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Ala Moana Park

Walking down Ala Moana Boulevard in a westerly direction took you first past a major marina and the Hawaii Yacht Club, of course by its geography Hawaii has lots of coastline so plenty of places for boats to be kept.  This was the afternoon and you can see in the photograph how the clouds were building up.

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Quite a forest of masts with a few cabin cruisers mixed in with the yachts.

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Further along Ala Moana Boulevard you cross the Ala Wai Canal, an artificial waterway which was created in 1928 for the purpose of draining the rice paddies and swamps which would eventually become the tourist resort area of Waikiki.

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As you walk along Ala Moana Boulevard you reach the park proper, as well as the grassed area there is a beach area.  This is the rather splendid park entrance.

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The first thing you see as you walk into the park are some magnificent Banyan Trees.

Banyan trees are quite common in Hawaii but they grow in a very odd, their roots reach down to the ground from the branches above.  More properly these are called aerial prop roots. 

The name "banyan" applies to several types of fig trees.  It was originally used to refer to traders in India who gathered in the shade of the large trees to do business.  The term was later used to describe the tree itself.

These enormous trees give shelter from both sun and the frequent light misty rain.

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A Banyan Tree is often a collection of tree trunks and roots that can make it look like the tree is walking across the park

The park contains a variety of other trees like this one that is growing next to a Banyan Tree.

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The park contains a couple of linked lakes which connect to a narrow waterway that runs through the park roughly parallel to Ala Moana Boulevard.  There are a variety of bridges over this waterway  including this rather splendid one near where the waterway joins the lake.

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This is a view along the waterway (from the centre of a bridge) with another bridge of a different design in the distance.

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Another couple of views of the park.

The first is looking east towards Waikiki (and my hotel).

 

 

 

The second is looking west in the general direction of the downtown area.

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