Sunrise

Sunrise
Watching the sunrise on my balcony

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Okinawa Aquarium

Love this place
My first visitors came to Okinawa October 13th! It was so much fun having my mom, sister and baby Eithan here. I even bought him a crib which will stay in my apartment for anyone who visits and has a little one (AKA Martene and Chantal xo)! 







So during their time here we visited the amazing Ocean Expo Park near the city Nago on Okinawa Island. This is the largest aquarium in Asia and was breathtaking. It reminded me a lot of an aquarium I visited on the Sunny Coast in Australia when I lived there in 2006/2007. It was at that aquarium in Oz where I went diving in a massive tank full of sharks and stingrays in order to get out of a very awkward date I was on at the time. Poor guy had no idea what he was getting himself into, until we ended up wearing diving suits and walking/bouncing around in a MASSIVE tank full of some of the most terrifying underwater creatures! Anyhoo this blog isn't about that date or even about that dive but had to re-call that very funny memory from the past, at least for Jodie's entertainment!

He is so excited
Eithan had a blast looking at and observing all the fish, sharks and underwater creatures. He was in his element closely tracking their every move! He really connected with the sea turtles flying through the water and the crazy lobsters!
Ocean Expo Park
Mom and baby Eithan

Sister Carly

Crazy lobsters

Ewww eels!

Gorgeous to stand in front of

Eithn was so giggly as the sharks and rays swam by us

I wanted to jump in there too!

Awww what a lovely moment
The aquarium is actually just a small section of Ocean Expo Park. Included in your pass is the dolphin arena, where the cuties perform a live show daily. There is a traditional Okinawan village where you can see traditional life, artwork and foods from the area. There is a massive garden as well with lots of trees and pathways to stroll through. Lots more to see as well but can’t quite remember all the details! I would recommend this visit to anyone who loves nature, animals and beauty. Its about 20 bucks entrance or you can apply for a year pass if you live in Okinawa, costing around 40 bucks!

The Ocean Expo Park is an hourish drive from my house and what a lovely drive it is!! Driving from the busy South part of the island to the peaceful North is like going on a mini holiday. Okinawa is so much like Hawaii and the drive up North just reminds you of that once again. Its is so gorgeous with its secluded white sand beaches, off-shore islands and palm trees galore. You can drive to the many islands using the bridges that connect them. The newest one, built only 5 years ago is gorgeous and connects Kouri Island to Yagiji Island which then connects to Okinawa. Truly paradise and so lovely that you can hop in your car and drive there, instead of taking a boat or flying which is how you have to get to the majority of the islands near Okinawa! I will attach the location of these islands at the end of the blog so you can look it up. 
Here we go

Fall day at the beach
Funky roadside shop
Love the pink car to the right
Wish i could read the green sign
Cute
What a view




Reminds me of Vancouver Island
I went back to find this tree and get a photo, LOVE IT

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Lunch in the the trees

Well I officially have my 4th visitor here to Okinawa. I still need to blog about my first three visitors which will come in the near future. I have been in a bit of a funk lately and not in the mood to write. I am feeling much better now, so the story continues.... Emily flew all the way here to spend a glorious week with me. So far we have had some mini adventures around the South of the Island where I live. This weekend we will take a trip up North to explore the side of Okinawa I have rarely seen myself. She flew in on Sunday night (Oct 30th) and luckily I had the Monday off work in exchange for the signing contest my school had on Sunday. Emily's first day in Okinawa was filled with driving along the coastline, eating soba in a tree restaurant by the beach, discovering a "deserted island" 20 mins from my house and seriously offending the sacred spirits of Chinen by innocently taking photos of hermit crabs! I know this last one in confusing but I will explain with photos ect..


That cat is real believe it or not!

Happy Halloween



OISHII (yummy in Japanese)
This is a unique Okinawan Soba Restaurant which is built into some gorgeous trees across from the beach on Ojimia Island. Only a 20 minute drive from my house and across from the most amazing and famous tempura shop! The meal you see above is Yaki Soba with vegetables. The other three dishes will be semi foreign to most of you. On the far right is Okinawan seaweed soup, on the top right is a seaweed jelly dessert that tasted like lemon curd and on the top left was seaweed in a vinegar base. Before enjoying your meal you must say "Itadakimasu" which means "I receive". We are saying thanks to the animals and plants for receiving their lives. When you are finished you must say "Gochisousama deshita" which expresses appreciation for the food. Emily and I always try to say this during meals, even at home. The food was amazing, so filling and all for 5 bucks, and oh so OISHII!!!!


Next stop was the hidden beach, and OMG I live this close to paradise...







I guess this beach isn't exactly hidden but it was down a long windy road. We stumbled upon it after lunch while driving home. At first glance it reminded me of the rocks you see in Thailand or Halong Bay, Vietnam. They also operate a little glass bottom boat which you can take out to the reef and see turtles and various fish. The price is steep at 20 bucks per person but I guess if you have never been in a glass bottom boat then it would be cool! We didn't stay here long because it was a rainy day so we continued our drive home and came across a world heritage site called Sefa-Utaki. 


This is a sacred place and regarded as extremely holy. It has strong ties with the religious organization established by the Ryukyu Kingdom during its era. When we got there we ran into a film crew who was doing a TV show about the place. I really wanted to get onto Japanese TV haha, that would be so fun! I guess I need to learn Japanese! My course pack has arrived so I should be a pro in no time!!
Film Crew

Offerings to the gods
 As you walk through the park there are gorgeous trees and huge caves and rocks to explore. There is a great view of Kudaka Island right behind where these two ladies are giving their offerings. The site comprises of 3 main areas. One area has a bowl that is collecting water that drips down from the holy site and is believed to be holy water. People were putting their hands in and and washing their faces trying to soak up the good energy I guess? 

Holy water

The place where the royalty prepared food. This is where we found the hermit crabs.

So this is about the place where we may have created an international incident!? We still have no idea what exactly happened but figured we must have offended someone, somehow. As I was kneeling taking a photo of the hermit crabs below, I heard a crazy lady screaming and running towards us. She zoomed right past me shouting some words in Japanese and then proceeded to ward off the evil spirits. She continued to purify the area from our foreign gaijin presence. She was absolutely nuts, like something you would see in a witch craft movie. So we just started walking away and felt so bad, but didn't realize what we did which was worse.  I asked an English teacher at school about the situation and she had no clue what might have happened. So I figure we either came across a crazy person or we did something really wrong. 
Hermit crabs