~*~ Okinawa ~*~

I recently returned to Tokyo from a six day vacation in paradise, otherwise known as Okinawa. Okinawa is one of the South West islands of Japan and definitely the place to be if you're looking to enjoy hot and sunny weather, or a week of bliss lounging on the beach.

And so it begins...

All packed up and ready to go the night before, I was forced to decide between paying approximately $60 for a cab to the airport, or catching the last train of the night before in order to catch my flight (at 6:30am) the next day. It's times like these that I remind myself so much of my dad; I chose the latter. When I got to the airport I was stopped and questioned by security, after deciding that I was no real threat, a couple of the security guards walked me over to some benches for me to spend the night. Apparently flights stop completely for the duration of the night, so the entire airport was deserted. I was starving when I got there, only to find that all the restaurants and little shops were closed. At this point I knew it was going to be a looooong night. Thankfully I found a trusty vending machine close by where I discovered my new love of prawn flavoured chips! So delicious. (I thought ketchup chips were an inventive flavour - well, prawn is the new ketchup my friends) Let's hope this flavour makes its way to Canada! Haha, that could be wishful thinking, I guess I'll have to stock up. As I munched on my prawn flavoured chips, I decided that things weren't so bad afterall. Most of the night I squirmed around in discomfort on a rock hard bench; it seemed as though every time I managed to fall asleep, so would a body part. It was awful to say the least. Feeling like a zombie in the morning, I met up with Steph to check in. She greeted me with a big smile looking well slept and chipper for our flight.
Excited to see the stores open, I grabbed some food - which turned out to be a soggy sandwich (one reason to never purchase a prepackaged sandwich that contains tomato), I considered this a lesson learned.

Now onto the good stuff. The flight went by rather quickly (after a 13 hour flight to Tokyo though, just about any flight would seem short). Peering out the window we caught a nice view of Mt. Fuji! This was a nice distraction from my fear of dying which was triggered by the most turbulence I have ever experienced on a plane ride. I'm generally okay with flying, but extreme and continuous turbulence gets me a bit nervous. When our plane made its safe landing in Naha, Steph and I managed to navigate our way to the hostel via bus and foot. While walking we noticed that the area of Naha is less than aesthetically pleasing, but as long as we would find a beach somewhere we weren't overly bothered with this. When we arrived at the hostel 'Monkey's Inn' (one of the cheapest hostels in Okinawa) we met up with part of our 'vacation crew' Sophie, and the boys. We dropped off our things, and hitched a ride from the hostel owner to the beach. Beach number one was quite nice, the girls and I lounged around chatting, as the boys frolicked in the sand. Our first day of doing nothing was quite enjoyable. Later that night we head out to a festival near by and indulged in some drinks, as we stood in awe of some fireworks...before continuing the drinking party on a beach near our hostel. After a long day, I was happy to make it back to 'Monkey's Inn' where I slept like a baby.

On day two a few of the girls and I parted ways with the beach goers to visit the famous aquarium of Okinawa. We figured a day at the aquarium would be a nice change, since we would be spending the rest of the week on the beaches of Tokashiki. We kicked things off with an ice cream cone (I went with the Strawberry). Always good, and always refreshing. Then we went to a dolphin show! these adorable creatures never cease to amaze me (however, after watching a documentary on dolphin captivity and slaughter in Japan called "The Cove", I don't think I will ever attend another one). Then it was time to stroll through the aquarium. After getting around the somewhat depressing and disturbing elements of observing these majestic animals in captivity, I appreciated my upclose and personal encounter with these spectacular creatures. I favoured the sea turtles, and the tropical fish, and I really enjoyed the 'touch tank' where I happily played with some starfish. The whales also seemed to be a main attraction at this aquarium. On the way out I had my first taste of "Okonomiyaki", which translates to "what you like" or "what you want" and "yaki" meaning grilled. I couldn't name all of the ingredients, but I can certainly tell you that this was by far one of the best meals I have ever had; Just heavenly. (I even foresee this dish being rival of takoyaki). Our long day at the aquarium was followed by another long evening of drinks at 'Rehab'. For those of you planning an Okinawa getaway, allow me to advise you on sparing no time in Naha - there isn't much to see there. The beach is where it's at!

On day three, we packed up and rolled out. Hopped on a ferry to our next destination, the small island of Tokashiki. Here we reserved a nice big cabin, which ten of us would share for three nights. The owner of the cabin was nice enough to pick us up from the ferry port to drive us back to the cabin. He actually became our chauffeur for the rest of our stay, driving us to and from the beach daily, as well as restaurants (after calling to make our reservations) it was fantastic. We dropped off our things and cracked open a drink to unwind before being dropped off at the beach. -- The. Beach. Was. Breathtaking. -- I had never seen such clear blue water. Across the water were more gorgeous islands in the distance. Crystal clear water, palm trees, white sand, under a clear, and sunny sky - I really don't think we could have asked for more (Especially considering the weather forecast which predicted rain for the latter half of our trip!). After our first day at the beach, we discovered an amazing little restaurant near by which we frequented throughout our stay. I enjoyed a delicious tofu medley set (on three separate occasions throughout the week) yeah. It was that good. If there is one thing to be noted about Okinawa apart from its beaches, I would definitely say it's the food!

Day three - six mostly consisted of this routine: beach all day, drinks all night. I spent my time on the beach reading some school work; yeah, I'm a nerd. My logic is, a vacation is that much more enjoyable when you know you won't be stressed the minute you get back. In a weird way, feeling productive helped me to relax that much more. So there I laid, on a lovely beach, reading (and roasting) in the sun. So I got a wicked sunburn... but in my defense, I must say that for a tropical region, sunscreen is scarce, tiny in portion and extremely overpriced! This left me baffled! I paid nearly $7.00 for a pocket sized bottle of sunscreen. It seriously looks like it came from the Shoppers Drugmart travel section. I kid you not, a whopping 30ml bottle. Now you know to BYOS (bring your own sunscreen). For those big spenders out there, you can find yourself a 'normal' sized bottle for $20.00. On Thursday we sampled a different restaurant that our guest house owner drove us to. The chicken curry was fabulous (Japanese curry is much more sweet than spicy, but just as good as the spicy stuff). We revisted this place on our last night (Saturday) and I tried the fried fish. so.so.so. good! I didn't have one meal in Okinawa that I did not absolutely love.

On Friday we had to move to stay at a different guest house for the night, since someone had booked our initial place for that night. This seemed like a bigger inconvenience at first, but it worked out rather well. Friday was our first, and only day of rain. This turned out to be an okay thing since we were all in rough shape from all the partying. I slept pretty much all day, and I slept well. It was great. When I woke up, the girls and I walked around in the rain for a bit, and dined at our favourite little restaurant (the one with the tofu!). The beach and our restaurant were only a five minute walk from the new guest house. After lunch, I spent the late afternoon-evening reading and relaxing. Ahhh 'C'est la vie' !

The next day would be our last day at the beach. Thankfully we were graced with more sunshine! I did some trekking around to thoroughly appreciate the landscape and checkout the hidden areas; I ended up following a path which lead me to a lookout. From the top of this large hill, I got a 360 degree view of the beaches, and surrounding islands. I stayed up there for a bit just to take it all in, and try to believe where I was. When I came back down, Steph and I walked over to a little desert booth I had been eyeing. They served tasty treats called a "mango shave ice", and on this scorcher of a day, I couldn't have been happier to get my hands on one. Probably one of the more exotic desserts I've tried in Japan, containing mango, red beans, mochi balls (soft/chewy rice balls) shaved ice, and condensed milk. I love how the Japanese have compeltely re-defined red beans for me - from your average lentil, to a pleasant dessert.
After enjoying our last day on the beach, it was time to say goodbye and spend our final night back at the other (cabin style) guest house. There we circled around the table on our deck and enjoyed a night full of drinking games the way we did throughout most of the week.

I thought after enough drinks that night, I would have the best sleep of a lifetime. As it turned out my last sleep in this cabin was the worst. I must say, I'm not the camper/outdoors type, but I generally find it bearable. When we had first arrived I couldn't help but notice the geckos crawling around. However, I was informed that they are friendly, harmless and would eat the bugs in the cabin; so they were loud at night, but I learned to like them. The spiders, mosquitos, and mice on the otherhand...well they were another story. The mice were a new addition to our cabin, I figured some food/crumbs must have been left around, and maybe a door open while we were gone. At night I would listen to my ipod to tune out the irritating calls of various instects and those loud geckos, only this time it didn't work so well. I laid on my (rock hard) tatami bed, wide awake and waiting for something to crawl on me, or bite me. Though the only bites I got were mosquito bites, I almost had a heart attack when I felt something scramble across my body. Gecko or mouse, I can't say - but it scared me to death. It was at this point that I decided to get up, grab my blanket, and migrate. My friends....I spent my last night...sleeping on a table. hahaha I felt rescued by the sunrise, happy to pack up my things that morning and head back to the comfort of my own room!

We made a quick exit to catch the ferry back to the main land of Okinawa. The others caught an early flight, while Steph, Alice, Hanna and I had some time to kill. First we hit up Starbucks for a few hours...ohhhh Starbucks! how I missed you! (for those of you who don't know, I have been a devout Starbucks drinker for the past few years now) mmmm...grande-sugarfree-nonfat-vanilla-caramel-macchiato. a hot cup of perfection. what a treat. Then we browsed around some of the stores on the main street before making our way to the airport. At the airport we wandered around dipping into the samples at every food booth and purchased some post cards for our loved ones (which Steph and I worked diligently at writing on our plane ride back).
One ferry, one flight, and three train rides later I was finally back to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. The radical contrast of Okinawa and Tokyo makes it so difficult to believe that I never even left the country.

The walk back from the station, through my neighborhood to my residence was monumental. I noticed something groundbreaking...for the first time since I'd been in Japan, an area felt familiar. I walked back on autopilot, taking the same route I take on a daily basis on my way to and from school; only this time - arriving back from Okinawa - it felt like home. I felt comfortable, and a sense of relief, and in the instant that I realized all of this I couldn't help but smile.

So that was my trip to Okinawa in a nutshell. A phenomenal vacation, and the perfect escape from school and Tokyo city life (not that there's anything wrong with life in Tokyo).

Next on the list: Kamakura (home of the world's largest outdoor Buddha) ! The fun never stops here in Japan.

As always, much love. Miss you all ! xoxo