Food + Music = Bliss

Today was yet another celebration of why I love living on this island and so close to Waikiki! And why I should never, NEVER, leave the house without a camera again...sigh. After the beautiful-even-in-the-rain drive up country to Surf N Sea in Hale'iwa to get Kevin some swim fins, we toddled on down to Sunset on the Beach in Waikiki.

On the way there, we discovered a Thai festival in Kapiolani Park. It happened to be a celebration of the "175th Anniversary of the Thai-U.S.A. Relationship" sponsored by the Royal Thai Consulate of Hawai'i, the Thai Buddhist Temple and the Thai community of Hawai'i. It also happened to fall at the third lunar moon in November, which heralds the Loi Krathong festival. Loi Krathong is celebrated to honor the Mother of Waters. You light a krathong, a beautiful colorful lotus made of colored papers, incense, and a candle.


Then you make a wish, and set it afloat, in this case, on the pond in Kapiolani Park. So you end up with these lovely lighted lotus blossoms floating all over the pond, with a team of three beautiful little girls dressed in traditional golden attire tending the pond with sticks to push the floating lights back out into the middle when they hit the side. It was lovely.

Not to mention the FOOD!! Omigosh, tent after tent of fresh Thai cooking, prepared in huge portable woks at the back of the tent. A whole Thai meal of homecooked ono goodness with three main dishes and rice for $5. Washed it all down with Thai iced tea and it was bliss!

Then there was Sunset on the Beach, which featured a free concert of three legendary local music groups on stage on the beach at Waikiki. Na Leo, a favorite trio of women who sing wonderful harmonies. Also another favorite Ho'okena, with its rich warm harmonies, and Na Palapalai, who I know now :)

To top it all off, the music was accompanied by beautiful hula dancers here from around the world for the International Waikiki Hula Conference. It was lovely to relax on the beach under the palms and be entertained by such talented people. So I bought the new Na Leo cd, E Hula Mai Kakou, and had it autographed, just for fun.

Aloha pumehana!