Four days were never going to be enough to see all of Oahu. So we hoped to make the most of the final full day of our
trip to Hawaii to enjoy this beautiful place. As lovers of nature and the outdoor, we decided to spend the day seeing more of the unique Hawaiian landscape. We were restricted to locations that could be visited in a day-trip by taking public transport from our Waikiki hotel. Browsing through the travel guide book, we were attracted by a photo of the Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden. Well, the photo was actually not of the Botanical Garden itself, but a road lined by lush green trees leading towards the Garden. Lying across the end of the road is a green-coloured mountain range -- a section of the Koolau Range --- that serves at the backdrop of the Garden. The Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden is located at the Kaneohe district on the eastern side of Oahu. An added incentive for us to visit the Botanical Garden was that there was in its proximity the Byodo-in Temple, a half-size replica of the Phoenix Hall of the original
Byodo-in in Uji, Japan, which we had visited in a previous trip. So it would be interesting to visit the Hawaiian version to see how similar it was to the original.
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The famous road towards Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden, where many a tourist pose for the iconic shot
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Thanks to the good network of buses on Oahu, it was quite feasible to go from our Waikiki hotel to Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden by public transport, though it involved a bus transfer in downtown Honolulu --- Waikiki, Bus #2 ➜ downtown Honolulu, Bus #65 ➜ Kamehameha Highway & KOA Kahiko Street; then walk to Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden.
After getting off the bus, it was a good 15 minutes walk to the entrance of the Garden. We were guided in the walk by the Koolau Range ahead of us. The distinctive fluted shape of the mountain range itself was reminiscent of scenes featured in movies like Jurassic World, which was indeed filmed in part at locations further up the coast. With the fresh morning air, it was a pleasant walk along the quiet road.
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| Walking towards Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Walking towards Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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Koolau Range --- backdrop of the Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden
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| Koolau Range --- backdrop of the Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
Entrance to the Botanical Garden was free. We started our visit with a walk on a fairly short the Tropical Forest Trail near the visitor center that looped around an area featuring tropical American plants. The Garden has different areas that feature tropical plants from various parts of the Asian-Pacific --- The Philippines, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, and of course, Hawaii. In the centre of the Garden there is a sizable reservoir/lake. Numerous walking trails run through the Garden, most of them fairly short and none being very difficult, except that some of them can be rather muddy, such as one that goes along the bank of the lake. We explored one trail after another, enjoying the very green surroundings and the fresh air. For the most part, it almost seemed like we had the whole Garden to ourselves --- there were actually very few other visitors around, except some whom we saw by the lake. After a few hours of walking, we went up to a vantage point that offered a magnificent view of the lake. That was a perfect place for a rest and we took out our picnic lunch there.
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| Visitor Center, Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Cacao plant at Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden |
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| Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden --- good view of the lake while having picnic lunch |
After the enjoyable time in Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden, we took a side trip to the fairly close-by Valley of the Temples Memorial Park, where the Byodo-in Temple was located. While the Temple was not far from the Botanical Garden, we waited for the bus for almost half an hour. In the end, we arrived at the Memorial Park well past 4pm, just in time before the Byodo-in Temple closed to visitors.
We were much impressed by how close this replica was to the original, as the photos below testify. The Oahu temple looks just about perfect --- the tiles, the beams, the colours, and almost all noticeable features are virtually identical to the original. Even the ponds in front of the respective structures look remarkably similar. The difference in the background landscape is just about the only way by which one can be distinguished from the other.
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| Byodo-in Temple, Oahu. Half-size replica of the 11th century temple in Uji, Japan |
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| Byodo-in Temple, Oahu. Half-size replica of the 11th century temple in Uji, Japan |
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| The original Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in Temple 平等院 in Uji, Japan --- a photo taken on a previous trip |
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Scores of koi (or brocaded carp) in the pond in front of Byodo-in Temple
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Taking the bus back to Waikiki, it was time for the last dinner in Hawaii to mark the conclusion of our trip. As we thought the PAIA Fish Market, where we ate two days ago, to be very good value for money, we ate there for a second time. Our order this time was Mahi Mahi, Cajun style with Cajun rice, grilled Opah with Cajun rice and home fries, and Caesar salad.
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