I’ve been to Honolulu before and done all the usual things – Waikiki, Polynesian Culture Centre, Pearl Harbour, etc – so I did a little research and found that Doris Duke’s Hawaiian residence is now open to the public via the Honolulu Museum of Art so some months ago I reserved a place on the 9am morning tour. The tours only take 12 people at a time and you go by minibus from the Museum out to Shangri La, a beachfront property on the other side of Diamond Head.
I had asked several people for directions on how to get to the Museum yesterday and was told I would have to take a taxi as it was much too far to walk. So, I did a little research with GeoDirections and Google Maps and found that it would take 21 minutes by public transport or 28 minutes walking. At a total of only 2.25 kms or 1.4 miles, that equates to only 4 ½ laps around the Promenade Deck and less than I jog at home so I opted to walk. I set out at 8am, and even then the sun had a bite so I kept to the shady side of the roads. It was a leisurely stroll with stops for photos and traffic lights and I still did it in just under 28 minutes. I passed the Iolani Palace and King Kamehameha’s statue and the Mission Houses Museum, among other buildings.
I arrived with plenty of time at the Museum so had time to view the video on Doris Duke and the creation of Shangri La. It just whetted my appetite to visit the home – a very intimate home with only 2 bedrooms in the main house and 2 bedrooms in the guesthouse (none of which are open to the public yet). A 15 minute drive took my group to Shangri La, past the security gate and down the curving drive to the entrance itself. Once inside the house we were each given a souvenir fan as there is no air-conditioning.
The house is designed around an open courtyard and the residence displays Doris Duke’s Islamic collection which covers not only works of art but also architectural features which she acquired over the years on her travels, mainly from the Middle East and India. I doubt that even with money nowadays, the house could be reproduced because of laws barring the removal of such items from the countries they originated from. But I must say that Doris certainly had an eye for art and design and I loved Shangri La. While we could not take photos inside the house, we were allowed to once we were outside in the gardens which were also beautiful. How the other 0.000001% lived!
It’s made me want to visit her other residences on the mainland which are open to the public but I believe Shangri La is the most unique of her homes. If you’ve done all the usual touristy things in Honolulu, then a visit to Shangri La makes a great alternative.
I opted to catch The Bus back to Downtown and the pier because of the hot midday sun but if it had not been so humid I would have got back quicker if I had walked as I had a wait for The Bus.
Late this afternoon we left Honolulu for the Big Island, Hawaii, which we will reach tomorrow morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment