Author's Note: I wrote this post on December 23rd, 2014, while we were in our Okinawa hostel. I wasn't able to actually upload it until now, so please do excuse the belatedness of the post.
Good morning everyone! I hope the days leading up to Christmas (and all other super fantastic holidays) are going swimmingly for you! To soak up my time abroad, I've decided not to return home for the holidays this year and see a little bit of the world instead. I'm hoping it gives my family some time to miss me more!
I've sent all my presents home and attended all my Christmas parties and "bounenkai" (forget the year parties) so now I figure there's only one thing left to do-- travel!
I'm currently sitting in a hostel in Okinawa after the first day of my sixteen day winter vacation extravaganza and I thought it might be fun to do some blog updating on the go-- true travel writer style. Besides, I have to post these photos as soon as possible. I'm running out of space on my phone!
For the first leg of our winter holiday, we flew to Okinawa last night and got into our super cute hostel, only to get up early this morning and catch a ferry to Zamami Island, a tiny beach town with a population of 400.
The water was so turquoise blue.
As a lover of humpback whales, I enjoyed this sculpture greeting us on our way into the harbor.
We immediately hiked up to this lookout point at the top of a mountain. I don't think I was prepared for so much uphill walking, but it was definitely worth it. The view was breathtaking!
Panorama shot of the beach-- I felt like I was on the island from Lost.
I had a second to get a selfie with the view of town! You can check out my new haircut too, what do you think?
After we were done reveling in the amazing views, we decided it was time to hit that amazing beach we were admiring from above. We hurried down the hill to town, rented bikes and made our way over. Little did we know, we'd have to climb another gigantic hill to get there! My legs were aching!
Me, Bridget, Elley and Allison on our bikes.
On the deck in front of Furuzamami Beach
Bridget and Elley build a sandcastle while I sit shivering in my towel. I forgot it was winter and the wind made me feel quite cold after swimming.
After some ominous looking clouds and rumbling bellies convinced us to take an early respite from our beach adventure, we went back to town to have lunch. There was literally one restaurant open, since it was Sunday, but the food wasn't too bad and we supplemented our appetites with frequent trips to the only general store on the island.
Some of my favorite Okinawa specialties included "taco rice," which was literally just taco fillings and hot sauce on rice, and "soki soba," a thick noodle soup dish with pork. Both were equally delicious, and definitely unlike anything I had eaten in Japan before.
Finally, muscles aching from our long day, we hopped on the ferry back to the mainland. I thought the island was quite a treat even if we came on a windy winter Sunday, when most of the island was on vacation and our noses were a bit chilly all day.
Tomorrow we'll be exploring Naha, the biggest city in Okinawa. Hopefully my feet will be rested and ready to go by then!
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