Saturday 20 March 2010

Okinawa - Days 4 & 5

I didn't write anything last night 'cause I was simply to tired and sleepy to write.

Yesterday morning we took a 4-hour ferry from Naha to 久米島 (Kumejima). The ferry was slow but we had great views of the ocean.

We've read in books and pamphlets that Kumejima is famous for ハテの浜 (Hate-no-hama), a strip of white sand off the coast. It's a 20-minute boat ride from the shore, but by the time we checked-in and had lunch it was already past the departure time of the last boat to ハテの浜.

I was really disappointed because it looked amazing in the photos I've seen. I had considered going there the next morning, and take the later ferry back to Naha, but that would leave me with less than 50 minutes to travel from the ferry terminal to the airport, check-in and go through security. I really couldn't risk missing my flight so I just had to give up going to ハテの浜. Maybe next time...

That afternoon we just spent time on イーフビーチ (Eef beach), which is right next to the accommodation. We also went to 畳石, another beach which is 30 minutes walk away from Eef beach. It wasn't that far but we thought it was a bit time consuming, so on the way back we decided to hitch-hike.



We hesitated at first, and just watched cars drove past us without even trying. Then we thought 'come one! we can do this' and I put my thumb up in the air. It was quite easy, the first truck stopped and the driver was a middle-age fisherman. He agreed to give us a lift, warning us that the back of the truck was a little bit dirty. When we hopped on to the back of his truck we were like 'woah', 'cause there was a heap of sea urchins! Plus the floor was quite wet so we had to squat through the 10-minute ride (Yining just stood up the whole way). Hitch-hiking was quite exciting actually. Obviously it's always risky, especially being girls, but everyone in Okinawa have been very friendly to us. And on Kumejima the locals are extra friendly and unreserved, so we could put our guard off for a while.

I stayed at a 民宿 (minshuku - the equivalent of a B&B?) for the night. It was more expensive than hostels but I get my own spacious en-suite room and a nice homemade breakfast. But if I come again I might just go to the hostel Larisa and Yining stayed at (I booked a month ahead whereas they just quite spontaneously decided to join me to go to Kumejima, and booked the hostel a couple of days ago).

At night there's not much to do on the island, so we just walked around the beach for a while, and looked up to the starry sky. It was quite amazing how many stars we could see in the sky. Yining had brought her laptop with her so we watched Big Bang, Bones, and 27 Dresses (yay chick flick! and James Marsden!). It was quite amusing and sweet how Larisa cried watching a romantic comedy.

This morning I got up at six, and saw that the sun was just rising so I quickly changed and rushed to the beach. I couldn't see the sun itself but the gradation of the colours of the sky was beautiful but subtle.



I've come to really like Okinawa, and I definitely want to come back here in the future, do a bit more island hopping (to Ishigaki, Miyako-jima etc.). Okinawa really reminds me of Taiwan, or perhaps suburban China? Many buildings and streets seem to have stopped at the 1970s, it's a nice escape from the modern world.



P.S. Sunset seen from the plane -

Thursday 18 March 2010

Okinawa - Day 3

This morning I met up with Larisa and Yining again at the ferry terminal to go to 渡嘉敷島 (Tokashiki-jima) together.

The ferry terminal turned out to be a mere 10-minute walk from the hostel, quite convenient. On the way I stopped at the Family Mart to get sandwiches for breakfast. On the shelves I saw a tacos 巻きずし, and tacos rice packed in a paper box (like one of those Chinese takeaways boxes you see on American dramas). Perhaps it's all because of the US influence on the island, otherwise I can't think of a reason why people love tacos so much to the extent of making such variations!

The ferry was 70 minutes long. There was a fast ferry that departed an hour earlier, but obviously that's more expensive so we took the slow one.

There were very few people on the island (apparently the island's population is 730 - but we saw much less!) when we arrived at the ferry terminal. There's a minibus service to アハレンビーチ (Aharen beach - one of the two main beaches), which was only 10 minutes long but cost everyone 400 yen one-way - a rip-off really!

But - oh my God - Aharen beach was simply amazing! I was utterly speechless. The colours of the sea were the most jaw-droppingly beautiful shades of blue turqoise I had ever seen.





We went to grab some lunch at a nearby restaurant before changing into swimming suits and running down to the beach. The water was quite cold though, but that didn't put us off. Larisa and I had a fun time swimming in the sea and taking photos together.

Something annoying, strange and a little funny happened on the beach. There were only a handful of tourist so we weren't worried about our belongings at all, we just left them somewhere open on the beach and went swimming. Then at one point when we returned to our bags, we realised 'someone' had tried to go through our belongings. The water bottles were lying on the sand; my jacket, which originally stuffed my half-opened backpack, was covered in sand on the beach; and Larisa's paper bag was torned apart.

It was weird 'cause there weren't anyone suspicious around and we didn't lose anything. Later we realised, as we looked up to the sky, it was the crows! They tried to search for food in our bags!

On the way back to Naha we took the slow ferry again. There are 2 decks on the ferry. The top one has the usual seating, and the lower one has 2 rooms with raised, carpeted floors where passengers can just lie down. It was quite nice, actually, to lie down and take a quick nap (or watch sumo on TV) to pass that 70-minute journey. We didn't spend that much time at the beach, but there was that exhaustion everyone feels after having been to the beach.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Okinawa - Day 2

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today I went to Churaumi Aquarium. It has one of the biggest tanks in the world and is host to three whale sharks.

It's located on the Motobu peninsula, which is approximately 2.5 hours away from Naha by bus. It's quite a trek, but worth it I guess. I took a highway bus (2,040 yen, 90 minutes one-way) to Nago, then change to a local bus to the Ocean Expo Park (860 yen, 55 minutes one-way). I bought the admission ticket to the aquarium at the Nago bus terminal for a 10% off discount (from 1,800 to 1,620 yen).

Today's weather was similar to yesterday's, warm but cloudy. I went to the "Emerald Beach" next to the aquarium; the water is really clear but still, without the deep blue sky it's nothing like a postcard.

On the highway bus I spotted several US military bases. I didn't see any military facilities though. Instead they were housing for the servicemen and their families.



Even though the aquarium is so far off from anywhere, and I only saw very few other travellers on the way, the aquarium was quite packed with tourists. Many of them came as a tour, and some people drove. The whale sharks were really impressive, and the tank that houses them is huge! But the rest of the creatures in the aquarium were not as impressive as the collection at Osaka Kaiyukan, in terms of both range and quantity.

For lunch I ate a very strange onigiri that I bought from the convenience store - taco onigiri. It's basically mince meat with cheese in rice and wrapped in dried seaweed. It might sound disgusting, but it actually quite funky (in a good way). It wasn't bad at all!

After I returned to Naha, I met up with Larisa and Yining, who arrived in Naha that afternoon. We had dinner (I had another goya dish - goya salad) at an izakaya before going window shopping on Kokusai-dori. All I can say is that Larisa is a bigger fan of shopping than I am!



Oooh I found Nemo and Dory!



Tuesday 16 March 2010

Okinawa - Day 1

Today I got up at 6 to catch the flight at 0840 at Osaka Itami airport. As it's a domestic flight there's no passport control, no one even asked for any form of ID. I just used my Asiamiles membership card at check-in (it was a redemption flight).

The flight was a little over 2 hours long. Japan Airlines isn't really as good as what people generally expect from a Japanese company. Maybe 'cause it's almost broke. Throughout the flight all the passengers had were drinks. Not even peanuts or pretzels. Even British Airways manages to give out sandwiches, chocolate bars and sometimes paninis (on a 30-minute Heathrow-Manchester flight). I remember flying from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle once on Air France and had a pretty good baguette.

It was just past 11 when I arrived in Naha, but I was starving already. The hostel I booked is in the city centre, about 15 minutes from the airport by monorail. I couldn't wait so I just found a nearby shokudo-style restaurnat (with a meal ticket system) and had my first bowl of Okinawa soba. At 450 yen, it was quite divine. The soup wasn't too salty, and the pork belly almost instantly melted in my mouth. Yum.

I booked a dormitory bed at 月光荘 (Gekkousou) for 3 nights (1,500 yen per night). It's not the cheapest I've seen (some are 1,000 yen per bed per night), but I found this in a Japanese guidebook. The house is quite old, but has a great atmosphere. The floor, the pillars and the beds are all made of beautiful dark wood, giving it a primitive (in a nice way) and country feel. The shared toilets and shower were very clean too, and the staff are very friendly. It's only a couple of minutes' walk from a monorail station, and a short walk from 国際通り, a thriving high street and the main shopping/dining area of Naha. Between the monorail station and the hostel is a branch of Junkudo bookshop. I was impressed by the branch in Niigata, and this one is Naha is just as good. Three storeys, stocking plenty of books in both Japanese and English. Tonight after dinner I spent over an hour, just reading various magazines and books. There's also a bargain shelf, selling outdated Lonely Planet guides at 500 each. I was tempted but didn't buy any 'cause I don't know where I'll travel to next (or when).

After checking-in, I went to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Shuri-jo (首里城). It's at the end of the monorail line. I bought a one-day ticket at the airport, which cost 600 yen. It's quite worth the money if you travel at least 3 times on the monorail in a day. And it offers a 20% off discount at Shuri-jo.

Shuri-jo was the palace of the Ryukyu kingdom until its end in the 19th century (during the Meiji Restoration it became part of Japan). It was also the venue of the 2000 G8 summit. There was a small exhibition on the banquet dinner the G8 leaders had at Shuri-jo. All seemed to be expensive delicacies - is that what world leaders do? Spend their time frivolously on expensive wine and food instead of solving global issues?

It was only 1500 when I finished touring Shuri-jo. Then quite spontaneously I hopped onto a bus and went to Futenma. It's an hour away from Naha - and home to one of the several US military bases on the island. The town was really quiet and most of the shops were closed. You can see some American influences scattered around town, e.g. a taco shop. One shop that was particularly interesting was an antique shop, which even had jukeboxes for sale!

Surprisingly it was rather difficult to see any Americans, perhaps they're limited to certain hours or places, I don't know. In the end I only saw a couple of (presumably - they're were in casual clothes) US servicemen jogging on the pavement outside Camp Zukeran (also known as Camp Foster).

It was dinner time when I got back to Naha. I found an izakaya on Heiwa-dori and ordered one of the more well-known dishes of the Okinawan cuisine - goya-champuru. I've made a veggie version of it before, but I guess the pork is quite essential to the dish (to my surprise, it's SPAM luncheon meat that is generally used in this dish, perhaps another US influence here?), and the original was indeed quite delicious.

I also bought something called 海ぶどう from a shop on Heiwa-dori. The name literally means "sea grapes", due to its appearance. But it's more like a cousin to seaweed. The shape and texture is quite funky (in a good way). There's not much taste but I like it anyway. I've had it once before at a Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong. This plant seems to be a local Okinawan specialty.

The hostel is very lively at night. One of the female staff plays the guitar and sings Okinawan music. It seems to be a popular place for young backpackers. They gather at night in the common area and drink and sing together. I guess "lively" could be euphemism for "noisy"! My room (has four bunk beds but right now it's just me and another lady in her 40s) is right next to the common area so it's quite a racket out there!

Monday 15 March 2010

Sumo: 大相撲春場所

Today we went to watch the second day of the Spring sumo tournament at Osaka Prefectural Stadium in Namba.

Before going to see the actual tournament, we went to visit a sumo museum in Nara, followed by a visit to the nearby 当麻寺 (Taima-dera). The sumo museum visit was quite brief, and there we were joined by the foreign students from Nara University of Education (one of the two national universities in Nara prefecture, the other being Nara Women's University). The temple itself wasn't really interesting, except for some early cherry blossoms we spotted in one of the gardens.

We had a 1,000 yen buffet lunch at a roadside ファミリーレストラン ("family restaurant" - something similar to the American diner). The quality wasn't outstanding, but it was cheap. Reinout and Ivan helped themselves to multiple servings. I got really sleepy on the coach though, having eaten too much for lunch.



We arrived at the stadium at half two, just in time for the second half of today's tournament. The big names such as 琴欧州 (Bulgarian) and 白鵬 (Mongolian - the current highest ranked sumo rikishi - who succeeded fellow Mongolian 朝青龍 after the latter retired prematurely in January) came in the last couple of matches so the atmosphere was lukewarm for the earlier part of the afternoon.

Sumo was much more interesting than I expected. The actions were fast, too fast though so there was little time to create any tension. Each game ended within one minute or so, although sometimes there were the dramatic throws which got everyone shouting and cheering.




(this photo above is from the match between 琴欧州 and 旭天鵬. Ivan and the other Bulgarian students were quite excited about this game, but 琴欧州 lost...Ivan was quite disappointed.)





Wednesday is pay day; for the past couple of weeks I've spent too much (wayyy over the budget) over travelling to around the country, leaving very little money left. Yesterday I searched through my food cupboard, not finding any kind of starchy staple foods. So I decided to make myself a couple of pizzas. I had yeast, flour, sundried tomatoes, garlic, cheese and canned tomatoes - and TA-DA! I did it - it didn't taste bad at all considering it was my first attempt at making pizzas (I've done it before with my brother, never by myself). Now at least I know I won't starve to death...

Sunday 14 March 2010

"Kyoto Sakura Journey on a Train"

I bought 『京都電車で行く桜散策』(English title: "Kyoto Sakura Journey on a Train") from the bookshop at Keio University (also available at Amazon.co.jp).

The book is very beautifully laid out, and the photographs are simply stunning. It's simple in presentation but gives sufficient information as to how to get to these temples, shrines and parks etc. What's more is that it's bilingual - every page is written in both Japanese and English, very useful even for those who don't read Japanese. The book is a little pricey but I think it's worth the price, I haven't seen a better hanami book/magazine yet. Usually these publications (especially the magazines) are bombarded with too much information (with souvenirs, restaurants suggestion for tourists) and many advertisements. But in this book the information is very clearly laid out, and I just love the photography, which gives me great inspiration.

Kamakura

I had planned to go to Kamakura with Rachel yesterday. Then came the morning and Rachel couldn't get out of her bed...so in the end I went by myself.

Anyway the weather was really good, and plus it was a Saturday, so there were a lot of people at Kamakura. Out of the numerous temples, I only went to 円覚寺, 鶴岡八幡宮, and 高徳院 (where the big buddha is - although it's smaller than I thought), because I couldn't afford to go to all the temples and pay the admission fees.

The highlight of the day wasn't the temples or the shrine, but the sunset from the beaches of Kamakura. The sky wasn't as clear as I had hoped it to be, but the colours were still pretty amazing. It was also quite windy so it hurt a little when the wind brought up the sand and blown it onto my face.






円覚寺

鶴岡八幡宮







In the evening I met up with Rachel and Karen at JR Yokohama. Karen studies Economics with Japanese at Birmingham. I met her in August '08 through Piotr (who's her senpai), who came travelling to Hong Kong, and we went to Ocean Park together. Karen is now spending her year abroad at Keio, just like Rachel.

We ate dinner at a cafe near the station, the food was quite cheap but almost all the other customers in the cafe were smoking, so by the end of the night we all smelt like cigarettes. Ewww. I had to smell like that until this morning when I came back to Osaka.

I took the Hankyu highway bus from Yokohama to Senri-chuo. The bus had arrived half an hour early, and I had to wait for at least an hour and a half for the first bus back to the university, so instead of the bus I took the monorail, and came back to the dormitory at around seven.

The bus journey wasn't bad. There was blanket and slippers. I was on the window seat, but there were only three seats in a row (with aisles in between) so I didn't have to sleep next to a stranger. I slept for about five hours, until the driver woke us up at 0500 (why?) to tell us that we were in Shiga prefecture (hence close to Kyoto and Osaka, the destinations).

Today I'm taking things slowly. Took a little nap after a nice, long hot shower in the morning, and now I'm making pizzas - only because I'm really low on money and have nothing else in my food cupboard except for olive oil, flour, yeast, sundried tomatoes, red pesto and cheese.

The dough is now rising in the bowl, and my room is smelling like natto.

Friday 12 March 2010

Hakone and Yokohama

Today I woke up at around six, then procrastinated a bit before leaving Rachel's at 0750 to go to Hakone. It took about 2 hours to go from Hiyoshi to Hakone (train to Hakone-yumoto then a bus to Hakone-machi).

My only objective was to take photos of Mount Fuji with Ashinoko(芦ノ湖)in the foreground, and the torii of Hakone Shrine in the water (just like Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima - though not as impressive). The photos didn't come out as good as I hoped though, mostly because it was cloudy (on Mount Fuji's side) and because it snowed very recently, most of Mount Fuji was still covered in snow, making it difficult to differentiate itself from the clouds.



But physically being there and seeing Mount Fuji from the distance was really satisfying. I remember seeing the peak of Fuji-san from the peak of one of the mountains (at around 2,700m) in Gunma prefecture, when I went hiking with my family in August '04. Seeing it across the lake was another experience. I wanted to go hiking on Fuji-san, but that probably won't happen this year (for three reasons: expenses, time, and my health). I'll have to wait for another opportunity to return to Japan in the future.

In the evening I went back to Yokohama and met up with Rachel in Chinatown. The Yokohama Chinatown is the biggest in Japan (there are only three: Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki), it's even bigger than Gerrard Street in London. But for me, it didn't feel as Chinese as Kobe's Chinatown. Anyway it was pretty interesting, though a little bit less lively as I had expected.



As I was searching for a cheap restaurant to dine, I walked past one in an alley where there were several celebrities' autographs on display. I was quite in awe - Wentz Eiji (ウェンツ瑛士)and Koike Teppei(小池徹平) (the members of the pop duo WaT) AND Utada Hikaru(宇多田ヒカル). Unfortunately that restaurant was too expensive so we didn't have dinner there.

After dinner we took a stroll around Minato-mirai, an area of reclaimed land made into a business complex, with a giant ferris wheel - reminded me a little bit of Canary Wharf (with the London Eye?). Apparently it's a popular dating spot, as we didn't see any other people except for a few couples. (FYI I wasn't on a date with Rachel.)



Now that I'm approaching the last day of this 10-day trip, I've spent almost all of my Japanese savings and have to be very very strict on expenditure until I get the next scholarship payment on Wednesday...have to hold tight onto my wallet!

Thursday 11 March 2010

東京 お久しぶり!

The last time I was in Tokyo was August '08, after the summer programme at Kobe University ended I took the shinkansen to Tokyo and spent a few days there, whilst staying at Kasumi's place in Mitaka. This time is actually my first time in Tokyo outside summer (previously visits were during summer holidays: '03, '04, and '08).

Right now I'm staying at Rachel's place in Yokohama. Her dormitory is situated in Hiyoshi. When we got back last night, I finally realised why her rent cost over 60,000 yen per month (excluding utility bills; compared to our ~23,000 yen including utilities at Handai) - the building is very modern and quite posh-looking. It's quite big and accommodates a large number of foreign students. The residents access the building and their rooms by a key card. Rachel's room is not big but it has an en-suite, a balcony, and her own fridge. The lounge is really spacious, with a flat-screen TV and an open-plan kitchen.

As modern and nice as the Keio dormitory is, I'm quite content with what we have at Handai. The rent is relatively cheap and we don't have to commute to go to class! According to Rachel sometimes she can spend up to 3,000 yen per week just on electricity. Then there's the daily commute (about an hour) from Hiyoshi to Keio's Mita campus.

Today we went into Tokyo - first to Keio. I wanted to see her university, since it's one of the most famous and prestigious in the country, and also the first. Before we entered the campus we had lunch at Saizeriya (サイゼリヤ), which is a Japanese-Italian chain restaurant. The portion is on the small side but it's cheap (about 400 yen for a plate of spaghetti)! I thought the portion was perfect for lunch; later found that there's a branch in Senri-chuo (new place to eat, guys!).

Keio University is quite pretty - the buildings are from the Meiji era so it's got some heavy European influences, especially the library. On the other hand, some buildings are very contemporary. Keio is also the most expensive university in Japan, so one can see where all the tuition fees have gone to! There was also some early cherry blossom to be spotted around campus, I think the trees will blossom fully towards the end of the month.





We went to the union shop; Rachel bought a guide to Seoul (she's flying off next Monday) and I bought a book about cherry blossom hanami in Kyoto (which I'm looking forward to - plenty of photos to be taken!). At the shop we also found many Keio merchandise. I guess every university on this planet has its own branded goods, but the range at Keio was quite amazing - even including a Keio Hello Kitty!

Afterwards we went to Harajuku and went to Meiji-jingu. Even though I had already been to Harajuku several times I still hadn't been to Meiji-jingu, (while it was Rachel's 10th visit). The walk from the JR station to the shrine takes about 10-15 minutes but it's a very pleasant stroll. The tall trees provide a wonderful canopy over the broad avenue, it's a totally different scene from the lively Omotesando. The shrine itself is quite impressive, especially the dark wooden pillars. And the stand where people hang their wishes was also bigger than others I've seen elsewhere.



In Harajuku we went to Forever 21 and H&M. I had originally wanted to do some shopping, but realised that I don't have much money left so gave up on the idea. Plus it was a nightmare in those two shops! Yes Harajuku is generally very crowded with young stylish Japanese on their shopping pilgrimages. But these two shop were on the extreme end. It was impossible to actually look through the rails of clothes without bumping into a stranger or finding it hard to breathe... Forever 21 was not as expensive as we thought but H&M was a rip-off! We saw this ordinary jacket on the rail and it's 12,990 yen. At home it would have cost maybe 30 to 40 pounds? I'm telling myself never buy anything at H&M in Japan (even though the one in Osaka just opened last Saturday).

We met up with Cayley at 自由が丘 for dinner. 自由が丘 is in Meguro and is famous for its desserts (notably cute-looking cakes), but we didn't have cakes. We had dinner at an izakaya before going to karaoke for 2 hours. Yes I basically did what we usually do in Osaka...anyway it was fun 'cause I hadn't seen Cayley since October (probably won't see her again 'till we go back to Manchester! She's going to France for a work placement in the summer). The two hours of karaoke (plus one drink) cost about 1,500 yen, a bit expensive for me. Perhaps I'm just used to cheaper prices in Osaka.

P.S. The Grease medley Rachel and Cayley did was quite amusing. That karaoke machine also had Lea Salonga's version of "On My Own" from Les Mis :D musicals rock my world!