– After my really slow Saturday, I was ready to get up and see more of Okinawa. Vanessa and I decided to drive north to “the bagel place”. Yes there is one bagel place on the island and it’s right by the US Military bases. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful lunch on bagels and felt almost like we were back in some cafe in New York (as the workers also spoke English, so it was an easy ordering process as well).
– Since it was the first sunny day since I arrived, we wanted to find a beach to relax at and drove up to Zanpa beach. When we got to the beach, there were so many Japanese tourists and families and kids running around. The first thing I noticed at the beach is the Japanese love floating rings. Every kid and adult had a blow up tube to hang onto. It was a jungle of colored rings in the water. Vanessa and I were enjoying being the only westerns on the beach and when we saw another arrive, we noticed and by the end of the afternoon, there were about 10 others. We even had two military guys sitting near us and they laughed at us a few times as the water came up quickly and almost soaked us. So we would move back and again the water came up. I think we had to move three times to get far enough back. Guess there was still a little of rough waters from the Typhoon.
– As soon as we stood up to dress and leave, three Japanese guys came up to us and asked if we speak English. I was told this may happen in Japan (but I was expecting bigger cities), but Vanessa said this hadn’t happened to her yet. These guys wanted to practice speaking with us and at first their English was quite good. So we naturally started to talk as we normally do (which was fast). We confused them as they didn’t understand why we were together in Japan if she was Australian and I was American, so we were able to explain our meeting 11 years ago in Greece and continued friendship. Vanessa even got to practice a little of her Japanese she has learned and I said my one Japanese word I know (thank you). So we were keeping up international relations there.
– Vanessa had heard about Cape Zunpa just north of the beach so we wanted to check that out. Essentially a nice lookout point with beautiful cliffs north, crashing waves on the rocks to the south and a lighthouse. Nice picturesque place…but it was so hot we had to head back to the car for the air conditioning.
– After we left, we started to drive back towards home and driving in Okinawa is a challenge in itself! Since we have been driving around town, I have been trying to navigate, but it’s tough as there are no street signs, no highway signs and you really have to pay attention for any landmark to find your way. So we started to drive back and it didn’t look familiar to us and we thought we went the wrong way, but I said to continue and see where we end up. I always like to get lost with another person (or discover a new way), and eventually we made our way back to the main highway. When I say main highway, it looks like a city street as there are so many stop lights on the way. It makes a short drive very long and the traffic we hit on the way back was so bad…I thought Vanessa may lose her marbles. I don’t know how much I would want to drive here as you really don’t move and the locals drive like crazy people without signaling, cutting you off and very unaware of any blind spots. It really an adventure behind the wheel and I’m glad Vanessa is comfortable driving with all the locals crazies!
– We had decided to stay in and cook dinner, which also is a challenge. Chris and Vanessa have a Japanese grill in the kitchen, but can’t seem to operate it (as nothing here makes sense). They also have a brand new oven they bought (as most Japanese don’t have ovens), but they can’t use this either. They had someone try to show them, but it didn’t work, so we were trying to figure out dinner and decided on a stir fry. I guess when Vanessa and I were stuck in traffic, I saw a Mexican restaurant and mentioned it and Vanessa said she loves Mexican so I offered to make fajitas (as we also wanted to use up food in the fridge since we were leaving Chris alone for two weeks and didn’t think he would do much cooking while we were gone). So we just stopped at the grocery store to get a few more things including refried beans (which Vanessa thought they had). When we got to the bean area, there were no refried beans, black beans or anything else I could figure out how to use. We thought we bought a black bean in sauce and were going to try it…but when we opened it up, it was a sweet bean and not good. Oh well. I offered to take the lead for the Mexican and made my Guacamole, and cooked up a Mexican feast with Vanessa and it was so tasty (and a nice change from all the Asian food we have had).
Dive and Snorkel Trip to the Kerama Islands
– Monday was our big adventure. We were off for a whole day scuba and snorkel trip out at the Kerama Islands (2 hours away by boat). We were given a recommendation to an English speaking dive company and decided to try it out. So we got up at the crack of down (that means 6am for us non-employed people and that is early). So we drove up north to the dive shop. Too bad we arrived early and had to wait since no one arrived when they told us to and we waited for almost 30 minutes before we were off.
– We thought the trip was just Vanessa and I as there were no other guests but when we got down to the boat, we were put on a fisherman’s boat with about 14 other Japanese that were also going on the trip. I guess in Japan, none of the dive centers own their own boats and combine onto one boat. This boat was a little small and there was not enough seating for everyone and when Vanessa and I walked in, as women and foreigners, all the locals just looked at us and continued to sit. We were surprised no one even offered their seat to us, and we sat ourselves on the ground (as the only two people on the ground). This was going to be a long 2 hour ride and we weren’t sure about the sea conditions as it was the end of the Typhoon. Three Japanese girls had already gone outside and were getting sick over the boat. Vanessa already has issues with sea sickness and I was a little worried about her as the sea got rough, we got wet from all the waves splashing into us sitting on the boat. Then I saw Vanessa’s face and it didn’t look too good….and moments later she was feeding the fishies her breakfast. Poor Vanessa and I knew we had a while to go still. She lost her cookies again (and her new nickname is now Cookies). Once we arrived at the first stop, the water was much more calm and I think she was better.
– We really enjoyed this first stop as I was able to do two dives and see so many beautiful (and poisonous) Lion fish, anemone fish (also known as clown fish – or “Nemo” from the movie). I all the clown fish as they were in different colors here and really swim around and around a little plant and were fun to watch.
– Once we got back, we headed out to dinner with Chris, to a typical Japanese restaurant. I decided to order Shabu Shabu and cook the thinly sliced meat in a broth along with veggies and tofu. So good and half the fun was the process (and my cooking and eating process was way slow!).
– My final day in Okinawa, on August 11th, was spent around Naha town. Vanessa and I decided to cruise the main tourist street called Kokusai street and shop around a little…but after a little too much sun, we stop at the a brewery pub. Now I would have expected many beers on tap, but they only made 6 beers. We also found out they were out of 4 of them. So we ordered the pale ale. After she poured it, she waitress told us it was out and we had to switch to the last beer. Crazy a brewery was out of all the beers, but it ended up being a nice beer nonetheless.
– For some reason, we stopped in a salt store that was all salt. I love salt and had to look around as Vanessa really wanted a special kind of rock salt for home…I was more interested in all the different types of salt and trying them (as there was a tasting bar of all the salts). So funny, but so good at the same time. There were salts from all over the world of different grains from fine to large rock salt. We must have played in the salt store for a good half hour and I loved it!
– Vanessa and I had walked by a store that had doctor fish in it and she thought it was gross. I told her I did this in Singapore and it was great for the feet so I convinced Vanessa to try it. Like last time, all the fish rushed to our feet and started to nibble and it was fun. Plus we had many locals stop on the street to watch us and ask how it was. We were quite the spectacle and then two more local girls joined us and were funny as they thought it was so weird. I enjoyed the 10 minutes in the fish spa and our feet came out softer.
– The rest of the day was cruising the street, visiting the fish market (with lots of fresh pig heads – as this is a major delicacy in Japan. We had a great time at the market as there were no other tourists or locals there and we got all the attention of the workers who just wanted to chat with us. Vanessa was brave and tried the pig ear (I decided to watch her and not try). Quite a fun day as we also got to go tot he “100 yen store” which is like a dollar store and we went to the local store with American goods and I saw the over inflated prices for basics like soap, cookies and candy. I understand if you can’t get these in the normal stores, it’s worth it to pay more at these stores.
– I am fascinated by the toilets in Japan and now have notices the women’s room have little baby seats so you can put your baby in the seat while you go. But if you look closely, there are pictures telling you what to do and not with the baby…such as don’t put on makeup when the baby is in the seat (WHY?). Great invention, but silly explanations!
– My final goodbye to Okinawa was one last dinner at a Japanese Tepanaki place. This was super yummy (not showy), but tasty lobster and prawns dinner.
– So my time in Okinawa is over and Vanessa and I are flying to the main land to continue traveling for the next two weeks (when Chris is left here to work…sorry you can’t join us).
– I had such an amazing time here and would never have come to Okinawa if it wasn’t for Vanessa and Chris. They were the perfect hosts and made my stay more wonderful than I can ever imagine (and treated me like such a princess…THANK YOU…THANK YOU…THANK YOU!!!)