The only way to Hana (eastside of the island) is through the Hana Highway. On the way, we passed by this rocky beach near Paia at Central Maui called Hookipa Beach, the water was so clear~
The Hana Highway is said to have 600+ turns, the road is dangerously narrow and curvy; we all got severe car sickness. There were so many one-lane bridges, so the opposite traffic has to watch out and yield. What a tough drive (and ride). Thankfully Yan is skillful driver. The scenary was amazing, full of exotic wild plants and tropical forest. Unfortunately I was too sick to appreciate most of the time, and when we ventured deep in the jungle I felt too sick to take photo.
Because of the road condition, it took us about about 3 hours to get to Hana. After all the crazy turns and motion sickness, I truly understand why Hana is a remote, seclude hideaway. There were also no tv, radio nor cellphone reception.
The condo we stayed at, it’s located right at a lava rock shore.
View from our window
Lava rocks!
The hut is for decoration only…
There were one other ultra $$$ resort with an insanely $$$ restaurant. Other than that, the area is wild country side with one general store where everyone relies on. It has sand paper next to onion. ^^;; The food selection is surprisingly eclectic: I found Chinese salty sour plum there (they’re great remedies for car sickness!). The condo we stayed in has a kitchen, so we cooked ourselves for the 2 days we stayed in Hana.
Tags: Travel Report
Oh what, you cooked?! ^^;;;;;
When you said there was no nice food there, I thought you meant the restaurants there were no good….never expected you meant there were no (affordable) restaurants there AT ALL. ^^;;;;;
The scenary is stunning though! Swimming in the the shallow water with lava rocks around(1st pic) seems kinda scary – you might step on sharp rocks?
Maybe if you drove more, your car sickness might have been less unbearable? Driving nervously takes your mind off your queasy stomach…while sitting at the back of a bumpy car is the worst.
There was another restaurant in Hana, but according to the guidebook it is the WORST restaurant in Hawaii (not just Maui island), so that’s obviously not an option ^^;; (and we saw the menu, it was $15 for a burger). We had nothing to do at night anyway, there’s no tv no nothing, so cooking dinner is a good night activity ^^;;; We couldn’t even go out at night with torch light or something like that because it was very stormy at night (pitch dark outside anyway). The weather condition was much harsher over at this country side.
We forgot to buy cooking oil. So in the morning when we cooked egg, we had to scoop gravy from the chicken to use as oil…^^;;;
No one dare to swim at the lava rock I think…the waves there are just way too strong, we even scratch our ass later on the sand after being swept away from one strong wave…imagine if that were the rock surface.
Oh our driver, Yan, is less car sick than us. Only I sat at the back and oh my I had it worst (that’s what I get for being backseat rider free of reading map/watching road responsibility ^^;;;).
In Hana there’s a very nice traditional Japanese looking inn called Heavenly Hana Inn, could be fun but the rooms were out of our budget anyway. Their breakfast sounds good. What’s eyebrow raising is that…it has a traditional Japanese teahouse! I can’t find that in LA, yet can be found on the remote country side on a tropical island…^^;;;;; We didn’t go though.
One more thing, on the Hana highway, the local here drove their pickup trucks very fast (and keeps passing us), very scary~~ ^^;; They were used to the road already. Back at the touristy area’s souvenir shops, there are T-shirts to buy that saids “I survived the Hana Highway”…^^;;; Later on we drove on another mountain highwawy road that’s even scarier than Hana Highway…write about that later.
Haha, the T-shirt is funny!