I Want to See The World ! : Okinawa.... !

August 14,2013. Okay, so with only 1 week left I finally managed to find some time to update this blog. Today is not as hot as yesterday, but definitely hot! Feels very nice to sit here in my husband's room with the window open and listening to the semi (cicada) chirpin. Yapp, definitely hot, but the downside of air conditioner is you don't get to listen to the sound of the outside world, which I always love to thoroughly enjoy when I can.

My pet shiha (^^)

So back to today's entry, which is about my trip to Okinawa from July 29 till August 2. The main purpose for this trip was to get Vivian his open water diving certificate, which he didn't have time to accomplish when we were in Thailand. Yes, it was a lot cheaper in Thailand, but I figure since we're in Japan and Okinawa apparently has some beautiful water for diving and one of the blue hole, we should really take this opportunity. Okinawa is accessible by aeroplane, one of the LCC in Japan, Skymark has flights there. I am not sure if Okinawa is accessible by ferry from Kyuushuu, but if it is I am positive it's going to take few hours. The flight from Nagoya to Okinawa took around 2 hours, and we arrived in Naha airport. Okinawa prefecture is made up of a group of few islands, with main island where Naha city located is the Okinawa island. Many little islands made up the prefecture, with some are inhabited. Sounds like the perfect island in the sun eh? (^^) And yes.... Okinawa islands are islands in the sun. The whole 5 days we were there it was sunny with clear sky, not a single haze to ruin your view of the mountains and the sea.

Guest House Kerama, access Maibashi monorail station

When we arrived, we took the monorail to our hostel which were not far from the airport and close to the main shopping area of Kokusai dori (dori means street). The monorail is the main train system that will get you to most of the touristy areas in Naha city, however, most beaches and touristy areas has to be reached by bus, which somewhat tourist friendly. Stops for the touristy areas always announced in Japanese and English, however, considering American military base is located in Okinawa, I am surprised to find not more people speaks English on the island.... and they speaks Okinawan dialect... which even Japanese on the main island don't really quite understand. As soon as we arrived we are able to check in, and I found, the further away from Tokyo the cheaper the hostels are. Kyuushuu considerably cheaper than the rest of main island of Japan, but Okinawa even cheaper!

Our hostel has no key for the dorm room nor the entrance, which is a great indication of how safe the area is. They do, however, provide lockers for your precious belongings. They have male only, female only, and mix dorm, which beds are makeshift capsule hotel like rooms. The bed laid with tatami mat and futon (tatami is woven strawmat, very nice, usually used in low traffic areas in Japanese houses, such as the bedroom). My stay there was nice, and I also met some very nice people, foreigners and Japanese there. Definitely recommended Guest House Kerama if you happened to be in Naha city.... around $12 per night for clean and decent place to sleep with self serve kitchen.

Kokusai dori

After we put our belongings away, we head to Kokusai dori just to check things out. It was around 10 to 15 minutes walk from our hostel. The market in Kokusai dori reminded me of the market in Hiroshima, Oosu in Nagoya, Ameyoko in Ueno, and market in Nara. Kokusai dori however, seems to be catered more for tourist more than local people, so somewhat the atmosphere similar to the market in Asakusa. Many vendors sold Shisa, a dog, lion ummm... kinda looks like chinese lion... or dragon? I don't know... but it is a traditional Okinawan decoration, believed to ward off evil spirits, hence also seen on the roof of the houses. They usually comes in pair, with one has open mouth and the other has closed mouth. Open mouth to take in evil spirits, while the close mouth one keep good spirits inside. Anyway, they're cute (^^) I couldn't help but to get a pair of them. Shisa almost looks like something that has a lot of Chinese influence, but maybe because in the past, the Okinawa ancient kingdom of Ryuukyu had a close trade relation with China.

Kokusai dori was very lively, and other than Shisa, many vendors also sell traditional Okinawan sweets called sataan dagi, and local potteries. One vendor sold preserved snake in a jar, which one of the poisonous type that's common in Okinawa. Besides souvenirs, people also sold clothing other traditional crafts and sweets.

The next day, off Vivian went to his first day of class, and while he's in the class, I went off to see Shuri castle, one of the world heritage site. Shuri castle is an ancient castle of the Ryuukyu kingdom, and former capital of the kingdom. One of the famous landmark of the place was the Shureimon, the beautifully crafted gate to the palace. The castle itself was not original, was burned down few times in the past and reconstructed, as well as Shureimon itself. The big disappointment for me was the main part of the castle was under construction, so it was really had to take picture with this white sheet covering the nicest part of the castle :D ! Shuri castle can be reached by monorail, all the way to Shuri monorail station.

Okinawa view from monorail

After I decided to check out Tsuboya dori, pottery district of Naha city. I found best way to hit two places with one monorail ticket was, from Shuri monorail station, catch the monorail bound for Naha airport, get off at Asato station. From there, Tsuboya dori can be reach within 10 minutes walk. Tsuboya district is a single street lined with local pottery stores. The end of the street is Heiwadori market which is located at Kokusaidori. From heiwadori, I walked back to my hostel to wait for Vivian. Beautiful pottery they have there, however as expected, the prices were also beautifully expensive. Definitely will not be getting my nabe pot (nabe - hot pot) from here :D
At the end of the day, I was more exhausted due to the heat and not so much of the walking around. The heat there was outrageous, definitely staying out in the sun was out of the question. My favorite inarizushi, nattoumaki, and cold soba was excellent choice to end my day (and all these good healthy food can be obtained from any good old friendly neighborhood very convenient Japanese convenient stores :D )

Shuri Castle, old capital of Ryuukyu kingdom

The next day, Viv had another whole day at the diving center again, so I decided to catch the ferry to one of the closest island from Okinawa island called Tokashiki island. I went with 4 students from Tokyo, and what seems to be a very touristy island ended up being a very comfortable and beautiful quiet little island. Tokashiki island famous for sea turtle on one of the beach called Tokashiku beach. The ferry terminal was quite close to where my hostel is, less than 5 minutes walk. Ferry access to the island is limited, only twice a day, 10 am and returning ferry at 4 pm. The island itself is gorgeous, many little mini islands which are reachable by water buffalo or canoe. Upon arrival, there is rare bus service that will take you anywhere on the island for flat rate of 710 yen, but somehow we ate lunch first therefore miss the bus. The purpose was to rent bicycle to go around the island, however, somehow on that Wednesday the store owner decided to take holiday :D . The walk to Tokashiku beach was 1 hr up hill, however, in that scorching heat may not be a good idea to walk. One of the local called cab for us, which turned out to be the strangest encounter with a very nice all the sudden turned very angry cab driver lady.

Despite the iffy start of the trip, we quite enjoy Tokashiku beach a lot. My first time snorkeling taught by one of the student triggered memories of why I love the sea. I started following one fish that ended up leading me too far from the shore and hence the asthma attack in the middle of snorkeling back. Scary :( At Tokashiku beach, there is a charge of 500 yen to use the beach facilities, which to be paid at the hotel there, also umbrella, snorkel and scuba diving equiptment rental.... oh, also canoe rental. Not much I could say about this island except for it was terrific! I was hoping to see some turtles, however, since high tide started around 3 or 4 pm, we couldn't see the sea turtles visiting the beach because our ferry leaving at 4pm. :( Well, maybe I will reach this goal one day somewhere :D just keep travelling I guess (^^)
The next day, I decided to start my day quite late, and head to one of the sacred Shinto shrine called SefaUtaki. Okinawan spoke differently from Japanese on the main island, however, another interesting fact is some kanji (chinese character) were read differently too. The Okinawan read the kanji as sefa utaki, however people from mainland Japan will read it saijyou ogoku. Interesting... that's how you can tell who's the tourist :D Okinawan referred Okinawa as uchina, and Naha as Naffa..... very different :D

The site itself is another world heritage site. Sefa Utaki can be reach by bus, number 38 from Naha bus station, which can be reach by monorail, stop at Asahibashi station and the bus station is right below. To get to Sefa Utaki, stop at sefa utaki mae bus stop which will be announced in English.
The track was quite nice with interesting plants and rocks, basically this was where ancient Shinto rituals were performed.
After, I had to wait around 1 hr for the next bus back to Naha bus terminal. Since it's impossible to wait in the heat for 1 hr, I went to nearby soba store to have some kakigoori or shaved ice. Unfortunately the obachan didn't sell any cold soba :( Darn! I sat on benches overlooking the sea, and some people were gliding there. Looks like fun but that kind of height isn't my forte :D

The fortress reminded me of ancient battle scene where soldiers shot arrows
back and forth at each other :D

Back to the hostel, enjoyed some early dinner of grape kakigoori, inarizushi, nattoumaki and wakame soup. Yummm yummm.....
We head back to Nagoya the next day, I think I will someday go back to Okinawa again, because there are still many little islands I didn't get the chance to visit, and the water was gorgeous and clear..... One of those highly recommended island in the sun!