 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.  Three best buds!
 Obligatory photo in front of the ferris wheel in American Village  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
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 :/
 Ikei Beach  Ikei Beach
 Ikei Beach  Ikei Beach  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.  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  Capybara
 Selfie with the Squirrel Monkey
 Baby capybara??
 Southeast Botanical Gardens  Southeast Botanical Gardens  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...? ;)  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).
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.
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 ;)
We also made an obligatory stop at the island's famous castle, Shuri castle.  Entrance to the Shuri Castle grounds
 Mel in front of Shuri Castle
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!
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  Views on the drive up north  View from Pizza in the Sky  View from Pizza in the Sky
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"  Hiji Falls hike  Hiji Falls hike  Hiji Falls hike
 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:
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 Nail and Wax Salon TIDA 1 Chome-6 Chatan, Nakagami District Okinawa Prefecture 904-0116, Japan 10AM - 6PM, closed Sundays +81 98-923-3294
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 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 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
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 Hiji Falls 781-1 Hiji, Kunigami, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture 905-1495, Japan Entrance: 500 yen also has camping +81 980-41-3636 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
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Megan Bond - AUTHORJust 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! Archives
February 2019
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed