On the morning of Boxing Day, I caught my flight to Naha, Okinawa. I flew via PeachAir, as it is relatively inexpensive, however I was very surprised by a couple things -- such as they didn't check my id at all and they didn't start boarding people until the time the flight was supposed to be leaving -- so as a result, we ended up arriving slightly later than anticipated. After arriving, I got myself to my hotel, and then tried to get myself orientated a bit about where exactly I was and what things were around -- you know, all those usual things that you end up doing when you go to a new place. Although I have to say, somehow Naha wasn't quite what I was expecting (although I can't really say what exactly I was expecting)
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| Beach in Naha a relatively short walk from my hotel |
The next day, I met up with Narumi, who I work together with and was coincidentally also in Okinawa some of the same days I was. After meeting up, we took a stroll down Kokusai-dori, a main shopping/eating area in Naha. While we were there, we ate some Okinawan doughnuts and Narumi challenged me to try drinking Goya juice (Goya is a Japanese bitter melon). It wasn't so bad, until after you stopped drinking! We ended up doing it together! The two of us also got ambushed by a lady trying to convince people to buy things from the shop that she works at. She had a LOT to say! I was kind of amused because she was talking so quickly and really trying to be convincing, and so every so often, she'd lightly smack me with the papers she was holding and tell me not to laugh. She also told Narumi to talk to me about what she was saying -- in "Canada-go" -- which would mean Canada language. That definitely got a laugh out of us. But it seemed like she honestly didn't know that Canadians speak English, not our own unique language.
After spending some time in Kokusai-dori, we decided to go and check out Shuri-jo (Shuri castle). Once we got out of the station, we were ambushed yet again! This time by a man working for a taxi company, and he was telling us about a nice beach where we could go on a glass bottom boat, and then the driver would bring us back to Shuri-jo afterwards. Narumi wanted to go, and so I figured, why not? It's not like I would've done it on my own, so it was nice to do it together with someone. The ride out there was quite nice -- we went through this rural area where they were growing all kinds of sugarcane and we also passed by some banana groves as well. Our driver was quite talkative and told us many things about the area and what foods are good to eat in Okinawa -- things like that. When we arrived at the beach, it was indeed beautiful!
We got our tickets to go on the boat and took a nice ride to a few different locations where we saw many colorful and different fish. I have to say, it was also one of the nicest glass bottom boats that I've been on as they had both sides of the glass SUPER clean so it was really easy to see into the water (often times the outside is scummy making it difficult to see...but not this time!)
Afterwards we took a few pictures of the beach and then our driver took us to a local restaurant that served the Okinawan soba that Narumi wanted to try. It was good!
After that, our driver took us back to Shuri-jo, and we wandered around through there for a while. After going through the castle, it was already starting to get dark and Narumi's boyfriend had finished work for the day, so we headed back to where we started so she could meet up with her boyfriend, and I could head back to my hotel for the night. All in all, it was a really fun day, and so nice to spend time together with someone else too!!
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| Shuri-jo |
The next day, I hopped onto a ferry and went to Zamami Island -- which had a really nice beach, but I didn't get to spend so much time there because the ferry was about 2 hours to get there, and then I had about 2 hours for the beach and then had to get back on the last ferry to go back. That small amount of time was a little disappointing, but because it was actually raining on either side of my time on the beach, I'd say it actually worked out not too bad.
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| View from the ferry |
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| The beach on Zamami Island where I hung out |
Following that, I wanted to take a little bus tour to go out to an aquarium, the pineapple park and a couple of pretty viewpoints, but unfortunately, there was no space. Well, no problem, I'd just do it on my own instead. Except....I didn't realize quite how far away it was. It took about 3 hours just to get to the bus terminal, and then the local bus that was supposed to take me to the next place I wanted to go was very rare and wouldn't show up for another hour after I arrived. So, I opted to walk 30 minutes out to the pineapple park on my own. At the pineapple park, you get to ride in these pineapple cars (which are fully automated) and have commentary as you go through the area. It was interesting, but I really wanted to get out and walk through on my own and have a closer look at some of the plants. No such luck though.
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| Pineapples, pineapples, everywhere |
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| The pineapple car |
After the pineapple park I thought about going out to some of the other areas that would've been hit on the bus tour, but because they were at least another 30 minutes away (by bus, not guaranteeing the bus would be there when I was too) and I'd have to walk back to the bus terminal as well, I decided I'd probably be better off to just have enjoyed what I did, so I made a little late afternoon snack stop at a fruit café and then headed back to Naha, arriving mid-evening.
The next day, which was my final full day in Okinawa, had absolutely beautiful weather, so I decided I'd head out for a day to spend on the beach. I went back to Zamami island, but this time I was smarter about it -- I took the high speed boat, which not only took half the time of the normal ferry, but also it left earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon, giving me much more time out there. Not to mention, it was a much more fun ride -- more up and down jumps rather than the boring straight motion of the ferry. So, that day when I arrived, I took a little hike out to the viewpoint on the island, and then spent the rest of my time relaxing on the beach. That evening, after getting back to Okinawa, I took another stroll down Kokusai-dori, checking out all of the pretty things in the various silver shops along the way.
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| View from Zamami Island |
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| Pretty view from the boat |
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| Sunset at Naha ferry terminal |
The day that I was leaving Okinawa, had (of course) the nicest weather since I'd been there. Since I didn't leave til after lunch, I took a quick little trip to a Chinese garden that was kind of near my hotel (and had free admission!) and spent some time strolling around in there. I followed that up with a quick trip into a silver shop to buy a pretty little ring that I'd had my eye on. Then it was back to Osaka (when I got there it felt really cold! It was windy and a little rainy, so I cancelled my plans to try out the non-ice skating rink and just headed into Kobe after eating supper).
New Year's morning was spent wandering around in Kobe and taking a nice stroll down "Flower Road" which amazingly had all kinds of pretty annual type flowers growing! I had to check to make sure that it was in fact January!
And that, was my winter vacation this year.
For more pictures from this vacation, click here.
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