WOOHOO!!!! we just found out that our host at our B&B flies helicopters in hawaii and she sets up her hostees with private chartered helicopter tours with her flying school instructors for the same price as those advertised tours.  the big difference is that on the advertised ones, it's 6 people to a helicopter...they arrange your seating based on your weight and height...and based on my weight and height, i'd be smack in the middle seat with no window view.  And PB would probably be seated elsewhere on the plane.

but with the ones she sets up for us, PB and I would get our own PRIVATE helicopter....the doorless ones too (more expensive...and much much better photo ops) AND a slightly longer tour....for the same price.  These private chartered rides usually go for over $1-2000 and we're getting it for SOOOOO much cheaper! 

You can't get that kind of hookup at the marriott or the hyatt!!!   We also get free access to a stash of snorkeling/beach stuff.  i chose my set of snorkel gear and tried it on (I've never done it before)...I need to practice before i go for real.  I keep freaking breathing through my nose....and the mouthgard makes me feel like i'm getting x-rays done at the dentists.

ok....i'm out for the rest of the day!!!!  Farmer's market today! yay! ( the fruit here is SO YUMMY and HUGE)!

ALOOOOOOHA!

Yes, I'm blogging while on vacation.  It's 7 AM here and PB is still sleeping.  I can't sleep past daybreak....I'm not sure if it's because of my normal daily routine (Usually, if I'm still home during daybreak, it means i've overslept and I'm late for work) or because these stupid freaking roosters won't stop crowing.  People warned me about them.....but they are really EVERYWHERE.  Every morning at 6:30AM, all you hear are a million roosters (even though they crow at ALL times of the day) and the seemingly millions of birds that live nearby.  I guess it doesn't help that we chose to stay up in the mountains away from the resort developments (although they have them too!).

But it is gorgeous here....actually reminds me a lot of Taiwan, at least the more rural parts of Taiwan.  The flora's the same and the topography is actually pretty similar.  But luckily, it's not as hot!  It reaches in the 80's at the highest...but at night, it's pretty cool...feels like the 60's.  We don't have an AC in the room, and we don't even need it.  I'm currently bundled up in sweats and a fleece.  It has rained every day so far....but like for 2 minutes, then it'll be sunny again.

It's still pretty touristy here...although I'm sure not as much as some of the other islands.  We tried to get to one of the non-touristy cliff beaches...but we only have a small, compact rental car and the drive there is through a dirt road.  It had rained heavily the night before and one of the locals passing us stopped us to tell us that we probably won't make it all the way in our "small bubble car" because there will be muddy potholes.  So we'll try again another day.  (another car full of locals slowed down, looked over, then started laughing....HMPH).

So far, we've gone to the beach, drove around the beach area, visited an old historic town...and that's it.  we're starting out slow.  we still have tons to do...i don't think we have enough time to do it all.

oh yeah...and the local supermarkets are stocked full of asian snacks. YES.  Our room is now full of shrimp chips and Kimchi Noodle bowls.  YUMMY!

I'll upload all our pics after we get back.  we've been pretty bad about taking pics actually....we're too busy gawking to remember the camera.

The Long Branch Half

 This past weekend, PB and two of his cousins ran in the Long Branch Half Marathon.  This is PB's second year running it...last year he cramped at mile 7 and hobbled his way to the finish like in about 2:15.  This year he wanted to beat 2 hours and swore he would train hard for it.  He actually ended up training LESS than he did last year....but he ended up doing really well!!!!  His younger guy cousin ran x-country in HS and even though he's been out of HS for a few years, he didn't have too much trouble running the half....and stuck by PB the whole race to encourage him and push him on even though he could have finished much faster than they did.  So cute.  PB ended up finishing 1:54 (even though the clock says 2:00....they were in the very back of the pack and didn't cross the start line until 6 minutes after the race started)....and he didn't even cramp up!!! 

The location was gorgeous....it was in Long branch with much of it being along the beach...the start/finish line was actually at the beach boardwalk.  I was excited to be a spectator and sit on the beach and bask in the sun for a few hours while waiting for them to finish.  That was the plan....in theory.  It ended up being an absolutely foggy and dreary day with temps in the morning in the high 40's.  I spent the two hours sitting in my little fold out chair, wearing 4 layers (i didn't realize it was going to be so cold, so i didn't bring a coat), watching my breath form clouds in the air every time I breathed.  The goal was to finish some of my thank you cards while waiting...but my hands were so cold that i think the few I wrote were illegible.

Since I was there, I managed to get a decent spot up near the finish line.  The front row was already all taken up...so I positioned myself behind parents who looked like they had kids who could run fast and finish earlier so that I could take their spot when they left (I'm ashamed to admit that I did practice a bit of racial stereotyping when I chose who to stand behind).  But anyway it worked, the parents in front of my had two kids finishing at least 15 minutes before PB and the guy cousin came in...so i was able to see them finish! yay!  (i was way to short to see anything even from the second row).

I've never watched a marathon or half-marathon in person before, but it was really inspiring to see all those people work so hard.  It made me want to do one.  puahahahaha. we'll see.  PB and the guy cousin want to do a full maranthon when the guy cousin finishes school.  I said perhaps I'll try the half-marathon while they try the full....and maybe we'll finish at the same time   (The Long Branch run actually is both a marathon and a half...they run the same loop, except the marathoners run the loop twice).  But we'll see....we're talking about the girl who can't even run a mile (but in my defense, I can run 400 meters or less really really fast).

The boys getting pumped up before the race (why do guys always pose like this?)

The wonderful conditions.

PB heading off for the start line....

....along with 8500 other people

Apparently this "Larry the Lighthouse" person wears this costume and runs the entire marathon every year.  Nuts.

Sooo many people brought their dogs....they were SOOO cute!!!

not quite a dog...but an animal nonetheless (sort of)

Some puppy loving

ALL the dogs were freaked out by this...uh...rabbit.  They kept barking at it...and whenever it tried to pet them, they would go bullistic.

The view from the second row...BOOOO

The view from the first row..YAY (even though I had to lean way over the railing to see).  There's PB and the guy cousin in the distance.

The marathoners ran on the left lane and the half marathoners ran on the right.  It was cute that the marathoners would cheer on the half-er's near the finish line....even though they had to run the loop one more time.

YAY (minus 6 minutes or so)

The girl cousin...sacrificing her time to pick up a marathoner's dropped iPod.

Still pretty impressive for a first timer

The winners!  Btw, PB's bib reads "nurselenny".  He wanted it to say Nurse Lenny....but they mashed the words together to a nearly unreadable word.  He said everyone cheered for Glen (the guy cousin) and when they turned to cheer for him, they all started squinting at his bib.  He said he got no personal cheers....he was mad. HAHAHAHA.

The post marathon refueling

The medal!