Our epic Okinawa adventure

Hello There!

We are back from our Golden Week trip to Okinawa and for a person who hates water, sand and sun, I have to say, we had a great time!

I've just about got all the photos loaded up, let the blogging begin...

We actually 'cheated' a bit and booked a day extra on each end of the trip, this meant that we had a decent amount of time for the trip and we missed the high traffic Golden Week jams - virtually everyone in Japan takes a holiday at the same time so it is good to skip the rush!

We arrived in torrential rain - just what you want on a sun filled holiday! Picked up a car at the airport and drove to Onna where I had booked a cabin. The cabin itself was oldish but had been completely refurbished inside and was super clean and lovely. The only bad thing I have to say is that the sofa and beds were not the most comfortable in the world!

TOP TIP!!

DH tried book a rental car a few weeks before we we due to fly but everything was booked out. so Tip #1, book well in advance. Tip #2 try looking at the English sites, when I googles for a car I found several and even though the Japanese side of the site was fully booked we were able to book on on the English side - same company!

7 minutes walk to the main road and we found the local convenience store and 4 restaurants. The first was booked up, the second was extremely expensive, the third also booked up so we went down to the last one with our fingers crossed that it would have a table free - Lucky!

It actually turned out to be great! The staff were super friendly, the atmosphere was 'retro' (although I suspect some of it was actually original from when it opened! and the food and drinks great.

It was funny that the owner tried to show Ebi-kun the 'kids' menu, sausages, chicken nuggets, chips - usual kids fare but he wasn't having any of it and was there ordering pigs ears and sea grapes!

Sea Grapes - Ume Budo is a type of seaweed, you dip it in ponzu and eat it, it's what I imagine eating salty bubble wrap would be like. It's a very strange sensation and I can't decide if I liked it or not, I had to keep trying it though! The boy of course loved it.

It was a fascinating place to be in, all kinds of retro stuff dotted around, I really felt like I was on holiday, in Japan in the 1970s, except when we came to pay the bill then we were swiftly returned to 2017

Oh yes, and they had picked snake is sake too - Habu Sake. I have tried this before, it's the kind of stuff that strips the lining from your innards. 

I was told years ago by one of my adult students (so who knows how much truth is in it) that the snake is caught and placed in the jar alive, then they fill it up with sake and the snake drowns, totally pissed! It then ferments for 6 months or more before some daft bint tries to drink it, and yes, habu are extremely venomous. 

Fancy some?

Just in case you are interested, this is the cabin we stayed in, Sea Breeze. Super clean, lovely inside, lots of space, nice deck and seating area upstairs. The own speaks some English and credit cards are accepted.