A bumpy ride with Hawaiian Airlines

Storms. Trade swells. Power outage at Oahu. Runway light failure at Maui airport. Go! Airlines’ pilots napping in the cockpit. (Yeah, local newspapers were still talking about it.)

You name it. They all made my Christmas vacation exceptional this year.

But none of these tops the bumpy ride with Hawaiian Airlines.

This is not my first time flying Hawaiian Airlines, but it is memorable.

On the way to Kauai, our inter-island flight was delayed for 30 minutes due to a late arrival of an inbound flight. On the way back, we were originally scheduled for the 9:10 PM flight outbound for Honolulu to catch the 11:20 PM flight to continental United States.

8:10PM we arrived at the airport, only to find that our flight was delayed until 9:40PM, which means we would have missed the connecting flight to LAX, the last flight out of Honolulu.

I ran to the ticket counter and asked for a help. The Hawaiian Airlines agent typed crazily on the keyboard. “I booked you on an earlier flight”.

Did I mention that all bags are in need of screening, twice, at this airport? One for agricultural purpose, and one for security purpose. By the time we dropped our check-in luggage for the 2nd purpose, I glanced my boarding pass and almost froze. The departure time for that earlier flight was 8:40PM.

Wait until we hit the security check point. That TSA agent stared at our boarding pass and said: “Because there is a change in your flight schedule, your airlines has selected you for special inspection”.

Not my airline.

I could not believe my ears. Just because we have to take an earlier flight to avoid delay, we are doomed to be searched, therefore potentially delayed? This is the part that I do not understand: Each time someone wishes to catch an earlier flight — as part of a round-trip ticket — that triggers a security nerve-meltdown? Can someone clarify the logic here?

We explained to the TSA agent that the reason for the change of flight was because the original flight was delayed, and that the flight we were supposed to be on leaves in 20 minutes. She promised she would have people do this quickly.

Well, there are apparently two definitions of “quick”: the government’s version, and the normal version. Our dedicated agents took out every piece of items from our carry-on bag, while happily chatting to each other, “inspected” one by one. Of course I believe they tried to help and tried to be as quick as possible. 

When we were finally let go, it was 8:35PM, 5 minutes from the departure time. What a joke! We dashed to the gate, while the P.A. was calling our names for boarding.

I know as long as our check-in luggage makes it, we should make it, but the whole process is nerve-racking. When we handed the gate agents our boarding passes, my friend was apologetical for being late, and I stared back fiercely: “Why should we apologize? They screwed it up!”

As the last two passengers on board, of course we received warming greetings: all the blaming stares from our follow passengers.

The Lihu’e-Honolulu flight finally took off.

It was a short flight. Pretty soon the captain announced: “We have landed at the Honolulu airport…” Towards the end, he added: “Once again we apologize for the delay.”

All of sudden I realized that the reason we can get onto this flight is because it was originally delayed!

……

Before we left for Hawaii, I checked the official website of Hawaiian Airlines. On the top of its home page, “18 airlines, 1 winner: We are #1“, it claims that Hawaiian is the #1 in Nationwide Airline Quality Survey.

Wow, this is called #1 in quality? now I wonder how (new) low the other 17 airlines have sucked…

Things to do (not to do) in Kauai, Hawaii

Here is a summary based on my 3-day observations of Kauai, Hawaii. Of course there are the usual “camera moments” and must-see spots that I intend not to repeat. And there are to-dos/not-to-dos that are not particular to Kauai.

Snorkeling? You can cross that from your list, especially during the winter, and especially if you want a clear shot of fish you see underwater. I never expect the effect of trade swells can be so damaging to my snorkeling experience. The fact that it rains much more often in Kauai adds more problems. I have snorkeled at the north shore of Oahu in winters, in particular the Shark’s Cove, and have never had this bad experience before. To make to Tunnels, the so-called best snorkeling site in Kauai, it takes so much effort that by the time you get to the beach you would be so exhausted.

Drive a PT Cruiser. In the land of Kauai, PT Cruiser rules! I cannot tell you how many PT Cruisers that I have seen on the road. Of course our rental car is a silver PT Cruiser too. Once at a parking lot I counted 6 PT Cruisers in one lane.

Shop for Kona coffee at local Costco. Although Kona coffee grows in the Big Island, it is available at virtually all Costcos in Hawaii. What can I say? I love Kona coffee. At Costco you can buy 100% whole bean Kona coffee at $19.99 per pound. In some reputable coffee shops back in the continental United States, such as Porto Rico Importing (New York City), expect to pay extra $5 per pound, plus shipping. 

What about Kauai coffee? Yes, Costco of Kauai does carry 100% whole bean Kauai coffee. And yes there is a significant difference between Kona coffee and Kauai coffee in taste, and therefore in price. Kauai coffee is not bad and actually is pretty smooth, but Kona coffee does taste better. Psst… just do not bring it up when you talk to the locals — it might hurt their feelings. It happened to us once.

There is also a dramatic difference between 100% whole beans and Kona blends. Do not bother with Kona blends. No matter what percentage of Kona coffee beans is blended with others, the difference is obvious.

As a matter of fact, a couple of old ladies who grow Kona coffees in the Big Island posed nude for a 2008 calendar. The goal? Call for the awareness of the quality of the 100% Kona whole beans.

Visit Waimea canyon. The drive to the canyon is not easy, but the whole trip is totally worth it. In fact there are so many movies we can now recognize scenes of Waimea canyons from.

Get down the black beach to experience the Spouting Horn. Do not just stay behind the fence. There are non-official ways to go down to the lava beach, to get truly up and personal with the Spouting Horn. The thundering breath of the nature through that lava tube is amazing.

Do not leave home without your rain gear. You might leave home without your American Express but if you want to be outdoors all the time in Kauai, bring your rain gear. It rains so often during a single day, sometimes heavily enough to soak you wet from head to toe. And do not expect being near the south shore can let you get away from rains completely. In the end, Kauai does have the rainiest place on earth: Mount Waialeale.

Do not book your return ticket from other islands to the mainland. You will probably be better off with a stay in Oahu and then heading from Oahu (Honolulu airport) to the mainland United States. There are not many direct flights from mainland to other islands in Hawaii, so very often you end up connecting at Honolulu.

At the Honolulu international airport you need to take a shuttle bus (wiki-wiki bus; in Hawaiian “wiki” means “quick”) from the main terminals to the terminals for inter-island flights. Just do not expect that a bus named “wiki-wiki” is in fact wiki-wiki. So if you are in a rush or if your inter-island flight is delayed, then you risk missing your flight to the mainland.

Kauai day three: North shore

This is the last day of our stay in Kauai and we explored the north shore.

The Kilauea Lighthouse offers great views. But our GPS led us the wrong spot; it took us a quite fix to find the lighthouse.

To get in we paid $5 per person, but it was worth it. You cannot climb up the lighthouse, but can check out a set of binocular and look around for birds and view.

I also find the trees there rather exotic.

Nearby is the Kilauea Point Naional Wildlife Refuge, home to a diverse population of nesting seabirds. Signs like this are everywhere.

We saw our favorite: Nene.

…and a Brazilian cardinal taking a bath.

After that we drove to Hanalai. The taro field in the valley is so beautiful.

After a pleasant lunch at the famous Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant, we took a  closer look at the nearby taro field.

I have to admit that I was not that impressed by the north shore beaches. The only experience I found interesting was the one-way bridges there.

Kauai day two: South shore

Yesterday we tried snorkeling on the east side of Kauai: the Lydgate. The experience was disappointing. Today we thought maybe we would have a better luck in the south side of Kauai. So we drove to the Salt Pond beach.

Never mind. This so-called the calmest snorkeling site was not much better. The life guard mentioned the recent storms and swells have made snorkeling impossible in this beach. The only thing left for us was to enjoy the view.

The next stop: Waimea canyon. It is the largest canyon in the Pacific. The drive was tricky, but the view was breath-taking. We were lucky that there was enough mist. A beautiful rainbow hang  below us over the canyons.

The lush green and rusty red color of Kauai’s unique earth…

On the way back we stopped at the Spouting Horn.

The surrounding lava rocks look different than those in the Big Island.

Near the Spouting Horn is the National Tropical Garden. The garden offers some guided tours but the last tour of the day already left when we got there. So I took a picture of their displaying banana tree.

Christmas day at Lihu’e

Never thought Kauai’s weather so different from other islands.

In the morning we were having breakfast under the thatched hut, all of sudden, it rained cats and dogs. For 5 minutes.

The breakfast menu is pleasant. One should definitely try their Garden Isle Frittata: the eggplant is so fresh. I asked to replace the Maui goat cheese with my favorite purple sweet potatoes.

Then when we took a walk along the Kapalaki bay after breakfast, the sky became cloudy again. Waves were strong, and surfers were scarce.

In the morning we went snorkeling at the Lydgate beach park. What a mistake. There was a storm the night before. The water was so murky and muddy: almost zero visibility. Plus, it was sooooooooooooo cold.

The good news is, the Marriott resort has a large pool. Fun to swim around, and a way to compensate for the disappointing morning snorkeling experience.

With, of course, nice gardens and a huge Koi pool. I was especially intrigued by the palm trees.

As we walked around the parking lot, we can spot all sorts of exotic tropical flowers. Gosh, they also smell so good.

In the afternoon we visited two famous waterfalls on Kauai. The majestic Wailua fall is located along the roadside so there is no way one can miss it.

The other Opeaka’a waterfall is not easy to spot. Along the highway 56 there is a Opeaka’a lookout point. After a brief walk we saw the fall: remote and blurry in a rainy day.

While the waterfall is far, the famous island creatures — wild chickens — are everywhere, and they can be “up close and personal”.

But the opposite side across the highway, the view is more breath-taking.

The rich riverbed of Wailua river.

The ancient Hawaiians picked the stones from the valley and built this Heiau.

Thomas L. Friedman of New York Times: The Great Unraveling

New York Times published an article by Thomas L. Friedman — NY Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author – that I found insightful. The following is the original article with the original link provided.

The Great Unraveling

Thomas Friedman

New York Times (December 16th, 2008)

The stranger, a Western businessman, slipped into the chair next to me at an Asia Society lunch here in Hong Kong and asked me a question that I can honestly say I’ve never been asked before: “So, just how corrupt is America?”

His question was occasioned by the arrest of the Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars, but it wasn’t only that. It’s the whole bloody mess coming out of Wall Street — the financial center that Hong Kong moneymen had always looked up to. How could it be, they wonder, that such brand names as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and A.I.G. could turn out to have such feet of clay? Where, they wonder, was our Securities and Exchange Commission and the high standards that we had preached to them all these years?

One of Hong Kong’s most-respected bankers, who asked not to be identified, told me that the U.S.-owned investment company where he works made a mint in the last decade cleaning up sick Asian banks. They did so by importing the best U.S. practices, particularly the principles of “know thy customers” and strict risk controls. But now, he asked, who is there to look to for exemplary leadership?

“Previously, there was America,” he said. “American investors were supposed to know better, and now America itself is in trouble. Whom do they sell their banks to? It is hard for America to take its own medicine that it prescribed successfully for others. There is no doctor anymore. The doctor himself is sick.”

I have no sympathy for Madoff. But the fact is, his alleged Ponzi scheme was only slightly more outrageous than the “legal” scheme that Wall Street was running, fueled by cheap credit, low standards and high greed. What do you call giving a worker who makes only $14,000 a year a nothing-down and nothing-to-pay-for-two-years mortgage to buy a $750,000 home, and then bundling that mortgage with 100 others into bonds — which Moody’s or Standard & Poors rate AAA — and then selling them to banks and pension funds the world over? That is what our financial industry was doing. If that isn’t a pyramid scheme, what is?

Far from being built on best practices, this legal Ponzi scheme was built on the mortgage brokers, bond bundlers, rating agencies, bond sellers and homeowners all working on the I.B.G. principle: “I’ll be gone” when the payments come due or the mortgage has to be renegotiated.

It is both eye-opening and depressing to look at our banking crisis from China. It is eye-opening because it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the U.S. and China are becoming two countries, one system.

How so? Easy, in the wake of our massive bank bailout, one can now look at China and America and say: “Well, China has a big-state-owned banking sector, next to a private one, and America now has a big state-owned banking sector next to a private one. China has big state-owned industries, alongside private ones, and once Washington bails out Detroit, America will have a big state-owned industry next to private ones.”

Yes, an exaggeration to be sure, but the truth is the differences are starting to blur. For two decades, a parade of U.S. officials came to China and lectured Beijing on the necessity of privatizing its banks, said Qu Hongbin, the chief economist for China at HSBC. “So, slowly we did that, and now, all of a sudden, we see everybody else nationalizing their banks.”

It’s depressing because China in many ways feels more stable than America today, with a clearer strategy for working through this crisis. And while the two countries are looking more alike, they appear to be on very different historical trajectories. China went crazy in the 1970s, with its Cultural Revolution, and only after the death of Mao and the rise of Deng Xiaoping has it managed to right itself, gradually moving to a market economy.

But while capitalism has saved China, the end of communism seems to have slightly unhinged America. We lost our two biggest ideological competitors — Beijing and Moscow. Everyone needs a competitor. It keeps you disciplined. But once American capitalism no longer had to worry about communism, it seems to have gone crazy. Investment banks and hedge funds were leveraging themselves at crazy levels, paying themselves crazy salaries and, most of all, inventing financial instruments that completely disconnected the ultimate lenders from the original borrowers, and left no one accountable. “The collapse of communism pushed China to the center and [America] to the extreme,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Madoff affair is the cherry on top of a national breakdown in financial propriety, regulations and common sense. Which is why we don’t just need a financial bailout; we need an ethical bailout. We need to re-establish the core balance between our markets, ethics and regulations. I don’t want to kill the animal spirits that necessarily drive capitalism — but I don’t want to be eaten by them either.

Why has speaking Chinese become a Hollywood fashion?

The first time I watched the original “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951), the special effect was completely out of date even at that time, and the story was simple in some degree even naive. But after so many years I still remember the story line and the beautiful performance.

That is why I was so excited about the remake of this movie.

In the original movie Klaatu was played by Michael Rennie, and Helen Benson by Patricia Neal. In the 2008 version of update, it was Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly.

In my mind, Keanu Reeves is the right choice for Klaatu. A clean but remote character that does not easily show emotions. Acting would be rather challenging. Although I enjoyed Rennie’s portray of Klaatu, I do not like the part of the movie when his character started to lecture to others.

Reeves’s Klaatu is more self-reserved and distant. Even at emotional screens his character rarely displays his feelings. Yet the audience can still connect to what is inside the character. To that I like his performance better.

Jennifer Connelly’s update of Benson is acceptable. I do not like the original version of Benson anyway. Connelly is more serious in this movie, and therefore is fine to play an academic type.

Given what a joke that Hollywood had Denise Richards to play Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist in 007 movie “The World Is Not Enough“, I lost faith in Hollywood’s ability to portray an academic researcher. If you do not have a high expectation, you would be pleasantly surprised. I have to say that Connelly’s version is more credible.

What else do I like about the movie? The special effects are definitely a plus. The first encounter of Klaatu, including how he escaped from the military base. Benson’s stepson (who is totally annoying to begin with, but then develops into a more complicated character later).

Speaking of a surprise, what I find amusing is the part of the movie where Klaatu met his contact in a McDonald’s. The majority of the conversation was in Chinese.

Oh my goodness.

I do want to give my compliment to Mr. Reeves: Not that bad. Of course he has a heavy accent and his Chinese is definitely not fluent, but I can understand him perfectly.

Mr. Wu, Klaatu’s contact, played by James Hong, was no better. Both characters speak Mandarin Chinese; while Reeves struggles with his American accent, Hong struggles with his somewhat Cantonese accent (a Chinese dialect).

Yes the two actors did fight hard with their accents, but at least I can understand their Chinese. A month ago I watched Tropic Thunder. Kirk Lazarus, the character played by Robert Downey Jr., also tried to speak Chinese in some parts of the movie. Oh boy, that was a disaster.

I love Robert Downey Jr., but I cannot get what he was trying to say. As his character went on and on in “Chinese”, I can only catch some words here and there. If there were no English substitles, I would have been completely lost.

Which means I should give more credit to Reeves for his effort of trying.

Then I wonder why speaking Chinese all of sudden becomes a Hollywood fashion?

Stinky Monkey bragged that his Chinese is more fluent than Reeves. To a great extent I agree. Then he reminded me: “but you do have to know that Reeves is 1/4 Chinese…” From there definitely the evidence emerges that he watched too many episodes of House.

A depressing day

I was on my way from the airport when my cell phone ringed. It was the Cat Girl.

A month ago she was vacationing in Africa, a short break from her stressful life on the Wall Street. But this does not seem to be the right time about her African adventures.

“I am laid off.” She broke the news to me, “My entire department has been eliminated.”

I almost jerked my car to the wrong lane.

For a while I was still in the stage of disbelief. “What are you planning to do then?” I asked, “Anything that I can help?”

Obviously she was also in the stage of disbelief. But she quickly regained her strengthen: “Would you mind passing my resume around?”

That of course I can help. Then she wanted to be positive: “Now I can cook at home myself.”

The rest of the trip has become disturbing. I cannot believe that even Cat Girl was laid off. I know so many people from the Wall Street, and I have known Cat Girl since junior high. Despite how bad the economy is and how unstable the finance jobs have become, the thought that even she has to face a pink sheet never occurred to me.

She is extremely intelligent and hard-working. Of course we all know that some people from the Wall Street are way overpaid. But Cat Girl deserves every penny of her salary. Yet she is still laid off.

And that is the not the end yet.

Another big blow was waiting when I got home. An email from another friend: she was denied tenure at a prestigious university, despite her very impressive publication records. I started at my laptop screen for one minute, unable to believe my eyes as I read the content of her email.

I have known her for years; she is a great researcher, a great teacher, and has a great personality and dignity. This is disgusting.

What is happening to the real world and the academic world?

The pricing factor behind a down jacket

The December 2008 issue of InStyle magazine published a “Your Look Q&A”:

Q: What’s the warmest, lightest jacket on the market?

A: If you want to be bundled up but not bogged down, look no further. Moncler’s Lansing parka keeps you toasty with duck-down insulation, and at a mere 6 ounces, it doesn’t weigh much more than your Blackberry Curve. Even better, the super-sleek style fits into a teeny pouch that’s roughly the size of your daily Venti.

Accompanied is a picture of a black Moncler’s nylon jacket with down fill, tagged at $790.

Then I laughed.

What has happened to these fashion magazines? I understand that the economy is poor, and therefore magazines are adding more ads, which means less interesting articles to read. What I do not understand, is the mentality of these fashion magazines. Since I am a big fan of ultra-light apparels and gears  myself, courtesy of the increasingly restrictive airline carry-on luggage policy, I failed to follow the advice of the fashion experts and did “look a bit further”.

It turns out there are many light down jackets available in the market, and you do not have to pay top bucks for them.

For example, Mont-Bell’s extra light down jacket weights 4.7oz, and can also be rolled into a small pouch bag.

The jacket comes with “900 Fill-Power Super Premium Goose Down, 7-denier Ballistic Airlight calendered nylon, and single-quilt construction for weight reduction”, as claimed by the manufacturer. The price tag? $160, retail.

Another comment left by a user at Marmot’s website says all: “With the poor economy, I bought the Marmot, Goose Down, Zeus Jacket #7202, at $150.00 retail instead of the almost identical Moncler, Duck-Down, Lansing Parka at $790.00 retail. The Marmot length is well below the waist, packs into pocket and weighs about 15 ounces while the Moncler length is at the waist, fits into a provided bag and weighs 6 ounces. Thanks for offering this equivalent quality and equivalent performance Jacket. It is a great value and a great price.”

There are also ratings by users at several websites for these not-so-pricey products. For example, backpackgeartest.org has pretty detailed descriptions and field test reports from professional hikers.

I have no intention to dispute the quality of Moncler’s products. What puzzles me is the pricing factor. Will that the nylon being made in Italy or France instead of China or the United States, or the fill being duck down instead of goose down, be sufficient to justify the dramatic price differential? Come on, we are talking about a down jacket, how much can fashion factor play here?

[Updated] According to featherind.com, “the best down comes from larger, more mature birds. When age and maturity are equal, goose down is better than duck down. However, down from an older duck is better than down from a younger goose. Larger Down has an extraordinarily high warmth-to-weight ratio. A duvet or sleeping bag filled with this down will be very light and incredibly warm. And it will last for decades. On the other hand, poor quality White Goose Down will have smaller Down. It will not loft up, and has a rather low warmth-to-weight ratio. Even if there is more of this down by weight, it won’t be as warm. Down from younger birds not only tends to have poor filling power, it will also tend to collapse in a relatively short time, because its fibers are too fragile. This is usually the difference between an inexpensive goose down product, and an expensive one.”

My goodness, these InStyle editors must have believed that duck down of the highest quality in this world is available exclusively to Moncler.

The big three’s road trip to Capitol Hill

The public and media apparently had a field day. The whole drama of the CEOs of the big 3 Detroit auto makers begging the federal government for bailout has been much better than every blockbuster that I have seen this year, except for Iron Man.

It all started with them showing up with a begging bowl first time, in their own corporate jets, expecting that taxpayers throw them the money so that they can continue to burn for a bit longer. Then when asked whether they are willing to take a symbolic $1 salary for the year of 2009, they were extremely reluctant. Let’s just say that the CEO at Ford is paid $21 million annual salary, even in 2008 when his company’s share price is in single digit.

Not surprisingly, they left empty-handed, with a public outrage that has been occupying headlines for weeks.

Now they are in DC again. This time, to make it more dramatic, They all drove, instead of flying. GM and Ford CEOs in particular drove the hybrid cars. All of them promised to sell their corporate jets.

Did I mention that the fuel efficiency cars originally were started by Detroit automakers, and then discarded because they decided to pursue big trucks and SUVs? Did I mention that per comparable car cost is $2,000 higher for American automakers than for Japanese automakers? (and that is why everything inside a Detroit’s car has to be so cheap in materials in order to match the price tag with their Japanese rivals). Boy, I bet these cars won’t have fine leather seats as in their corporate jets.

CNN even had a picture by picture comparison of the cars driven by these CEOs, and live shots of them inside the cars on the road. You have to admit, it is both tragic and amusing when the heavy weight national media become paparazzi.

Then there was the news reports that even DC police cut these CEOs some slack: They got some parking validations. Can this story get even better from there?

Even before their second trip to the Capitol Hill, SNL already spoofed the big 3 bailout hearings. The show was hilarious.