A short trip without the girls!
It was a red eyed flight, and should I rephrase it as dark-eyed flight - I couldn't sleep well coz the guy behind me was snoring so loudly. A note to self that I should remember to pack earplugs next time I travel on a budget airline. Jetstar never change their menu at all! Although I'm glad their soya chicken is still on the menu. Our orders were taken in the beginning of the flight and can let them know when we'd liked our meals to be served. Macam like First Class like that - meal on demand.
2nd Feb (Sun)
睡起来就吃 - the short flight made it somewhat comfortable (tho it would have been more comfortable without the snoring from behind and the sides, like a symphony like that)
I ordered a nasi lemak while hubby ordered soya chicken
Nasi Lemak is nice tho must admit the spice level is a little high for me
Hubby's Soya chicken
Twilight
Arrived in Naha airport. It's a small modern-looking airport, much smaller than our Terminal 4 and much much smaller than Male Airport.
Took the Yui monorail from airport to our hotel @ Makishi station. It's only a two carriage monorail, but fortunately there was no high human traffic so it's ok.
It's 300¥ for a single trip, 800¥ for a day pass (exactly 24hrs)
Somewhat makes me feel like I'm in Narita village .... and I'm beginning to like Okinawa now
That's our hotel, right next to the station connected by an overhead bridge.
Dropped the luggage and took the monorail to Shuri Castle.
Shops were not opened as it was still early. But somehow there's that unique feeling, I know I'm in Japan but it doesn't feel like Japan, I just don't know how to describe the feeling. Even the language sounds a little different. More for me to discover this interesting place.
The man pointing to where we are. On the way to see what remains of the burnt Shuri Castle.
To my delight, this tree greeted me. My first sakura for the year, my first sakura sighted in Japan soil. Really excited what lies ahead of this trip as Okinawa is the first place where sakuras will bloom every year.
Such a pity my handphone camera took such ugly pictures. I didn't bring my DSLR as it would be too cumbersome. Hmm..... I should perhaps get a smaller digital camera again?
Sad that this UNESCO World Heritage Site has been reduced to this
We left Shuri Castle and saw this cute shisa on our walk to the monorail station
Japan - I love going into their pharmacies as if I was in a wonderland filled with candies. Just days ago my Japanese girlfriend was telling me they have trouble finding masks in FUK and so we kapo-ed to see what's happening here. Afterall I haven't seen anyone wearing masks here since we arrived.
This was what I saw. Even if you can't read japanese, you'll know what's missing.
Made our way back to the hotel vicinity - Kokusai dori, otherwise known as International Street. It's a place where tourists are promised a shopping street, you'll be disappointed to know that it's
unlike our tall air-conditioned buildings lining up Orchard Road
Certain parts of the road in Kokusaidori were closed to vehicles, so pedestrians were walking everywhere.
At first the shops look interesting but after awhile you realised that there's a repetition in the souvenirs, you'll just want to breeze through the shops. We saw a Calbee shop, and the snacks looked different. I'm not sure if the flavours was just for the Okinawa tourists or if they changed their flavours through the years.
Food looks different. And the reason is that Okinawa’s unique culture was formed by the dynamic mix of characteristics from various countries through trade with China, Japan, Korea and other Southeast Asian countries in the Ryukyu era. Most of the food has chinese influence.
Different but unique part of Japan. Day 1 and I'm beginning to like Okinawa and we should bring the girls here one day
After our hearty lunch, we made our way back to hotel for check-in and a snooze. Mind's a blur now.
View from our room
Woke up about 4 hrs later and had a quick meal just opposite our hotel. It was already dark and rainy. Helps that we do not have 2 fussy girls with us, looking for a place to eat was so easy.
Hub's dinner : Okinawa Noodles with mini beef rice bowl
Trying out their beer
My dinner : chicken karaage with curry
I didn't pack any thick clothes, just normal wear and brought along my scarf which can keep me warm should the need arises. I'm so bad in taking selfies.
Sweet potato : the beni imo is the celebrity of the main island, there are sweets and ice cream using this violet sweet potato
This is a must try - garlic lobster. We waited for this for more than 20 mins
Had our breakfast. It's the best! A great selection of delicious Okinawan flair. Took many pictures but lazy to load them into the blog.
Oh my! All the cutesy Anpanman stuffs and .... bento tools
A small wedding chapel which is closed
Sea stacks. It's starkingly small in comparison to Oregon's giant sea stacks
@ Cape Manzamo 万座毛 - A elephant shaped rock formation, with the trunk dipping into East China Sea to stay hydrated
More sakuras along the way
5th Feb (Wed) - Highlights of Southern Okinawa
Checked out and left our luggage at the concierge while we walked around. We saw this pig's trotters and pork belly - it's so chinese! Hubby bought this but I clearly told him I wasn't going to eat this, so he has to be wary of the expiry date, in simple terms - can buy but don't buy too much.
Stationeries. Thank goodness the girls are not with us, if not we'll be dragging crying kids out of the shop
I have more pictures in my handphone at the moment, I haven't had the time to transfer them over and can only blog the rests of our leisure walk without any pictures.
We went to the Makishi Public Market which is at a temporary site and saw some really unique seafood -
1) sea grapes (a type of seaweed). I didn't try it as wasn't allowed and I wouldn't want to have a plastic container full of umibudo if I didn't like it. And it reminds me of frog eggs.. yeeks!
2) 夜光贝 (yakogai) giant sea snail
imo the looks is disgusting. You may like to know that the meat is really small.
3) coconut crab : though I love crabs but the sight put me off coz they look like tarantulas
If one must go and would like to enjoy the food, you must make sure that everyone eats seafood. Coz each person has to buy something to that amount, even when we said I don't eat they wouldn't entertain. So the man was rather pitiful, he wanted to try but coz I didn't want to eat and I can't eat so much he had to drop the idea.
After walking around for close to 4hrs, we made our way to the bus terminal to our next stop. We booked the 3.50pm bus and should arrive in ANA Manza at 5.17pm.Although the bus came late we still managed to arrive on schedule.
View from our room
4th Feb (Tues)
Went Kouri Island (a circular island surrounded by emerald green sea measuring 1km in radius), Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Nakijin Castle
My dinner!
Cherry Blossom (Sakura) 桜 at Nakijin Castle 今帰仁城 in Okinawa, Japan.
Stargazing - a few stars from Auriga constellation and Pollux (Gemini) on the far right
Explored Gyokusendo Cave which is a stunningly beautiful limestone cave grown on a coral reed. Discovered in 1967, this underground cave has been around for 300,000 years and stretches 5km from end to end.
Love this! But it's the blue lights that made it so beautiful.
Was having breakfast at the cafe when I looked at this and thought it resembles an animal
Can you see it? Does it look like a hedgehog
A day filled with lots of walking and walking. But seriously doesn't burn as much calories as my FightDo class. The only reward I got from those walks are the sights and being enveloped in mother nature. And did I mention no mozzies at all?
Trail #1 - Hiji Falls
This trail is an easy one. But lots of steps to climb up, some are rather steep. Although I'm a little fitter than before with my twice a week class, my right knee is giving me pain as I climb up the stairs. I trodded along, at the back not wanting to stop. Oh well, I'm glad it's a slow relaxing walk for me.
26m tall Hiji Waterfall. Was tempted to jump into the water after the walk to cool myself
Then it was time to walk back via the same route
Sakuras
Trail #2 - Wonder of Rocks trail @ Daisekirinzan
Goku-Iwa "Monkey King" Rock : named after the famous rock of "Journey to the West", the monkey king Son Goku's birth place.
There are many rock formations, which I took plenty of photos but too lazy to upload everything in blog
Cape Hedo in the far distance
Picasso's paint
Lion King
Sakuras
#3 - Cape Hedo
Cape Hedo is Okinawa's northern most point, overlooking both the South China Sea to the west, and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It is a great vantage point for being where these two bodies of water collide in a harmony of azures and beryl. Haha! I was too lazy to write so copied and paste the liner.
There are many statues and monuments here and this caught my attention, maybe coz it's the cutest looking one.
The odd little bird is a friendship monument to commemorate the camaraderie between Kunigami Village (where Cape Hedo is located) and Yoronjima (jima means island). It’s known as “Kariyushi”, a legendary animal native to the area with the head of a rooster and the body of a fish.
Back hotel and then it was time to get ready for event
7th Feb (Fri)
Our flight departs at 9.10am but since we are not near the airport or in Nara we had to leave the hotel with tired sleepy eyes at early hours.
Managed to get a first row seat, feeling like First Class. Haha! Slept in plane like a baby after that.
On the whole, this trip was a good getaway without noisy kids. I used to say I will miss the girls if they're not with me. Well, not this time round. This trip is long overdue. I too managed to do some stargazing this trip, though it wasn't that dark but because our room was facing the sea so I had a "bigger space" to look up into the sky.
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