is our official last day in Hawaii because in day 5 we have to go home T_T
