Angelika For most people, the island of Oahu is synonymous with Hawaii, which strictly speaking is not true, because only the volcanic island "Big Island" is officially called Hawaii.

The island of Oahu is known for the capital of Hawaii, Honolulu. Then there's the TV series "Magnum" and Waikiki Beach, which is considered the birthplace of surfing, and of course Pearl Harbor, the naval base that is synonymous with the historical event every American knows, even if they live in the remotest corner of America. For those of you who are not history buffs, here's a quick lesson: The Japanese surprisingly attacked Pearl Harbor during World War II, forcing the USA to enter the war. Oahu, more precisely Waikiki, is a mix of Mallorca and Ibiza; only there it's not German and British tourists but Japanese and Americans who flock there.

One hotel complex after another as far as the eye can see, usually fronted by small "see and be seen" sandy beaches. Otherwise, Waikiki consists of numerous "shopping centers" and department stores that primarily cater to Japanese tourists, for whom Hawaii is the closest sunny travel destination. Many things are labeled in Japanese characters. When we went to eat at the brew pub "Gordon Biersch" in Honolulu, the waiter actually handed us a Japanese menu at first. We had a good laugh.

We already suspected that it would be like that in Waikiki, so we booked a small apartment in Kailua (about a 30-minute drive from Waikiki and Honolulu) in a quiet residential area -- a lucky find, as it soon turned out, because the apartment was large and spacious and had a balcony with a view of the ocean. We were practically a stone's throw from the beautiful long sandy beach. "Kailua Beach" is not only considered one of the best swimming beaches -- all year round -- but also a top beach for windsurfing.

Until now, we understood windsurfing to mean strapping a surfboard under your feet with a sail attached to catch the wind. Let me tell you, that is so "out" in Kailua. Every windsurfer here was racing over the sea with a huge parachute-like structure. The windsurfer stands on a surfboard and holds the parachute high in the sky with both arms. Since many beginners also try this at Kailua Beach, we had to be extremely careful not to get run over by one of those giant parachute things. Michael, who usually tries out all sorts of crazy sports, couldn't stop laughing at this type of windsurfing. He said that people might as well screw a propeller to their foreheads because it looks just as "elegant".

The north coast of Oahu, on the other hand, is a paradise for the best surfers in the winter. We have already mentioned that Hawaiian islanders often describe winter and summer by indicating the wave heights during these seasons, due to the consistently stable temperatures year-round. In the winter (approximately October to April), they expect dangerously high waves at many beaches, which only the most experienced surfers and swimmers dare to tackle. In the summer, however, even average swimmers have a chance.

On the north shore of Oahu, it's hard to find a beach during the winter months where swimmers dare to venture into the water. Waves rising to heights of 30 to 40 feet are quite normal. In Hawaii, a sure sign of a great beach or good waves is, confusingly, when countless cars suddenly park haphazardly along the roadside. Among them, there are always a few pickup trucks, as the surfboard fits well in the truck bed. Yes, surfers are indeed a funny bunch.

Despite highways, huge hotel complexes, and typical American chain stores, we found beautiful, secluded spots on Oahu. However, throughout the entire vacation, I was preoccupied with the question of why Americans love their chain stores so much that they can't do without LongDrugs, Safeway supermarkets, Starbucks, and Walgreens even in tropical Oahu. Why does every shopping mall on Oahu have to look the same and offer the same stores? What drives this urge for uniformity?

An "alibi multicultural" neighborhood does exist in Honolulu, however: a so-called "Chinatown," with predominantly Vietnamese restaurants where people stand in line for hours to eat "Pho" soup. Coming from San Francisco, one can only laugh at this, because eating "Pho" there is about as exotic as having a hamburger; you don't need to stand in line for it, and on Geary Street alone, there are surely twenty Pho restaurants.

There is a corner on the island of Oahu that is still completely undeveloped for tourism. Most native Hawaiians live on the "Waianae Coast" and are fighting tooth and nail to prevent the wealthy from coming in and covering the landscape with hotel complexes and golf courses. To our delight, we read in the travel guide that they have been quite successful in this endeavor so far. However, the travel guide warned that there are frequent unpleasant incidents on the Waianae Coast. Rental cars are sometimes broken into, side windows smashed, or tourists robbed and harassed.

That didn't deter us, even though we were easily recognizable as tourists due to our rental car from miles away. We experienced this area as one of the most interesting corners of Oahu. It's quite anarchic there -- everywhere you see people camping illegally on the beach or staying in old VW buses.

Michael and I love trying unusual culinary delights for our palates. So we decided to test traditional Hawaiian cuisine. The peculiar "Poi" mash is as integral to it as rice is to Asian cuisine. It is made from the root of the taro plant. Taro is considered one of the oldest vegetable plants and was the staple food of the Polynesians for millennia. Even today, you can find taro fields all over the Hawaiian Islands. Poi looks like a light brown, gray baby porridge without a strong taste, only slightly sour with mild bitter notes. Naturally, Poi is packed with healthy nutrients and is used as baby food or a gentle diet for those with stomach issues due to its easy digestibility (now you can roughly imagine how it tastes). We ate it with pork and chicken and the cooked green leaves of the taro plant, which resemble spinach but taste even better. While Poi is not exactly one of my favorite foods, I wish taro leaves were available for purchase in San Francisco.

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Lanai
  	Top product: "Maui Babe"
  	The record of the month
  	The Mysterous Game of Baseball
  	How we make such great pictures
  	Elections in America
  	Bush vs. Schröder