Day 2: Nago Pineapple Park --> Ufuya --> Kouri Ocean Tower --> Nakijin Castle (cancelled) --> Centurion Hotel Resort Vintage Okinawa
Day 2 kind of went downhill after Kouri Island. Because of her vertigo, mom got really car sick on the way to Nakijin Castle. In addition, it started to really pour and I knew that there would be little shelter at the castle ruins. Hence we decided to cancel Nakijin Castle and instead head straight to our hotel.
I knew mom was really glad to see the hotel when we reached. The thing I do like about traveling free and easy on our own is that we can decide and make changes to our itinerary when needed. Unlike joining a group tour, where you are forced to adhere to the itinerary whether or not you like it.
Walking into the lobby was a relief. Day 2 was when we realised that the winds at Okinawa can be brutally cold. Mom actually stood in shock for a moment when she alighted from the car and then ran into the lobby to get out of the winds.
Thankfully check in was simple and again fuss free. We were again informed by the receptionist that the Churaumi Aquarium was closed. What I liked was the follow-up touch, when the receptionist realised that the aquarium was the reason why we checked into this hotel, she offered to assist us in our itinerary if we didn't know what to do.
If you see my photo above, you'd spot the shadows of a corridor to the left. That's where our room was, just much further in. I usually don't like rooms that are the same floor as the reception as it can be really noisy but this round was ok mainly because it was further in and the hotel was a little deserted. Another time where there was very little people around because of the Covid-19 situation.
My apologies for the quick snaps of the room. I didn't want to hold up my mom taking a rest but neither did I want photos of a messed-up room later.
When booking the hotels for this segment of the trip, I had a few options and eventually decided to go with the one nearest to Churaumi Aquarium. In fact, Centurion Hotel had a direct path into the aquarium which would have been perfect if the aquarium was open. However, the next time I'm back for the aquarium, I'm going to try the other hotel next to Centurion. Only because it looked newer and more modern than Centurion.
Centurion Hotel Resort Vintage Okinawa isn't too bad, but its exactly like its name - a little old. The room was clean and well-maintained. My only complaint was the third bed. When I booked the room, it was advertised as a triple room. My third bed was a sofa bed and the springs were really too old. one night would probably had been fine, but the second night was a torture on the back.
My parents didn't have any issues though with their queen bed and mom recovered enough after 2 nights of rest here.
The toilet and bath was decent sized but lacked hooks or shelves to separate your clean and dirty linen when cleaning up. As there were 3 of us, we had to be really creative with hanging up our towels and clothes.
The awesome view from our hotel window. One of the rare times that mom wanted to keep the curtains open. By the way, the path to the aquarium is down this pool.
What really saved us while staying at Centurion Hotel Resort Vintage Okinawa was the 7-11 that was a short stroll away from the hotel. We ended up being really stuck in the hotel the next day and haha, one of the highlights was to walk to the convenience store to get snacks.
Upon exiting the hotel, turn left and just stroll down the road until you spot 7-11. It's a really short walk, definitely less than 5 minutes away. My only gripe is that it's not a very big one.
My initial plan was to have our dinners 2 nights in a row at the hotel. However, seeing that we were going to be extremely stuck, my parents and I instead decided that for our first night at Centurion, to just settle dinner with whatever we could find at 7-11.
The wonderful thing about convenience stores in Japan is that you can really get a full and nutritious meal there. My parents settled for bento boxes and some fried chicken while I went for the onigiri. We also had our pick of drinks. I picked a packet of coffee flavoured milk which I always enjoyed in Japan while my parents went for apple tea. We also stocked up on water and the Calbee potato crisps that my mom loved so much.
Thankfully we headed out to the 7-11 early enough because the minute we stepped back into the hotel lobby, it started pouring. In fact, during that short journey to and back from the 7-11, mom was already shivering from the cold blasts of winds. The light drizzle on the way back just made it worse but we were especially relieved that we missed the rain.
And that marked the end of a short Day 2.
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