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about Asia Buzz
Culture on Demand: Heaven on a Stick
The Hawaiian islands
of Lana'i and Maui
By STAN STALNAKER
May
27, 2000
Web posted at 10:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 10:30 a.m. EDT
Sit back and picture this: you are coasting across a sparkling blue sea, with wisps of cloud drifting slowly past you. Eventually, dry brown earth catches your eye below. Welcome to Lana'i, Hawaii's most exclusive island.
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The anticipation mounts--the pilot gently glides into a banking turn and settles toward the runway. You are content and a picture of serenity. The earth draws closes, you can feel the wheels touching down, and a vision of you poolside, with a pina colada, fills your head.
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However that thought soon disappears when you hear a funny sound from the engine area, the aircraft lurches upward, and the couple in aisle 9 start hyperventilating. As the plane shudders, the captain comes over the intercom in an unnaturally cheery voice: "Yep folks, just a little bit a wind shear there, we're gonna come back around and try this one again" Which of course leaves everyone in a form of suspended limbo, where they want to land, but also don't.
But white knuckles aside, once you get there it's great. Lana'i, at ground level, is not so stressful. The biggest worries tend to center on golf-related issues ("do I need a 6 iron or an 8iron") or spa-related issues ("do I want the deep tissue massage or a loofah rub"). Decisions, decisions.
The island is dominated by two fancy resorts that rival many of the deluxe places we find here in Asia. On the south side of Lana'i is the Manele Bay Hotel, a veritable oasis after a long drive through deserted countryside that stretches out like a faint moonscape. The Manele Bay is one of those places where you can choose your own pace: there are many activities to keep you busy, but it's difficult to leave the pool. (Maybe that's just me.)
The decor is a mix of many influences, featuring Asian art, Turkish kilims, Balinese and Indonesian furniture, and a few really naff sculptures that, thankfully, go largely unnoticed. (Hey, nothing is perfect). At least the rooms are large, and many of them open onto lush lawns and balconies that invite the sounds of the sea to your ears.
The next property on this deserted hunk of rock is about 50 kilometers away. At an elevation of 600 meters, The Lodge is the smaller and classier sibling of the Manele Bay, and not your average hotel experience. It's intimate, supreme and is probably the more romantic of the two locations. It's a little like the difference between Melbourne (The Lodge) and Sydney (Manele Bay), in terms of 'the feel.'
After a few days of skeet and lawn bowling, even the most relaxed person starts to get a little stir crazy in Lana'i. Though they try to sedate you with mind-numbing frozen beverages, eventually the call of civilization becomes too strong. This, of course, is the reason they built Maui, the larger, lusher, and just a tiny bit more famous island that pokes out of the sea to the left of your beach umbrella, beckoning the visitor to forsake good taste and troll for souvenirs among Lahinia's boulevards.
But an hour's boat ride finds you wishing you'd never left Lana'i. As you pass row after row of T-shirt and other schlock shops, it soon becomes apparent that the temptation to have ten tequila slammers then get a henna tattoo becomes too much for some visitors. Not that there's anything wrong with henna and tequila--it's just the combination of the two that has such tragic consequences.
My advice on Maui: Skip the town and head east out to Hanna or the northern beaches--Eden awaits, and will quickly rectify any brush with western civilization.
Together, these two islands offer a lot of rest and relaxation in one of the world's truly beautiful settings. Although it's heaven for honeymooners (ask Bill Gates, who was married on the 12th hole at Manele) it's also a great place to just slip away to for a little perspective and rejuvenation--which you're likely to need once you've survived the plane trip there.
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