Every photo we take says something about our emotions at the moment of taking it. So this week, share an image where you see a particularly strong connection between what we see and what you felt as you pressed that shutter button on your camera or phone.
This is a stolen shot I took at Skagit Valley Tulips Festival, WA, I wished I took the email address of their parents so I can send them this photos. I can relate how they feel about seeing all this flowers, it’s so serene and wonderful to be really there! One of my most unforgettable trip ever!
My recent trip to Los Angeles had introduced me to Uber app. My son said,” you have to learn how to use google map and use Uber to take a ride mom!” Yes my dear, I will! With his busy schedule, he tried hard to take me anywhere but I have to take a few trips here and there with Uber. I found it very easy and dependable. When I came back from holiday, to my amusement I found the apps working in Jeddah too!
Huh? since when? through my research Uber had become operational last April 2014 in Riyadh and expanded recently to Jeddah and Dammam. It attracts many woman passengers the most.Why? Women are not allowed to drive in the Kingdom. We are dependent to company driver, taxi and relatives to take us to work and to other places. In addition, women are not allowed to travel alone with a male driver who is not closely related, like he should be your husband,brother or close relatives. Imagine the difficulties expatriates ,women in particular are facing everyday!
photo taken from my iPhone screen shot
My brother used to take me to work everyday and now that he is on holiday , I have to take a taxi to go to work and shopping.:-) My co-worker at first recommends “Easy Taxi”, I tried and I found nothing special about it. It’s the same taxi you find on the street, you’re lucky to find a clean car but as usual there’s a bonus of smell..yes! I’ve been in the Kingdom for so long (29 yrs) and there’s only a few rides (a lucky day, i guess) that the driver has no smell. My first experience was not really good, the driver charged me 15SR which usually a 10SR trip. I rated him with a one star for dishonesty because I got my Easy Taxi receipt for only 10SR. He called me after the ride and why should I take the call? I don’t want to hear what he gonna say. Why should I use an Easy Taxi if I can find a lot of taxi on the road? Probably a bit cheaper and you can haggle with the fare? Maybe!
And so, I tried Uber!
photo credit: iPhone screen shot from the web
My first trip: I wrote my address in the app , but the research didn’t turn out well, so I used a different spelling and wallah it works! huh! arabic names is so confusing. I can see from the map that the driver is only a minute away but I can’t see him or can’t contact him so I waited and after 5 minutes, he cancelled my trip! What?
Suddenly, the car (Hyundai Tucson) was right infront of me, the driver was waving his hand, I look at the car and plate number, oh this is it! So I went in..so neat and no smell, good 🙂
Uber driver :”Es hada madame? ana tassel marah, mafi kalam” (What happened madame, I called you many times and you’re not answering)
Me: huh? really? The phone is in my hand.
Uber Driver: mafi kalam English.
Me: (to make my story short, I will translate the conversation in English 🙂 ) Just take me please to Thalia, I can’t find the address on the map.
I reached my work place in 18 minutes and I was charged twice 15SR and 17SR, what?? you are a thief ! more than Easy Taxi. So I was murmuring, I gonna write an email to the company and before I can do it, I received an email from Uber with a subj: Receipt for cancelled trip 🙂
“When a trip is cancelled more than five minutes after a driver accepts, or if the driver has to cancel after waiting more than five minutes at the pick up location, a Sr15 cancellation fee is charged.”
OMG! so it’s my mistake that the driver can’t find me?
” If you think this was mistake, please visit help.uber.com or tap HELP in the menu panel of the Uber app and we’ll make it right.”
and so when I tapped the menu, suddenly I remembered what the driver said .. I called many times..OMG ! I didn’t change my phone number, It’s my USA number 🙂 my mistake!
2nd trip: after changing my USA number to KSA number.
again, Hyundai, Santa Fe, clean car and driver (speaking English) with water and tissue at the back 🙂 This time I was charged 11Sr.
After riding 5 more trips, I choose Uber than Easy taxi. Though it’s a bit expensive than a normal taxi, I am happy I can sit quietly in the car without covering my nose and mouth 🙂
Ladies, this is not the only available rides connecting you to a driver on app, there are more i.e.. Mondo ride, Careem and Taxi Pixi. I haven’t tried yet, maybe soon. For now, I am satisfied with the Uber service. I choose to pay by credit card, although there are three choices: cash,master card and visa card.
TIPS:
better drop a pin on location, copy the address and save it!
check the correct spelling of the street before searching
use “estimate the fare”
Uber does not mandate a tip and driver do not drive expecting a tip, but you can 🙂
When we got our ticket to Polynesian Cultural centre though online, we thought 11:45 am was too early to go ahead so, we went to drive route highway 72 (Kalaniana’ole highway) passing thru the spectacular view of Hanauma bay to Waimanalo Beach, Kailua beach to Kamehameha highway. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes of OMG views 🙂
waimanalo beach
counterclockwise because a night before ,we passed through this area and yet we got lost in the morning hahaha well, not really, we were just overwhelmed with the views, decided to get out of the car and tried to sink in once more the beauty of nature!
By the time we reached the Polynesian cultural centre , we have missed some of the shows already but we had a very enjoyable fun time the rest of the day.
First stop : the Canoe pageant, a show case of musician and dancers representing stories of different Islands of Aotearoa,Samoa,Tonga,Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii.
TAHITI
SAMOA
AOTEAROA (New Zealand)
FIJI
second stop: the island of Tonga, this is where.. lol! laugh out loud. Don’t miss this show or you will miss the fun. Three men from the audience was called on stage to demonstrate the rhythm of oversized drum, a hilarious fun of learning in front of so many spectators, but oh boy! they did great and was on game every minute :-). You have to see it to enjoy them!
Next..The Tahiti wedding..love this! it started from the day they met.. to engagement and the wedding. During the ceremony, married couples (from the audience)were asked to say their vows once again. This is sweet 🙂
We also went to Fiji and Hawaii island, learnt something about the hula dance, their cultures and stories. I was not able to take pictures because I choose to just watch and listen. Good idea? well, it depends, if I’m writing a blog I should have at least document what I saw to share it!
Anyhow, after which ..dinner ! The Ali ‘i Luau is the Hawaii’s largest and most authentic Luau, set against the backdrop of waterfalls and lush garden. It features dancers,musicians, fresh flower lei for each guest.
After dinner, we went to Cinema presentation ” Hawaiian journey” a tribute to the splendours of Hawaii. At night,we watched the most awaited show “Ha’ the breath of life” a stunning show full of dancers and it showcase the saga of life from birth to death, love and family, triumph and tragedy. At the beginning, I was skeptic, it’s like a broadway show narrowed to just storytelling which made us sleepy at some point but at the latter part, we were brought to life when the thrill of Samoa fire knife dancing started. Photography was not allowed, I guess this is better, so I was really into the show, not taking pictures 🙂
Ladies, my Oahu escapades was one of so many memorable journey of my life. I won’t hesitate to travel once more to this places and who knows? Maybe one day I will have the chance to live and experience life like the locals in Hawaii. 🙂
Dreams do come true and beautybeyondfity believe so..
A drive past Hanauma bay and Sandy beach, the Makapu’u point State Wayside Park, is a roadside park with magnificent view of Ka-iwi State scenic shoreline and Mañana Island (rabbit Island).
panoramic view of shoreline
Though there was a drizzle of rain from time to time, it didn’t stop us (and a lot of tourist too!) from getting out of the car .The sky was so blue and the view was spectacular, how can you stay in the car?
Makapu’u beach
again, we’re here just to see the view and we didn’t even took the Makapu’u light house trail!
tsk! tsk! there’s a lot to see ..a lot of things to do ..no time to see it all and do 🙂
a distant view of the rabbit island. does it really look like a rabbit head?
a closer view of rabbit island
Makapu’u s lighthouse from a fara closer view of the lighthouse built in 1909 on a 600 foot sea cliff overlooking Makapu’u beach
We went down to have a closer look of the beach and have seen a lot of like.. lava rocks and tide pools where tiny fishes and crabs got stuck in between during low tides.
Ladies, here’s my picture once again with an open arms.. just one way of saying..
be free!
Life is beautiful to hold on to whats bringing you down.
Another day to explore, another OMG! :-0 I can’t refrain from saying the word “nice” every-time we got out for a ride and explore the island.
Again, we didn’t catch up with sunrise and I don’t think will ever be 🙂
Though we arrived early, we didn’t go down to snorkel. Hanauma Bay is great for snorkelling. It is sheltered from strong currents and waves. People starts to come as early as 6 in the morning.
Under the tire of one the cars parked in the area, I’ve seen two small creatures fast-moving around. It was not easy to take the shots but I tried. These small animals are called Mongoose known also by its Hawaiian name of ‘lole manakoke.
Hanauma Bay Nature preserve and Beach park is 30 minutes drive from Waikiki
I have settled not to go down because of the spectacular view on the top. So beautiful, so blue and green.. so refreshing..
Even the grass flowers are so stimulating..
I took 3 shots and didn’t use filter to alter the background. It’s really beautiful!
Ladies,this place is amazing, I definitely would love to come back and try to bring our own snorkelling gadget, see the under the sea creatures and not the mongoose 😉
Of course..underwater camera here we go 🙂 .. beautybeyondfifty will research on the best waterproof camera. Any recommendation?
We tried to wake up early to get the glimpsed of early sunrise but we failed obviously, as we headed to Kalaniana’ole highway (Hwy 72) the sun was already up.
We stop to a little corner before heading to Lanai look out, just to take a panoramic view of the city. We saw a middle-aged man, walking leisurely , I wonder where is the destination? The view was spectacular! Alright, we didn’t get to sunrise what about coming back here at sunset?
Oh yeah! good idea!
Omg! Oh my! what a nice view!., I think I uttered these words ten times if not more 🙂
Lanai look out is on the south-eastern shore, nestled behind Koko crater and not too far from Hanauma bay. There’s a small pull-out /parking area to view and take pictures.
The southward view is amazing and a piled of an interesting looking eroded rocks can be seen, actually we came back twice and still feels good to come back more 🙂
After taking a few shots, we went further more.. again Omg!
Finally we arrived at Sandy beach park, as I laid down my things, appreciating the beauty of the sea,the lifeguard approached us not to swim further as the current was so strong and dangerous. I watched with awe how one surfer calmly wait for the waves and enjoy his time. The impressive pounding shortwaves took my camera in bursts shots 🙂
When the sun started to go down, we hurriedly went back to the first corner stop so I can shot the sunset overlooking the panoramic view of the island.
Ladies, this trip definitely made my day, I can just sit and look at the scenery or just watched the shores , the scent..the sight.. and sound..it’s refreshing and invigorating!
My Oahu Escapades started at Downtown Honolulu, a walking tour from Kinau St. to a glimpse of road to Queens Medical Centre , State Capitol building ,Lolani palace, Hawaiian Mission Houses ,Hotel St. , Art Museum to Al Moana Blvd. And before the sun goes down, we drove to Waikalani drive to Pali point, a breathtaking view of Oahu’s Windward coast.
Lolani Palace-the former residence of the Hawaiian monarchs (1882-1893)Hawaiian Mission House, includes three restored houses, two of which are the oldest houses in HawaiiDuring World war II, it was told that women coming from the mainland were working in Hotel St, a block of brothels that charged 3 dollars for three minutes.Honolulu Museum of Artsala moana blvdabsolutely beautiful!
And of course, I won’t leave Waikalani without taking photos of flowers along the road 🙂
The drive to Pali point was as exciting as the sceneries and the wind, oh my! It was windy and cold but I love every minute of it. After all, Pali point is known for strong and howling wind!
remains of the old Pali road
Mokolii – a pointy island, the locals call.. Chinaman’s Hat
and more flowers along the sides 🙂
I took this photo to show how the grasses swayed along the gust of wind. really? hmm it doesn’t look like it 🙂
Ladies, to enjoy the scenery comfortably, bring along some heavy shirts to protect yourself from the cold wind, there’s no entry fee but a $3 for car park is a must.
What’s a holiday in Honolulu without visiting the world-famous Waikiki beach! This the most vibrant, populated gathering of all tourist around the world. We walk along the avenue where mostly of high-end designer stores lined up and finally we found Oakley store where we can customised my bro sunglasses :-). I was tempted to get into the Prada and Louis Vuitton but I refrained, knowing this is not my first intention of being here anyway. Wow! Is that me? Beautybeyondfifty has a self-control 🙂 for shopping aiyeeh 🙂
While looking for a space to park I took a lot of pictures along the road and here’s some ..
Finally found one ! and I started just to shoot whatever I thought would be interesting to post.. Actually this is my first time to do street photography, a kind of.. off, but at least i tried my best!
look at her smile..beautiful!
Seriously, are you really trying to read it upside down?
And who would not recognise this? Duke Kahanamoku statue, welcomes all the tourist with an open arms. He is the father of modern surfing, the Hawaii first ambassador of goodwill.
The beauty of the nature at the heart of a city..what else can I say?
Ladies, I’ve been here year 2009 at Hilton Hawaiian Village,I haven’t had any idea yet of blogging and sharing my photos , we had fun visiting the zoo and the aquarium. Try and visit them as well!
Coming back is another blessing and for sure will be coming more 🙂
Dr. Myriam- The Dental Aesthetic Clinic 
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