Yanbaru National Park (Dec 27, 2021)
Today we are cycling into the Yanbaru National Park at northern Okinawa. Let’s see what we’ll find there!
This morning, we had some packaged foods that we had bought from convenience store the day before as our Breakfast. In the morning, the hotel was so quiet. We tried to look for the light switches, but we cannot find them anywhere… nor could we found anybody working in the hotel. The front desk was closed, so we had to eat our breakfast in the dark common area… By the way, this is Taco Rice, a popular dish in Okinawa, I guess, invented by Japanese from the American Tacos? Fortunately, we could still get hot water from the electric pot in the kitchen. I made myself hot tea to go.
The hotel lobby looked so different from last night. I could finally take a better look of it. It was surprisingly big, had sofa, tables, pool table, even table tennis. There were several old bicycles, piano, etc. for decoration. I guess, the owner must has many hobbies. All these green plants and concrete around, make it really like “Jurrastic Park”, modern ruins among the greens…
As soon as we started cycling, we saw such beautiful coastline, with white sand beaches and waves kept coming back and forth… But there were also many of these interesting trees along the road, with their roots totally outside of the ground. Since there were very few cars, I was staring the sea, not really watching my front, then my bike tripped on one of roots, and I fell very hard, everything fell over. It took a while for me to get up, and I had bruises on my legs even one month after.
The closer to the north, the stronger is the wind. They waves were hitting the rocks crazily. I had never seen such strong waves so closely. They looked fascinating. Eventually, we saw a convenience store that had the sign claiming that it is the “northest” convenience store in Okinawa.
Soon, we arrived the northern spot of Okinawa, called “Cape Hedo“. There were a few signs and some places to walk around, not much to see…
However, there was a tourist information center building, with souvenir shop on the 1st floor and a nice cafe with 180degree glass windows on the 2nd floor. We could drink coffee while enjoying the 180degree view of the sea surrounding us, and we were not sure if there would be any more shops in front, so we decided to have an early lunch / bunch. Turned out the foods there were not bad, but a little expensive, of course. Also, there are the Okinawa local beers in so many different favors. The beer bottles were so attractive (but USD 8.5 each)!!
After lunch, we continued to ride… now we are heading south from the other side of the island. The wind disappeared… or, should I say, we are in the woods, so no more sea winds? Anyway, riding in quiet road between the woods (in the national park) is so pleasant. We saw many interesting signs on the way, like the rest area, the roof is big stone turtle and small stone turtle on its back. There are many signs along the way said, be careful the birds and animals… except that we never saw any birds or animals…
This bird is really popular symbol in Okinawa. It is a big bird which only survives in Okinawa, called “Okinawa Rail“. You can see it on many signs or products in Okinawa. Also, please see the link below.
After a while, we saw the coastline and the beaches again. There were nobody, just us. Occasionally, we saw a few houses. It is so nice to live just across the street from quiet beaches. I envy them. Look at this house! The owner has some talent. She (I assume) planted many colorful flowers on her front yard, and drew beautiful paintings on her walls. It was amazing!!
We had passed different sceneries. We climbed up the hill, came right next to some big wind plants (also saw many in Hokkaido, but never came so close), went through many tunnels and bridges. The sceneries were so nice and quiet, almost no cars.
After riding down long hill from the mountain, the altitude dropped like 1300m at once, that it suddenly became warmer, so we looked for an empty spot with table to have our late lunch. These are the foods that we had bought from convenience store and carried all the way — salted eggs, rice balls, bread, sandwiches… Convenience stores in Japan are truly convenient. They always have clean & free toilet, tasty fresh-brewed coffee/cafe latte, all kinds of packaged foods, all standard prices (around USD 1-3) and available all the time.
While we were eating lunch, we heard some strange sound from behind… looking over the fence, we saw a few goats in the backyard, so cute. Local people keep goats here… for eating?
We passed by an unknown beach (there were so many…). It has a name board and nice rest area, but I guess it is winter now, so no customers, nobody here. The view from the rest area is so beautiful!!
We borrowed the toilet at some local museum. It was so small, nobody inside and no entrance fee, but the photos and items demonstrating were too impressive!! There were many photos of the famous “Okinawa Rail” that we could not find on the way. Also, many farming & fishing equipments used by the local people long time ago. I think, they must had just a peaceful and simple life. Also, the wild animals and birds that can be found in Okinawa… I wish that I could see the “alive” ones though.
Just before sunset, we arrived our guesthouse. It was a very old 2-floor building maintained by an elder man alone. It is next to the sea, but mostly just fishing boats around, no shops no nothing. He rents the 2nd floor rooms to travellers, and he opens a restaurant/drinking place on the 1st floor.
Although the building was so old, we were pleased, because we could take hot shower in our room, and we could have dinner on the 1st floor. It was good enough for us. Actually, he was very talkative and cooked very well. We tried dish by dish, even tried some of the homemade Japanese wines that he made (in the big jars in fruits etc. inside), and stayed there till late night…
Today we rode 85km from the west side, past the north (Cape Hedo) to the east side of Okinawa mainland. We also went through the Yanbaru National Park. It was so nice to around the nature! I just wish that we could find some wild animals and birds…
Since Google Map does not show Cycling Mode in this area, it is shown by Walking mode.