We’ve all seem glimpses of Japanese culture, such as t-shirts with obscure Japanese characters, or visited the couple of Japanese shops in Auckland. But did you know that you can find heaps of unique Japanese items available to buy online? Let’s check out a few.
Paper napkins. We’ve all seen them, we go through them, and then we buy some more. Well how about cloth napkins? That’s right, they’re reusable cloth napkins, good for about five year’s worth of use. And it’s not the same as just any old cloth, it’s got funky patterns, and then special absorbing material on the inside. And sure, while they’re nearly $32 NZD, that’s less than ten packs of the paper napkins, which is less than a year’s use. So if you’re big on saving the environment, these are the thing.
Or, what about Eucalyptus towels. OK, a bit weird, only really heard of cotton being used to make towels. But if you think about it, it makes sense, Eucalyptus is made of fibre, just like cotton, and you could process that fibre into a fabric that you use. Why you’d want to is a bit the same as why you’d want to eat Manuka Honey or use Bamboo Chopping Boards – the reduction of bad things getting near your body. In this case, the towels reduce the amount of bacteria that can hang out on the towel. Pretty good idea, and only $25 NZD.
And where would you be without a Japanese-style face mask. Probably outside of Japan to be honest. Everyone in Japan wears these masks, and not just to stop the infectious air of other people, but also as a courtesy to others to say “hey, I’m feeling a little under the weather, and I’d much rather you not catch this”. Not super stylish to be honest, but could be good if you deal with food or the like. 50 of them for $20 NZD isn’t bad at all.
Or if you’re a fan of spending money on quality goods, how about a $4200 NZD fountain pen? I think one of those items that are wholly unique and really only appreciated by a few. But I mean until now you’d have to go to Japan to get these goods, and now they’re all available online, one click, and done. So do check these items out, at the moment a bit of a deal is going on with cheap shipping at Rakuten to New Zealand.
If you’ve ever been to Japan around New Years you’ll see what appears to be a whole bunch of Lucky Dip Bags. The difference between the New Zealand and Japanese versions is mainly to do with price and quality – in New Zealand Lucky Dip bags contain crappy gifts and cost about $5. In Japan, Lucky Bags, or Fukubukuro (福袋, lucky bag, mystery bag) are serious business, with the most expensive bags costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So what do you get? Well, it’s a mystery of course! And yet, it’s not really. I went to an electronics store in Hiroshima once and saw Digital SLR camera Lucky Bags. The bags specified the minimum specifications of the camera, but you didn’t get to choose the brand or model. Rest assured you were more than likely going to get something great and at a heavy discount.
I ended up paying 10,000 yen (roughly $160 NZD) for a Lucky Dip of Japanese clothing worth $600 NZD. Awesome bargains, I ended up getting a puffy jacket, puffy vest, hoodie, beanie, long sleeve shirt and t-shirt. Not a bad haul, though bear in mind that fashion taste in New Zealand is often different from Japanese fashion – while puffy shiny jackets are in vogue in Japan, they certainly are not in New Zealand.
G’Day, the name’s Norman, but my friends call me Stormin’ Norman, on account of the two words rhyming somewhat.
I work in the power business, preparing and changing lightbulbs for a living. Not the ones in your house mind you, the ones on the street. We call them fingers, because they stick up through the air giving it a tickle. This time of the year is my business season, it’s the Christmas bulbs that always take up most of my time. Most people tend to think that those coloured bulbs around Christmas must maintain themselves, but it’s actually old Norman and the rest of the Lighting Maintanance team. The coloured bulbs are the worst, because they only get about 2 weeks worth of use throughout Christmas, and then they’re switched off. It means we only have 2 weeks to replace all the faulty ones which is always a pain in the neck. We’ve just done Victoria Street, but I see a few have gone already.
I never really studied, I figure there can’t be that much involved in changing light bulbs, but boy was I wrong. Once I found out about the different types of electricity, and especially things like wattage and ampage, I knew I was in trouble, so I did one of those night courses at the Polytech. It was damn good fun though, made a few good mates within the industry, and I tell ya what, I know my way around some of the more complex lighting transformers these days, such as Dry Type Transfomers, and Oil Cooled Transformers. They’re the ones you have to watch out for, they’re dangerous I tell ya, and old Norm nearly lost a finger or two servicing those puppies.
I’ve been a big Incubis fan since 2000, I was a big fan of them before they became famous, and I’m probably still their biggest fan in New Zealand. I mean everybody these days is all on the Kings of Leon bandwagon, but Incubis could play them into a corner anyday. They really haven’t been big in the last six years or so, but I’m predicting a comeback sooner or later.
For hobbies, I’m a big fan of Asian Geography. Man, what a far out place that is, with plaes like Bhutan, and Tibet, it’s just a world away from Anglesea Street! I once caught the express train from Beijing to Lhasa, in Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The train’s amazing, it’s built on a bed of permafrost, so they need to heat and cool parts of the track to make sure that it’s not affected by the constant thawing of refreezing of those bits of the track. You’ll need a permit to get in though, and if you’re my lucky lady, then I’ll be able to help out.
Interested in Japan? Thinking about going on a holiday? Well let’s look at the total cost for various airlines to get from Hamilton New Zealand, to Osaka Japan.
To summarise, Jetstar is the cheapest with around @ $1080, Air Asia @ $1743 with the core flight between Christchurch and Kuala Lumpur being only 31% of the total fare, and Air New Zealand at $1936.
A couple of caveats before we start, we’re assuming one 20Kg bag to be checked in. We’ll try to compare as similar as possible, but there are always differences, i.e. whether you choose to buy a meal or not on a low cost carrier. We’ll be looking at the total return fare from Hamilton New Zealand to Osaka Japan, including getting to major airports, i.e. Auckland and Tokyo. I’ll pick the lowest cost mean where available. We’re looking at a travel period of one week in May 2011.
First off is Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand has a flight between Auckland and Osaka for $1932. For your money you’re getting:
23Kg checked in luggage;
7Kg carry on luggage;
Meals;
Video entertainment;
11 hours, and 35 minutes flight from Auckland to Osaka;
Choose your own seat;
Blanket.
We’ll also have to get to Auckland from Hamilton, so add another $34 for the Intercity bus from Hamilton to Auckland International Airport.
All up you’re looking at $1936 with Air New Zealand.
Next is Jetstar.
Jetstar charge $847. For your money you’re getting:
7Kg carry on luggage;
$10 credit card fee included;
A 17 hour journey, including a stop in the Gold Coast.
Optional extras include:
20Kg of checked luggage (an additional $91.24);
Choose your seats (an additional $8 if you didn’t purchase the luggage option above);
Food for $70;
Entertainment for $24;
Comfort pack $14;
Which add up to roughly $199 worth of other things if you want them. Don’t forget the $34 to go from Hamilton to Auckland.
All up you’re looking at $881 (by yourself with 7kg of luggage) or $1080 (with roughly the same extras as Air New Zealand) with Jetstar.
Air Asia X
Welcome Air Asia to New Zealand! First there’s $34 to get from Hamilton to Auckland Airport, and then $158 with Jetstar to go from Auckland to Christchurch with bags (and two hours of your time).
Air Asia charge $429 to go from Christchurch to Kuala Lumpur (including credit card fee), with the following extras available:
20Kg of luggage for $40;
Comfort kit for $20;
Meals for $34;
Pick a seat for $20;
So now you’re in Kuala Lumpur for $429 (for yourself and 7Kg) or $543. At the moment there’s no connecting transfer between Christchurch and Tokyo, so you’ll have to book another flight. Air Asia charges $780 for a flight with luggage and meals from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo Haneda Airport. And then it’s $228 (and three hours) to catch the train from Tokyo to Osaka.
All up, you’re paying $1743 with Air Asia.
So to summarise, Jetstar is the cheapest with around @ $1080, Air Asia @ $1743 with the core flight between Christchurch and Kuala Lumpur being only 31% of the total fare, and Air New Zealand at $1936.
Air New Zealand was most expensive, but least amount of hassle, with a direct flight. Jetstar offers similar levels of service, but a connection at Gold Coast, for about half the price. Air Asia was super cheap from Christchuch to Kuala Lumpur, but the costs went up getting from Auckland to Christchurch, Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Osaka by Bullet Train.
Great news for New Zealand, AirAsia.com have launched fares from Christchurch, with these sorts of regular return prices:
Christchurch – Paris: $1336 NZD
Christchurch – Mumbai: $942 NZD
Christchurch – Bali: $560 NZD
Christchurch – Jakarta: $606 NZD
Christchurch – Medan: $507 NZD
Christchurch – Kuala Lumpur: $423 NZD
Christchurch – Taipei: $755 NZD
Christchurch – Bangkok: $597 NZD
Christchurch – London: $1567 NZD
Though there are some additional costs you may be used to getting for free:
Comfort Kit – $10 NZD
15Kg baggage – $15 NZD
20Kg baggage – $20 NZD
25Kg baggage – $35 NZD
30Kg baggage – $55 NZD
Meal – $25 NZD
Pick your seat – $10 NZD
Pick your seat with extra legroom – $45 NZD
Credit Card Fee – $12 NZD
So really when you see those $1336 fares to Paris, include 20Kg worth of baggage both ways, meals on all four flights, your seat on all four flights, and the credit card fee, and you’re looking at $1528 NZD.
Or you could book the next available flight on Cathy Pacific for say, $2223 NZD. Only $695 cheaper…
However, there are always some other caveats to think about:
These flights are from Christchurch. Great if you live there. If you don’t, then you’ll have to get there. $158 NZD with Jetstar from Auckland;
The flights land at Paris Orly Airport, however that’s only €9.85 and 40 minutes of your life.
To summarise, great deals Air Asia, welcome to New Zealand, can’t wait to travel with you!
Today we’re reviewing the Elevator Pitch review for 123ContactForm.com. The pitch is as below:
From what I’ve understood, 123ContactForm.com allows you to create forms easily online. These forms are then submitted to either yourself, or Google Checkout or Paypal. The forms have a bit of logic within them to display different fields, or send to different people based on rules created.
Personally – I’m not wowed to be honest. I mean forms have been around the Internet for quite some time, and I haven’t really seen demand for a form builder online yet, so I doubt there’s an untapped demand for this application. I’m not saying that I think the site will not be successful, but the idea didn’t ‘pop’ to me.
The pitch video felt a little unprofessional via the use of 1px line drawings. Using a pencil-type brush would have looked a lot better and given a hand-made, yet professional appeal.
I give the idea a four out of ten. Some potential, but needs to be refined.
Today was the final full day we’ve had in Waikiki. It’s hard to imagine that we’ve been here since last Friday night, but I think that time plays tricks on you when you’re on holiday. On the one hand time moves quickly because you’re not really keeping a track of what day it is, it’s just another day of holiday, and eventually they all run out. On the other hand, time moves slowly because you cram in so much different sights and experiences each day, as compared to a normal working week back home. Literally a month can go by and I’m not even aware of it, because nothing different or exciting happens, really just another day at work…
Anyways, today was the final day of shopping and activities. For shopping, we decided we needed another suitcase so we headed to Walmart, home of low low prices. We ended up buying a pack of three suitcases for $29 because it was cheaper than buying one duffel bag for $39. I don’t understand how prices work here. All I wanted was one suitcase. for $49 I could have bought five. Anyways, we also decided to buy a few ticky-tacky gifts for people. Keyrings and Macadamia Nuts for everybody! You’re all lucky. Turns out you can get six boxes of Hawaiian Host Caramel Chocolate Macadamia Nuts for $12USD. That’s damn good value considering one box in New Zealand is worth $10. I also tried to purchase things that looked interesting like Pringles Pizza, Cheese, and Baked Potato flavours, Twinkies, and Kathryn bought some Poptarts.
Next, it was a quick dash home, and then I caught the bus to do the Screamer. The Screamer is like the Shotover Jet, but for Waikiki. It does the same sort of thing, goes fast, spins, gets you wet, for an hour for $30USD. It was really good fun, but I do wish that I had done para-sailing instead. There’s always a regret when travelling. When I was in Tokyo I should have done this faux Japanese news and weather show, where you’re greenscreened into the show. Here, I regret not para-sailing. Or shark-diving.
Anyways, the Screamer provides you with a great view of Waikiki and the weather was simply amazing. It probably wasn’t the best trip to take the digital camera on, considering you get saturated with sea water, and the camera did get wet, but I did managed to get some pretty sweet video.
After that it was dinner at IHOP. I bought ‘Big’ Country Fried Steak. Turns out that means Schnitzel coated in a KFC-like material, and then covered in a white sauce. It was super average. Sure the ‘Steak’ may be larger than my hand span, but it just wasn’t very tasty. IHOP, awful.
All this travelling is really getting to us. The alarm went off at 7am, so we ignored it, went back to sleep, and instead woke up when the cleaners knocked on our door at 8.50am. Still, perhaps that’s the sign of a good holiday.
Today we decided to head up north towards North Shore, the famous surfing location on Oahu. We got ready, then we caught the free pink trolley bus to Ala Moana Center, then we waited for the 52 Circle Island bus. This bus, like all public buses in Hawaii costs $2.50USD, no matter the distance. When the bus pulls up, my advice is to wait at the front of the line to try and get a seat. Probably wouldn’t recommend the very back seat considering that’s where the engine is, giving you its gift of noise and warmth. However, sitting by the engine beats standing up for two hours. Which coincidentally was the amount of time it takes to go from Ala Moana Center to Waimea Bay. Since this is a public bus, the journey would probably be heaps quicker if you rented a car. Of course, it would cost $60USD instead of $5USD.
The bus slowly made its way through downtown Honolulu, including Chinatown. From what I could see, Chinatown is much like downtown except they’ve put Chinese words above the English words on shop fronts. Honolulu goes on for ages, just when you think you’re out of it, then you hit Pearl City, and its fellow harbour, Pearl Harbour. Moving on from there, it’s then past Waikele (where the outlet stores are), and then to central Oahu. Finally we got to see some native vegetation. A person on the bus asked if Pineapples grow on trees, or in the ground. After just checking Wikipedia right now, turns out they grow on a plant in the ground, but the fruit itself isn’t in the ground. Maybe you should just check Wikipedia yourself if you’re that interested in the lifecycle of Pineapples. Speaking of which, we went past the Dole Plantation, which is the home of pineapples on Oahu. It has the largest maze in the world, beating the Amazing Maze in Foxton. I can’t think of a more fun activity than being lost in a pineapple maze in the midday heat, with the sun beating down on you.
After that, we get to the middle portion of Oahu. The freeway turns into the interstate highway, except since Hawaii’s an island, it doesn’t link to any other states. But anyway, the scenery out here is a lot different to Waikiki. If you’re ever here, do yourself a favour and get out of Waikiki and Honolulu and explore the island a little more. See the sugar cane and pineapple plantations. See roads that are just made of dirt, yet are pretty much main roads. See people with outrageously large trucks and little regard for personal safety. Enjoy yourself.
After all of this, we finally made it to Waimea Bay. Just past the bay itself is presumably the small township of Waimea, featuring a small supermarket called Foodland, and a Starbucks. We stopped here for a coffee, and some food. I love supermarkets, you get a real feel for how regular people act and shop, and you get to see the foods that are sold to the masses. Today I found the largest fried chicken of my life, with massive thighs about a third larger than the ones sold at the Bakehouse Cafe (now Town and Country Cafe) for $1.50USD. I was impressed. For my side, I had Mac and Cheese, and some chocolate puddings to round out the meal. Now before you say that’s enough Tubby, we then we snorkelling for the next three or four hours. So beat that.
Speaking of which, we headed to the beach. We only picked this beach because it was the closest one to the supermarket. And yet it was an amazing beach. Turns out there was a huge variety of fish down there, at least as much as the famed Hanauma Bay ocean park, except far less people, and a better environment for snorkelling. We grabbed a couple of snorkels from Foodland (@ $10USD a pop), and we went for it. Seriously amazing. Fish all colours of the rainbow, and my personal highlight, watching a school of fish feeding, and seeing how they swam and interacted with the environment, as I floated above. It was great, just great, and all for $25USD, including snorkels.
But everything great must come to an end, and with showers on the way, we decided to head back home. No stresses at all, just caught the same bus back for another $5USD. All fairly smooth running except for the crazy Hawaiian guy who was damn angry that were weren’t taking the most direct route to Ala Moana Center. In fact he was furious, and making a scene on the bus.
Today we got up a little later than normal – travelling really takes it out of you. You’d be surprised, you’d think it’d be quite relaxing, but considering the amount of sights you’re trying to see and cram into the few days you have, and you get sore feet, you get a film of sweat all over you, and you just want to relax…
So we decided to walk a mile or two in the middle of the day to the Waikiki Aquarium. But first, we went to the other end of Waikiki to find a wallet for Kathryn. We headed to the DFS Galleria and checked out Chloe. DFS Galleria is set up to look a bit like a cruise ship, and is full of fancy shops for rich Japanese tourists. Kathryn did find a wallet she liked, but there was no shop attendants. At all. None. Seriously, just grab a bag, walk the 10 meters outside, and you’re away laughing. I told the security guard. I mean seriously, if you’re not gonna be in your shop, just close the doors. That’s OK. It’s better than not being there at all…
So we headed out and went to Tiffanys to see if there was anything there. Kathryn saw a 4ct diamond ring. Turns out they don’t put prices on things like that. If you have to ask for the price, you probably can’t afford it.
So we decided to walk back to the Waikiki Aquarium, about 2 miles over. On the way we past the Waikiki Gun Club. I couldn’t resist going in there and shooting some handguns. The lady asked me if I wanted to upgrade to something more serious, like an AK-47 or an M16 Assault Rifle. I said no. She said that little kids pick the guns I use. I said we don’t have handguns in New Zealand, so this was as bad-ass as I was willing to go. Once you pay for your shooting, you have to pick a target. Kathryn suggested Osama Bin Laden. I said she shouldn’t joke about that sort of stuff here. Turns out there actually is an Osama Bin Laden target. I bought that one. Then it was through to the gun range. There were three guns, a Rutger pistol, a Rutger handgun, and some sort of revolver. Shooting a hand gun doesn’t have a lot of recoil, and correspondingly, they’re not super accurate. Then again, if you’re shooting someone 3m away, you don’t need super accuracy. I was quite shaky. I felt like someone had caught me with my hands down my pants. Shooting handguns is a naughty thing to do, but I’m glad I did it. I don’t like guns, and I still don’t like guns, but life is made of experiences and stories. Oh, I aimed for the head and crotch of Mr. Bin Laden and got them both. He’s dead.
Moving on, we then walked through the hot sun past the homeless people to the Waikiki Aquarium. IT was $7.50 each and I didn’t rate it. It took about 10 minutes to go through. There was one seal. Not good value.
We then retreated tired and blistered back to the Ohana Waikiki West. It has a pool and I always wondered why people would hang out at the hotel’s pool when the sea is a block away. It’s because the sea is a block away and sometimes you just can’t make it. Today was one of those times. So instead we went to the hotel pool and just dived in and relaxed. It was amazing. Sunbathing, relaxing, I nearly fell asleep in the sun. This time around I made sure I put sunscreen on, especially on my nipples. Trust me, sunburnt nipples are no laughing matter. It happened to me once, and then when I wore a shirt a special part of hell was reserved for me to experience.
We then decided to do a bit of shopping, this time for me. Back to Ala Moana and then a quick walk to Ward Center to hit up Nordstrom Rack. This was the place where I got the $25USD Calvin Klein glasses. Now it was time to get t-shirts, shirts, and shorts. Shorts here weren’t the greatest looking, but you could find some OK ones for $30 down from $50. Shirts were OK, and were around $25. T-shirts weren’t the best and were around $20. $20 is about the going price for a new good t-shirt, so instead we walked the half mile back to Ala Moana and went to Maceys. Found some sweet Rip Curl shorts, were $50, down to $35. Beat that Nordstrom Rack. After a bit of a wander around Maceys, it was 8.50pm and time to head back to Waikiki. The pink trolley bus back to Waikiki is free with an Ohana hotel room key, and so 100 million Japanese people were waiting for the same trolley. Not to worry, we waited in line 10 minutes and caught one of the last ones back to our hotel room.
Published on August 25, 2010 in travel. ClosedTags:hawaii.
I was knackered last night. Just so tired, that I couldn’t even find enjoyment watching Fox News and laughing at the lies they tell people. Seriously, just imagine one news channel super biased towards say, the ACT party. That’s what Fox News is like. One woman was interviewing a Muslim guy talking about whether to build a mosque in the shadows of Ground Zero. She had a whole bunch of excuses why not, and for each the guy had a well thought out, reasoned answer. After changing her tack on this question about six times, she just cut him off and said thanks for talking.
Anyways, the morning was eventful. The GPS in the Samsung Galaxy S is well known for being, well, awful. However I’m pleased to say it pulled through and told me how we could get from the Ohana Waikiki West to IHOP. Turns out IHOP stands for International House of Pancakes. Yeah, that’s the meaning. I guess the word ‘international’ makes the pancake place feel a bit more grand. Anyways, 10 minutes down the road, and there it is. We went inside and waiting for someone to seat us. Kathryn got the five-stack of pancakes, which is ridiculous. I mean these pancakes are the size of saucers, and there’s five of them. I decided to get a ‘melt’ which is a toasted sandwich with cheese (orange of course), ham, and egg. This sandwich was the size of a box of Hormel Bacon, so massive. The lady asked if I wanted ‘mumble’ or ‘hashbrowns’. I asked for Hashbrowns. Once my order was served, I got chips. I thought that maybe hashbrowns in America meant chips. Turns out they don’t, there was a mistake, and then she gave me a dinner plate full of shredded potato fried on a hot plate. Real hashbrowns. So that, plus the chips, plus the sandwich was enough to feed me, Kathryn, and probably two of her good friends, Kate, and Sam. And have enough to feed Africa. Don’t get me started on Kathryn’s five stack of pancakes. Turns out there was so much she needed lubrication to help it go down, so that’s where half a jug of syrup helped. She must have had about a fifth of her serving, and was then full. All up that came to $27USD. Once you tip your 15 to 20%, we paid $35USD. Don’t tell me how much that is in NZD, I don’t want to know.
After that, we went to the hotel to wait for our ride to Hanauma Bay. Imagine a former volcano where a side had been eroded by the sea, and then coral and fish took over and because a snorkeller’s paradise. That’s pretty much was Hanauma Bay is. For $15USD you get a return trip from Waikiki and snorkels/flippers. We used a company called Hawaiian Comfort. The driver was insane. Seriously. People give stick about New Zealand drivers being awful, but this man was more suited to the mean streets of Vietnam than Honolulu. Some would say he’s an experienced professional driver. I’d say he was bat-poo insane, and things like indicating are for sissys, and you get bonus points for changing lanes without telling any other drivers first.
Anyways, after the death race, we made it to Hanauma Bay. It’s closed Tuesdays so don’t even think about it. But on a Monday it was pretty packed, so we waiting in line to pay our $7.50USD entry fee, and then waited in another line to watch a 8 minute movie about the bay. Here’s my abridged version. Don’t stand on the coral or feed the fish. Then you can choose to walk down the side of the former volcano, or pay 75 cents to catch a ride. We caught a ride. 2nd best dollar ever spent.
Hanauma Bay is an amazing place. We put on the snorkels, and I found out mine did not have enough strength to take my fierce head and so leaked. As an adventurer I complained bitterly but continued. Kathryn and I went out and it was lovely. Let’s just say a random person I knew over here who has a fondness for makeup got freaked out by the coral and fish three times and returned to the beach. She asked me if I was freaked out by coral and fish. I said no, that’s pretty much the attraction here.
Two cuts later, bleeding and wounded, I returned for some sunbathing. Saw a creepy guy at the beach with a towel over himself sitting in a beach chair filming what appeared to be 8 year old Japanese girls. I filmed him instead. Beat that creepy guy.
We went in one more time snorkelling and this time it was amazing. The coral close to the shore is bleached dead and lifeless, but once you get over this 1 foot deep coral pipe you get to the really deep interesting alive bit, and it’s amazing. Kathryn saw two yellow fish which was her highlight, and for me, mine was being still, just breathing, and watching all manner of white, blue, green, black, and other coloured fish eating, playing, and doing what fish do. It was great, like swimming in an aquarium.
We were done with Hanauma Bay after this, so we paid another dollar to catch the shuttle back up the side of the Volcano. Best dollar ever spent. Imagine Hamilton’s steepest hill, in the sun, and then you driving up while poor souls walked. That’s luxury. At the top while waiting for Mr. Death, we talked to some Americans from San Jose, California. I explained that New Zealand’s biggest export was milk and dairy, and Kathryn said it was tourism. Only later did we think that maybe our accents make the word tourism sound a bit like terrorism. But that’s not a New Zealand export at all.
Death race later, and we were back in the ‘ki. I don’t know if anyone calls it that. We then we to dinner at Dennys. They have a two, four, six, and eight dollar menu. You don’t see that at some of the fancier restaurants. So we knew that this place would be good value. In the end I ordered a T-Bone Steak, and Prawns, and then Orange Cheese-covered mashed potato, and corn. The steak was thinner than NZ steak, and lightish in colour, a bit like veal. It was OK. Kathryn had a cheeseburger and fries. She thought it was fine, not as good as Burger Fuel. Thanks to the Doos for sponsoring this meal.
Then we went on what was to become a two hour tiki-tour (Kathryn says Kiki-tour, ya’know, like Waikiki. That’s why she doesn’t have a blog) of Waikiki. Turns out we’ve been getting up early, and going to bed early. When really the Hawaiian model is to get up late, and go to bed late. All the shops were still open, and serving Japanese people. We went into a DFS Galleria which was never ending with bags, bags, chocolate, makeup, and bags. Kathryn got some makeup for $48USD which is normally $96NZD. An actual saving.
Paper napkins. We’ve all seen them, we go through them, and then we buy some more. Well how about cloth napkins? That’s right, they’re reusable cloth napkins, good for about five year’s worth of use. And it’s not the same as just any old cloth, it’s got funky patterns, and then special absorbing material on the inside. And sure, while they’re nearly $32 NZD, that’s less than ten packs of the paper napkins, which is less than a year’s use. So if you’re big on saving the environment, these are the thing.
G’Day, the name’s Norman, but my friends call me Stormin’ Norman, on account of the two words rhyming somewhat.