Kailua-Kona to Hilo

Yesterday, I caught the next trolley to downtown and arrived at the shopping mall where the bus stop to Hilo is. There was no sign for the bus stop, but the trolley driver assured me that’s the stop.

It was only 9 AM and very few stores were open. I went inside a McDonald’s to stay cool and had two breakfast burritos and an iced caramel latte.

The Hilo bus will come at 12:45 PM. I was more than three hours early. I ended up walking to the food court near the bus stop and ate another meal, a Korean style chicharon plate. Chicharon is fried pork belly rinds. I thought the dish was a bit dry.

Chicharon plate

I was so bored at the food court and wished I had taken a later trolley to the bus stop from the hostel. Oh well.

The bus was a few minutes late and it took about three hours to reach Hilo. I enjoyed the scenery from the west part of the island to the east. The east is more lush with plants and trees since it’s the windward side of the island where it gets a lot of rain from the prevailing wind. Kona, on the other hand, is on the leeward side where it faces away from the prevailing wind and is drier.

On the bus to Hilo

I arrived at The Big Island Hostel in Hilo around 4 PM. I didn’t feel like doing anything touristy since I was feeling a little tired so I hung out in the common room of the hostel. I put my name on the board for activities. I don’t know if anyone is going to Volcanoes National Park or Mauna Kea in the next couple of days. I might have to rent a car and do that myself.

Around dinner time, I walked to the nearby Asian grocery store to buy a pack of instant ramen, something I craved since I’ve been eating a lot of restaurant food. Then I walked to the Island Naturals Market and Deli and bought a few prepared foods including pickled cucumber, Lilikoi slaw with macadamia nuts, and shrimp summer rolls.

Back at the hostel, I ate all the prepared foods. The Lilikoi slaw was expensive, but it tasted just average. I saved the ramen for a later meal.

I went to bed around 8:30 PM. My sleep wasn’t that great since someone was snoring pretty loud. I got up around 7:15 AM, later than usual.

This morning, I tried to book a hostel in Honolulu. I couldn’t book one hostel for the entire week so I had to book two separate hostels. Even then, I had to shuffle my dates. I couldn’t get a hostel for the night of July 29th so I will try to see if a Couchsurfing host will host me.

Today, I plan on going to downtown Hilo, a 20 minute walk from the hostel.