As we have just arrived in Maui and are not yet used to the time difference between Seattle and Hawaii, Lisa and I decided that we need to go and see the “sun rise from Haleakala” sooner rather than later – we are still getting up at 7am. Now I’ll write more about this tomorrow but basically it involves us getting up at 3pm and driving for two hours.
So we needed a car! (We didn’t get one as we don’t plan on going out of the hotel every day – we thought we’d just rent one when we needed it.) So we decided to go to the Haleakala National Park tomorrow morning and got a car today.
To make the most of the car, this afternoon we visited Lahaina in the west of Maui. This town is the largest on the western part of the island and is just south of some of the best beaches in Maui. I would guess that the town is not that big (population wise) except when the tourists arrive, then it goes a bit nuts.
Lahaina’s claim to fame is that is used to be the capital of the state (until that went to Honolulu) and it was the center of the whaling trade for this part of the pacific. These days it’s all about the tourists. The town is full of restaurants, tourist shops and it feels like, shaved ice establishments! Really, as you walk down the high street every 3rd shop sells shaved ice.
The reason we like to go though is to see the banyan tree. For those of you who don’t know, this is an amazing thing to see. The banyan was originally brought to Hawaii from India – the one in Lahaina was planted back in 1873 and back then it was only 8 feet tall. Now it’s over 5o feet tall and covers 2/3 of an ache.
What makes the banyan tree so cool is that its roots travel along its branches and then dive for the ground and take root so it starts to look like another tree. In fact when you see the banyan tree, you think it’s a dozen or so different trees all in the same area. But the truth is it’s just one big tree – with over 10 trunks and nearly a quarter of a mile around.
Taking a picture of this tree and doing it justice is almost impossible. Firstly there are hundreds of people all over the place trying to do the same thing. Next it’s just SOOOO big they don’t make wide angle lenses big enough to really get it all in!
So here is my attempt, this is just the middle trunk that spreads out its branches to 10 or so other trunks that root in the ground.
If you ever get the chance to visit Maui, you MUST find the time to visit this super cool town and see this amazing tree – you really won’t be disappointed. And perhaps you can enjoy it while trying some shaved ice.
The guys got together this evening to enjoy a moment together and watch the sun set.
