party Keyword
Chinese Cemetery
Sometimes my one travel rule of “Never Refuse an Invitation” produces some great experiences. An invitation to a BBQ from Rob, one of the people I have met at the hostel, was one of these.
Rocking up to the Chinese Cemetery caretakers house in Manoa I had no idea what to expect. I did not know anyone except Rob and his friend Alessa, and Rob didn’t know anyone except some guy John. We had no idea of the occasion and with great trepidation we moved into the party. Taking a look around, and deciding I really needed a drink to deal with the situation we setup shop and went about making a rum and fruit punch, underneath a projector running family photos. In short time we found out it was a childs 1st birthday party, which made things even more awkward but it wasn’t long before we had fit comfortably into the party and became famous for our punch.
It was strange having such a lively party against the backdrop of the cemetery. The Chinese Cemetery in Manoa is the largest and oldest of its kind in Hawaii. It’s position in the valley is amazing with mountains rising up on three sides and a view right out past Waikiki and out to the ocean.
The Party was rocking, with around 100 people milling around and more food than I care to mention. We stayed for a few hours, but unfortunately left before the firetwirlers and musicians were due to arrive. All in all a fantastic day out of nowhere.
Queens Day
Just a few photos from Queens Day. I’ll write up a proper article and update this post in a couple of days. For now: I am off to Amsterdam!
UPDATE: Alright now! I am back from a great couple of days in Amsterdam. I hope you’ve all had time to peruse the photo gallery and are probably wondering what the hell was going on. Well let me tell you.
Queen’s Day or “Koninginnedag” in Dutch is (usually) a day of great celebration in the Netherlands. Occuring every April 30 it is one of the countries few national holidays. It celebrates the Queen’s birthday and unites the whole of the country in revelry. While not exactly the current Queen’s birthday (she was born on January 31st, making me and my Aunt Beatrix birthday buddies) it has a bit of history surrounding its position on the calendar. Originally the celebrations were held on August 31st, starting from 1885 in celebration of Princess Wilhelmina’s birth, but was later moved to April 30, the birthday of Queen Julianna. Since then Queen’s day has been on that date, making it more of a celebration of the Royalty than a specific birthday.
The day is full of celebrations. Markets are opened everywhere, turning the country into one massive garage sale. Everyone decks themselves out in orange and the partying begins. This years celebrations were marred by a certain idiot driving a Suzuki Swift through a crowd of people killing himself and six others in an attempt to attack the royal family. Most of the official events were canned although a lot of people still hit parks, clubs and bars not to be dissuaded from partying by the horror of the morning.
Myself, Martine and a few of her friends found ourselves at a big party in Rotterdam, which is where all the photos came from. The girls were full of energy garnering a lot of attention from other party goers. I didn’t drink all that much, had some lunch and Martine and I were back in Waddinxveen by around 9pm. I had a great Queen’s Day and I can throughly recommend checking out Holland around April 30th!