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The dreaded sound finally arrived. My cell phone was ringing, but I hesitated for a bit to answer, because I knew what it was. The market was crashing and no doubt, my broker was on the other end of the line trying to warn me about the gruesome event. We talked about it just before I went on to my Vintar Academy '60 class reunion in Hawaii. I normally leave all electronic gizmos behind, when I go on vacation, but this time, the market was playing badly with my hard earned cash and I needed to monitor the event. To answer

I was stunned, then angry, then calmed down, and said to him, "I'll be on the next plane to Los Angeles." As I close snapped my cell phone, I felt a surge of unwillingness to go back. But, the other side of me was saying, "You are playing Russian roulette. You don't have time!."

Is that the way for you too? Are you pressed for time? We have no time. Funny, the most abundant resource in this Universe is time. In fact, time is limitless, and yet we always say we don't have time. Why is that? When growing up in Vintar, the only time that was relevant was the Church bells toll in the evening. We got up, ate, went to school, worked, prayed and signed off the day with the bell. That was it. And, we were happy, contented, and shoot the breeze at Nana Isiang's Tiang-gi after the bell tolls.

Today, all of our splendor, our comfort, our gizmos take time to pay for. We pursue what we think as the "good life". We chase the good buck. We go after it, no matter where it is, and no matter what it takes. So, now we are all over the globe doing the same thing. We work like hell, to have more. The more you have, the more you need. And, the more you need, the more you work. Now, you are in a cycle. You are trapped.

As I thought about it, I realized I still carry Vintar within me. My son once asked me, "Dad, why do you go to your reunion? You don't need it." Aha, but I do. I have always known when folks from Vintar get together, there is always music and laughter, and time stands still. They are happy as can be! I now realized, when I pursued the "good life" and fell into the trap, that I strayed away from what makes us happy, music and laughter. I need to regain them at all cost, before I lose my wits..

The class reunion was beckoning me to rejoin this spirit of music and laughter, to join the rhythm of the Church bells toll, and to experience once more, how it feels to be happy when time stands still! I pulled out my cell phone, flipped it open, and left a text message to my broker, " I am staying put in Hawaii."

I woke up early just as the sun was rising to sniff the Kona morning air. And, there it was, on the backyard of Jason's house, looming over 14,000 ft piercing the morning clouds, the fabled Mauna Kea Astronomical Observatory. What a sight! This is Earth's connecting point to the Universe. I was in awe. I felt divine. I wondered, am I in touch with God? Surely, Poliahu, the snow goddess who makes her home here, ( snows from time to time at the summit) has lowered the curtain of clouds, so I could see her stark beauty and splendor.

I felt upbeat. I have to share this feeling with the group, so I asked them to come outside.
They greeted the new day with enthusiasm and Mauna Kea with reverence. They were bathed with soft morning light. As I looked at the green field, the vivid grass, the delicate bright-green powder like morning dew, the tree trunks and branches that gleam from under the bare purple boughs, I

That's how we started our day in Kona. And, as it unfolded, another surprise was waiting for us. It is called, "Valley of the Kings." It is located in the Waipi'o Valley along the Hamakua Coast, on the northeast shore of Hawaii. To see the cliffs, we drove to the end of Highway 240 and stopped at a lookout and parking area. We have to descend a very steep stairway and hiked down to a railing, and there we saw an incredible view of the valley. We stood on a 2000 foot cliff at the road-side entrance. On the other side is the other cliff that looks like a 2000 foot granite wall. As we looked down below, to our right is a rich blue expanse of ocean as far as your eyes could see. And, directly below us is a black sand beach at the mouth of the Waiipio Bay. Smack at the middle of the valley is a river flowing into the bay. To our left, are varying shades of green, showing extreme fertility and full of life. In contrast to the majestic Mauna Kea, the Valley of the Kings presented a quiet and serene beauty of nature, framed by thousand foot cliffs on each side. While you feel the mystery of the Universe, when you gazed at Mauna Kea, here you feel the heart beat of Mother Earth in its primordial beginnings. Is this where life began? Is this where the sky, sea and sand came together to bring forth life? I wondered.

On our second day, on our way to see the big event, we strayed onto this charming historic town of Hilo. As we rounded the bay from Kamehameha Ave and turned south, we spotted majestic acacia trees and stoic banyan trees inside Hoolulu Park. We stopped by for lunch at the corner of Kanoelehua and Leilani. We were kind of early, but we waited for a lady owner to open the restaurant for us. The sumptuous meal was worth the wait. It was a combination of Filipino/Japanese/Chinese Hawaiian cuisines of different flavors and textures. It felt like home.

On our way back from the big event, we stopped by the famous Farmer's Market of Hilo. It reminded me of our town market in Vintar, cozy and small, a family agricultural produce at its best. It's a real feast for the senses. There were stands offering eclectic mix of fresh fruits and vegetables, spectacular orchid floral arrangements, grown locally and organically, I was told. Among other things there were ferns, gingers , radishes, eggplants, cucumbers, soybeans, basils and curries, sweet potatoes, yams, sweet bread, and Hawaiian chili peppers.

And then there were the flowers: cut blossoms, growing plants, intricately strung leis of every color and design. Gorgeous bunches of orchids, ginger blooms, and exotic bird-of-paradise bursting from their buckets. At the lei stands, were all kinds of leis swinging from overhead displays and adorned stylish woven-straw hats. The prices were tantalizingly low.

Halema'uma'u Crater is the big event! From Hilo, we followed Kanoelehua going south, and veered right to Volcano Hwy that took us to the northwest of Kilauea's caldera. We lingered a bit at the visitor's center, and viewed the exhibits about the volcanoes. You see, Kiluea is not just one volcano, but a huge caldera with several craters, the biggest among them is Halema'uma'u crater.

Kilauea Iki Crater is relatively small crater located on the northeast corner of the caldera. So, we have to double back. We saw an eerie crater floor, covered by hardened lava flows and surrounded by cliffs with gigantic ferns hanging by the side. There were cinder cones rising from the lava floor as if saying, there's more to come. And along the horizon, we saw the plume of Madam Pele, starkly visible, watching over little Iki.

From the visitor's center parking lot, we drove along Crater Rim Drive through a tropical rainforest, littered with steam vents. Hot water rises through these fissures on the ground, and as it condense in the chilled air, steam spews upwards. The drive took us to the edge of the Kilauea Caldera within which is the pit crater Helema'uma'u.

As we stood at the crater's edge, we were told, we were looking into the home of Madame Pele, Goddess of Hawaiian Volcanoes. The crater is about 3,000 feet across and almost 300 feet deep. On March 12, 2008, a new vent opened, and we were privileged to see Madame Pele's plume as it rose and mushroomed up in the sky, ala atom bomb burst, creating her own climate and tainting the air with

of white pebbles arranged in alphabet of names and short adorable messages on top of the black lava rocks. We saw dramatic and diverse landscape of ranchland, sub alpine forest and rainforest, with striking features like cinder cones, lava rocks and tubes. We cut to Rte 240 and rounded Waipio Bay and saw some spectacular golf courses and resorts. By the end of the day, we had an idea of how big the Big Island is.