POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER, OAHU – HAWAII

Polynesian Culture Center is a place I have been to before and I loved it! This is a place where Polynesian countries (Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and New Zeeland) can show and perform the culture and how they lived in the olden days. The different parts of the center is built up to resemble the countries and the people there are also dressed in traditional clothing. They have a ~30 minutes performance which can include singing, dancing, participation from the audience and/or other things connected to their culture. After this they have different activities you can try to really emerge into their culture. At 14:30 they also had ”floating boat performance” where all the countries came by a boat and after an introduction had a small performance. The price also included a buffet and a big show in the evening. HÁ – The breath of life was it called. An amazing show 🙂

The idea was to go with Annina, but she felt it was too expensive and decided not to go. I really wanted to go so I went by myself 🙂

I really love Polynesian Culture Center! Such a nice atmosphere and also educators and fun 🙂 Thought I could explain a little what they did in the different ”camps”.

SAMOA

The first place I decided to go to was Samoa. Basically because it was the closest one but also because I herd that they have started the first show. This show was more oriented around how they did different things. How they did fire, coconut milk, climbed trees etc. This show was really funny and you laughed a lot. Because I was a little late to the show, I thought that I would get a lousy seat and sit way in the back. But hey, a good thing about being alone is that I can almost sit where ever! I saw a small space in the first row, and because I don’t have a big bottom I could fit and I took it. I was super pleased with myself ^^

After the show was over they had different stations to for example try to make fire or try their cooked banana in coconut milk (which tasted a little like potatoes). 

NEW ZEELAND (AOTEAROA)

After Samoa I thought I could continue the road to New Zealand. Before the show begin they have a greeting ceremony. When I came there there were quite many people but I manage to squeeze myself between two people. One of them was a short Chinese or Japanese so I got a quite good spot ^^ After this we continued in to a house where the performance took place. Once again many seats where taken but I manage to get a seat in the front part of the house. Last time I was here the tour guide skipped this performance because he said we would see it in the evening show. But now when I didn’t have a tour guide I could decide myself and I wanted to go in ^^ The New Zeeland performance had a lot of songs and some kind of joggling (actually not, but it is the closest comparison I can give x) ). They also played with sticks and threw them to each other while singing. And of course they also preformed The Haka. If you don’t know what it is, Google it, because I can’t explain it 😆 one thing what I think about The Haka is that maybe a lot of people only seen men or think they are intimidating, but I really think that the women are way cooler and intimidating compared to the men ^^ sadly there are more videos and shows where the men are in the spotlight.

After the show you could try the ball joggling thing or throwing sticks to each other and try to follow the beat.

FIJI

After I was done with New Zeeland, Fiji was the next stop. This was the last stop before I needed to get to the river in order to get a good seat. Just when I entered the area I made a HUGE mistake. They greeted me and sad welcome, I though it could be nice to say thank you in their language. ”Maruru” I said, they answered back ” this is Fiji, not Tahiti”. Omg, stupid me. I mixed up the two countries 😆 Haha that was bad… Anyway, I continued in to the area where the performance would be, took a bamboo stick and sat down. Here it was song and dance and with help from us in the audience we had three different beat to do with the stick. To be honest, I don’t know about the activities after, I was in a hurry to the lagoon.

TONGA

After the show on the lagoon I hurried to Tonga in order to get a good seat before the performance started. When I came there the seats began to be occupied, but once again I found a good single seat 🙂 This had dancing, but the main thing was the drums. This part is hilarious. They take three persons from the audience which are supposed to try to mimic the drum master. A lot of laughter. ^^

TAHITI

When I was going to Tahiti I heard that they already started (the drumming took some time ^^). I hurried and saw that a lot of people where there, but once again I got a seat in the front row! The Tahitian performance was about a wedding and how the two met each other. They also had some dancing. They are famous for their hip movements. The women are crazy good. It goes so fast that you almost get dizzy ^^.
COOK ISLANDS

The last place was supposed to be Hawaii, but I accidentally sat down ”in Cook Islands”. Apparently they had some sort of guest appearance in Polynesian Culture Center. Their performance was about dancing and their instruments. The guys dance are supposed to be very intense in order to impress women – we were ^^

BUFFET AND SHOW

After this it was time for the buffet. A lot of food and I didn’t eat lunch because my plan was to eat A LOT

The show was amazing and I could not have a better end to my trip here in Hawaii. Totally worth it!

(Once again, sorry if the gramma is off. Too much text to re-read ^^)