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Few meals in Hawai’i are served without rice, and those that are usually come with noodles. Indeed, noodles in hot broth with pork and green onions is a common dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and leftover dinner rice often reappears as fried rice for the next day’s breakfast.

O-Bon is a traditional Japanese religious observance but has evolved, as have so many cultural practices in the islands, into a more secular event. O-Bon dances honor deceased ancestors and are joyous occasions marked by drums, music, dances, and, nowadays, festival foods and fun activities.

You should try to get to at least one of these glorious celebrations, held between late June and early September. An Asian tradition honoring deceased ancestors, O-Bon festivals are no longer strictly religious in nature, and all are welcome at the nighttime dances, which are held at Hongwanji , or Buddhist missions, such as Jodo (see Jodo Mission).

With desks all over the island, this organization can arrange all manner of water activities (main number: 879 4485).

The ribs and coconut shrimp are fabulous. On Friday evenings, listen in as cowboys, grandmas, and everyone in between tunes up their ’ukulele and gets down for a good, ole fashioned kanikapila (Hawaiian jam session).

If you’re likely to spend most of your time in and around Lahaina, consider this 10-acre complex right in the town. There’s nothing fancy about the rooms or grounds, but there’s a pool, barbecue and picnic areas, and it’s very good value.

Off Front St. and away from the crowds, hosts John and Sherry Barbier serve breakfast to their guests poolside in a courtyard surrounded by tropical landscaping. Several rooms have private baths.

The Old Lahaina Lū’au is simply the best experience of its kind anywhere in Hawai’i. The dinner buffet is bountiful, the music and hula glorious, the setting extraordinary.

Near the top of Olinda above Makawao town, this is a special little romantic hideaway. The main house has two guest rooms and one “sweet;” there are also two cottages on site, complete with quilts and fireplaces – at the 4,000-ft level of Mt. Haleakalā, very welcome.