Yes, finally, I already booked my ticket in May and now it’s already time to travel to Okinawa. I spent the night first at the airport hotel “Toyoko Inn” so I wouldn’t had to rush. Monday the 15th I flew to Okinawa. It is still a 2,5 hour flight. I landed around 5:30pm. Stepped out of the airplane and it felt like a sauna. It was still around 32 degrees.
From the airport I took the monorail to Station Akamine, that took only one stop. From there it is a 4 minute walk to my hostel/hotel “Grand Cabin Hotel’. This time I am spending a longer time. I will be staying 16 days.
So the first day I was more exploring around Naha. In the center of Naha there is a big shopping street “Kokusai Shopping Street”. It was to far to walk so I went by monorail. It only took 6 stops so 13 minutes. Easy way to travel :). The shopping street gives a bit Miami vibes with all the palm trees. The weather was also very nice, maybe a little bit hot but I can’t complain. Only at one moment the sun was gone and it began to rain and not just a little bit but just heavy rain. Luckily I was at Starbucks at that time. Having my lovely ice peach smoothie some kind of thing. It only rained about 15 minutes and then the sun came back for the rest of the day. As soon the sun came back everything was instantly dry again.
I think I spend a few hours there. There a so many great shops to see and so many gadgets you can buy. I really wanted to buy something but I reminded myself that I will do all the shopping in September.
To escape the heat I really had to cool down at the beach. The nearest beach is Naminoue Beach. It is a really small beach, in compare with other beaches this does not have the most beautiful view but it is really a nice beach just to sunbath and swim. The water was very clear and felt very nice. A good spot to cool down. There are also 3 lifeguards at work. They really paid al lot of attention of the environment. Of course there is always one “crazy” person. A man ran in the water and was shouting “Ooohw I’m so lucky to be here” he repeated that many times and then he swam like a lunatic :p. He also had given a few warnings from the lifeguards.
Next to the beach on top of a high cliff there is a shrine. It is called “Naminoue-gu Shrine”. It is not that big but it is located beautifully.
If you want to see the overall highlights from the island you can go on a bus tour. I saw many must see locations and also it is easier to access by bus. Also you will meet al kind sort of people. I met an awesome girl from Zambia. She works and live now in Tokyo. I spend my day just talking and laughing with her. Only it was too bad that she was leaving the day after tomorrow. But we will meet up again when I’m back in Tokyo. Also there were some French people but they did not bother to talk with anyone, a Korean man but he couldn’t speak any English but he was very friendly same as the Japanese people and there was a man from California who I also talked with. He was also traveling the first part alone and then he will meet up with his wife in a few weeks.
One other highlight we saw was the Glass Boat. You sail towards the coral and stop above there. Part of the floor is made of glass, allowing you to see the coral and various types of fish from the boat.
Outside the boat you can also see the many fishes swimming. The water is so clear that you can see everything.
From watching the sea-life in open clear water we went to an aquarium. This aquarium is called the “Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium”. This is one of the biggest and best aquariums in the world. There is also a famous whale shark you can see.
My favorite part from the tour is “Cape Manama”. There you see a rock formation resembles an elephant, hence the name “Elephant Rock”. Can you see an Elephant? 😉
Also the surroundings are very breathtaking.
The last stop is the “American Village”. Everything about it is American. Just amazing how they build an entire village resembling America. Too bad we only had an hour there. It was too short. Also I was 5 minutes late for the bus. We were wandering a bit to far from the bus. Thankfully the bus driver didn’t drove away without us.
For now this will be part 1 about Okinawa. Otherwise this blog will be too long and you might get bored from all my stories :p.
So I will be seeing you at part 2!
-XOXO-
San