Okinawa World & Cave (Dec 31, 2021-Jan 1, 2022)
Today we are back to where we came from — Naha city!
We will pass by Naha Airport, spend some slow time in the Okinawa Outlet Mall, and ride to our rented apartment in Naha, where we’ll spend the next few days relaxing with our family. Our cycling days are ending…
It was such a warm sunny day from the morning. Although when we came to the city, no longer see the beaches, still we could see the sea. The seawater was still very clean, not the roads were still not crowded, so pleasant to ride along the sea.
We spent some time in Starbucks (enjoy this nice painting in Starbucks, though it looks like Vietnam more than Okinawa), ate A&W for lunch, but then we found out afterwards there were actually many food carts at the center of Okinawa Outlet Mall that looked like much better foods!! We should have ate there instead!! (However, it was quite cold & windy to eat outside…)
Actually, what more interesting than shopping was, there were some groups performing Traditional Okinawa Dance in the Mall. It was very interesting to look at. I found a utube video of this group, so please enjoy!!
It was so nice to enjoy the sunset on a bridge towards Naha city. It was interesting that I often found maps in circles like this on some bridges in Okinawa.
On Christmas night (Dec. 25), we had Hamburger Steak as dinner. Tonight, New Year Eve (Dec. 31), we decided to eat steak again!! This time, we finally got to try the Steak House 88 that we had seen so many times in Okinawa. It is a Steakhouse founded by some American solders when they stayed in Okinawa. They tried to imitate some popular steakhouse in the U.S. because they were so homesick… However, Steak House 88 became so popular that everybody love it now.
In fact, I was very impressed by not only their steak quality, but their standard Cream Soup and Garlic Bread that always came with the set also tasted so good!! I particularly love the crispy and strong garlic-favored bread!! I have to eat it again!!!!
Today we only rode 13km, and in this whole week we only rode 396km (shyly less than 400km!) Oh No!! Really?? I was expecting us to ride like 500km. Why is it so much less?? Then, I remember that we had skipped the westernmost part. Also, we did not really go around all the small islands, only visited them… Anyway, we will still ride some more in the few days, so let’s see!!
Happy New Year!!! Let’s look at our apartment. It is again a Self-check-in, but we had a bigger room this time, two beds and a sofa-bed. Also, we had a balcony (with roof!) that was big enough to put our 2 bikes!
Today, we took a bus to visit the Okinawa World. Now I understand why Okinawa people always drive a car. We saw so few walking people, bikes or scooters etc. on the streets, because the places are really FAR AWAY!! It looks not far from the map, but still took a long time to take a bus, and we even had to walk some more to get there.
Anyway, Okinawa World did seem like a perfect place to go for new year! There were signs everywhere showing the date. It also mentioned the temperature was 17degC (so warm!!). Many beautiful flowers welcomed us at the Entrance.
The main reason that we visited Okinawa World was because of the Natural Monument Gyokusendo Cave!! It is said to be carved over 300,000 years!! It is a Limestone cave grown on a coral reef. Indeed, inside was amazing deep and long. The views inside look different from places to places. Under the light, inside looked magnificant! We took so many photos… We also saw some inserts and white little fishes inside. It was like a totally different world!!
To my surprise, inside the park there were also a lot of other interesting things to see, such as a Craftvillage, Tropical orchards…
But what interested me the most was — the Habu Park!! There were many lizards, bats, and many kinds of snakes-related exhibitions. I learnt a lot… such as people used to make medicines to cure snake poison from horses… poor horses! There are many poison snakes in Okinawa, so many that people started making and selling snake sake in Okinawa. It becomes a popular souvenir of Okinawa!
Our New Year Day ended with more shopping… and nice dinner of local foods! There were raw beef sushi selling on the street! Also, these pork & egg rice balls (pork tamago onigiri) are really popular in Okinawa, and I love them too. They always taste good, and one is big enough for lunch already. There are chain shops in Okinawa selling just that, such as the shop below.
Since Google Map does not show Cycling Mode in this area, it is shown by Walking mode.