Hawaii

Caro had arranged some entertainment for Lisa's arrival.  Fortunately, we all share a taste for the Incredibly Cheesy. And Hawaii is the perfect place to be for this sort of thing.  Caro had delighted us all by finding a night-time revue called "Aloha Las Vegas".  

We were given complimentary cocktails, which of course contained half a pineapple and seated in front of a large stage which was surrounded by papier mache volcanoes.  Classy.

Then a woman in a flowing evening gown with Big Hair appeared.  "A-LOH-HA!!" she called.  "Come back with us in time as we experience the Greatest Performers of All Time!  Journey back... back to 1957 to see Mr. ELVIS PRESLEY!!"

And Elvis, circa the late 50's took the stage and wiggled and jived to "Jailhouse Rock" and "Rock-A-Hula Baby" before giving way to...  "Mr. NEIL DIAMOND" who performed "Coming to America", then Marilyn Monroe, then "MISS DIANA ROSS", then Carmen Miranda chiki-chiki-boo'd her way up to the stage and introduced Ricky Martin who shook his bon-bon before Shania Twain appeared on the volcano behind us.  

It was FABULOUS.

For the grand finale, we got a pretty damn accurate Michael Jackson, and here I am talking about early and cool Michael Jackson circa ’78 before he set his hair on fire and his nose fell off (not that I'm suggesting that those two incidents are related.)  It was just wonderful and we walked back to our hotel on a high.  

Waikiki at night feels much like Waikiki during the day but - uh - dark.  My word I am such a consummate travel writer, right?  However, the point I am trying to make is that the shops remain open, there are just as many people around and you feel pretty safe, even if it sometimes does get annoying avoiding all the people handing out leaflets, and those bloody irritating street-statue people and the dogs wearing sunhats, shades and leis.  

But I just loved walking about, listening to the waves crash on the beach, along streets lined with flaming torches and cheesy Hawaiian music constantly playing in the background.