MP3 track of the day:
What are you going to do when you are not saving the world? – Man
of steel
Weather: Miyako-jima;
terrible; very windy and wet. Ishigaki-jima and Taketomi-jima weren't
much better however, they were better.
I work up
early to finish writing yesterdays blog. Once completed I got ready,
packed my bags and headed down to the restaurant where I met the
family for breakfast. The youngest of the children seems to have
taken a liking to me and, as I ate my breakfast, he chatted to me
continually (most of which I didn't fully understand, due to him
being four). At about 9:15am I'd
finished eating my breakfast and the youngest child had ran out of
things to say. This was my queue to put on my coat, say goodbye to
the family, and follow the hotel owners daughter and son-in-law to a
car. With my bags in the back I jumped in. As we pulled out of the
hotels car park I looked back at a place which will remain in my
memory for years to come.
It
wasn't long before we had reached the airport and I said goodbye to
my new adopted family. I gave them the present, handed them my
contact details and said goodbye. As I entered the building I gave
them a final wave before walking into the building and up to the
check-in desk.
Being
a domestic flight check-in was a breeze and I soon found myself sat
down waiting for my flight. Like normal, I'd chosen the front row of
seats (within the waiting lounge)
so that I could watch the planes come in and take off (however,
trees blocked my view so why I chose the front seat I will never
know). Behind me sat a whole
high school of children plus teachers. These details are important
because I had finished updating my diary and reading about my forth
coming location; I still had over an hour to wait and so I inserted
my memory stick and began to watch the only other Christmas film I'd
brought – Love actually – forgetting that there are some quite
graphic (naked) scenes.
As one such scene appeared upon my screen I closed it quickly and
slowly looked over my shoulder; how would I explain to a group of
Japanese speaking high school students that the only foreigner in the
airport wasn't watching porn. I continued to watch the film but kept
an eye out for any other 'inappropriate scenes'.
With
half an hour of the film left I had to shutdown my PC and board my
flight. I walked down one of the departure tunnels and actually out
onto the runway to meet my plane. What greeted me was a tiny propeller
powered plane that looked as though it was built before I was born.
As I sat down, within my allotted seat, I looked at the small tires
outside (the wings were above the cabin meaning that I
could look down, but not up)
realising that this would be a good experience as I'd never been in a propeller powered plane before. However, at this point in time I just
wanted to land safely so that it would be an experience that I could
tell people about.
The
flight was fine and, though slightly more turbulent, I'd been through
worse on normal flights. The great thing about the wing being above
me was that I could look straight down on to Okinawa's coral reef
waters.
Once
landed I breezed through the airport, picked up my luggage, and
boarded a bus into town. After the first stop two 'nutters' boarded
the bus and, of course being the only white face on the bus, they
decided to talk to me. This provided great entertainment for the rest
of the passengers however, I just wanted to be left alone. One
'nutter' tried to remember all the English he had learned which
included 'thank you', 'yes', 'no' and 'this is a pen'; which, as you
can imagine, made the conversation rather short and pointless. Still
he continued and I pretended to forget all the Japanese I'd learned
since coming here.
It
seemed to take forever to get into town. Fortunately the bus stopped
outside the ferry terminal and I bombed it inside. Within seconds my
Japanese had returned as I spoke to a 'ferry ticket saleswoman' and
asked about the ferry schedule close to the new year. It would appear
that the schedule doesn't change and my planned trip to
Taketomi-jima, and Iriomote-jima, can happen as normal. I thanked the
lady and bought a '4-day pass', which worked out a lot cheaper than
purchasing the tickets individually. I booked my ferry to
Taketomi-jima for 3pm and phoned my accommodation to confirm a free
pick-up from the ferry terminal. The time was 1:30pm and so I had
plenty of time to head into town for lunch and to get food for my
island stay.
A&W
seems to be an American fast food chain which is popular here in
Japan. I have never been to an 'A&W' and so, with limited time, I
decided to change this fact and go in. I ordered a bacon burger,
onion rings and a drink for £6. The size of the burger wasn't bad
but the quality wasn't great; the reverse could be said for the onion
rings. The drink was out of proportion to the meal as I was given a
pint of coke. Once consumed I visited a local convenience store where I
purchased enough food for tea tonight, breakfast and for snacks.
Tomorrow, I have to take a ferry back here before heading off to
Iriomote-jima; therefore I shall do the same then (i.e. buy
food for my stay on Iriomote-jima).
With all of my food purchased I headed back to the ferry terminal.
I
had to wait twenty minutes before my ferry was scheduled to depart.
It was a fifteen minute trip to the island therefore, either the
island was very close or the ferry was very fast; unfortunately the
later was the truth. The boat pushed it's way through the sea
covering the glass pane I was looking through with water. As soon as
the trip started, it ended. Feeling a little seasick I departed the
ferry and saw a smiling woman looking at me and holding a sign.
Within a flash my bags were in the car and we were off, driving up
towards the only village on the island. The rain had eased by now
which lead me to hope that the weather might improve.
It
only took five minutes or so to reach my accommodation. I was staying
at a 'minshuku'; a kind of Japanese home-stay with tatami floored
rooms and home cooking. The place was fantastic and my room looked
perfect. The drink they served me when I arrived however, wasn't. I
have no idea what it was (lemon I think) but
it was very bitter. Not wanting to be rude I decided to drink the
whole thing in one go (when the owner wasn't looking) to
not pro-long the bitter taste. Afterwards the lady told me that
dinner was at six and breakfast at eight; I replied by saying that I
hadn't ordered food however, she said that it was included within my
booking (so I bought that food in Ishigaki for nothing).
I smiled, thanked her, and then went to my room to put my stuff down
and get ready for going out; the time was 3:40pm and so I only had
two hours of day light left. As I was just about to leave the rain
started to pour and the wind picked up; just my luck.
I
found myself tip-toeing around this beautiful village avoiding the
rain and wind. Where possible I took photos only in the direction the
wind was blowing; this meant that my back caught all of the rain
protecting my camera. The village here holds around 300 people; all
houses are tightly placed together. As I was soon to find out it was
a tiny maze due to all the buildings looking the same. All of the
buildings have been built to traditional designs; mostly square in
shape, these bungalows are mostly made of wood however the roof is
made from terracotta-tiles. On most roofs, demons can be seen which,
I suppose, have the same roll as gargoyles back at home. Surrounding
each home are high rocky walls draped in flowers of some sort.
Outside the wall is a sandy road which connects these houses
together. I got out my MP3 player, selected the 'Superman – Man of
Steel' classical album a friend gave me, and did the thing I always
enjoy; I walked around the village, in a random direction, taking
photos of anything and everything.
At
around 5:30pm I decided that it was time to start to head back to my
'home stay'; but where was it. The village was only the size of a few
football fields however, with everything looking the same, I ended up
approaching parts of the village I'd approached previously from
different angles. Time was passing on and even though I had a map and
a compass, with everything looking the same (therefore no
land references) it was
pointless. I therefore asked a local who pointed me in the right
direction. I eventually made it back to my home-stay around 5:45pm.
Soon
dinner was called and a feast of sashimi (raw seafood),
tempura, pork, cheese, miso
soup, noodles and rice awaited me. There was also an egg side-dish
which I avoided. The food was delicious and I ate it all quickly. Due
to their only being six guests we all ate together however, no-one
really spoke to me; I'm not sure if it was because they were shy, or
that they felt that their English was inferior, however I tried to
chat to them but they seemed to keep the conversation among
themselves. I did however get invited to have a drink with them
later, which I will do after this blog has been written.
So
tonight I shall have a quick drink with the group before getting an
early night (might finish watching 'Love actually').
Tomorrow the plan is to spend
the morning on the island before returning to Ishigaki-jima for food
and supplies and then taking the ferry to Iriomote-jima. I have to
say; I wish I'd put in a 'day of rest' when I planned this trip.
I
hope the weather improves tomorrow; Taketomi-jima is why I came to
Okinawa!
Toodle
Pip!
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