Post #9258 by Luckydesigns on Wed, Sep 25, 2002 11:14 PM

I've been to Kauai several times and the last time that I was there I found all kinds of tikis. Stay out of Wal-mart on your vacations, save your money for drinks and real souveniers. If you can find something at wal-mart in Kauai, chances are that you can find the same thing on the mainland if you go in the right shops.
The truth is that I bought three tikis at what turned out to be a tourist store. I thought the tikis were original to Kauai but I later found the same mass produced ones at a store here in Newport Beach.

If anyone is going to Kauai soon and doesn't want to be disapointed by the Tahiti Nui, check out Duke's on Kalapaki beach. The drinks are great, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere is world class. The restaurant has a strolling hawaiian acoustic group during dinner and hawaiian bands at the barefoot bar at night.

There is also a really cool vintage store just past Kapaa where I bought a mid 1940's uke. I don't remember the name of the place but I do remember them having a huge tiki section. Everything there was very pricy though.

I also met a tiki carver that I bought some small pieces from. The carvings that he did were very intricate and in monkey pod and milo wood. I don't know how to get a hold of him but the name on the tikis is signed T.Huni.

If someone can let me in on how to post pictures on this forum, I can put several pics of the tikis that I saw and the carver that did them.