Archive | May, 2009

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Variety on Maui

By on May 27, 2009 in Arts and Culture, Community

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I love a lot of things about Maui. I think I’ve said this a hundred times already.  But I want to share another thing that makes me comfortable living here on this island. It is because of it’s cultural  diversity and the rich ethnic backgrounds the people of Maui have.

At school the kids even celebrate “Culture Day” where everyone would talk in class about their ethnic backgrounds and traditions. The Culture Day’s highlight is a potluck where the students share ethnic food from their culture.  Pretty cool yah?   I think there’s no other place in the US where you can freely ask a kid “what are you?” meaning “what cultural or ethnic background do you have?“.  Here, many or most of the kids will tell you exactly “what they are“.  Like my kids would proudly say “we’re half American half Filipino, but actually we really are Filipino-English-German-American”.  Now let me ask … “what are you?” Can you tell me what your ethnicity is – please tell me in the comment section (or via tweet ).

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Can you tell what ethnic background the owner of this truck has?

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Driving On Maui – Love the View!

By on May 25, 2009 in Nature

One of the many reason why I love living on Maui is that I love the sceneries while I drive. Whether I am driving to or from work, running an errand, or just cruisin with the kids – the view makes us feel like we are on a vacation. Many of them are like taken directly out of a post card or something.

We had a very busy weekend and I am going to have several posts about it. This is the first of the series. I wanted to share with you all some of the sceneries we see as we drive on Maui roads:

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This is the Mokulele Intersection where Kihei Road, Piilani Highway, South Kihei Road and Mokulele Highway intersect. It's a huge intersection. It's used to be small and confusing; now it's big and still confusing :)

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This is my view while driving on Mokuele Highway from Kihei to Kahului (or Wailuku)

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Driving on South Kihei Road in the morning. Nice view and less traffic :)

And these are just the sampler. Wait till you see the scenic drive to Lahaina, Upcountry, Paia overlooking Hookipa, and Honoapiilani Highway. And that’s not even counting the drive to Keanae and Hana.  Oh yes, I love driving on Maui because of the scenic views. Now if we start talking about “our” driving skills and etiquette, I would say “no comment” . Let’s just say that occasionally you will see a bumper sticker that says “Slow Down, This Ain’t the Mainlaind”; and then other occasion you will encounter some locals who would seems to be frustrated when you are driving slow because you are a tourist enjoying the view.  :)

I would be very interested to hear from those who lives on Maui or who came for a visit. What’s your take on driving on Maui?

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