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Post date: Aug 25, 2014 2:56:14 PM
Day 2 in Okinawa, wow the humidity is something that takes a while to get used too. I love it! Shopping day! After a not so early start, we all headed out to the main shopping street of Naha. It is always interesting to remember that about 2000 Japanese tourists visit Okinawa every day and only about 1 come to train in Martial Arts! Okinawa is the Gold Coast of Japan and it seems to be getting more touristy. We all split up and wondered around the markets for a couple of hours, occasionally bumping into each other.
The Okinawan doughnuts are amazing! There are a lot of stalls that sell them and I found one that did sweet potato ones, it was delicious. At one point, around lunch time, I meet up with Adam and Renee as we were walking past Jeff's Hamburger place, which Adam and I both remembered from last year. Not far from it is a really nice Okinawan Soba house, so the three of us went for lunch.
It is always a challenge eating in a foreign country were you have no idea what the menu says. Despite studying Japanese for a while, I am still so much out of my depth. However having been here last year Adam and I are both much more confident with everything. The Soba was just as good as I remembered it. It might not look overly appetising, but man it tastes good!
Traveling in a large group is always a challenge, with everyone having different things they want to do. Thankfully we all are happy to do our own thing and amuse ourselves. It makes things so much easier! We had all agreed to meet at Starbucks at 1 pm, this is the secret of group travel, have a meeting point and a time! As it was the three of us were the last to arrive. I have discovered that honey makes Startbucks coffee taste half decent.
Next stop was the best shop in town, Shreido.
Not only does it have fantastic staff, but it is full of fun things to play with.
Sensei Bob bought half the shop and then Alex anf John cleaned them out! Not to mention there is a huge box of stuff for Mark too. It took ages to get through eceryone and after awhile some of us headed down to the old China Gate.
We all headed back to the hotel, with a slight detour via the post office for some of us. Not surprisingly there is still a huge lack of ATM's in Okinawa. The Post Office is one of the few places you can get money out. Loaded up with money I headed to the local super market for my breakfast fruits and stuff.
After a relaxing afternoon, I headed out for dinner with Sensei Bob, Greg and Marina after which we got some much needed sleep.
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