The Overwhelming Homelessness in Hawaii

Hawaii is different from mainland America. One of the first things I noticed was the large amount of homelessness unlike anywhere I had seen before! 

After arriving, I walked out of the airport and decided to take a long walk and explore. During the beginning of my walk, I was next to a highway with overpasses. Underneath one of the roads that rose up was what looked like a homeless city. Many people lived underneath that road. 

Up ahead I saw a homeless man walk out of the darkness from underneath the large road and he turned and looked at me. He was a large man and had no shirt on and looked mean from a distance but when I got closer, he smiled and asked "hey, are you Amish?" Haha, I probably looked a little Amish because of my facial hair and my straw hat.

When I went to Hawaii my plan was to technically be without a home myself. Hawaii can be an expensive place and I did quite a bit of camping to save money on accommodation, however, that turned out to be a lot harder than expected because of legal shit. The government hates it.

I hope I don't sound mean or ignorant but from what I've seen in mainland America, I've always got the impression that the majority of homeless people are crazy or not quite right mentally. 

In Hawaii, I got a different impression. It actually seemed "normal". 

One day I was walking in a mall and I also was carrying my big backpack. A man working behind the counter of a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop asked me where I was from as I was walking by. During our conversation, he told me that he sleeps under the bridge. I was shocked to learn that he was employed and homeless! He informed me that a large percentage of people are homeless in Hawaii. I asked why. "because It's easy!", he said excitedly.

I guess It's easy to see why. There is lots of fruit, It's warm and It's beautiful.

Me chilling in a secret spot.

 As I was walking along the beach in Waikiki one night, I was surprised to see many people were sleeping on it. I even saw a mother with her kid wrapped up together in blankets and sleeping. I usually try to hide when looking for a spot to sleep but from what I saw, It didn't look like many people even made an effort to hide. Waikiki was a generally crowded and touristy place and not very easy to find a hidden spot on the beach in that area. 

Seeing so many sleeping on the beach gave me the impression that it might be safe... 

But, please don't sleep on the beach in Waikiki, you might get woken up by some extroverted tweaker at 4 a.m. like I was.

I know now the importance of hiding.  So, I was shocked when I was walking around and saw many people camping in the city, On the sidewalk!  What the fuck???  Why? 

 Later, I read somewhere that in 2008, they passed a law in Hawaii that forbids people from camping on the beach which is what a lot of homeless people were doing back then. Of course, the reason for the law is about money. The government was afraid that people camping on the beach would look bad to tourists and tourism is a huge industry in Hawaii. 

So they all got kicked off the beach and now they camp on the sidewalk in the city and technically there is no law that says they can't. 

Some people are pushing for a law to keep them from pitching a tent on the sidewalk too but luckily for the homeless, they haven't been able to get that law approved yet. 

I was able to camp on the beach successfully but I had to be super careful and hide and I was caught and kicked out of my tent once even though I was about a mile away from a town. I was surprised to learn that some people are paid to search for campers.

However, the extreme strictness is mainly in Oahu. Oahu is a touristy island. I also went to Kauai which is a lot different from Oahu. Still had a lot of homeless though.

As you can see from the picture above, Kauai is the garden island.
There are no big cities like Honolulu. It has more towns and more countryside and a lot of the tourists that go there go there for hiking. 
When I first arrived in Kauai, I was very paranoid about cops because I had just come from Oahu. I had gotten chased by the cops in Oahu for simple things like starting a fire on the beach(not allowed), drinking pineapple wine on the beach(also not allowed), and one other minor third thing that I'm not going to put in this blog post(yet again, not allowed).

Alright, so the beach is public and it's fine to be on it but not legal to set up any kind of structure, even if it rains.

That would be considered camping.

 So I just decided to dig a big hole. Here's a pic of the shelter I made...  

The hole I slept in for 2 nights.

It was comfortable and dark and it even did a decent job of protecting me from rain. 

After spending a couple nights in my special sleeping hole, I continued to explore the island and walked to the next town. That night I searched the beach for a good camping spot. I walked a little far and found a very dark area of beach. It was quiet and seemed like a great spot. Just when I was about to open up my backpack, I heard a voice say "hello"
"Whoa! I didn't expect anyone was here" I replied surprised. 
"Yeah, I sleep here sometimes" she said. "really?, I was thinking of sleeping here tonight too." I said. 
 When she learned that I had a tent,she seemed very surprised. "You have a TENT?!! I just have a tarp". She got out her tarp and unfolded it and spread it out on the ground and then with a distressed and sad voice she said, "Oh No! It's wet"
Even, though Hawaii is a warm place, it was December at the time and can get a little chilly at night. 
I was standing there awkwardly looking down at the homeless woman who was lying down on the middle of a wet tarp in a fetal position. 
She had a light jacket on but no sleeping bag or anything.
"... uh, you look cold" I said. "Yes, I am cold" 
Even though my vision was limited from the darkness, It was a pathetically sad looking scene. I knew there was only one thing I could do to help and I felt uneasy about suggesting it to this person I just met.       
"Well, my tent is big enough for 2 people if you want to share".

She was extremely grateful and when we got in the tent she said,
"It's so warm in here, wow, this is First Class!"
We both agreed that sand is a very comfortable substance to sleep on. Beaches are very enjoyable places to camp, well, if I don't have to worry about cops kicking me out. 
If you wish to read and have not already; I wrote about some of my camping struggles in an earlier blog post.
 --> Be-careful-when-camping-in-oahu.

I got the impression that homeless people don't get as much sympathy in Hawaii. A friend who I met in Kauai and who was also homeless at the time told me that his Mom had been homeless in New York City before and had to steal food to survive. Obviously, it was a lot colder there too. So he got 0 amount of sympathy from her.  
He said that his Mom would always tell him something like, "So what? You're in Hawaii, go pick fruit."  

In this post are just some of my experiences with homelessness in Hawaii.
Thanks for reading.

Oahu Activity Recommendations

Oahu is an island filled with many tourists and many activities. Here are a few that I enjoyed:

Pearl Harbor

Of course visiting Pearl Harbor was an important must do activity while on that island.  When I arrived, I was surprised to find that the famous USS Arizona memorial was free! 

First they show everybody a video which explains a lot of history and has actual footage of Pearl Harbor during that time.

I was surprised how much I didn't know before that video. I didn't truly understand how tragic it was.  People swam through burning oil and many drowned with their sinking ships.
For example, The USS Oklahoma, a submarine that turned over with hundreds of sailors inside; they were trapped and never got out. 
There's a lot I could say about that video but it would be better for people to watch it themselves than for me to describe everything here.

After the video, We all got on a ferry which took us to the sunken USS Arizona.
Parts of the top of the ship were sticking up out of the water.

I also noticed rainbow spots on the water. "Is that from oil?!" I asked someone who worked at the memorial. She told me that it was indeed from oil that is still slowly leaking up from the sunken ship. I was shocked to hear that it was even after all those years! It was a reminder how big an impact that event made.

Luau

I got a deal to a Luau from Groupon.com,  It was $50,  which included pickup

from Waikiki and transportation back, the buffet dinner, 3 alcoholic drinks and a show.  
The sun was setting when we arrived and we watched Hawaiian men pull lift up the big pig that was cooked in a hole in the ground. After that we ate, drank, and watched the show. 
One thing I noticed during the show was that the women were ALWAYS smiling
I mean to a point that it was creepy. Their face was constantly in a smiling position and I never saw it leave. I don't actually believe they are that happy. They are probably not allowed to not smile. Even when I'm happy, I'm not smiling Constantly.
Anyway, the luau was a great experience. here are a few pics..

                           

Shark Cage

The Shark Cage was awesome! It cost $100 and the boat departed from a town called Haleiwa.  The company has been operating for years and with a perfect safety record. so relax. They also told us that these type of sharks did not see humans as prey and that the cage was more just for us to feel more comfortable about it. 

under my foot

They could have gotten his foot if they really wanted to

Vine trees

 One of the first things I noticed when I arrived were these large amount of... vine trees?  I'm not sure what else to call them but I enjoyed climbing and swinging on them so much that I didn't want to leave them off the list! 
And It's free! 
                             



                             

           

Dole Plantation

Yes, this the location of Dole. They had a free How to grow a pineapple demonstration inside and also free samples of pineapple.  

What wasn't free but really delicious was pineapple juice! It was so fresh.

They have tours of their massive gardens of fruit and a Giant maze. In 2008 it was the largest maze in the world.

Pineapple gum!

Stairway to Heaven

There are several hiking trails in Oahu. The one pictured above is Diamond Head. It's near Waikiki, and cost $1. It was alright but my most memorial hike on that island was the Stairway to Heaven, Also called Haʻikū Stairs. It's a bit less on the legal side. It's technically not allowed but many people do it and many people know that many people do it. There's over 100 hikers a week.

The stairway is a long metal staircase going up into the mountains. 3,922 steps. Most start this hike in the middle of the night, like at 2 a.m. or so to get past the guard (whose shift doesn't start till later) and to watch the sunrise from the top. The stairway is near a city called Kaneohe and you will have to walk through a residential area to get to the main gate.

 However, I have heard there is a legal way to access the stairs from the other side of the mountain and that also makes it  longer and harder.

So If you do decide to trespass (which I'm not necessarily recommending)   keep quiet and a low profile. 

Also, be careful. When I hiked it, it was in good condition even after years of being closed of thousands of hikers later but since it is closed to the public, there might not be anyone maintaining it if it does ever get damaged. It also got really slippery when it started raining on the way down.

highway from above

Nearby the start of the stairway is a building that was used in the T.V. show Lost. Since the filming, It had gotten a lot of graffiti. Also, it was completely empty inside.

Thanks for reading