Flat Mary Day 3

Day 3 - Sunday, March 16, 2014:

Honolulu Chinatown, Honolulu Police Sub Station

 

Today we visited Chinatown. We walked to a pond that has a waterfall. In the pond was a statue of a turtle. I checked the words on the sign and, sure enough, the turtle is called Honu.

             Chinatown Garden Waterfall           

           Pond with Turtle Sculpture          

Sure enough, HONU

     Hawaii Theater is next to the waterfall. They hold stage plays. Auntie saw Chinese Shaolin Warriors perform there once. Last week’s special play was Hansel and Gretel. That would have been fun to see!

 

              

At the Maunakea Marketplace, 

vendors were selling all kinds of colorful products.

Hawaiian-grown Sugar Cane

 Live Manila Clams  

 

Fresh Lychee and Papaya

            

We walked into the Chinatown Police Station. I looked at the photographs on the walls. The top picture is of Chief Louis M. Kealoha, the Chief of Police for the Honolulu Police Department. His leadership centers on the Hawaiian principles of mahalo (gratitude), aloha (love), and pono (goodness).

Another picture is of the famous whip-carrying Honolulu Police Detective, Chang Apana. He was the real detective portrayed in the mystery novel ‘The House Without A Key.’ The detective in the story was known as Charlie Chan. Detective Apana was far more active than Charlie Chan. He once arrested forty men single-handedly in Chinatown. Using only the horse whip he carried, he convinced the men to march down to the police station where he booked all of them for gambling. 

Entrance to Chinatown Police Station

   

  Inside the police station 

  

Detective Chang Apana

Across the street is the Wo Fat Restaurant building. It was a popular Chinese Restaurant for about a hundred years. The villain in the television show Hawaii Five-O, Wo Fat, is named after the restaurant. In 1900, a huge fire burned down most of the wooden buildings in Chinatown. The business people built new buildings made of brick and stone.

Nuˋuanu Stream runs down from the mountains. A canal with high walls keeps the water flowing all the way to the Pacific Ocean. I like the purple bushes along the canal.

Wo Fat Restaurant

Bougainvillia across the canal

Good Luck’ cats

Before we left Chinatown, I spotted statues of white cats with red ears in a shop window. They were all waving their paws at me so I waved back. A sign said they were good luck cats. I didn’t buy one because I already have a lucky nickel. I hope something lucky happens to me while I am in Hawaii.