Sun Business Hotel Fukuoka

... the snake-like journey up to the northern part of the island. This could have been a boring experience but it turned out to be quite an enlightening one as the tour guide provided a lot of commentary that provided context on all of the places that we were about to visit. Of interest during the journey was passing by (and through) the large U.S. military bases that still cover the landscape of Okinawa. I could comment on this in a politically sensitive manner but I will not ...

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 ...

... it became very clear that our stay here on Okinawa will be a hot and humid one. The weather conditions are pleasant though and we are clearly enjoying this a lot more than than the current conditions on the Canadian Prairies.

Naha is a typical large Japanese city but it is evident that Okinawa is one of the poorer prefectures in the country. I had read about this in my travel research. If I had not read ...

... a stunningly hot day and the indoor area was air conditioned. After Shuri Castle, we went to Kokusai street in Naha City. This is a palm-lined street with tons of small souvenir shops, with a surfer atmosphere. I picked up quite a few gifts here! My favorite purchase was a red coral necklace for myself. The store's owner was so happy to see me for some reason that she gave me free shisa keychain. Riley was getting restless, so ...

... other fish was definitely a favorite. There was a diver in scuba gear cleaning the inside of the glass, so that was funny. Riley did not particularly care for the exhibits, but she did like running around.

Outside, we visited the turtle pools and the manatees, which were interesting because they were spacious and had cartoon character mascots (like most Japanese advertisements!) Our next stop was the native Okinawan village ...

... of my still-tender toe, but I just pointed to it and tried to explain, and so the lady doing my feet avoided it except to paint it. It was extremely relaxing- the little girl across from us completely conked out. I chose jasmine oil to help me recover from my fatigue, and opted for some nail art to try to blend in more in Asia.

Unfortunately when we left the nail salon, it was pouring, so we slipped along the road in our massage oil-covered flip flops. Then when we ...

... like by train. We had a little time for some sight-seeing so we went to the Hakata Machiya Furusato-Kan; a small folk museum. A great place which gives you the history of traditional Hakata culture. Kids would love it. Across the road is the Kushida-jinja temple. Beautiful grounds with lots of big bells attached to ropes which the locals pulled, bowed, clapped and bowed again. The rear entrance of the temple lead us to Canal City. It's a curved six building ...

... aquí nadie habla inglés. Y cuando digo nadie, es nadie: ni la gente de la recepción de los hoteles de 5 estrellas en los que hemos buscado sitio, ni la gente de la oficina de Japan Airlines en el aeropuerto de Fukuoka, con lo cual, mucho menos la gente de a pie. Por cierto, gracias a ese momento "lost in translation" en el aeropuerto casi me quedo sin billete de vuelta a España, pero eso para otro día... escalofríos pasaron por mi espina vertebral al recordar una ...

... Sake is great. And it's very expensive there. So great. Everything paid for, 15 minutes of work needed to be done at the Korean Embassy. And I got to spend 2 days there. Such great amazing memories. Some of the cool things that I saw, and I was amused by (and I mean I was amused by, others were not.... I get amused easily. hehe) In one of the malls, there was an escalator that curved. Have you ever seen that? I only rode it once, but I could've stayed there all day. It was fun. And ...

... standards (except for the hole in the ground toilet system). BUS Station Today, I was checking out the bus and the train to Nagasaki. By bus it costs Yen 8000 for a round trip, by Shinkansen train it costs Yen 10,000, but with the train it takes only 2.05 hours and by bus it takes 3.5 hours. As I was looking for the bus station at Fukuoka Tenjin Station, I was surprised that the signs constantly had me go up the elevator ...