- HONEYMOON -

   (April 3rd thru 10th, 2003)  

 

      

As if our wedding wasn't already spectacular enough, the honeymoon turned out to be another blessing for us.  It was a BLAST!  What a way to start off a marriage!  My advice to anyone going to Hawaii is to plan all the activities in advance.  That's what I did and the entire trip turned out ultra smooth.  We spent the first 5 days in Oahu where we did everything from a dinner cruise, to snorkeling, to boogie boarding, to hiking, to attending a luau, to swimming with dolphins...... among other things... hehe.  After that, we cruised on over to Las Vegas where we spent the last 2 days of our honeymoon at the MGM Grand hotel.  I could go on and on and on about how great the week was, but I'll show you instead.  Enjoy the pics!

(Put cursor over thumbnails to read descriptions.  Then click the thumbnails to see the full size picts)

        

        

- Honolulu, Oahu -

This picture was just too cute for me to leave out. hehe.       Here's the view we had from our balcony at the Waikiki Banyan hotel. We were one block from the beach.       Our room had a full living room, kitchen, and bedroom.       Our first time out at the beach.

Hehe... odd lil pic of me on the beach.     Shaka! Hang loose...     Some random dude on the beach just came up to me and put 2 parrots on my shoulder and a dead-lookin one in my hand. hehe. At the time, I didn't know that Soo is phobic of birds. Now I know. =)     Nighttime view from our balcony.     Our first full day in Honolulu. Here we are at Waikiki beach, where we both got sunburned. =P

Soaking in some rays. I'm so pale.     Waikiki beach is so pretty.     Here's Soo in front of a humongous Chinese banyan tree on the beach.     Waikikia beach was a little too crowded for my tastes. Luckily, we were able to visit some less crowded beaches later on.     Oh man... Soo's going to kill me for putting up this picture.

We noticed some nice waves coming in... So we decided to purchase our very own boogie boards.       Here's Soo with Diamondhead in the background, which is a mountain formed from a crater.       Hehe... Here's another pic too cute to leave out.       The sidewalks in the city are so friggin nice.

 

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Here's Ala Moana shopping center, the largest open-roof shopping center in the world.       My wifey.       Here we are in front of the Star of Honolulu ship where we had our Sunset Dinner Cruise.       Another pic of my baby.

Some live on-board entertainment. At one point during the cruise, the singer singled out Soo from the crowd and asked her what her name and my name was. Then the guy composed a song about US right on the spot and sang it in front of everyone!       Dinner cruise pic with the flowers on our left ear, which is a sign that we're taken. (A flower on the right ear tells people that you're available).       This was the first time we ever had a full lobster. Here's Soo thinking, 'how the heck do I eat this thing!?' Fortunately, the servers went around helping us crack these suckers open.       They don't call it the SUNSET Dinner Cruise for nothing.

As soon as we were done with our lobster, we went up to the observation deck to watch the sun bid us farewell for the night.       Hawaiian sunsets are so pretty. We actually saw some Humpback whales jumping right before I took this picture.       Dinner... round 2. Soo seems happy with her filet mignon. =)       More live dinner entertainment.

 

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Here's a view of the woods when Soo and I went on our Island Adventure hike. These are Indian Banyan trees; the trees that Tarzan swings on to get from tree to tree.       Another awesome view from our hike.       Roughing it in the woods. hehe.       Tarzan, step aside. Rich is the new king of the jungle. AaaaaAaaaAaAAAaahh!!! (This is me swinging from an Indian Banyan).

Here's Soo from the mountains with a view down to the windward (northern) end of the island where it's more of a country atmosphere... as opposed to industrialized Honolulu that's on the leeward (southern) end of the island.       The beaches on the windward end of the island were much cleaner, clearer, and less crowded. Here's a group of people getting ready to start snorkeling.       Soo and me decked out in our snorkeling gear... I took this pic with an underwater one-time-use camera, which explains the mediocre picture quality.       Yes, Soo is cool...... heehee.

Here's a pic of Soo I took from underwater...       We encountered SO many colorful tropical fish... But this shark encounter was the best. It was about 4 to 5 feet long. I thought I'd be Mr. ToughGuy by swimming down after it, but when I got about 5 feet away from it, it turned around and looked right at me. I almost had a heart attack as I swam back to the surface as fast as I could. hehe.       These goggle imprints on Soo's face didn't go away for nearly an hour. HAHA!       Ooh... Soo looks GOOD here.

We boogie boarded HARD CORE at this beach. The waves were huge and they'd push us all the way in until we did a face plant into the sand. =P       Here's Soo right after she rode a wave nearly all the way in. I took an AWESOME video of her coming in but I can't show you on this site. Maybe one day I'll show you if you visit me at home.       This is the only active lava flow I saw. This thing was called a 'blowhole' because everytime a wave would come crashing in, the water would immediately vaporize and the steam would shoot out of this hole like a geyser.       Soo and me near the blowhole.

 

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Here we are at the Paradise Cove Luau.       Getting acquainted with the guards.       How YOU doin???       I totally missed the target. Those spears are friggin HARD to throw!

Soo looks like a native. hehe. I made her the crown-looking thing on her head by braiding three long leaves together and inserting flowers on the left side to signal that she's MINE. hehe.       Soo's body art for the night.       Watching all the Hawaiian dances were getting dull... so Soo and I decided to head out and take our own personal tour of the place.       The shows towards the end were more entertaining. One of the hula dancer's skirts fell off on stage and all the guys there were howling like dogs... hehe... funny.

 

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On our way to Sea Life Park to swim with dolphins, we had to drive through Diamondhead... Here's what we saw. It was a nice road to speed on.       Here's Soo next to the huge tank with the dolphins.       Soo getting out of the water after playing with the dolphins.       Here are our dolphin friends.

Soo and me just after we swam with the dolphins.     <Better dolphin pics will be added here soon>     This is the view I had of Honolulu from the airplane window as we departed. You can clearly see the crater that created Diamondhead from this picture.

 

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Here's the view of Honolulu I had from the airplane window as we departed.

 

 

- Las Vegas, Nevada -

Here's the Celebrity Spa Suite of the MGM Grand where we stayed at. And yes, that's Soo on the bed taking a nap.       A better look at the living room. This room was so elegant and big... And the bathroom was about as big as the living room and it had a jacuzzi tub!       A view of the hotel from the outside.       Here's the best bicture I took of the strip from an overpass in front of the MGM.

A nice lil pic of the NEW YORK NEW YORK hotel.       Another pic of the strip.       Our feet were hurting so bad after walking nearly the entire length of the strip and pulling slot machines at as many casinos as we could. Just standing for this picture was painful.       Inside the Bellagio.

In front of the Paris hotel and the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.       In front of the Paris hotel fountain.       Messing around with the camera on our last night. It's a shame that while I thought of taking pics like this, I forgot to take pics inside the casino!       We slept in and missed our flight home! Hehe... We had to reschedule and standby to get on the next flight back. Here were are chillin in the airport.

 

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 Last picture from the Las Vegas airport as we waited to head back home.

   

 

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