by River Roshana

Created on: May 12, 2009   Last Updated: June 02, 2009

There are myriads of lei shops within the Honolulu area, but the most frequent visitors to Hawaii can tell you that the most beautiful leis can be purchased at the Chinatown Honolulu area. Mauna Kea Street in Chinatown has several stalls and shops which offer different designs of leis - both for men and women - at the most reasonable prices.

There are three most popular lei shops when one talks of lei designs in the Honolulu Chinatown area. They are :

- Cindy's Lei Shop which was started by Cindy Lau who is known as one of the best lei designers in Hawaii. Lau declares that fresh flower leis are their " best family tradition" and her shop is a landmark in the Chinatown area. She started her business 45 years ago after she married a first generation American-Chinese where she learned the art of making leis and later improved and developed her designs until her business had become the top lei store in Hawaii catering to both tourists and exporting to the mainland.

It is from Cindy's Lei Shop that one learns that shopping for a lei isn't as simple as purchasing a watch. The flowers with the best floral scents are tuberose, pikake, ginger, and plumeria which are the basic flowers used in almost ever lei created by Cindy's Lei Shop. This shop has ALL kinds of leis both for men and women and for every occasion too. They offer every color combination be it lavender, lime and even red. The basic lei is about 32-38 inches, usually is made of the most delicate fresh flowers and thus should be placed in a plastic bag and refrigerated if one intends to use it within the next two days. Leis aren't just for tourists but are also for special events like the prom, Mothers Day, Father's Day and even Christmas.

-Lin Lei's Shop also in Mauna Kea Street offers an assortment of leis which cater to the tourists who come to visit Honolulu. It is one of the oldest Lei shops in the Honolulu Chinatown area. Lin Lei Shop offers lei designs made from orchid, plumeria, ginger,pikake and other exotic flowers. Should ou happen to know nothing about leis, ask for Tony, who seems to be the store "lei specialist" and he'll be more than willing to advise you about what kind of lei you should buy. Tony will most probably offer you their "Green Destiny Lei" made out of entirely orchids which are suited for both male and female. This shop also offers what they call the "Pikake Lei" which smells like sweet floral perfume and which is a favorite of both the locals and tourists. The simplest yet

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