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 -