Solo Okinawa Day 5

Day 1 click HERE

Day 2 click HERE

Day 3 click HERE

Day 4 click HERE

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Destination: Okinawa (Japan)

Duration: 5D4N 31 Mar to 4 Apr 2019

Mode of travel: Solo free & easy, with 2 KLOOKs

Flight: Jetstar - $360 with 15kg baggage to and fro (good deal right!)

Accommodation: Naha West Inn $306  https://78west-inn.jp/en/

Weather:  Sunny and extremely windy around 16 to 22 degrees

Currency: approx. SGD1 = ¥80

Time difference: 1 hr ahead of Singapore

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04.04.2019

There was nothing much I could do on the 5th day cos I had to leave the hotel around 6.30am to ensure reaching the airport at 7am for the 9am flight back to Singapore.

Traffic was extremely smooth and I was at the airport within 10mins.

Outside the airport looked like this, no human, no vehicle at sight.  It's a contrast with busy Tokyo airport.

I joined the check in queue.  After 15mins, I estimated that from where I stood, it's gonna take more than an hour for me to reach the counter.

Some years back, I had mentioned that I hated self check-in machines but now, I wished they were here.

I dumped my luggage in one of these lockers which I saw just opposite the check in queue.  I was in a gang jiong state and inserted the coins as stated.  I only realized that I had coined in about S$5 >.< after I had done it *face palm*.

I should had ran away with the door close without paying lolxx....  Nothing valuable inside in the first place, S$5 just few away with my stupidity.

Anyway, my purpose of ditching the luggage was to run to Pork Tamago Onigiri which opens at 7am.

From far, I saw no queue at the eatery.  However, there a group of girls, about 4 or 5 of them looking at the menu board.  I was sure that once they decided what to order, they would go to the cashier.   Waaaaa.....  I was like more than 20m away from the eatery,  I tell you..... I ran like I never ran before, I MUST reach the cashier counter before the girls!!!  I would die if I queue behind them!

I made it!  Just in time.  The girls were done looking at menu and queued behind me the moment I touched the cashier's counter.  I was grasping for breath and the astonished cashier asked if I was ok, waahaahaahaa.......

I made my order and got them within 5mins.

With lots of drama and love, I bought five yummilious Okinawa's onigiri for my family as dinner.

Pork Tamago Onigiri is located on the 1st floor at the Domestic Area.  I don't have the unit number but you won't miss it, the area is not big.

After which I head back for check-in again at the long queue.

My flight was 9am and located the boarding gate and decide to go in at 8.15am.  I didn't want to go in early to sit and do nothing.

I continued exploring Naha Airport.  Made my way to the 3rd and found a quiet A&W.

I can't understand the queue at Jewel's A&W, ever.

All shops were open and busy at 8am.

When it was about time, I went to a FamilyMart which was diagonally opposite the boarding gate.  I bought sandwiches to eat on board and slowly sipping my green tea latte till 8.15am.

I went to the gate, the crew told me wrong gate, pointed me to the left.  Alright, still had time, I walked to the left most gate.  Shocked, I was told wrong gate!  This time I began to panic.  Till today, I still don't know why none of them was able to tell me the correct gate.  Whatever it was, I ran to ALL the boarding gates in Naha Airport.  The cruel joke was:

None of the gates I ran to were correct until the last one.  The correct international boarding gate was at the right most end of the airport.  I was panting and sweating, my mouth and throat was dry like desert.

The Jetstar cabin crew was waving her arms shouting repeatedly "Singapore, Singapore, last call for boarding now!!"  Waaaaa lau eh.......

I ran to the water cooler to save my desert, waved back at the crew, only managed to get a few mouthfuls of water and ran up the waving crew plane about 10 to 15mins before it took off, hur hur....  If hubby was with me, he would had scolded me to death, haahaahaaa.....

Most of my free & easy trips will have minor hiccups like this which all became life time memories.  I always share them to my friends where they get the same dose of laugh bombs no less than listening to Kumar.  I ever lost my wallet, lost my phone, left passports in hotel when already reached airport, went to the wrong airport, cab smoke out on the way to airport etc.... oh my.....

So, for this case, if I missed my plane, will Jetstar re-issue me another ticket or do I have to purchase another air ticket?  Insurance covers miss flights??

Anyway, I was safely on board.

I am not sure when I can come back......

After I calmed my nerves, ordered mineral water on board (it's so expensive but myself was to blame).

Sandwich was yummy but I ate only one.

Bored to death on plane with no entertainment and I wasn't really able to sleep.

Just a minute before landing.

Thank god for the safe flight, I love our Changi Airport.

My family's dinner from Okinawa's Pork Tamago Onigiri.

I had tugged this butter loafs from FamilyMart also.

Quite like it and couldn't find it at JB City Square's FamilyMart, sad.

My shopping hauls wasn't extensive, mostly food.

Everybody say must buy Okinawa sweet potato tarts so I bought.

It's individually packed, so it's easy to distribute to friends and family.

The reviews were fantastic but I personally didn't fancy them and had a hard finishing them.

This was a combination of sweet potato and pumpkin.

This post completes my 5 Days Solo trip in Okinawa.  Will be packing up my luggage again around 2nd week of Nov to Xi An China with my hubby while my elder son is in NS and the baby one on internship.

Despite of me assuring hubby that we could some save money with free & easy, he preferred to be "safe" with package tour (he's not ready to take another hiccup and screw up from me, haahaa...).  To give and take, respect the bread winner is the way to a harmonious marriage.... moreover he is paying, very 好命 already, no reason not to go along!

We secured a "travel with celebrity" package with CTC Travel.  It's our first time with them and also our first time Rayson Tan.  Trying different modes and ways of travel is good experience as well.

Looking forward excitingly!

No concrete travel plans for next year.  I am looking for a job before I exhaust my bank account and the destination/s will depend on how much I can earn.

This space will probably be a little dusty till then.

Meanwhile, life goes on, do swing over to

https://ordinaryauntie.blogspot.com

which takes over Dayre.

Bye bye!

Solo Okinawa Day 4

Day 1 click HERE

Day 2 click HERE

Day 3 click HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Destination: Okinawa (Japan)
Duration: 5D4N 31 Mar to 4 Apr 2019
Mode of travel: Solo free & easy, with 2 KLOOKs
Flight: Jetstar - $360 with 15kg baggage to and fro (good deal right!)
Accommodation: Naha West Inn $306  https://78west-inn.jp/en/
Weather:  Sunny and extremely windy around 16 to 22 degrees
Currency: approx. SGD1 = ¥80
Time difference: 1 hr ahead of Singapore

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03.04.2019

Itinerary:

8.00am    Pick up

9.10am    Okinawa Athletic Park

10.45am  Cape Hedo
11.30am  Daisekirinzan Park
1.15pm    Three Yanbaru Villages Tourist Information Office
2.50pm to 5.50pm    Ocean Expo Park (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and Native Okinawa Village)
8.00pm     Dantou Sakai Red Dragonfly Restaurant

Sorry, I took so long to get this post done >.<

The 4th day was a guided tour which I booked from KLOOK.
S$72.89 include pick up from Naha to 3 attractions: Cape Hedo, Daisekirinzan Park and Churaumi Aquarium with entrance tickets.

Entry Tix for Daisekirinzan Park was ¥1200 (approx S$16) and Churaumi Aquarium was ¥1480 for group (approx S$19).  So KLOOK's deal wasn't too bad.

There were a few pick up points, Double Tree Hotel was the nearest to me.

There were a few of us waiting at the same pick up point.  The bus came slightly late, but no biggie.

(This pretty lady wore a thin singlet all the way, her arms were freeze to red like a cooked lobster, cause of tragic unknown.)

It's another windy day, great that I was in my "fearless" warm hoodie dress (I will die in her singlet).

The comfortable ride started slightly pass 8am.

Audio for tourists, I actually preferred to sleep than to listen lolxx...

We reached around Okinawa Athletic Park for a toilet break.

Took a pic at Kariyushi Gate cos it means something happy and lucky.

Around 11am we reached Cape Hedo.

I spend most of the time taking photos and didn't have enough time to really enjoy the scenery and had missed out several parts of the park.   What could I do with 10 15 minutes?  Sigh..... so sad, not sure if I would come back...

You can read about the parts I missed at this website:

https://okinawahai.com/cape-hedo/

Facing the sea, the view on the right hand side was better, all my tour mates felt the same too.

And this was Cape Hedo.

The proof that I was here, heehee...

Beautiful place with no crowd.  Do put it in your list if you are visiting Okinawa.  Ideally it would be nice to relax, stroll around and have a cup of drink at the cafe.

Less than half an hour's drive we were at Daisekirinzan Park.

I always like to include a hiking in an overseas trip to enjoy nature.  One day, I may not be able to do this anymore, my stamina is dropping like my bank account.

I chose a 700m trail (also the recommended trail) since we were given 45mins thinking that it wouldn't be a problem at all.

Some rock formations were named, some were obvious and some needed a bit of imagination.

Giant's Arm Chair

Mushroom

悟空, the hill was named the same as Monkey God.  Also the largest heap of rocks seen over here.

Not sure why my weird expression.

On every trip, sure would bumped onto silly people de... This time saw 2 women, wearing (maybe) Ferragamo court shoes and carrying branded bags.  One kept checking on her bag to see if it's being scratched by the rocks, another one kept looking at her shoes.  Both entertained me for a brief while like crowns.

Dressing appropriately is more important than dressing expensively.

I began to sweat a little with all the climbing.

Little sprouts making it's way from the cracks of the rock.

Dragon

This was so far away....

Felt like Jurassic Park.

They called this a spiritual stone which wards evil spirits.  So I gave it a pad and moved on.

Cat Protecting the Forest.

It's job since it's so high up.

Magical view with the sea blending with the sky.

Pelvis Rock where ladies touch for fertility and health.

A rock on the ground was "polished" till shine by numerous soles.

Sea shell?  Snail shell?

Fault.

At this point, I knew I was running late and began to panic.  If only I could row down from the mountain.

"Treasure Hunt" for the named rock.

No matter how fast I walked, I still couldn't see the end of the trail.  There wasn't any short cut I could exit.

Waterfall Banyan Tree

I finally made it down but all my tour members were nowhere seen.  The bus wasn't around either.  Then a shuttle bus driver saw my Hip Hop Bus Tour sticker, picked me up and drove me to mid hill were my tour bus was waiting.

Boarded with the whole bus starring at me, I bowed and apologized for being 15mins late

-____-|||

Overall this hiking activity is not strenuous with smooth paths and constructed stairs.  Suitable for urban noobs like me who wants some nature; good for children (as long as they don't itchy hand go and touch the rocks, some are sharp) and senior citizens if they are able to overcome some stairs.  Just don't get carried away like me if you are following a tour group.

We were drove to Three Yanbaru Villages Tourist Information Office and had lunch at their foodcourt.

A few stalls were closed, not much options, ordered my lunch from this Inobaru stall.

 ¥600 for noodle soup with pork slices and a onigiri.

Okinawa noodles were different from usual ramen.  The broth was less heavy.

Onigiri was yummy.  Rice grains were puffy and mildly sweet, plum sauce within made it surprisingly appetizing.

Went in Yui Cafe.

Bought a sweet potato cake to try,  ¥160.

The tasted and texture was exactly sweet potato.  I wished the cake was softer as a cake would be.

There's a souvenir and local products shop.

Just walked around and didn't buy anything.

Categorized bins for recycling.  Not sure if Singapore will ever be like this.

Nobody was working in tourist information office, but it's open for tourists to pick up brochures/leaflets on various places of interests.

Set off after lunch, one hour on the road, we reached Ocean Expo Park and were lead to the main attraction Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.

The Central Gate looked like our Sentosa.

The guide walked very fast, I was practically running after her.  It started to drizzle, the group went even faster lolxx...

Manage to take photo of Emerald Beach while waiting for our guide to purchase entrance tickets for us.

After the tickets were distributed to everybody, the guide disappeared herself.  The rest of the people from the group vanished into the crowd.

Mountain people mountain sea, felt like our S.E.A. Aquarium.

I went to tanks with lesser crowd to take some photos of less popular creatures.

I walked through most exhibits almost without stopping cos I was only interested to see one thing.

 From the main entrance, all I took was 15mins to reach The Kuroshio Sea.

The tank is 10m deep, width 35m and length 27m.

Behold, the Spotted Whale Shark.

And there's 2 of them!  I was here just for them.

One of which is called Jinta, a male whale shark which had lived in the aquarium for 24 years.  Back then he was 4.6m long in 1995 and now 8.7m long and is still growing.  But I had no idea which is Jinta 😂

The whale sharks were so majestic....

In the tank, there's this hilarious looking zombie fish, waahaahaa.....

Didn't look like it here, but this manta ray was about the size of a queen bed.

Here's a video of the swimming giants:

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There's a lot to see at The Shark Research Lab.

Bi-section was cool.

No pics but here's a video of a live one:

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This was somehow very disturbing.  Why did they kill a pregnant whale shark?

I looked at the specimen of the fetus and felt so sad :(

This giant squid was about 1.5m in length.

Also saw an unusual star fish that looked so puffy like a stuffed toy.

After which I ruined a series of photos, luckily they weren't too important.  Like any other attractions, there was a souvenir shop at the exit.

It's flooded with people, things not cheap, but people were buying happily.

No crowd at the Aqua Lab and I like it here.

As I act smart and didn't look at the map, I missed Exploring the Kuroshio Sea which allows viewing of the whale sharks from above T__T

Photo from: https://churaumi.okinawa/en/area/the-kuroshio/exploration/

By the time I was out, the Dolphin show which was outside the aquarium just ended.  Went to look at the turtle pool and manatee pool which were bare captive pools.  If a man made natural enclosure can be constructed, it will be more pleasant for the animals as well as visitors.

With about an hour left, I wasn't able to explore all the attractions in Ocean Expo Park.

Only managed to visit the Native Okinawa Village.

Very few visitors here.

The entrance was really cute as if it's build for shorties like me.

I took my own sweet time and had the whole house all by myself.

Fat butt pic.

I am actually quite upset about my weight gain but my diet plan always fail within a week.  Butt so enormous, what am I going to do to myself.....

Iphone's portrait mode can turn anybody into a photographer de, heehee...

There were a few other attractions with entrance fees so I had to give them a miss due to time constrain.

I slowly made my way back to the bus towards the Central Gate.  I had to make sure I wouldn't be late again.

So we had about 3hrs in Ocean Expo Park.  Enough time for the aquarium but probably needs a full day for the entire Park.

Journey back to Naha City was about 2.5hrs non-stop ride (my bladder nearly burst >.<)

I wanted to enjoy my last night in Okinawa with Crab buffet at Double Tree Hotel, unfortunately it's only available for lunch.

So I randomly stopped at a restaurant on the way back to my hotel.

Dantou Sakai Red Dragonfly Restaurant 団欒酒場赤とんぼ

(may not be the exact name cos it's translate from Japanese)

11-19 Higashimachi, Naha, Okinawa 900-0034, Japan

Alcohol is sold here but the place was decent, there were families with young children dinning here too.  The crowd was made up of both tourists and locals.

Along with rice I had:

Tamago ¥480

It's nice especially with silver fish as topping.

Butter clams with corns and potato ¥580 

Wished there were more clams than potatoes.

Kushi Yaki Grill ¥680 

A bit disappointed cos most of the skewers weren't grilled enough, I like meat to be more brown.

Bought a big banana from the Family Mart before going back to the hotel.  Always constipate whenever I travel.

I was very tired but I had to force myself to pack up so that I could wake up and go the next morning.

Why good times passed by so fast?  Should had make it 7days instead of 5 lolxx...

Day 5 is going to be the last post and a very short one.