Thursday, October 15, 2009

Kauai – Fruits and Flowers

Enjoying tropical fruits – mangoes, papayas, guavas, lychees, custard apple (sita-fal), pineapple and jackfruit are some of the pleasures of visiting Hawaii. Farmers markets are excellent as you can get locally grown fresh produce at inexpensive prices. Roadside stands offer sugarcane juice, coconut water and if you are lucky boiled peanuts in their shell.

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Banana 

If you have heard of Ava Puhi Shampoos lately, they use extract from ginger leaves. However, the commercial products well mask the aromatic smell of ginger leaves with other stronger fragrances.

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Our hike guide was a botanist. She introduced us to Noni fruit, which was used by Polynesians for treatment of many ailments. These days Noni juice has become a health drink. But, the fruit stinks worse than  moldy cheese – at best.

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In Kauai, you can see all these fruits in one place at the Hawaiian Village, located close to Lihue off the Wailua river.

Kauai is called the Garden Isle, and aptly so.. It is lush green and not as commercialized as the other islands. There are a couple of botanical gardens near Poipu. But, tropical flowers are everywhere.

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A lizard basking in mid-morning sun @ the Hanalei overlook..

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