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BONDS IN OKINAWA
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

– St. Augustine

Mel in Okinawa!

4/12/2016

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After our awesome weekend in Tokyo, we were excited to show Mel our new, tropical home!  First stop on the way home, American Village.  Here we showed Mel some of our favorite watering holes, the beach, and some restaurants.  We enjoyed some mojitos on the beach while taking in the beautiful views of the East China Sea, followed by a late lunch at a tasty Indian spot, Bollywood Dreams.
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Three best buds!
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Hmmm does this spot look familiar from when some other amazing people came to visit...??
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View from our mojito spot... not too shabby #islandlife
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Obligatory photo in front of the ferris wheel in American Village
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Late lunch/early dinner at Bollywood Dreams #thatsonehugenaan #thatswhatshesaid
The next morning, we started our day off right by treating Mel to Japan's adorable pedicures.  I took her to my favorite spot to get pampered.  In honor of our Owl cafe visit, Mel got an owl inspired pedicure :) #appropriate
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My pedicure
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Mel's kawaii (cute) owl pedicure!
Mel and I then decided to go explore some of Okinawa's outer islands by heading over to Ikei island which is connected to the mainland of Okinawa by bridge.  Mel got to see some of the beauty of this little island even though it was a bit overcast :/
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Driving to Ikei Island
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Driving to Ikei Island
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Ikei Beach
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Ikei Beach
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Ikei Beach
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Ikei Beach
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Ikei Beach
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Ikei Beach
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Ikei Beach
After our fill of the beach, we headed over to the Southeast Botanical Gardens in Okinawa, actually located only about 2 km away from our house :)  There are over 30,000 specimens of 1300 species of trees, flowers, and shrubs throughout the gardens.
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BUT let's be honest, the real reason we came was to feed the squirrel monkeys!  And to our pleasant surprise we also got to see an actual capybara, the largest rodent in the world.  #saywhat?!  It's native to South America and is a distant cousin to the guinea pig #nokidding #quitearesemblance #giantguineapig
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Capybara
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Feeding the capybara #canitakeithomenow?
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Feeding the little squirrel monkey, he has no interest in pictures with me when food is around #priorities
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Mel facing quite the dilemma, who to feed, the monkey or the capybara #lifeproblems
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capybara with it's babies!!
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Selfie with the Squirrel Monkey
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Squirrel Monkey
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Squirrel Monkey
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Baby capybara??
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Southeast Botanical Gardens
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Southeast Botanical Gardens
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Southeast Botanical Gardens
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Southeast Botanical Gardens
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Southeast Botanical Gardens
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Mel is excited to walk down 'Palm Avenue'
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Southeast Botanical Gardens
For dinner, we headed back down to American village and checked out a spot one of our mutual friends recommended who used to live over here, Jetta Burger.  Supposedly some of the best burgers on the island and they weren't too shabby!  #thanksjoey You know, we had to treat Mel to special food in Japan she couldn't find back in America right...? ;)
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Then we checked out a few bars in the area: Cheers, Oh Yeah, and a little craft beer/whiskey/tequilla bar.  At Cheers, we tried a few different shots, and at Oh Yeah, we introduced Mel to the infamous Habu Sake (read about it here).  
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Tasty shots made by the bartenders at Cheers
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'Brain' shot
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Mmmm habu sake
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Nice little toast ;)
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Habu Sake Kanpai! (Cheers!)
The next day, we met Nate for a teppanyaki lunch at the Four Seasons (basically Bennihana) before heading down to the capital city of Naha.
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Mmmmm
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Lunch crew
Once in Naha, we visited the famous Kokusai Street (international street) on the lookout for souvenirs for Mel to bring home to family and friends.  Didn't hurt that we got to taste test all the goodies before she decided on what to buy ;)
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Kokusai Street
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Kokusai Street
We also made an obligatory stop at the island's famous castle, Shuri castle.
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Entrance to the Shuri Castle grounds
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Found some performers
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Tea and cookie time!
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Mel in front of Shuri Castle
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Mel in front of one of the castle's gardens
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The throne
For dinner that night, we took Mel down to one our favorite izakaya's (Japanese neighborhood pub).  Here we sampled lots of little dishes (edamame, Japanese fried chicken, sashimi, quail eggs wrapped in bacon), and Mel got to try Okinawa's awamori (their version of sake, although a lot more potent).  She wasn't a huge fan but did manage to drink a glass or two!
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Zanpa Awamori
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Some of our dishes, quail eggs wrapped in bacon, Japanese fried chicken, edamame, sashimi
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Cheese!
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3 best buds!
Luckily on Mel's last day in Okinawa, it was finally sunny and she got to see this beautiful island for what it was :)  We started with lunch at Pizza in the Sky #pizzapizza Which offered gorgeous views of northern Okinawa and delicious food
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Views on the drive up north
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View from Pizza in the Sky
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View from Pizza in the Sky
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Not at all uncomfortable sitting like this...
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Our spread: pizza, salad, and mango and guava juice. Yum!
To keep Mel satisfied with her active side, and justify all the pizza we just ate, we went on a hike to Hiji Falls, located on the northern part of Okinawa (see other Hiji Fall post here).  Here we got to see one of the tallest waterfalls on the main island of Okinawa and I got to show Mel why they call Okinawa, "The Hawaii of Japan"
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Hiji Falls hike
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Hiji Falls hike
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Hiji Falls hike
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Hiji Falls
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Hiji Falls - Mel's get'n the hang of the way we take photos over here :)
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Hiji Falls
We ended our day with dinner at an all-you-can-eat korean bbq type restaurant where you grill the meat in front of you that the Japanese refer to as yakiniki.  Mel got to eat her little heart out here and luckily, most of this was also paleo #winnning  We called it an early night so we could get ready for our flight out the next day to Hong Kong :)  Read about it more in my next blog!

Until next time folks!

​M
Follow in our footsteps:
American Village
Bollywood Dreams
沖縄県中頭郡北谷町美浜 9−1 Depot Island A Bldg
Japan, 〒904-0115 
11AM - 10PM

+81 98-926-0977
​Faceboook

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Nail and Wax Salon TIDA
1 Chome-6 Chatan, Nakagami District
Okinawa Prefecture 904-0116, Japan
10AM - 6PM, closed Sundays

+81 98-923-3294
​Facebook
Ikei Island
Southeast Botanical Gardens
2146 Chibana, Okinawa,
Okinawa Prefecture 904-2143, Japan

9AM – 10PM (on weekends)  6PM (weekdays) 
Exotic Zoo: 9:30AM – 5:30PM
Feeding times are at 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Each “feeding” session lasts 30 minutes.

+81 98-939-2555
Cost: 1,500 yen for adults; 1,000 yen for ages 16-18; 500 yen for ages 6-15; free for ages 0-5. 


Jetta Burger
9−19 ディストーションファッションビル 2F ディストーションファッションビル
Japan, 〒904-0115 Okinawa Prefecture, Nakagami District, Chatan, Mihama
10AM - 12AM

+81 98-989-5123

Cheers Bar
4240-6 Kin, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
7PM - 12AM, closed Sunday, Monday

+81 98-968-8061
Facebook

Oh Yeah! Bar
Japan, 〒904-0115 沖縄県中頭郡 北谷町字美浜9-39 オークビル 2F オークファッションビル
5PM - 4AM

+81 98-936-6288
Facebook


Four Seasons Steak House
Japan, 〒904-0115 Okinawa Prefecture, Nakagami District, 北谷町美浜2丁目5−2
11AM - 11PM
+81 98-926-1329

Kokusai Street, Naha
Shuri Castle
1 Chome-2 Shurikinjocho,
Naha, Okinawa Prefecture 903-0815, Japan
8AM - 6:30PM

+81 98-886-2020

Neighborhood Izakaya
Japan, 〒904-2142 Okinawa-ken, Okinawa-shi, Noborikawa, 2 Chome−12, 傅陶工房

Pizza in the Sky
Japan, 〒905-0219 Okinawa Prefecture, Kunigami District, 本部町Yamazato, 1153−2
11:30AM - 7PM, closed Tuesday, Wednesday

+81 980-47-5537
Facebook

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Hiji Falls
781-1 Hiji, Kunigami,
Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture 905-1495, Japan
Entrance: 500 yen
also has camping

+81 980-41-3636

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焼肉五苑北谷店 Yakiniku Goen
Japan, 〒904-0101 Okinawa Prefecture, Nakagami District, 北谷町Kamisedo, 545−3
11AM - 12AM
+81 98-921-7529
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    Megan Bond - AUTHOR

    Just a girl raised in California and loved exploring Southeast Asia with my husband!  We're back in the States but still exploring the world as much as we can!

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