The Grand Wailea Resort hotel is pretty big.  It has 780 rooms, 5 pools, a lazy river, 2 large water slides, a collection of smaller slides and some rapids, numerous gardens with Koi carp ponds and a massive bar in the middle of the hotel.

One of the things that makes the hotel different (I think) is that when you walk in everything is open to the elements. There aren’t really any walls and the the main bar that’s just past the reception has no ceiling, when you look up you see the sky.   I’m sure that a lot of the hotels in hotter locations are like this but it makes it different and fun to have a drink in the hotel bar after a day in the pool with cool breeze blowing around you and stars above your head.

There are numerous statues around the bar as well and these are a little odd, I may post pictures of these in the coming days.  They are all black (probably marble I would imagine) and depict naked men and women with “traditional” Hawaiian bodies shapes and sizes.  By this I mean they are rather large (as in over-weight).   It’s actually rather refreshing to see images and statues like this rather than the traditional western super slim muscular body types we are used to seeing every day.

To add to the relaxing ambiance they have live music every night.  Usually someone with a guitar who just sings contemporary songs REALLY well.  At least I think they’re good – James may disagree.  Either way its a lovely place to end the day.

Also in the middle of the bar is this collection of Absolut Vodka bottles that are lit up with blue lights that seem to rotate around the structure (so the brightest part actually moves).  This looks really cool and you can see it from the entrance of the hotel and it definitely draws you in.  Today’s image tried to capture the Absolut structure, I’m not sure I caught it well enough for you to really appreciate how cool it was but I thought I’d post the image anyway.

While Carter was off having a swim, I caught Master Chief admiring this statue!