Wednesday is the farmers’ market day throughout the island! Some places even have on Saturday as well such as the big Hilo’s Farmers Market every Saturday and Wednesday! We had thought about going to Hilo but at the end decided it was not worth the trip across from Kona to Hilo. We woke up pretty late today and as we walked out to the parking lot, right there has a farmers market!
Local produce, arts, crafts, handmade jewelry, etc!
We met this lady, her name is Jamie, she and her husband visited the Big Island back in the days and decided to move here! They bought a small cottage near the coast and worked on the house for years to convert it to full solar! She is renting out so visitors can enjoy a longer time on the Big Island without the $$$ budget for hotel. Since it’s fully solar, once you run out of power, you need to use the flash light 🙂 She and her husband are retired already and her husband hand made earrings that she sell weekly at the farmers market.
Those earrings are beautiful, extremely light, very suitable for my sensitive ears. I had a very hard time deciding which ones…ended up bought three pairs at $8, $10, and $12 each.
We went to 808 Grindz Cafe for our New Year’s Eve brunch. It was such a beautiful clear day!
I ordered the steak moco ($10) and hubby had the same deluxe moco.
The old guy wrote down the wrong thing but he corrected it after we told we ordered the deluxe moco not the fried rice. So hubby ended getting a fried rice deluxe moco. He poked the eggs and said don’t they look like lava flowing? Good imagination hun!
After our filling breakfast, we continued to explore the beaches of Big Island. We drove to the ones near Kailua-Kona. First was the White Sands Beach Park aka Magic Sand. Why Magic Sand? In the winter months, the waves washed away the white sand leaving only the rock behind and then the sand will be back later months. When we were there, it was completely rocky!
The waves were huge and we saw some surfers there.
Next, we stopped by Kahaluu Beach Park, I read it is the best snorkeling beach on the Big Island no wonder it was crowded with locals celebrating New Year’s Eve. The parking lot was full! Hubby stayed in the car while I ran out to take some photos!
Kids were snorkeling there!
That was the last beach in Kona area. We headed back to Kailua and we saw another farmers market there! Parking was full so we had to park all the way to the front of the street and walk down!
This farmers market was bigger than the one in our hotel. The pineapples were only $4 each, I wish our hotel has knives to cut it!!! They were selling tropical flower arrangements too!
Very festive, reminded me of those flower markets during Chinese New Year!
Next, we drove into town and checked out the shops there. We walked up at this building where the Daylight Mind Restaurant is located in, it has three flights of stairs for a good view of the town and the row of coconut trees!
There was a cruise at port that day.
We walked to the back of the grass area where a row of coconut trees. There was a warning sign to beware of falling coconuts haha!
It was very comfortable there! Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to just relax! New Year’s Eve, it was pretty quiet! We took a quick nap before heading out for sunset view. The last sunset of 2014!!!
The ultimate decision – New Year’s Eve dinner at TK Noodle House….we were surprised by how quiet it was when we got there!
Appetizer, we ordered the shrimp dynamite, it was good:
I ordered the braised short rib udon, pretty delicious:
Hubby ordered the seafood yemafo, the worst noodle soup ever!!! When the waitress placed the noodle on the table, we immediately smelled vinegar!
We both had a sip and it was like drinking vinegar! I knew hubby couldn’t handle it so I traded my bowl with his bowl. I tried to eat as much as I could stand, I did managed to finish 75% of the seafood, vegetable, and noodle. I love noodle soup but this one…..I had to say unless you love vinegar, or else do not try this! Their description on the menu “vermicelli noodle, mixed sea food” should specify vinegar broth!!! Our dinner cost $47 including tips. I was not full at all! Hubby felt bad for me so we went to Chicken Holic and order a take out of 6 pieces of garlic Korean fried chicken. The young lady there remembered us from last night. We chatted while waiting for the food and found out that she and the guy (I assume her husband?) moved from Korea to the Big Island 6 months ago and opened the restaurant. Her husband’s aunt own the convenient store next door and she invited them to come and open a restaurant. My husband very admired those people who move to a complete new place to start their business. We wish their best of luck with the business! They have very good authentic Korean food, we strongly recommend Chicken Holic! Give it a try!!!
Our 6 days in the Big Island has come to an end! I personally thought 6 days was too much since we are not really outdoor adventurous people – no thanks to long hikes! But if we did the stargazing up at Mauna Kea then I think 6 days would be fine. I felt the last 2 days we really didn’t have much plan – we could have fit into 4 days. However, of all the Hawaiian islands excluded Oahu, it has the most Asian food – especially Thai restaurants. Most memorable to me was the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, had the delicious poke, and walked on the lava field in the Volcano National Park! Big Island – checked!
It’s only half way through our trip – Kauai, Moorea, and Bora Bora more to come! Follow me through my 17 nights journey from the north Pacific to the south Pacific by subscribe or follow my blog to get notified whenever I posted the newest trip report!
