The last time I was in Honolulu, I joined a pilot friend on a ferry flight across the Pacific back to Hong Kong where I was living at the time.

We took about three weeks on a single-engine Piper Malibu to fly across the Pacific, from the Hawaiian island through Kiribati, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Western Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Palau and Samal, ending up in Hong Kong.

It explains the soft spot I have for Honolulu, who can forget such a grand adventure – and so when the invitation came for me to facilitate an event on the island, I jumped at it. I wanted to see and feel the island again, and I wanted to see how much had changed.

Well, the first thing that’s changed is you can no longer fly direct to Honolulu from South-east Asia. In the old days, airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Thai International and Cathay Pacific used to fly direct but with the arrival of long-range aircraft, Honolulu became an unnecessary stop – and so for most of South-east Asia, Hawaii has become the “forgotten” destination.

I flew via Tokyo both ways and it’s good to see that the Japanese are still flocking to Hawaii although in much lower numbers than they used to in the 80s and 90s. You see more Koreans and Chinese these days but you still get spoken to in Japanese everywhere – so that hasn’t changed.

For this trip, I stayed in Waikiki most of the time and well, this strip hasn’t changed – everything is big, including the food portions, and everywhere is packed due to the high density of tourism here and I am told that the North Americans are returning to the islands.

In July 2013, according to Hawaii Tourism Authority data, visitor arrivals totalled 757,969, a growth of 4.6% year on year. The US West Coast provided 310,710 (up 3.8%), US East Coast 177,162, up 5.3% and Canada grew 3.3% to reach 26,237. Japan dropped 2.9% to level off at 128,363 for the month. At its peak, Japan provided up to 1 million visitors a year, I was told,

Foreign investments are also increasing – the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation for instance this year bought the 780-room Grand Wailea on Maui for about US$1 million per room. Most of the investors buying hotel properties are Asian – Chinese as well as the Japanese who have returned.

Hawaii gets about eight million visitors a year – I would have thought more – but you get that impression from Waikiki because there is still limited dispersal of tourism. Most tourists stay in Waikiki and don’t leave the area because, as one taxi driver told me, “why would you? These hotels have everything you need.”

And he is right. The Hilton Hawaiian Village has doubled in size and you almost need a GPS to find your way around it. It’s like an entire housing estate with its own ecosystem. It feels like a zoo at times, and that’s just not due to the penquins and turtles living there.

Unlike Australia and New Zealand which are seeing more independent travellers from Asia, Hawaii still receives mainly groups so most of the facilities are geared for groups. When I landed for example, I couldn’t find my transfer and had a hard time looking for a taxi sign while coach pick-up signs were everywhere. When I finally got a taxi, it was the hugest vehicle I’d ever seen and when I told the Korean driver, who walked like he rode horses for his spare time, where I was going, he asked, “Which tower? It is very big.”

Size matters here, so that hasn’t changed.

What’s changed though is the much stronger sense of Hawaiian pride and identity I felt. More youths are learning to speak Hawaiian, more locals (often with dual heritage) are claiming Hawaiian as their ancestry – and so their numbers are growing as a proportion of total population, and there is a strong movement by elders to pass on oral stories and traditions to the young.

For our day out – beyond the Hawaiian Convention Centre – we were taken on the Legends of Ko’Olau Excursion run by the Ko’olaupolo Hawaiian Civic Club, one of a few non-profit organisations being formed to revive traditions and keep stories alive in what is known as the Kane’ohe Bay region.

When we got to the Kane’ohe Beach Park (pictured above), there was a ceremony in which we asked for permission to enter the community and then we sat on the ground while Aunty Mahealani (left) got ready to tell us stories. Just as she was about to begin, someone’s mobile rang, we looked around for the source and Aunty said, “Let me switch off my mobile phone.”

Back to the past – so apparently the Kane’ohe bay area, first settled in the 5^thcentury, used to support one of the biggest Polynesian populations prior to the arrival of James Cook in 1778 and they were extremely advanced in how they fished, irrigated and cultivated their lands and Hawaiians were self-sufficient with taro as the main crop and an abundance of fish. Today, 95% of the food consumed in Hawaii comes from outside.

“Once you separate people from their food, you change their identity and people become commoditised,” said our guide Ramsay. “People lose their diversity and we lose the reason why people love to travel.” Ramsay has a way of speaking that makes you think he’s a lecturer in school – and yes, later I found out he is.

Which is why a few young Hawaiians, with the support of the civic club, are attempting to bring back these traditional systems of agriculture and farming.

We visited the 125-acre Moli’i fishpond (right), one of four remaining original Hawaiian fishponds remaining in Hawaii. In ancient days, fishponds were used by Polynesians for ocean husbandry and their ingenious system of using sluices to control the seawater flow is unique to Hawaii. Today, it’s a working fish farm again and you can go on boatrides round the area which was the location for movies such as “Fantasy Island”, “50 First Dates”, “Tears Of the Sun”, “You Me & Dupree” and “Lost”.

At He’eia, we learnt of an ambitious plan to make Hawaii self-sufficient again in taro and to restore 450 acres of land back to pre-1927 days when the area was rich in taro fields and Hawaiian plants, using traditional farming methods. (See article here)

The girl who showed us around, Patricia (left), an MBA student, is what I would call the modern farmer/scientist. Well-educated and articulate, she is clearly passionate about her purpose. Patricia only has four fulltime staff and two volunteers and they’ve only covered seven acres so far but her fire for doing what she loves is inspiring.

One goal is to put taro back in the diet of Hawaiians and the “grow local, eat local” global movement is helping this cause – famous Hawaiian chefs such as Roy Yamaguchi are telling local farmers what to grow and what they need for and everything being cultivated at He’eia Ahupua’a has been ordered in advance by local restaurants.

It reminds me of the Sampran Riverside Thailand story. Formerly the Rose Garden, the resort’s gardens are now run by the family’s grandson who has, like Patricia, become the modern farmer. Arrut Navaraj is trying to bring back the ancient Thai system of agriculture and urging farmers in the area to plant rice and vegetables the way they used to, and using these ingredients for the resort’s kitchens.

I also visited the Manoa Heritage Centre (right), and learnt more about native Hawaiian plants and one of Hawaii’s oldest homes, Kuali’i. Set up by the Cooke family as a non-profit organization in 1996, the centre is run by Aloha McGuffie and is open for tours – and it runs free programmes for school children, especially those from less developed areas.

This valley is known for its rainbows – apparently, it’s a daily occurrence – I wasn’t so lucky but well, I was lucky enough to leave with a children’s book called “Ka-hala-o-puna (the beauty of Manoa)” about the legend of the “girl of the rainbow”.

Written by James Rumford, the book (left) was the result of a local battle waged by Mary Cooke, who still resides in Kuali’i, to stop the authorities from constructing a high tower in the middle of the valley. The book was used to spread awareness of the significance of this valley to Hawaiian heritage. It took her 10 years but she finally won the battle.

In fact, as I learnt more about Hawaiian culture, I realized how similar it is to many Asian cultures. The concept of “ee” – the spirit of things – is similar to the idea of “chi” – the Chinese energy of things. The way Hawaiians name their babies, very similar to the Chinese and other cultures who believe in elements and balance. The way water is sacred to the Hawaiians as it is to the Tibetans. The way a new generation now is more conscious and respectful of their heritage and wants to relearn traditions …

Made me feel good about having made this return visit to Hawaii – despite it being a short stay, the scratch beneath the surface revealed a place that felt closer to Asia than it did before. And in fact, I reckon that’s what Hawaii should do – just like Australia, it needs to see itself as part of the new economy rather than at the edge of an old economy.

And oh yes, I learnt that Alo-ha means “in the spirit of the divine breath”. Alo-ha.