Hawaii as Haven

Hawaii was calling, as it often does when my agenda is R&R. I was seeking Hawaii without glitz -- no beachfront hotels, torch-lighted hula shows or $12 Mai Tais. It's doable, even as some Hawaiian places veer close to becoming like the places visitors come here to escape.

My quest took me to Kauai, where I was salted and kneaded by practitioners of Hawaiian massage; to Oahu, where I took a history tour of Waikiki; and to the Big Island, where I rode a mule and tasted coffee beans.

I love Hawaii and not just because the water's warm. Here, I shed my cares with my shoes and while away hours doing the simplest things.

Kauai

United States (USA) Travel - Sightseeing Tours in Kauai

I flew into Lihue, Kauai, to keep my appointment at Angeline's Muolaulani, an open-air temple of Hawaiian massage known as "lomi lomi." It's off a dirt road at Anahola, 12 miles from the airport.

Masseuse Norma Jean, a transplanted Ohioan, directed me to the changing room then to an octagonal wooden super-sauna. The steam was as thick as fog, and in minutes I was dripping wet. Norma Jean exfoliated me with Hawaiian sea salt so the warm massage oils could penetrate. It was like being scrubbed with sandpaper. She announced, "You're salted" and sent me to the shower to de-salt.

At the massage table, Lise joined us. Norma Jean was doing my upper body, Lise working the lower. It was a bit disconcerting: Lise bent my right leg as Norma Jean bent my left arm. The cost: $140 for two hours. (If you want to give it a try, the reservation number is (808) 822-3235.) I did feel relaxed as I checked into TuTu's Cottage, a little rental house near the beach at Hanalei. Settling in, I phoned Alton Kanter, who gave up dentistry and moved from Los Angeles to Kauai, where he is a holistic health educator.

I told him I wanted to see some quiet places, and he suggested Kalihiwai Beach on the North Shore. We found a peaceful lagoon created by the Kalihiwai River and a beach shaded by ironwood trees. There were no tourists, only a few fishermen.

United States (USA) Travel - Hotels in Hawaii - Kauai

When I asked about lodgings, he took me to Hale Honua Lani, a guesthouse with a knockout view above the bay at Kilauea, a North Shore town east of Hanalei. Owners Ken and Chris Carlson invite renters to use the main-house lap pool.

We stopped at North Country Farms, an organic outfit run by ex-New Yorker Lee Roversi, who rents out two cottages. An added perk: Guests are welcome to pick fruits and vegetables.

I next headed for the southwestern town of Hanapepe, founded in the 1800s by Chinese rice farmers. My agenda: Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji, which boasts a century-old Buddhist congregation.

At an ornate altar framed in embroidered purple drapery, a robed monk was beating a drum.

A woman beckoned me to join, but I felt I would be intruding. Later, the monks were emerging, and the younger one had removed his black robe and now sported surfer shorts and a T-shirt.

I'd booked that night at Waimea Plantation Cottages in western Kauai. Some of the 61 cottages dotted around a 37-acre coconut grove once housed workers at the long-closed Waimea Sugar Mill. My little red cottage, Jose Costales, was named for the worker who lived there. It was funky, with a claw-foot tub, white iron bed, tiny living room and big kitchen. A bit pricey ($195 a night), I thought, but it felt like old Hawaii.

Oahu

I had scheduled two days on Oahu, wanting to check out recent transformations in Waikiki -- including an $84-million face lift that is opening up the fortress-like Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center that for years blocked views of the pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

I'd arranged to take the Queen's Tour, a two-hour walking excursion to historic Waikiki sites sponsored by the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, which strives to keep old Hawaii alive and promote authentic visitor experiences. Our guide, 55-year-old native Waianuhea Wilfred AhQuin, eschewed the all's-perfect-in-paradise speech. He dismissed the word "aloha" as "over-commercialized, overused." I knew I was going to like him. And he knew his Waikiki and its evolution from farms and fishponds to the playground of Hawaiian royalty and major tourist magnet.

So what does Honolulu offer besides swimming and sunning? Well, there's downtown, where many tourists never venture. Peter Apo, a Hawaiian musician who is director of culture and education for the association, suggests visitors attend Sunday morning services at Kawaihao Church at Punchbowl and King streets to hear a "great choir" and "see all these Hawaiians decked out in their muumuus and holomuus (long, fitted dresses)." He also recommended visiting the herb and noodle shops of Chinatown and the market at King and Mauna Kea streets that is "absolutely buzzing" on Saturday mornings.

United States (USA) Travel - Sightseeing Tours in Oahu - Honolulu, Hawaii

Big Island

Flying to the Big Island, I headed north through the black lava flows on Hawaii 19.

My destination, 43 miles away, was the inland cowboy town of Waimea -- also called Kamuela -- that's home to the 175,000-acre Parker Ranch. I had made a reservation at the Jacaranda Inn, a bed-and-breakfast in a 19th-century plantation house that once was the ranch manager's home.

Once-sleepy Waimea has boomed and now has traffic lights, fast-food outlets and malls. Still, you have to love a cowboy town where stop signs read "WHOA." It's 10 miles in from the Kohala Coast and its luxe resorts, and has two fine restaurants -- Merriman's and Daniel Thiebaut. But excitement, Waimea style, might be a wagon or horseback ride around Parker Ranch.

Puuopelu, the 19th-century ranch house, is worth a visit; it was last occupied by the ranch's sole heir, California-reared, Stanford-educated Richard Smart, a singer who once headlined at L.A.'s Cocoanut Grove. He transformed the sprawling house into a French-Hawaiian showplace. It remains much as he left it -- he died in 1992 -- with crystal chandeliers and an art collection that includes Degas, Pissarro and Erte.

Smart left the property to the Parker Ranch Trust Foundation to benefit the Waimea community.

United States (USA) Travel - Sightseeing Tours in Hawaii

I drove south to the Kona Historical Society's Kona Coffee Living History Farm at Kealakekua, near Kailua-Kona, for a glimpse into the lives of early 20th-century Japanese coffee pioneers. Leading us through the orchards and into a 1925 home built by Japanese immigrants was guide Janet Yanagi. We popped open coffee cherries to see coffee beans, which resemble gooey peanuts.

Back in Waimea, I drove to the old mule station for the Kohala Mule Trail Adventure offered by Hawaii Forest & Trail. "Paniolo" (cowboy) Kalei Carvalho decided that I'd ride J.J., "a nice mellow fellow." Our group saddled up and rode across cattle country. As we negotiated steep drops into stream crossings, I clung to J.J., who snorted but didn't dump me. We dismounted and took in the view of Pololu Valley and Waiakalae Falls.

My next destination was Hilo, on the Big Island's eastern shore. I'd reserved a room at Waterfalls Inn, a bed and breakfast in a plantation-style home on the Wailuku River. It is a good base for exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, 29 miles west. Hilo, with old wooden storefronts and Queen Liliuokalani Gardens on the shores of Hilo Bay, has its own charms.

United States (USA) Travel - Hotels in Hawaii - Hawaii (Big Island)

Hawaiian history comes to life at Hilo's Lyman Museum, which recognizes the cultural contributions of immigrants who worked in the sugar fields, starting with the Chinese in 1852.

Who knew that the ukulele was brought from Portugal? You don't learn that lounging on the beach at Waikiki.