All of the islands are populated, but O'ahu out numbers all of the islands. To better put things into perspective, O'ahu is the island where there are numerous malls, two Best Buys, Circuit City, Macy's, Nordstrom, and many other corporate douche bags, oh, and meth addicts. The other islands barely have any stores, let alone malls with retail chains in them.
Many of the residents speak Hawaii Creole English, also known as Pidgin, which has roots from the Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Portugese languages. Many residents speak pidgin, but then there are 'mokes.' Mokes are usually of Hawaiian, Filipino, or Japanese descent. They are the Hawaiian modern day gangsta's.
In order to become a moke, you must normally have an IQ of 50 or below and love to participate in the following activities: being huge (sometimes obese), hating haoles, loving island/Hawaiian music, saying "Dakine" and "Ho, Braddah", driving trucks, surfing, working construction, eating, putting Hawaiian pride stickers on their trucks, putting "Ai No Kea" stickers on their trucks, being aggressive, acting aggressive and tough, stealing shoes and slippers, speaking pidgin, being a bouncer. If you would allow me to demonstrate, the audio quality is terrible, but their language is almost always non-comprehensible anyway so please stick with me.
Don't get me wrong, Waikiki, on O'ahu is paradise. The strip of city is surrounded by water on almost all sides; by the ocean, and the Alawai Canal.
The storm drains in the Honolulu neighborhoods of Waikīkī, Kapahulu, Mānoa, and Moʻiliʻili empty into the canal. Because of this, signs are posted along the Ala Wai warning users not to swim in the water or eat fish caught from the canal. Despite the water quality issues, the canal remained a popular area for some forms of aquatic recreation, with canoe paddling teams practicing along the length of the canal.I live at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor, also known as the Ilikai Marina or the Ala Moana Boat Harbor, and it is extremely volatile at times. I do unfortunately surf at Kaiser-Bowl's which is where the Ala Wai lets water out. I will soon be known as the eight limbed indian child, thanks to bacteria and other harmful chemicals in my eyes, limbs and stomach.
In March 2006, heavy rains overwhelmed the sewers around the Ala Wai Canal, causing a pressurized sewage line to break. Mayor Mufi Hannemann decided to divert 48 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Ala Wai Canal in an attempt to avoid having the sewage back up into the hotels and residences. This sewage then tainted Waikiki and the nearby beaches, leading to closures of the beaches for health reasons. One person died after falling in to the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor, with his death being attributed by some to the higher levels of bacteria present after the flood
Text from Wikipedia
Hawaii's suttle underground meth addicts roam the streets at all times of the day (now that Dog the Bounty Hunter is gone... but he'll be back shortly!!). The island's homeless are famous, tired, hungry and extremely rancid. The sometimes-not-so-fresh joint you can purchase for a whopping 20 dollars at Kaiser Bowls (probably around 0.3 Grams of Marijuana for $20. Rip off.) is a good tourist attraction as well, unless of course you are Kama'aina.
Kama'aina rates are hidden prices for residents to take advantage of - for discounted items. Kama'aina means 'of the Islands', or one who has lived on the islands for a long period of time. These rates are a good way to stereotype and segregate groups of people (Mainly Haoles to rip them off). When I first moved to the Islands, I had trouble getting Kama'aina rates, but as soon as my skin turned from pale to dark brown, I'm considered 'local' and can obtain these silly Kama'aina rates (with a Hawaii State ID and my skin tone). For example, when I first began surfing and renting boards, it used to cost me $10 for 2 hours, but soon became $3 for as long as I wanted.
The 5-0. The police here are definitely everywhere at all times, doing nothing. They do seem to blend their cars in incredibly well. The police force cannot afford enough patrol cars for their officers, so many officers end up using their own vehicles. Speeding on the highway, as you can imagine, is becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish with potential cops along your route. Everybody on the road ends up running every single traffic light, and nothing happens about it. People do occasionally get caught for running a red light if it has been red for longer than 10 seconds.
Honolulu is a tourist trap, go to the big island or to Kaua'i to really experience Hawaii. You may have a higher chance of bumping into a moke there, but at least those mokes are real gangstas - they'll throw you into a volcano, never to be heard from again.
