Okinawa trip - Day 8 - The hunt

 

Okinawa trip - Day 8

The hunt

I booked a hotel in Naha so my buddy wouldn't have to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to drive me to the airport. Morning commute traffic in Naha could be horrific so it's safer to book a hotel near the airport the night before catching a flight. So I was packed and ready to go by morning.

There's a shopping street called Kokusaidori, where people can get souvenirs and t-shirts. There are a bunch of shops selling parody t-shirts and shirts with funny wording, like ones saying that fried chicken is gold for fat people. LOL One of the more popular t-shirts tourists buy are ones with the Orion Beer design. Orion beer is made by an Okinawan brewery and is the most popular on the island. You'd never fail to see tourists wearing Orion beer t-shirts, sometimes and entire family or tour group, even.

There are also neighboring shopping streets, and the good thing is that it's all a huge arcade so we're not walking under the blazing sun. We walked down one street, then down another, looking at t-shirts and other goods sold in the area. I finally found a shop that had t-shirts that were original, had something to do with Okinawa, and not mass-produced. Plus, they offered a buy 2, get 1 free deal, so I even got one for myself (but in reality, it wasn't much of a deal, since the original price of the t-shirts was higher than surrounding shops, so if you divided the total by 2, it came out to be the same as the average pricing).

There was a shop offering wagyu burgers made from beef from a remote Okinawa island. It sounded good, but sadly, the actual burgers weren't as good as advertised. I ordered a small steak and fries, and it took much longer for my steak to come out than the burger. I've had better steak. It was overcooked and not as tender as I thought it would be (which is a crime against steak, imo ). We had to wait a bit before the burger shop opened, so we decided to get something cold to drink. The shop we found was also offering chicken wings, so we got a plate of wings to share and some shikwasa soda. The soda was made with fresh shikwasa juice and was tart! I was OK, but my buddy needed a bit more sweetener. There was half a shikwasa fruit dropped into the soda, which I used to squeeze the juice on the chicken wings. It was pretty good. It's sad to say that the chicken tasted better than the wagyu.

Originally, we were planning to visit another park, but my buddy came down with a migraine, so I had him drop me off at the hotel so he could go home and rest. It was a bit early for check-in, so I wandered over to the mall a couple of blocks down. I really didn't have any shopping to do, but I had to kill time. There was a food court that offered Okinawa noodles. I knew it wouldn't be as good as mom and pop shops, but it would be the only place open come dinnertime. I figured out what's where, headed back to the hotel to check in and take a short nap. Now, the reason why this hotel is so cheap is because of the way it's set up. The bed is a loft bed and the toilet and shower are under the bed. There's a tiny desk and chair, and the fridge is under the ladder to the bed. They do offer free coffee/tea/soft drinks 24/7, popcorn and a snack in the evening, and toast in the morning. It'll do just to take a shower and spend the night before heading to the airport.

I took Japan Airlines on the way back, and even tho I ended up with a middle seat, the experience was much nicer than the budget LLC. The staff at the check-in counter even apologized for the seating, saying since the flight is fully booked, they couldn't offer me a better seat. Hey, it's a short flight, so I'm not complaining. At least I'll get a free inflight drink and could see a movie if I wanted to.

I got home safe and sound. It was a fun trip, despite the weather. My main purpose of the trip was to spend time with my buddy. Going snorkeling and shopping were an added bonus.

 Sep 1