Day 4: Busena Marine Park --> Nakamura Soba --> Cape Manzamo --> Mihama American Village

Once we were done at Cape Manzamo, it was time for some shopping! The Mihama American Cillage was on the route back to Naha city and hence, it was on the itinerary for a pit shop.

Ok, to be honest, that wasn't the real reason why its on the itinerary. I wasn't too terribly excited about the shopping here initially. I mean, from what I read online, it catered mostly to the US military staff stationed in Okinawa. The Mihama American Village is, as its namesake, fashioned to resemble an American styled entertainment complex. There are many US military bases in Okinawa and the complex itself was apparently even built on a disused base! I guess, it serves as a nice reminder of home for the many American staff stationed in Okinawa. 

Given that it's an entertainment complex, its not surprising that there's an array of shops and restaurants. There's also an arcade and even a movie theatre. It would have been a good place to try the unique American-Japanese fusion cuisine like taco rice since there were many places offering them. Except we were done with lunch and it was way too early for dinner. Plus, we wanted to save tummy space for ice-cream instead.

Interestingly, my parents and I ended up spending the bulk of our time in Mihama American Village in drug stores and a version of a Don Quijote store. We ended up hauling shopping bags worth of Japanese snacks, household items, fashion accessories and even Sanrio knick-knacks! Serious. I bought myself a Sanrio calculator because it was just about SGD$15. I remembered seeing one in sunny Singapore for easily twice the price. Several of my Sanrio-fan friends also received gifts bought here. The variety and price was just too good to turn away from. Even my usually thrifty mom approved.

Unfortunately, because we spent so much time in those stores, we didn't have as much time exploring the other nooks and crannies of the place. If time had permitted, I would have loved to take a leisurely stroll to Sunset beach which was apparently within walking distance of the Mihama American Village. Okay and plus, we were way too laden with our shopping. 

Instead, we hopped back onto our car for a short ride to a Blue Seal ice-cream store. When in Okinawa, definitely make sure you make the time to stop for a Blue Seal ice-cream. Blue Seal is a Japanese ice-cream chain prevalent in Okinawa and their slogan? "Born in America, Raised in Okinawa". So surprise that there would be a store within the vicinity of the American Village. 

 

What I love most about ice-cream parlours, is to walk up to the colourful display counter, read through all the different flavours and then picking some of those to try. Cheap thrill but I love the idea that I can try different flavours for free before making a decision. 

We went with tropical flavours and those that Okinawa is famous for: Okinawan salt cookies, coconut, pineapple and the beni-imo. Dessert before dinner but heck, who cares when you're on vacation! Besides, these were super yums calories!

Another plus, there was a small display section for Blue Seal merchandise and I stopped to get some stationary as keepsakes.

Tourist Information

Mihama American Village
Address: Nakagami District, Chatan, Mihama, 9-1, 〒904-0115
Closes at 10 pm

Blue Seal Ice-cream
Depot Island Building D within the Mihama American Village
Opening hours: 12 noon to 8 pm, Mondays to Fridays and 11 am to 8 pm, Saturdays and Sundays

The Uncertain 7-day Okinawa Journey: Cape Manzamo

 

Day 4: Busena Marine Park --> Nakamura Soba --> Cape Manzamo --> Mihama American Village

After a filling lunch, it was perfect that we adjourned to the nearby Cape Manzamo for a leisurely, scenic stroll. Now Cape Manzamo, or Cape Manza as the locals call it, is quite the famous tourist spot. I'm pretty sure that even if you have never heard of its name, you would recognize a picture of the elephant-like rock formation. It's so famous that on normal days, you'll have to time your visit else you'll be lost in the hordes of tourists brought there by the swarms of tourist buses. 

Well, that's pre-Covid days. During our time in Okinawa, places that were still open were quite empty, which was a bliss since I really don't do well with crowds. Awesome opportunity for really nice pictures.

Except part of the grounds were closed as they were building an observatory. I took a picture of what it's supposed to look like and I believe it opened in October 2020 (OMG! 2020 is over!).

I recalled mom getting excited over the "this is how it will look like" photos and expressed that she would like to be back just for the observatory. The observatory supposedly has restaurants, a food court and souvenir shops. There is an admission fee of 100 yen but you are allowed to re-enter multiple times on the same day.

Unfortunately, we had to maneuver around the construction. Thankfully it was just a short walk-around to get to the magnificent views.

Grateful to my parents who waited patiently while I took many photos. The views around were just gorgeous with the East China Sea all laid out in front of you. My parents agreed that it was just so picturesque, which probably explains why they were so agreeable to hang around patiently.

Definitely a must-stop if you are in Okinawa.

Tourist Information 

Website: http://www.vill.onna.okinawa.jp/about/information/1484719566/1484720229/ 

Address: Onna-son, Kunigami-gun 904-0411

The Uncertain 7-day Okinawa Journey: Nakamura Soba

 

Day 4: Busena Marine Park --> Nakamura Soba --> Cape Manza --> Mihama American Village

Once my parents were done being thrilled by the glass-bottomed boat ride, we set off to have an early lunch. An approximate 20 minutes car ride away from the Busena Marine Park is Nakamura Soba, an Okinawan Soba restaurant that is extremely popular with the locals.

And thank goodness we made the choice to have an earlier lunch, because even then, by the time we arrived, the place was already packed and we snagged the last window counter seats! The family that came after us had to wait for quite a bit before they got seats!

Nakumura Soba is housed in this nondescript building by the road and next to the sea. If you're lucky like us, you'll get window seats and can have lunch with a view, abet with a lot of cars whizzing by. 

Ordering is like in many other Japanese restaurants, via a vending machine. I'm sorry I couldn't get pictures of the menu and the vending machines, but we were being quite rushed and I didn't want to be impolite. After that, it just got too packed to get any photos. 

My dad ordered the last bowl of the tebichi soba, which is a bowl of Okinawan soba with stewed pig trotters. Apparently there's only a limited number of servings of this each day. 

Mom got the sanmainiku soba, Okinawan soba with extra thick slices of stewed pork belly. The portion was huge enough that mom couldn't finish all the pork slices and passed me a slab of the meat.

And my own bowl. I stuck with a normal version. To be honest, I'm not a fan of Okinawa soba, they're a tad too sweet for my liking. But of all the Okinawan soba I've tried on the trip, this was by far, the best. By the way, the noodles are handmade.

And of course, the best part, eating your meal with a view!

Tourist Information

Nakamura Soba

Address: 〒904-0404 Okinawa, Kunigami District, Onna, 字 字瀬良垣 1669-1

DID: +81 98-966-8005

Opening hours: 11 am to 8 pm

The Uncertain 7-day Okinawa Journey: Busena Marine Park

All right, so I know this is like blog interruptus. I always seem to take long hiatus. But yes, back again to complete this Okinawa series.

Day 4: Busena Marine Park --> Nakamura Soba --> Cape Manza --> Mihama American Village

We had a relatively later start to Day 4 and walked out of our hotel at 10 am to a bright, sunny morning. The sunshine was especially awesome since the previous day was a gloomy, rainy disaster. So with sunshine and smiles on our faces, 45 minutes after setting off, we arrived at our first destination, the Busena Marine Park. 

To be honest, I had hesitated putting this on the itinerary. While checking online, I read mixed reviews and there were several who expressed that the observatory tower was not worth the price. Well, I won't be able to comment on that since the tower was closed the day we arrived because of maintenance / bad sea conditions. 

That said, it was totally fine by us since the primary reason this pit-stop eventually made it onto the itinerary was the glass-bottomed boats. I thought it would give my parents a thrill to experience an underwater sea view since they would never get to snorkel or dive. 

So after we purchased our tickets, we strolled down a little road (alongside some resort) to the nearest bus-stop for the free shuttle bus ride to the docks.

If you want to clock your 10,000 steps, you can definitely walk to the dock. It would probably have just taken you 10 to 15 minutes. However as the sun was coming down on us quite strongly that morning, my parents and I were really quite glad to hop onto the vintage-looking shuttle with the really friendly driver!

So this is how the glass-bottomed boats look like from the outside. 

And how it looks like on the inside. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a whole boat picture. Basically, the glass panels run down the middle of the boat and passengers are to sit on either side of the panels. The operators didn't pack the boat, so we all had ample space and didn't have to jostle for the viewing panels. Awesome.

Those of you who enjoy snorkeling and/or diving would understand when I say the underwater world is a beautiful (and sometimes scary) one. For my elderly parents who didn't have the opportunity to do so when they were younger and are by now too scared to attempt, the glass-bottomed boat is probably the next best parallel for them to experience something similar. And my parents loved it! They oohed and ahhh-ed, pointed to each other different fishes, reefs and starfishes that they could spot. And my mom, who gets sea-sick, expressed that she wished the ride had been longer and that the boat could have taken them further out.

I'm just really glad my parents enjoyed the ride, and to me, that's worth the price of an otherwise really expensive ticket. 

And when we got off the ride, we were fortunate enough to have a school of puffer fishes welcoming us back on land! The Japanese who were in our boat were definitely excited, several were pointing and exclaiming "Fugu!" 

Hopefully, they weren't thinking of the delicacy.

Tourist Information

Busena Marine Park

Website: https://www.busena-marinepark.com/english/index.html

Address: 17441 Kise, Nago, Okinawa 905-0026

DID: +81 980-52-3379

Opening hours: Mondays to Sundays, 9 am to 5 pm

The Uncertain 7-day Okinawa Journey: Bise no Fukugi Tree Road

Day 3: Bise no Fukugi Tree Road

As I mentioned in the earlier post, day 3 in Okinawa was a wash. What was supposed to be a full-day excursion at the famous Churaumi Aquarium and the adjacent Expo Gardens got cancelled because the place was closed as a result of Covid-19. Plus with strong rains and the extreme dip in temperature, we were practically holed up in the hotel most of the time.

Thankfully, by early evening, the rain let up and slowed to a heavy drizzle. Mom didn't want to get cold or wet so I ventured out with dad to the Bise no Fukugi Tree Road. The Bise no Fukugi Tree Road was recommended by the receptionist who gave us really clear directions. Well, it was the only attraction really that was within walking distance. Another reason why a car is kinda necessary if you want to move around the whole of Okinawa. 

There were pretty clear signages along the way. Even then, dad got worried mid-way and kept asking if we were on the right path, since it looked like we were just walking along roads, some dilapidated buildings and nothing much else. He was only reassured when we saw the Welcome board. 

I have to admit, if not because we had nowhere else to go, I wouldn't have included this in the itinerary at all. Basically the entire draw of the place was just a road flanked by these tall Fukugi trees on both sides. Good to stroll around on a cool day and you can get pretty pictures, but it does get boring after a while.

The area itself is mostly residential although there were some cafes near the entrance and a couple of shops once you enter the tree tunnel. After a short stroll, dad and I chanced upon a cafe called Soy Soy and decided to stop for hot drinks and to escape the cold. It was the best choice of the evening.

Honestly, after the cup of coffee, dad and I just decided to head back. We did attempt to take the way long through the beach but gave up very shortly. It was just too cold and the rain was coming back on. 

All in, not too excited by the Bise no Fukugi Tree Road even though they were a pretty sight at first. Bummer of a Day 3.

The Uncertain 7-day Okinawa Journey: Centurion Hotel Resort Vintage Okinawa (Part 2)

Apologies for the brief hiatus. No, I was not stricken with Covid-19. Instead, I picked up a new hobby during Singapore's Circuit Breaker (aka lockdown) and was spending the past few weekends with this new hobby. But ok, I do intend to finish the Okinawa posts so here goes.

Day 3 in Okinawa was a complete wash. I made a gamble that did not pay off at all. My original plan was to spend the entire day at Churaumi Aquarium but if you read my earlier posts, you'd have known how this became impossible. Given the original plan, I did not plan for driver at all for Day 3 and took the gamble that we could still explore the area nearby and would not need one. 

Oh well. The skies had a different opinion and thwarted my plans with an incredibly heavy downpour. So much so, even when we attempted to step out when we thought the rain was slowing, we were back in the hotel in a jiffy. It was just too wet and cold to be out. In fact in the short time that we attempted to walk to the beach, my shoes got so soaked, I had to change into another pair. We were essentially stuck in our hotel for most of the day, either in the lobby with the lovely view of the rain and sea bashing against each other, or within our warm, cozy room. 

Of course we ended up having all our meals in the hotel. Thankfully even thought there was only one restaurant which had a pretty simple menu, it was diverse enough that we didn't have to end up eating the same thing repeatedly.

Again, as you can see from the picture, we basically had the entire place to ourselves. Over lunch and dinner, we tried quite a few dishes: Okinawan noodles, pizza, tonkatsu curry, chicken yakitori, chicken karrage. Mom's verdict: Skip the yakitori, the rest all ok.

But you know what the best part was? Free-flow yummy gelato! All you can eat ice cream in cold weather! Between meals, we tried all the flavours. Of course, there were flavours that featured Okinawa's best like brown sugar, purple sweet potato (which I found a little weird).  

Thankfully breakfast the next day was a buffet spread else my parents and I really wouldn't know what else to order. And the spread was decent too. I had at least 3 helpings of some of my favourite items.

And I've got to say, I was impressed that even with very little people, the hotel continued to put out a decent spread. And even replenished items!

Even though I have no complains about Centurion Hotel, I don't think I will be returning anytime soon. Well, I definitely want to return to Okinawa and have the chance to visit Churaumi Aquarium, but given how much time we spent in the hotel, I'd like to try the newer one beside Centurion.