Flowers of Kauai

While in Kauai, we chanced upon a number of beautiful flowers. A small trek and one was sure to chance upon some orchid or hibiscus of some kind. The local people as well as the tourists could be commonly seen wearing plumerias in their hair. I remember our monk guide at the monastery telling us that in Kauai it rains so much that all they needed to do to maintain the grounds was pot the plant and then just pray that it grow. And the technique never failed :-)

I thought I will share some of the pictures in this post. Some of them are not in good focus, I guess I couldn't get quite right the technique of focussing on something up close. But there I was trying to capture some of them in my camera as soon as it rained (BTW there was no dearth of rain, you just had to wish it and it would come down)

Hydrangea on the Pihea Trail

It had just rained and we were on the Pihea Trail when we spotted bunches of Hydrangea. They looked really fresh with the raindrops on them.

Red Ginger on way to the Fern Grotto

This picture and the next one too were taken on way to the Fern Grotto, a natural cave with ferns growing from the walls. Apparently Red Ginger is used to make shampoo... Interesting

And I don't know the name of this one :-(

Plumerias - they were in plenty everywhere

This particular flower, Plumeria, almost seemed to be the state flower. It was omnipresent, on trees, in people's hair, printed on T-Shirts and on Sarongs. This particular picture was taken in our hotel.

Hibiscus - Found growing wild on the Island

I am pretty sure I have seen Hibiscus in India too, but I think there I generally saw red ones. This yellow one caught my eye

Water Lily at a pond in the Kauai Hindu Monastery

And this last one is of a water lily growing in the Kauai Monastery. The monks have done a really good job of maintaining the grounds and the lawns were home to many rare plants. Damn ! I didn't get the focus right on this one.