Check out the Chinese Chamber of Commerce at 42 North King Street in Chinatown, near the corner with Nuuanu Avenue. They offer guided tours of Chinatown that take about two hours for the reasonable price of $5 a head. Let them know beforehand, as they need at least 3 for their weekly Tuesday tour. The tour starts promptly at 9:30 a.m. from their offices and takes about two hours. Also, if you pop in you can check out their painted wall mural depicting the history of Hawaii’s Chinese. And they may even let you upstairs where they have a genuine opium bed, a relic of the good ‘ole days. (808) 533-3181. 

Tours of Chinatown are also given every Friday by the Hawaii Heritage Center. You should give them a call in advance as well at (808) 521-2749. They meet at 9:30 on Friday in front of the Ramsay Gallery at 1128 Smith Street in Chinatown and the tour takes about two hours. 

A good Chinese-style bakery is Shang Chong Yuein at 1027 Maunakea St. It has traditional Chinese mooncakes (kind of the Chinese equivalent of the fruit cake but you might find it a little tastier), almond cookies, peanut candy, and the local favorite “crack seed”. Don’t be alarmed, it’s not what you might think. Crack seed is mostly dried fruit made either sweet or salty, sometimes both, by the addition of li hing. 

Those with a bad streak might want to take a walk down Hotel Street. However, if a plethora of adult bookstores, bars, and theatres turns you off then stay away, but in the daylight hours it’s harmless enough. Hotel Street has long had a less than upright reputation, as any one who has seen, or read, From Here to Eternity may know. You may expect Frank Sinatra to come teetering on to the street at any moment. 

The Wong Building at Hotel and River Streets is worth a view. Built in 1905 it is one of the oldest structures surviving from old Chinatown and will give you a feel of what the area used to be like, when families had their store downstairs and lived upstairs.