So, in the first week of May in Japan, there are a series of public holidays, called golden week. We got these days off work, and decided to go to Okinawa!
Okinawa is a tiny island off the southern coast of Japan, its famous for the shi dogs, karate, and beautiful beaches.
We left on Wednesday 1st, me and Chloe dragging our entire wardrobes stuffed into bags, me in a giant sunhat, docs and leather jacket, obviously prepared for the sun. we got the tram to the bus station in Nagasaki centre, then a 2 hour bus to Fukuoka airport, a shuttle bus to the domestic terminal, then a 2 hour flight to Okinawa Naha airport. The flight was pretty good, a bit bumpy, but the views were nice, and the plane was painted like a basking shark (an aquarium in Okinawa is famous for basking sharks).
The airport in Naha was beautiful, covered in thousands of orchids.
We
then got a bus from the airport to Chantan, the area we were staying in. We hadn’t
done much research on the hostel, just booked it at it was very cheap for the
time, so we were a bit surprised when we found it. Hamby resort, from the
outside looks like a big wooden beach hut, and from the inside too really. It’s
divided up into private rooms and dormitories, has a social area, kitchen, and
roof terrace. It was a bit minimalist, and quite funny, but there’s was lots of
free things, wifi, coffee etc, eggs, rice and kitchen things, all bathroom
things you might need, and free bike rental. I really liked it, mainly because
it was just a funny place to be.We
were in a dormitory with a lady from Spain called Vanessa. She was lovely and
told us how to get to the American village. We all went out for tea, with Vanessa,
to a little bar/restaurant overlooking sunset beach. It was really beautiful,
and we all had cocktails (me having my favourite tequila sunrise)On the second day we went down to the beach next to our hostel. It was beautiful, long stretch of white sand and shallow blue water. It wasn’t very busy which was nice, so we set our towels down, then me and Chloe immediately tested the water, it was pretty cold but nice, as it was a boiling day. We saw that there was a pier with a group of Japanese men with jet skis and some inflatable things, so we went to investigate. Ten minutes later we were on a giant inflatable sofa being pulled around by a jet ski. We’re not good at sitting still. We managed to sit and read for about half an hour before going shopping in the American village.
I bought a long red skirt form an American second hand shop, Chloe bought a gorgeous outfit complete with killer heels, and I bought some little black heels, just so she didn’t feel left out. Unfortunately, the okinawan sun was clearly too much for our northern skin, and we turned redder and redder as the day went on, finally wincing our way back to the hostel, buying moisturizer on the way (which turned out to be makeup remover, silly Japanese packaging).
Us in our awesome leggings and heels :D
We couldn’t find Sarah and Vanessa, so we went to a Tex Mex place nearby, which turned out to be awesome, I Love Mexican food, and it was so nice to have cheese!
The next day we covered up a bit more, with a sun umbrella, hats, floaty scarves and maxi dresses, but still ended up on the beach, and eventually, in two inflatable rubber rings being pulled around by a jet ski. The Jet Ski man was lovely, and later on he asked us to go on the banana boat with a few of his friends for free. We did, but as we sat down it became obvious that they were planning on throwing us in the water. They managed it, but it was really fun.
On the Saturday me and Chloe went Parasailing, which was really fun. Ive only ever been parascending before, being over water was really exciting. We did worry about them dipping us in at one point, as they were friends of Jet Ski man, and would probably have found it hilarious. Thankfully we landed back on the boat nice and dry.
That night was Vanessa’s last night before her long journey home, so we went out for nice food. Chloe got a pizza and chicken, then me and Vanessa went to a gorgeous sushi bar and shared two platters. The fish was Amazing.
The next day we packed up and left, all a bit grumpy as the people who had come in Vanessa’s place were very loud and giggly. The journey home seemed very long, and we had an age to wait at Fukuoka airport. It was nice to be back in our apartments, mainly because I hate living out of a suitcase, and I was sick of sand being everywhere.
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