Woke up before 5 am to take a 5.36 am to Fukuoka Airport. I couldn't sleep well the night before, felt so tired. To prevent overslept, I asked my friend to call me on the morning because if I missed the train, I would miss the flight too. (・_・;)(I had overslept before, luckily my mode of transportation was shinkansen, I still could take the next bullet train.)
Although the time was still early, a lot of commuters were waiting for the train. Me and my friend took reserved seats on the express train from Nakatsu to Hakata. We reached Hakata on 7.16 am. I thought we still have plenty of time before we board the flight. However, after the subway from Hakata to Fukuoka Airport, we still have to walk quite a distance to the check-in counter and then boarding gate. We were just in time.
Reached Naha Airport and went to tourist information center to take brochures first. We bought a set of discount tickets for the Churaumi Aquarium and 10 other tourist spots. It was cheaper than to buy separate ticket. After that, we went to the rental car waiting area to find the person in charge. The rental car company name is Paradise. I think the rental rate was quite cheap, for 4 days and 4 nights, it cost only 11000 yen. My friend told me that the Madza Rental, Toyota Rental and other famous rental car companies have a more expensive rental rate.
Anyway, the rental car company will provide transport service from the airport to the company. Kinda convenient. We took the car and went to our first destination, the Shuri Castle 首里城. One funny incident happened though, my friend forgot to take back his driver license after gave it to the rental car people to photostat, luckily, the person found out fast before we drove far and called. Hahahaha!
Then, we continued our journey. Shuri Castle is so different from the Kumamoto castle. It is so red and colourful. Okinawa was the central of Ryukyu Kingdom, an independent kingdom and tributary state to China (source: Japan guide). I remembered Ryukyu Kingdom as one of the country that traded with Malacca Sultanate from the secondary school history books. I kept misspelling "Ryukyu" and I thought that Ryukyu islands were near Indonesia, somewhere like south of Java Island. Oh, I was so wrong!
One of the highlight there was the visit the information center, I found out the hats that government officials wore during the olden days were not made of fabric, it was made with metals. OMG, it was so heavy!
Shuri Castle 首里城
Shuri Gate 首里門 & Sonohyan Utaki Stone Gate 園比屋武御嶽石門
Kankaimon 歓会門 & stone walls and the stone lions
Zuisenmon 瑞泉門
around the Shuri Castle
the interior of the Shuri Castle (I could smell the agarwood here, very fragrant, I think that maybe the wood used in the construction is agarwood)
interior of the castle
the 'umbrella' used to cover the royals when they were outside
around that area
After Shuri Castle, lunch time, we went to a famous Okinawa Soba shop, Shimujo しむじょう. It is a cultural property recognized by the government. The environment is very nice. The restaurant is housed in a wooden house surrounded by a garden. The most famous part of the Okinawa Soba is the pork belly 三枚肉, normally I would not eat the fatty meat, however, since that was the famous food of Okinawa, I braced myself for that. It was actually quite good compared to my imagination.
Okinawa soba 沖縄そば
しむじょう - famous for Okinawa Soba
After that, went to Ryukyu Mura 琉球村. There is a experience corner, with acivities like painting the lion figurine, weaving, pottery, cloth dying 紅型 (Okinawa traditional resist dyed cloth, I think a bit like batik printing), ceramic painting, shamisen 三味線 class, Okinawa sanba dance, brown sugar making, Okinawa wear experience, etc. If one wants to go for the 'experience', one can spend whole day there. However, I didn't have any interests and talent on arts, so I didn't go for that.
Ryukyu Mura 琉球村
There are many traditional Okinawan houses in Ryukyu Mura. One of the highlights on the houses is the lion figurine on top of the roof. It was kinda special. I believed that even China don't have houses with lions on top.
lion figurine on the roof and
okinawan house
There is a snake museum in Ryukyu Mura, however, has to pay to gain entry. Well, not a big fan of snake, so skipped that. There are some small animals here, school girls were seen cuddling them.
natural attractions in Ryukyu Mura
In the old days, buffalo was used to grind the brown sugar. A grinder model is here in Ryukyu Mura. The funniest thing is when we reached there, the buffalo was urinating!
Buffalo used to grind brown sugar
A big and huge rope is inside a building. It is about a local festival in Okinawa, a rope pulling competition. The special thing about this tug of war is the rope used, it is very thick and long, and a lot of people needed for the competition. According to a Okinawa travel website, 15000 people are needed for the rope pulling.
Festival in Okinawa (Tug of war) - the rope used is huge!
Then, we went for a cultural performance in the square. The lion dance part was the best.
cultural performance in Ryukyu Mura
traditional dance and drum performance
lion dance
Hahaha, below is a video on the lion dance. We left after the show.
The cultural performances were interesting!
A Okinawa folk song in Ryukyu Mura.
Next, our next destination was Manza Cape 万座毛 to see sunset. Before that, we saw signboard for Zanpa Cape 残波岬. So, we went there first. I saw a poster stating that this was the place where a Korean drama "Scent of a Woman" filmed. Well, this place is beautiful and very suitable for couples! Hahaha!
Cape Zanpa 残波岬
A big sculpture of Lion opposite Zanpa Beach
After endured the strong wind for around half hour, we left Cape Zanpa for Cape Manza. Along the way, we saw a small church. This is the kind of church opened for wedding only. My friend went to a church in Cape Manza before, she said it was her dream church. One need appointment to visit the church on the ground that he or she or they are going to held the wedding in that church, she said that the person in charge keep asking her when she is going to get married. I don't want to get that kind of questions, so me and my friend just walking around the church. It was lovely.
a wedding church near the Zanpa Beach
Then, it was nearly sunset time. So, we rushed to Cape Manza 万座毛. However, all the parking lots were taken. So, we missed the sunset. So sad!
Cape Manza 万座毛 (the photo on top was right after sunset and photo below was early morning)
We decided to go again on next morning before we rechead Churaumi Ocean Park for a clearer and brighter view, albeit without the sunset!
Then, we went back to Naha City to check into Kerama Guesthouse. It was cheap, well, the cheapest I got for accommodation, it cost 1200 yen per night, well, since that few days were peak season, the rate was 1200 yen per night, or else it was only 900 yen per night. The environment was like many other guesthouse or dorm, friendly and kind.
Kerama Guesthouse
After check in, we went out for dinner. We chose a restaurant near the guesthouse. My friend had steak and I had Ise Ebi 伊勢海老 (kind of like lobster). The Ise Ebi was so hard and difficult to swallow! However,after a few days after that, I tasted a very tasty Ise Ebi. Ahhhh, the chef issue!
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