Okinawa
Angie, Anita and I escaped the rainy season for a few days, trading it in for beautiful sun and beaches on the main island of Okinawa.
Northern Okinawa Honto:
Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu
Umikame 
The world-record-holding largest aquarium window
Emerald Beach (Ocean Expo Park, Motobu)
Ryukyu Village (Ocean Expo Park)
Goya (bitter melon)
Shisa
Southern Okinawa Honto: Shuri-jo
Goya ice cream (it was weird)
Naha:
Ferry from Naha to Tokashikijima:
The snorkeling here was amazing! There was so much coral and so many fish! There were some sunfish that followed us around for about an hour! It was definitely as good as or better than the snorkeling I did in Thailand. The vendors on the island proved a little sketchy though, two different people attempted to shortchange Anita then Angie (by about 3 or 4 thousand yen each time). That is not something I am used to being wary of in Japan, and I was very surprised to encounter it here! But, we were able to leave all our stuff up on the beach while snorkeling with no problems.
More American food. All that Naha seemed to have in terms of restaurants were steak houses. They were seriously everywhere. The only one to appreciate this was Anita.
Our hostel, which was basically a capsule hotel made out of sheets of wood (but for 1400 yen a night, who's complaining...?), and the fun old lady who came with it. She lived on one of the smaller islands and was visiting her mother in Naha, but staying in this super-cheap hostel because she said it was too noisy and busy at her mother's house. She was a riot. She kept laughing at all her own comments, most of which we only half understood (or not at all) but we laughed at her laughing. When we got out the cameras she was so embarrassed "Oh no! You'll show everyone old poor woman from Okinawa!" She also explained with great seriousness how Okinawan people have the warmest hearts in Japan and it's very fashionable now for all the rich city people to come to visit from Tokyo, etc. because they want the "slow life" of Okinawa.
Northern Okinawa Honto:
Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu
Umikame
The world-record-holding largest aquarium window
Emerald Beach (Ocean Expo Park, Motobu)
Ryukyu Village (Ocean Expo Park)
Goya (bitter melon)
Shisa
Southern Okinawa Honto: Shuri-jo
Goya ice cream (it was weird)
Naha:
Ferry from Naha to Tokashikijima:
The snorkeling here was amazing! There was so much coral and so many fish! There were some sunfish that followed us around for about an hour! It was definitely as good as or better than the snorkeling I did in Thailand. The vendors on the island proved a little sketchy though, two different people attempted to shortchange Anita then Angie (by about 3 or 4 thousand yen each time). That is not something I am used to being wary of in Japan, and I was very surprised to encounter it here! But, we were able to leave all our stuff up on the beach while snorkeling with no problems.
More American food. All that Naha seemed to have in terms of restaurants were steak houses. They were seriously everywhere. The only one to appreciate this was Anita.
Our hostel, which was basically a capsule hotel made out of sheets of wood (but for 1400 yen a night, who's complaining...?), and the fun old lady who came with it. She lived on one of the smaller islands and was visiting her mother in Naha, but staying in this super-cheap hostel because she said it was too noisy and busy at her mother's house. She was a riot. She kept laughing at all her own comments, most of which we only half understood (or not at all) but we laughed at her laughing. When we got out the cameras she was so embarrassed "Oh no! You'll show everyone old poor woman from Okinawa!" She also explained with great seriousness how Okinawan people have the warmest hearts in Japan and it's very fashionable now for all the rich city people to come to visit from Tokyo, etc. because they want the "slow life" of Okinawa.
posted by Laura at 2:45 a.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home