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Eastern and Western traditions meet on Oahu, where savvy shoppers find luxury goods at high-end malls and scout tiny boutiques and galleries filled with pottery, blown glass, woodwork, and Hawaiian-print clothing by local artists. This blend of cultures is pervasive in the wide selection of spas as well. Hawaiian lomilomi and hot-stone massages are as omnipresent as the orchid and plumeria flowers decorating every treatment room.
Exploring downtown Honolulu, Kailua on the windward side, and the North Shore often yields the most original merchandise. Some of the small stores carry imported clothes and gifts from around the world—a reminder that, on this island halfway between Asia and the United States, shopping is a multicultural experience.
If you're getting a massage at a spa, there's a spiritual element to the lomilomi that calms the soul while the muscles release tension. During a hot-stone massage, smooth rocks, taken from the earth with permission from Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, are heated and placed at focal points on the body. Others are covered in oil and rubbed over tired limbs, feeling like powerful fingers. For an alternative, refresh skin with mango scrubs so fragrant they seem edible. Savor the unusual sensation of bamboo tapped against the arches of the feet. Indulge in a scalp massage that makes the entire body tingle. Day spas provide additional options to the self-indulgent services offered in almost every major hotel on the island.
To really impress those back home, pick up a box of locally baked, gourmet cookies. Choose from dozens of delicious flavors of premium shortbread delights with a wide variety of sizes, all designed for travel. In addition to the location in the Royal Hawaiian Center, there are a number of these stores in Waikiki, so you probably won't be able to avoid them—even if you try.
Hugely popular with Islands residents and visitors, these pineapple-shaped shortbread cookies, half-dipped in milk or dark chocolate, come in an assortment of flavors from macadamia nut to mango and lilikoi. Made locally in Kalihi, these gourmet cookies are sold in boxes and tins of varying sizes at a number of locations in Ala Moana and Waikiki.
Try Longs at the Ala Moana Center (or one of its many other outposts) to stock up on chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, candies, cookies, Islands tea, and 100% Kona coffee—at reasonable prices—to carry home.
Avoid the hassle of airport inspections. This company specializes in packing inspected pineapple and papaya and will deliver to your hotel and to the airport check-in counter. It also ships to elsewhere in the United States as well as to Canada. Think about ordering online.
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