If you want to come into contact with the real Hawaii, youfd be best advised to jump on a local flight from Oahu Island and then push on to one of the outlying islands. There youfll find wonderful, peaceful natural surroundings as yet unspoiled by commercialism and too many Japanese tourists.

The journey on the sugar cane train from Lahaina to the vast resort of Kaanapali offers just such an experience. This railway line was originally built to carry sugar cane, but it is now used by tourists. No one could fail to be impressed by the experience of traveling in one of the red carriages pulled by a small, classical-style locomotive through the sugar cane fields. Having left the fields, the train emerges into the middle of the large Kaanapali Golf Course. Beyond the gently undulating greens, one can see the bright blue sea, and occasionally, way in the distance, there is the sight of a whale spouting. This is a sight unique to Hawaii.

Arriving at the terminus at Puukolii, there is no station building and no ticket wicket. All there is to indicate that this is in fact a station is a single signboard bearing the name of the station. But the unusual form of this sign makes an impression all its own. It conjures up an atmosphere eminently suited to this railroad.