Auberge Arumu no Mori Aso

... the one hand, this is a very beautiful place with friendly people and very nice, warm weather. The culture here is indeed more laid-back and is noticeably different from the mainland. People just act different here yet it is still Japan. On the other hand, this is a somewhat sad place where the weight of history and the hideous events of nearly a century ago still linger in the hearts and minds of the inhabitants. In addition, the resentment over the continued U.S ...

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 ...

... next couple of days as we go on two guided tours. One will be up to the north end of the island to an aquarium and a pineapple farm. I am sure that once we get outside of Naha City that we will see the true tropical paradise aspects of this island. We will also be spending some time outside of the city on the south of the island. There is a lot of World War Two history here as this south end of the island is ...

... 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 ...

... handled this very gracefully and eventually ended up running back and forth through it in her diaper screaming. If only we'd just skipped all the museum stuff and brought her right to the fountain!

FOr dinner we tried Obbligato, a Mexican restaurant as imagined by the Japanese. It was pretty good; I got chimichangas for the first time and they reminded me of eggrolls. We also had a pitcher of margaritas, so a good time was had.

... 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 ...

... with about one hour to go before my flight was set to depart, let alone board. I sprinted to the check-in gate, which was empty because everyone else had gone through. Yikes! But for some reason the airport was deserted, and I was sitting at the gate, bored, within 15 minutes of arriving. I've had really good luck with being on time so far this trip (knock on wood).

One thing I did not turn out to be lucky with for this ...

... feeling a bit dizzy. I think you are supposed to soak for an hour or so but I had to get out. On the way home I thought an ice cream would help cool me down. Haagen Daz do a nice Green Tea flavoured ice cream here. Back at the hostel it was another Curry Noodle (perhaps I should get shares in the company?) and a banana in front of the TV with the ladies. The news was on and very kindly the ladies switched the audio to ...

... the first time. Because I had seen souvenir bottles of Awamori in Ryukyu-mura village, I wanted to taste it at least once in Okinawa. The hotel gave me a complimentary drink ticket, although I had to pay extra 300 yen, and that was a perfect chance to taste traditional Okinawan sake.

On the last day in Okinawa, firstly, we visited Seifa-Utaki, a spiritual place. Old Okinawans had some religious rituals in the middle of the forest ...

... California leave for camp! And they all come back alive. I swear! Actually, it was a lot of fun, for just about everyone involved. We took a ferry from Matsuyama over to Oita on the neighboring island of Kyushu, where two big tour buses met us. The first day was spent at the African Safari (cool kangaroos, really lame dog show) before heading to our sweet hotel for the night. The next day, it was Mt Aso, a huge volcanic crater ...