MP3
track of the day: I wish it could be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard
Weather:
Cloudy all day with light winds and intermittent rain. The temperature
was just about perfect though, it did feel as though I'd brought the
weather with me.
I woke up on this fine Christmas morning to draw open the curtains
and see … rain. Still never mind I thought; being British I would
plod on with the days activities regardless. I would hire my car,
drive around Miyako-jima (taking photos) ignoring the weather
and I would enjoy it. I therefore got dressed and went for my free
buffet breakfast.
Once downstairs I met the hotel owners family and they asked me to
join them for breakfast. As I was tucking into my breakfast the hotel
owners daughter pulled out a map and started to explain areas she
thought I might like. In between mouth fulls of toast I questioned her
a little before I had a pretty good idea of how my days trip would
pan out. Just before leaving, the family invited me to join them for
their evening meal (because the hotel owner did not want me eating
my Christmas meal alone). I gracefully accepted and bid them fair
well until the evening. They went upstairs to relax whereas I waited
into the hotels reception area for my pick-up to the car rental
place.
Right on the stroke of nine my pick-up arrived and I walked out onto
the miserable dark streets of Miyako-jima. As we drove towards the
car rental offices I noticed that the rain had died down a little and
the weather had brightened a fraction; maybe today would be okay after all.
Within a flash I was at the hire car offices and within another flash
I had filled out all of my paperwork (the company kept my drivers license; which I found odd) and I sitting within a 'oldish'
Nissan March (Micra to you and me). If I'm honest, it wasn't
my first choice of car but it would have to do. Within the office I
had opted, for an additional 1,000 Yen, 'unlimited cover' with zero
yen excess charge; I was therefore completely relaxed as I pulled out
of the rental car park and headed north.
The island, being about 35km long, meant that it didn't take me long
to get to my first destination. Taking the advice given at breakfast
I found myself starting at the most northern part of the island and
driving around it in a clockwise direction. Ironically, at the most
northern part of the island was a bridge (1,425meters long)
which took you off the island and onto another, called 'Ikema Marsh'.
Being the size of a rich tea biscuit I didn't stay long and stopped
only a couple of times before crossing the bridge once more. Before
leaving the bridge I stopped and took some photos of a truly
impressive structure. We've all seen road bridges before however, I
bet we haven't all seen road bridges which cross coral-reefed waters.
The colours were amazing.
Being Christmas, I fired up my MP3 player and selected my 'Christmas
song mix'; I then set the volume to 'loud' as I crawled my way south
towards the most southern point. It wasn't that I was swamped with
traffic (I hardly saw another car all day), it was the fact
that the islands speed limits were stupid. I spent this time to
get to know my 'March' and decided that I didn't like it at all. The
steering wasn't sharp, the ride position was uncomfortable and the
inside of the car was bland and, frankly, ugly to look at from the
outside. Give me back my Toyota Vis!
As I drove south I stopped off many times, either on the rocky coastline or down on a beach to have a look and, weather permitting,
take a quick photo or two. It soon became apparent that I had come
'out of season' as not another living sole was around; places were
boarded up and beach restaurants were left collecting sand … which
made for some interesting photography.
At the most southern point of the island is a light house called
'Cape Hennazaki Lighthouse'. I couldn't drive right up to said light
house; instead I had to park 500 meters away and walk up to it. The
cape looked down onto beautiful light blue coral sea which, coming
from the UK, was a little hard to register as fact. The wind and rain
had picked up but it didn't spoil the view however, it did mean that
I walked a little quicker than usual and I was soon back at my car in
no time.
The next location was the 'Ueno German Culture Village' but, yet
again, on my way I stopped many times to take photos. Whilst driving
I paid a lot of attention to what was around me and less to the road,
which was a mistake. It wasn't that there was a car coming in the
other direction, but rather a deep trench dug across the road
labelled as 'road works'. I only noticed said trench with moments to
spare; I slammed on the breaks but I still crossed it a little too
fast and I did hear the unmistakeable sound of scratching coming from underneath the car. As I gingerly parked the car within the German
Culture Villages car park I was a little worried.
I slowly got out of my car and tip-toed to the front. After peering
down I soon discovered that no harm was done; the March has a rubber
sheet underneath it and that was what had hit the road. A sigh of
relief swept across my face. After that I could finally take-in my
surroundings. Sometime in history, some German sailors crashed upon
the coral coast of Miyako-jima and were rescued by the locals and
looked after for thirty-five days before Germany rescued them. To
show their appreciation the Germans sent a gift to the people of
Miyako-jima and in return, Miyako-jima built this cheap amusement
park to try to make money from an event which occurs all around the
world even to this day. As this was the 'off season' everything was
shut and so I could wander freely between the Germanic houses, castle
(which looked a bit like that one from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang')
and other 19th Century European looking buildings
asking myself why. Why would you build this let alone come and see
it. Still, with German classical music playing from the speakers, I
wondered around slightly enjoying myself. I was however as confused
as Roy, from the IT crowd, when he found out that his girlfriends
parents had died from a fire at Sea Parks. Still I decided not to
question someone's decision and just absorb the 'fakeness' before
heading towards the 'Steak and Grill' restaurant for a slap up meal.
Sadly the 'Steak and Grill' was closed. Realistically I'd have to
return to the capital of the island, Hirara, for food but that was at
least 10km away and not in the direction which I wanted to go. Still
the time was 2pm and I was starving. I therefore decided to abandon
my search of the island, for the time being, and head towards town.
The first restaurant I find I'll stop at it.
Quite bizarrely, for an island the size of a tambourine, there was a
McDonalds and so I headed in the way the directions told me to go.
Once I found the McDonalds I also discovered that it was a part of a
small, and very cute, retail park. Just as I was about to go in I saw
an Ootoya restaurant and diverted towards that, as it had real food.
Once inside I ordered my 'usual' which was a bucket full of vegetables
with some fried chicken on top and rice to accompany it. Being
famished I ate the lot quickly and I soon found myself looking at the
desserts thinking that I had been too extravagant already.
Remembering that today was Christmas Day I put the menu down, pressed
the 'waitress button' and ordered a chocolate, banana and strawberry
parfait. I went for the large one.
As I waddled to the counter, 'large' may have been a mistake. I paid
my bill and returned to my car to complete the encirclement of the
island. This meant I had to go back the way I had come but, instead
of turning left towards the 'German Culture Village', I went straight
across a bridge and onto another island with a small community;
Kurimajima Island.
Once again it didn't take me long to circle the island and take a
couple of photos. There was a viewing platform which I took full use
off. It would appear that this island (and the south-east of
Miyako-jima) is 'sugar country' as acre upon acre was crawling
with sugar cane, meaning that my view was blocked from time to time.
Once back on the mainland I had one last important stop. Maibama
Beach is supposed to be Japan's number one beach, and it is located
close to the bridge to Kurimajima. The sand was a beautiful white
colour and the coral sea was certainly a rich light-blue however,
with the bridge in sight, a hideous hotel on the shoreline and urban
development on the island in front of the beach, I'd say that some of
the beaches in Fiji or Thailand were better.
Once I'd walked along the soft white sand (and once I'd taken a
lot of photos) I got back in my car and did a quick loop of the
Yonaha coastline before calling it a day. I filled the car up with
fuel and then drove the car back to the rental place. As soon as I'd
arrived the guy giving me a lift back to my hotel was waiting for me.
I, however, had my stuff thrown all around the car and so it took me
a little while until my bags were packed and I was being driven back
to my hotel.
Halfway into the journey I realised that I'd forgotten to pick up my
drivers license. I apologised to the guy and asked him to drive back
to the office. His English was almost none-existent and so when I
asked him for my license he didn't really understand. The guy I'd
spoken to this morning wasn't there (his English was good) and
so my driver phoned him so that I could explain the situation. After
the phone call my face must have gone white; I was told, over the
phone, that he handed me back my license. I had no memory of this and
I was adamant that it was here in this building. Seeing my distress,
my drive made a 'limited' attempt to search the office were as I
emptied everything out of my bag; I even went back into the car to
check. As I checked my wallet for the 2nd time I was 100%
sure that the office had it. Seeing that I was getting more and more
into a state the driver called the guy I spoke to this morning again
who said he would come back to the office. When the guy arrived (not
massively happy as I guess his shift had finished and, after all, I
was calling him a liar) he took me into the office to show how
their computer system worked. He said that if a drivers license card
is left within the PC a warning is given; this makes it impossible
for him to forget to give me my license. To me that meant that it was
impossible to leave the license within the PC, that's all; it could
have fallen off the table or got lost within some paperwork. In any
case I could do no more; he wasn't budging and so all I could do was
leave my phone number, and address, and to start worrying about how
on earth I was going to get a new one.
As I was writing my address I went to my wallet to find my post code
when, after one final search, I found my license in between the
wallets lining. Relief poured out of me and I appologise a million
times thinking what a fool I'd been. The guy from this morning made a
sharp exit and my driver just smiled and gestured for me to return
to the vehicle so that he could deliver me back to my hotel. With a relief-ed look upon my face I got in the car.
After all that worry I felt shattered. The journey back was a little
uncomfortable as I felt guilty for wasting this guy's time and
practically calling the other guy, who helped me this morning, a
liar. I thought about possibly sending them some gift from my home
town to say sorry. Once I arrived at my hotel I once again apologised
before saying goodbye to the driver and walking into the hotel.
*****
Collapsed within my room, my room's phone rang. I picked it up and it
was the hotel owners brother-in-law. He said that they were having
dinner in fifteen minutes and once again invited me to join them. I
got ready quickly and headed down to the restaurant. Once there a
very long table had been laid out with three bowls of Sukiyaki (a
big bowl of broth held over a gas light with food cooking inside). I
sat next to the family within the centre as friends joined the meal
and filled the outer chairs. Though a little awkward at first I spoke
to the family a lot and found out that their children go to the
'French School' in Tokyo. I also found out that Tokyo has a British
school, American school and even an Indian school. Time rolled on
with my 'adopted family' and events occurred just as they would at
home; the children were running around with their new toys and the
adults were talking as well as drinking. I felt extremely luckily and
enjoyed every moment.
The night finished with a photo of all of us in the main hall. I
asked if they wanted any money but I got refused; I then thanked them
all and headed out into the night. Dodging the rain my objective was
to buy the family a small gift. Having no idea where anything was
(plus it was 9pm) I decided to head to my local convenience
store which had an impressive array of chocolates. I bought three
boxes and took them to my room; tomorrow they will give me a lift to
the airport and I shall hand them the gift.
So my time on Miyako-jima has ended. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time
here and although the buildings, plus facilities, maybe in need of
some repairs, it would appear that the island has got all of the
important aspects well and truly covered. It is therefore with a sad
feeling that I leave this chain of islands.
Tomorrow I shall fly to Ishigaki-jima where I need to have lunch, buy
supplies for the next day and look at the ferry schedule over the
holiday period. As I shall be staying on an island with only 300
people, I'm guessing internet maybe an issue so, I'll speak to you
guys later.
Toodle Pip!
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