pictures don't always tell the whole story

Learning that it is not easy to find food at Taipei's airport, where we had four hours to kill before the flight to Honolulu. This btw, was not taken in the wee hours of the morning, this was in the afternoon. It was that empty.


Watching this young couple get married by the beach. What this photo doesn't tell you is how windy and cold it was at the beach, and how we had waited for more than 45 minutes for the couple, as the limo driver managed to not only be late, but also lose his way.


Visting the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor, which sits directly over the sunken ship.


The deceptively beautiful Waikiki beach, taken from the hotel balcony. Deceptive as it is packed with people, the stretch is very touristy, and there had been a recent sewage spill.


Snorkelling at the sunken volcanic crater at Molokini, and watching sea turtles.


The unforgettable sunrise at Haleakala, one that Mark Twain called the "sublimest spectacle" he'd ever seen. I'll never forget this, being picked up at 220am, the moonlit drive down the coastal road and up the summit of the volcano, which means House Of The Sun in Hawaiian, at about 10,000 feet. And then the chill of the biting winds as they whip and whirl, leaving my hands and feet numb, even as I huddle under the blanket stolen from the hotel room. But it is spectacular. The colour show begins with that little hint of light and bleeds and blends into a spread of dark velvety blues, soft orange pinks and then that stark yellow when the sun finally breaks free from the clouds creeping over the caldera. Magical.