Byodo-in Temple and Turtles Beach

We don't normally get two days off together as a family, and we filled these up with activities on our never ending to-do list. On Sunday, we finally visited Byodo-in, which is about five minutes from our condo. I guess we had temple fatigue after leaving Korea, because it took a long time for us to stop by. It was beautiful, of course. Buddhist temples are almost always in the mountains, and this one was about as far up the Koolau's, which are nearly vertical, as it can be. We bought fish food for $2 and X was able to feed the fat koi. There were a lot of alcoves around the temple with strands of bamboo and waterfalls. It was a great place to wander.

The temple entrance is in the back of a large graveyard. On our way out, we followed a path up a hill and found the tomb of a well loved Chinese couple. They died about fifteen years ago, but the tomb was still covered with flowers and other offerings. They were perched so you could almost see the ocean. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes, speculating about who the people were.

On Martin Luther King day, we drove up to the North Shore and visited Laniakea. We had read that there were turtles there. At first, we thought we had come at a bad time, since there were no turtles sprawled on the beach. Upon looking closer, however, we noticed that some of the rocks we saw were actually turtles swimming in the surf! We saw three altogether. When the waves crested, we had excellent views of them gliding right beneath the surface.

Unfortunately, X was far more intrigued by the rocks around the water. We had to take turns watching the turtles so one of us could keep him from clambering out of our reach. When we decided we wanted to relax on the beach, we packed back into the car while X protested furiously, and drove a few more miles to the pipeline. The massive beach there allowed us to kick back and watch surfers, occasionally hopping up to chase X as he plunged towards the waves. He's been knocked down enough times to develop a healthy respect for the water, but that doesn't stop him from running full tilt towards the surfline. I think he just likes to make sure we're paying attention.

ringing the temple bell

frog pond

feeding fish

why?

look closely!

watching surfers

I love this picture