31 January 2018

Okinawa Hai (^~^) - Zamami Shima

Continued...

So yesterday I rented a bicycle for ¥500 /2 hours to explore Ama District. It is an area about 20 minutes from Zamami town, with its own sparkling beach and observation deck where you can view some of the islands within this beautiful archipelago.

It  was mostly cool during my cycle, however the sun came out at about 10.30am. Finally some sunlight! By this time I was already at Ama beach. Earlier I had circled the town and took pictures using my hubs’ camera of the local residence. They’re a quirky bunch, with their dragon statues at every entrance of their house/building and kawaii characters on walls, posters, road signs and basically any kind of public announcement you can find.

Back to Ama beach... what can I say? It’s a long stretch of clear light-turquoise water and pale sand - so pleasing to the eyes you could just sit there for hours. You can tell that there are less corals and fiahes here but it is well-known for having turtles. It would’ve been a dream to see one, but it was not my day. I decided to head to the observatory instead since I couldn’t bring my bicycle onto the beach. Funny story, I didn’t know that the deck was a 20 minute walk *along* the beach, so I set off towards the jungle, thinking it would be there.

It was one heck of a journey, obviously. I pushed my bike from the foot of the hill since there was no way I could cycle uphill. Honestly I didn’t track how long I pushed my bike, but it was long. And tough. With a few pit stops. And drink breaks. Not to mention the photo taking at every sight of interesting flora and fauna. I was literally the only human being going up that mountain, and it wasn’t until about 11.15am that I decided to check where I was on Google Maps (forgot I downloaded the app last night). 

When I saw my location pinpointed in the heart of the island, my breath stopped. I’d been walking in the opposite direction, uphill, for god knows how long, and I could actually get back to town since I was already halfway around the island. Unfortunately it would take another 40 minutes of walking and I needed to return my bike at about 11.50am. How much longer did I need to go uphill? Would I get into trouble if I was late to return my bike? With all these questions running through my head, I decided to turn back and ride downhill back to town. 

To be continued...

Okinawa Hai (^~^)

Hi everyone :) I am currently in Japan now and just suddenly felt like blogging because there’s just so much to share.

Oh, before I continue any further... surprise! I’m married now! :D We’re in Japan for our honeymoon.

It’s 7.07am at Zamami Island. It’s been raining the whole night and it’s been windy too. You can hear  the slight banging of doors / windows downstairs and the whistle of the wind sometimes sounds like people talking. But rather than feeling eerie, it just gives you a feeling of closeness to the sea. It’s quite touching actually. You can hear the waves from here too.

The birds are awake now and I think there are some sounds of fishermen boats. We’re in our cosy room, a small studio with a built in cupboard and a space to hang clothes. Small, but it’s been the best out of the two places we’ve stayed so far. For ¥3000 a night per person, it doesn’t get better than this.

We just finished our fajr prayer and are just resting. Yesterday was a pretty long day. We stayed up after fajr for breakfast then went our separate ways. My husband booked a scuba diving trip at 10am with Kerama Joy Joy (or Joy Joy only) for ¥7000 all in. I was still wondering whether I should take a bike and explore the island or just head out snorkelling. I decided to cycle because I didn’t have anyone to look after my things if I went snorkelling.

To be continued...