View from a highway lookout on the way to the temple
On the way way to the temple
This is the first page covering our 2023 trip to Hawaii. Click here for page 2.
The first time we visited Hawaii was in 1980; it took 40 years for our second trip, and since then we've been back a couple of times, most recently in March of 2023. This last trip (for the time being) is the subject of two pages on our site. We flew from North Carolina to Honolulu on March 14 for a two-week stay; Eric had made a list of new (to us) places that we could visit on Oahu. We also flew to Kona on the Big Island for two days; photos of that excursion are available here.
On March 17, we drove to the Byodo-In Temple, stopping at a couple of lookouts on the way to admire the view. The Byodo-In Temple is a non-denominational Buddhist temple; it is non-functioning in the sense that it hosts neither a resident monastic community nor an active congregation. It was dedicated in August of 1968 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.
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View from a highway lookout on the way to the temple |
On the way way to the temple |
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Lone tree at the highway lookout |
View from the bridge leading to the temple |
Lush vegetation |
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View from the bridge leading to the temple compound |
A closer look at the temple |
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The lovely pond on the side of the temple |
Looking across Swan Temple Lake to the bridge |
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Goldfish |
Buddha statue |
Flower |
Kualoa is a 4000 acre (16.2 square kilometers) private nature reserve and a working ranch with over 600 heads of cattle. The place is a major tourist attraction that offers a variety of excursions, many in line with the place's Discover Jurassic Valley tagline, for example Jurassic Valley Zipline Adventure, Jurassic Valley UTV Ride, or Hollywood Movie Sites Tour. We opted for the Jungle Expedition; this tour uses open-air vehicles for up to sixteen participants to explore sites of Hawaiian culture, movie history, and gorgeous landscapes, all on very rugged trails. We took this tour on March 18 and had a great time.
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Fake horse |
Real horse |
Off the beaten track |
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The view from the entrance |
The iconic Chinaman's Hat island |
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Our tour included visiting several... |
...Hawaiian cultural sites. |
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A closer look at a one of the statues |
View to the 800-year-old fishpond |
Driving through some rugged terrain |
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Why would anyone want to look at their cell phone... |
...when they could be looking at this, instead! |
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The view from the highest point reached during our Jungle Tour |
Clouds are building up on the mountain side |
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Pretty rough terrain to wander through |
Crashed helicopter that was part of the Kong: Skull Island movie set |
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Some paths were pretty bumpy |
River bed |
Jungle scene |
The island of Oahu is divided into five regions: Honolulu in the south, the windward coast in the east, the north shore, the central region, and the leeward coast in the west. We had been to all of these except the last one; so we decided to remedy that on March 24. We didn't quite make it all the way to Kaena Point because the road ends just before one gets there. Still, we drove through most of the western part of of Oahu, from where the H1 turns into route 93 to where the road ends. This part of the island is less touristy, but this is probably due to accessibility more than anything else.
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The road ends by Keawaula Beach, so this is as far west as we got |
Looking the other way to the southeast |
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RGB: Red, Green, Blue |
Looking toward the Mākua Kea‘au Forest Reserve |
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Landscape on the way back home |
Landscape on the way back home |
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Looking into the mountain from Farrington Highway |
Looking into the mountain from Farrington Highway |
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Beach scene off Farington Highway |
The beach at Mākaha |
The Oahu photos on this page were taken between March 13 and March 24, 2023.
Together with the Big Island photos, they are also available in a gallery.
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