APA Hotel Naha

Since this island is so small, we decided to do it again and this time go on a tour of the north today. This was a much less sobering tour than the one that we did yesterday given that it was more contemporary and less focused on the tragic past of Okinawa. Our stops today included of all things a pineapple farm and the world's second largest aquarium - apparently second in size only to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

The bus ride today was a longer one as we had to ...

Today we decided to do something that I don't normally like to do -- go on a guided tour with a bunch of other people and get caught up on a commercial racket. Given that neither of us have ever been to Okinawa and don't know our way around, we decided to go on a bus tour and are we ever glad that we did.

The tour took us to a number of historical and interesting spots, most notable of which was the old Imperial Navy Underground Headquarters that served as ...

Today we arrived at Naha City in Okinawa. We flew from Tokyo in an ANA 747. It has bee a really long time since I've flown in a 747 and (other than landing which I hate with a passion) it was a pleasure. The service on ANA is impeccable and the 747 (despite Airbus' development of the A380) is still the granddaddy of all airplanes. It was a pleasure to once again be on a 747.

Upon disembarking from the ...

... did all of our shopping in fast forward. On our way home, we stopped at the military exchange, the small American-style mall on base. My mom and I went inside to buy silk robes, like the one Julia gave me for Christmas. We also got books for our respective plane rides, and then went to dinner at Macaroni Grill nearby. It was absolutely delicious, and Riley was very funny. While Julia packed at home, my mom and I took Riley ...

... from the Chinese Fu dogs. They are a pair or lion-like dogs that sit on top of houses or in front of them. The one on the left, the female, has its mouth shut to keep in all of the good things. The one on the right, the male, is roaring to scare away the bad. Shisa dogs are everywhere; many of my souvenirs are shisa-themed.

After walking through the village, we made a pitstop at the Oceanic Cultures Museum, which ...

... but we did snag some Anpanman gummies.

When we got home, it was definitely Riley's bedtime, but then Mom, Julia, and I watched UP!, which I got for about 90 cents in Beijing. It worked, but since it is such a new movie, of course it was bootlegged and thus had a laugh track from the movie theater and also some of the writing was in Russian. It was still a good movie though. Afterwards, I fell asleep in about a second, despite this really not very action-packed day.

... was seatmates, as a screaming baby sat directly in front of me and the guy next to me hogged the armrest the entire flight and leaned across me to look out the window. I hated him deeply. Oh and also, we had to be bussed out to our plane for some reason, which necessitated everyone from the flight standing on a cattle car-like bus holding a strap with one hand and their luggage with the other. This was annoying enough for me ...

So, I thought that April was busy. May was our first month on our own with Trevor deployed. Though I hate to explore without him. We (me and the kids) needed some distractions. I signed Ava up for a gymnastics class and a ballet class. Of course I forgot my camera most classes I did get a few pictures. The kids made some nice presents for me for Mother's Day, thanks to their provider Jen! We made a trip to my schools' Luau and the kids ...

Our hotel, Onna Marine View Palace, was close to the Onna beach. We arrived there about 8, although we left the aquarium before dusk, because we were caught in a traffic jam and paid a visit to the Confectionary Palace, which was a gift shop and restaurant located on the way to the hotel. We had champloos, traditional Okinawan dishes, and they were inexpensive, but very good. After we arrived at our hotel, I enjoyed Awamori, Okinawan spirit ...

... dima, tko oblak je bil nad njim in temno se je kadilo - kr grozece zgleda, se posebi, k ves, da ce ga raznese ne bo kul ;). Morje, morje, 24 ur in seveda smo imeli zamudo - gremo ja JUG! - in pol je prisel ... najlepsi soncni zahod vseh casov. Ceprav je Japonska dezela vzhajajocega sonca, so tud zahodi precej lepi in zdej razumem, zakaj imajo rdece sonce na zastavi. Bilo je krvavo rdece, kot bi jokalo, bilo zalostno, grozece in samotno obenem. Se nikoli ...