Hawaii Trip -- Polynesian Cultural Center

this was by far my favorite thing to do in Hawaii.  The Polynesian Cultural Center.  The cool thing is is that it's owned by the church.  It is located next to the BYU Hawaii campus, and the Hawaii Temple.

a lot of the performers are BYU Hawaii students it's really fun environment and they even have a tour bus that will take you to the Hawaii Temple.

It is set up in different Polynesian countries and they have presentations about each country.  They even had Juliet and I up in front of a group trying to learn different Polynesian dances.  I'm sure that was a sight :-).  I dance about as well as I sing.  And we all know that I can't carry a tune in a bucket.

PCC is in Laie which is on the opposite end of the island from Honolulu, on the North Shore.

Juliet and I were trying to remember if we went to PCC both years that I was there.  It seems like we did , but I don't know how we got there and it looks like I'm wearing the same outfit in all of the pictures.  So maybe we did just go one year.

I think my favorite presentation was Samoa -- I might have been a little biased because that is where my missionary companion, Sister Wilson, was from.

And my second favorite presentation was Tonga.  That one was really funny with drums and the people in the audience.  Coincidentally, Sister Wilson's husband, Rob, is Tongan.

It's a really fun way to learn about the different Polynesian cultures. And at the end of the day they have a luau and a show.

me sitting on the Polynesian Cultural Center sign

one of the perks of going to PCC, is that you get to have your picture taken with a bunch of big Polynesian dudes :-)

I don't remember which village/country this guy was from.  I think he was just walking along the path in between all the different villages/countries and we asked him if we could get a picture taken with him :-)

okay this is definitely Tonga.  As evidenced by the drums in the background.

Juliet, did they call you up to do something in the presentation?  It seems like they might have.

okay this is Samoa.  The guy on the left was the tree climber.  He climbed up a coconut tree and brought some coconuts down.  That was pretty impressive.  The guy in the pink lava lava is the guy who did the presentation.  He was really funny.

Juliet with the Tongan guy.

I think this was the Samoa presentation.

it seems like they taught us how to braid the thing on my head out of banana leaves. I don't remember which country it was where we learned that.  Seems like maybe Tahiti or Fiji.

I think it was Tahiti, where we tried to do the hula dance or whatever it was.

I think we took the tour bus from PCC to the Hawaii Temple.  I actually did go do a session in the Hawaii Temple one time.  I'm not sure which trip it was.  But there will be a whole category about the Hawaii Temple :-) so that's something to look forward to in a future post.  :-)

Juliet in front of the Hawaii Temple.

If you are ever in Oahu the Polynesian Cultural Center should be at the top of your list of things to do.  

Next up, how about Pearl Harbor?