Visiting the Polynesia Cultural Centre

Yesterday, Josh and I were picked up by a mini bus outside our hotel to the Polynesian Cultural Centre at Leie, which is approximately 1 1/2 hours from Waikiki.  The traffic on this island has increased more than double since the first time I was here many years back!  The tourist industry is probably at the root of the congestion with so many tour bus operators, not to mention limousine services, private vehicles, tourists, retail vehicles, mini buses and so on.  Generally, when you get in a tour bus the driver will tell you it will take such and such a time, depending on traffic!  Indeed it was so.

We made one stop along the road for a photo op,  at the beach where one can view Chinamans Hat island.  Shortly after, we arrived at the Polynesian Cultural Centre which opens its gates at noon.  We grabbed a quick lunch and checked some of the gift shops before going to the villages.  We also had front row seating for the canoe pageant.  My favourite village has always been Samoa.  It's fun and you laugh a lot.  I was happy to see Kap was still the main MC for Samoa!  He has been there filling that role for many years, and although it's nearly always the same, he is always the excellent host/entertainer for his island.  He is a wonderful artist as well and I now own one of his prints. I also enjoy New Zealand (Aotearoa) which means island of the long white cloud.  I'm a big fan of the Haka, that is performed by the men.  New Zealand Maori people love to entertain and certain customs must be honoured.  The women are very pretty and have lovely voices.

I'm going to upload a bunch of photos separately from this post as I've been having some upload issues so will post the photos by email.  They will be of some of the villages, the canoe pagent and generally some of the pretty areas of the complex....

The luau was great and they have the seating down pat.  The food was good.  My favourites are the poi buns, coconut roasted sweet potatoes and Kalua pork!  Then the dessert, pineapple squares, Haupia cake and island style bread pudding with a coconut sauce.  We were entertained throughout the luau beginning with the removal of the pig from the earth ovens where it had baked all day.  Once the luau was over, it gave us time to go look at the photos which were taken preceding dinner, and trek through the gift shops if the desire was still there to spend more money!  At 7:30 we were all directed into the theatre for the evening performance.  It has changed after a run of many years and is called HA, the breath of life.  Basically, it is the story of life's cycles, and was well done ithe the fire baton show at the end!  Wow!  I really feel everyone who visits the Hawaian islands should make the effort to go to the Centre.  All of the people who work or perform there are students helping to pay their way through the university.  If you are interested, you can google it and learn more.