Late last year, my family decided on an impromptu trip to Okinawa, Japan. It was a pretty last minute thing and the main reason why we chose to go to Okinawa was because we were looking for a family trip that accommodates all of our clashing schedules. It had to be after my last paper, and before I went to HK and before my sister's school started so the other alternative was to go to Korea again which we didn't want to, so Okinawa it is!
Can I just say that I'm never taking flights with SilkAir every again? Firstly the flight was really uncomfortable because I was so claustrophobic during the flight (I've never felt THIS claustrophobic before on a flight) and it made me really anxious to be on the plane. Secondly, the number of restrooms. in this plane was SAD. All throughout the flight, there were queues for the restrooms and I queued up for nearly 45 minutes just to use the restroom. It was crazy. I've never had to queue up for any restrooms this long in my life. Lastly, the service provided by the service crew wasn't that good. Some of the flight attendants were bordering rude. Granted, some of the passengers were not the nicest but from a full fledge carrier, I expected slightly better service from the attendants. I think even some budget airlines I've been on offered better service than the flight attendants on the SilkAir plane I was on did. All in all, you can say that I was definitely dreading the plane ride back while I was on the plane ride to Okinawa because I knew I would not enjoy the whole 5h35mins it took to get to get to our destination.
We were greeted by our local tour guide after leaving the arrival hall at the Okinawa International Airport and we proceeded to bring our luggages to board the tour bus. The bus was really new and clean and comfortable which was such a luxury especially after having to endure the horrible flight.
Caught our very first sunset in Okinawa as we were heading to our dinner venue. It was winter when we were in Okinawa and the sun set at about 5.50pm-6pm every day so we had our dinner there pretty early, at like maybe 6.15pm which was really early for me because I usually have my dinner only after 7pm. I love the fact that I have the luxury to catch the sunset because usually in Singapore, by the time the sun starts setting, I'm closeted in a classroom in school.
Dinner on the first night was shabu-shabu and if you were expecting the type of shabu-shabu we usually get in Singapore like I did, you are in for a surprise. The shabu-shabu we had consisted of a mini hotpot and a whole bunch of meat and vegetables with a bowl of rice. The meat and vegetables they provided was really good but the side dishes all tasted really weird. I can safely say that after this meal, I was pretty sure that Okinawan food and I do not go well together (and I was right).
The food there tastes a lot like the sea, if this makes any sense at all. I don't eat seafood at all (except for fish) because of the taste and texture of seafood in general so you can imagine that none of the local food really suited my palate.
After that, we got on the bus and it brought us to our hotel. My family was split up into 2 separate rooms, one triple and one double. The room was really tiny which can be expected since we were in Japan after all but it had all the amenities we needed, including a bathtub which I believe definitely is a luxury in Japan considering the space constraints.
Since none of us were full from our dinner, myself, my parents and my sister went down to the convenience store just around the corner of our hotel to pick up some cup noodles (how typically Singaporean are we?) and drinks. They had an amazing array of instant mee at the convenience store that can rival even some of our smaller supermarkets.
They also had a large selection of cold bottled teas available that made me swoon. I'm the largest fan of milk tea and green tea so I snatched up these two teas immediately. The green tea bottle came in a 2l packaging which I took delight in drinking every single night when we were back in the hotel. This milk tea bottle I saved for when we were in the tour bus and I was craving something cheeky.
The convenience store even had a small section where they sold this! Unfortunately I don't know the name of this but you can check out the pictures below to see what I mean. It is this corner where they sold ingredients in soup kind of like odeng in Korea but with other types of ingredients as well. I really really wanted to grab some for myself but I wasn't hungry then and I didn't want to be too greedy. But these foods look amazing don't they?
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