The Trees of Rainbow

Eucalyptus deglupta, which is commonly known as the rainbow eucalyptus, is a beautiful and tall tree, arguably the tree with the most beautiful bark. The bark is smooth but flaky when it sheds layers on various places at different times along the tree. This phenomenon reveals the bright green colour which is then changed to darker green when it ages, and then to purplish, followed by pink-orange, and finally to brownish maroon. As this happens at different zones of the tree and at different times, the tree keeps up the appearance of a rainbow.

I saw these trees at the Dole Plantation in Honolulu and they were just amazing. With the ability to grow up to 60 metres high with trunk diameter reaching 1.8 metres, they are really considered as giant trees.

The younger trees that haven't started the bark shedding are whitish in colour and they look pale by comparison. However, an ugly duckling will grow into a swan one day.

Hawaiian Cultural Show

I was in Hawaii attending an international conference and the organiser was so kind to throw as cultural shows on two consecutive nights with free flow of food and drinks. We enjoyed the food as well as the cultural shows very much. It was truly Hawaiian hospitality.