The last full day in Hawaii. After a intense day of seeing the east side of Oahu, today we decided to travel around Honolulu - Pearl Harbor in the morning and China town in the afternoon.
After breakfast, we drove north to the Pearl Harbor. Most people know the Pearl Harbor from the Japanese attack in 1941 which started the Pacific War. So do we. Therefore we set "Pearl Harbor" as the destination in GPS, which we thought would be the location of the memorial and museum. We followed the GPS and drove all the way down until we reached a sentry, where a soldier stopped all the cars and checked something from each driver. We waited in the line, seeing every driver showing him a card before moving on. "The security check is strict," I said to myself, "the museum must have some really good stuff." Gang asked me: "Do you know what they are showing to the soldier?" "I'm not sure," I said, "but I think it's an ID card."
Then soon it was our turn. Gang stopped by the soldier and handed over his California driver license. The soldier stared at his driver license for a while, and asked: "Are you visiting the Arizona Memorial?" We said yes. "OK, then you should U-turn and drive back, it's the last exit." Gang took his driver license back and followed the instruction. Almost in a minute we both realized that "Pearl Harbor" was actually the location of a US navy base, and probably only military workers could have access to it. The soldier must have found it very amusing when a Chinese man handed over his driver license for entrance.
We soon arrived at the Arizona Memorial, where we first took a shuttle to USS Missouri, on the deck of which the Japan surrendered in 1945 and brought the WW2 to an end. The battleship was one of the most advanced of its kind, and had well-equipped facilities for its soldiers. But the most exciting finding was the Japanese copy of the 2-page Instrument of Surrender, which because the Canadian representative signed in the wrong place moved down all the rest signatures, and therefore differs from the US copy - the one known to the public.
After the 2-hour visit to the USS Missouri, we went back to the Arizona Memorial, where we first watched a very touching movie, explaining why Japan launched the attack and what happened that day. Three of eight most advanced battleships were sunk and rest were severely damaged; more than two thousands of soldiers died that day. The USS Arizona was hit in its ammunition cabin and exploded soon after, killing more than 1,100 soldiers. The US Pacific fleet suffered great loss, but luckily US carriers hadn't arrived in the Pearl Harbor that day which helped them to revenge in the Mid-way islands years later. The white memorial was constructed above the USS Arizona remains. Even today we could still see gas leaking from the tank, as if it is weeping for its soldiers. I asked Gang if EPA is cool with this, and Gang said it's probably fine.
We left Pear Harbor at noon, sighing at the disaster brought by wars, and drove to China town for lunch. China town used to be very prosperous because it was only a few blocks from the port. But after air transportation developed, the China town started to decline. To us, the China town in Honolulu is specially important because in 1894, Sun Yat-sen founded Society for the Revival of China, which evolved into KMT later. I got an amazing avocado bubble tea, and then we started to look for statue of Sun Yat-sen. We finally found it at a corner, with Sun Yat-sen holding a book facing the sea. Gang happily took photos of him when we both heard a big bang. I looked around but couldn't see anything, then I heard Gang saying, "I need to call 911." It turned out a guy was painting outer walls of his house on a scaffolding but accidently fell down. He was unconscious and a woman cried over him loudly. Gang immediately reported to 911 about the accident and I helped him locate the place. His relatives and friends seemed panic, but luckily the 911 emergency care arrived in about 5 min. The guy remained in coma even then, but I hope he's getting better now.
Later that day, we tried to see sunset at Diamond Head, but it was closed by 6pm. As an alternative, we took apples to the beach and enjoyed the last sun glow with them.
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