I had arranged for a rental car, not a great deal, but a good enough
one through National. We got our choice of about eight cars, none of
which Risa really liked, but in the end she took a Chevy HHR. It is a
pretty nice SUV-style PT Cruiser knock-off. I probably should have
just sprung for more and gotten a convertible, which is what Risa was
after.

We drove over to our hotel, the Aston Waikiki Banyan, but we were
renting for two weeks from a Japanese-oriented company so the check in
was on the 3rd floor instead of the normal place. We sorted all that
out and headed up to our room on the 36th floor. It has an amazing
ocean view. The place is a bit old – the building was built in the
70s sometime – and it looks a bit old. Most of the electrical
fixtures in our place for example are loose. I get the feeling that
it isn’t the kind of place that Japanese people would like. Usually
even older places are better kept than this place. It isn’t bad
though; just a bit on the older side. For what we are paying – which
isn’t really all that much, especially given the amazing view – I’m
quite happy. Risa doesn’t want to use the kitchen though because the
pots & pans & plates are a bit dirty. They look fine to me though.

The strange thing is that we have two beds. Separated. Which is a
little strange for a newlywed couple I think, but whatever. Turns out
it wasn’t much of a problem because usually we were exhausted when we
got back and just fell asleep anyway. Also, the beds were pretty
average, not really so great. And only two pillows. And small ones.
There were some more up in the closet, but I didn’t even bother to
pull one or two down. Too tired.

I was pretty tired, but went out and did some shopping, and arranged
to get the broadband option: a broadband over powerlines (a Motorola
Clear Wire modem) solution. It wasn’t wireless though, just one wired
connection. Good thing I had bought an Apple Airport Express the
other day. Set all that up and we were good to go. Well, I had to
change to a different outlet than the one I originally chose because
the outlet was loose and the internet connection was bad. Not
surprising. It isn’t the best connection, but works well enough.

I also picked up some local beer (Big Wave) for Risa.

In the evening we went out for a walk, checked out the beach, and got
some dinner at a Korean BBQ place. It was very good, but not cheap.
(Although, now on the second and third days I’ve noticed that as a
theme: things are not cheap here!) I have some pictures of the food
around here somewhere (Risa likes taking pictures of food) but it was
just regular old good Korean BBQ, so I won’t bother to put those up.

We headed home, and I fell asleep immediately. Risa took her time, but
I have no idea what she was up to.