I'll take you in my backpack

2/26/11 The weather was absolutely perfect, lots of sun, bright blue sky, and nice puffy clouds from time to time. Why not venture off to a beach and lighthouse?! We did exactly that. Zanpa Lighthouse is very close to where I am staying. It cost 200 Yen to climb to the top of the lighthouse and rest assured it was worth every yen cent! The view was spectacular (although it was quite windy and at times I wondered whether or not the lighthouse was secure to really withstand such winds). I have been told by Okinawan's that Cape Zanpa is where you can go to whale watch (on land). The humpback whales come in during this time to mate and many people have seen them from the shore. Now that's my kind of whale watch, no puking required! Unfortunately I did not see any whales on this day Lighthouse in distance The beach is close to the lighthouse, but you have to pay for parking at the beach, not at the lighthouse, so we walked from the lighthouse to the beach and enjoyed some o...

2/25/11 Oh my word! I definitely found the mecca here in Okinawa. Laser hair removal in the states is enough to put your house in foreclosure. Here, you can get treatments for less than the cost of a good meal. Shoko-San is amazing, she speaks English very well and is very accommodating. She is working with my limited schedule to make sure that I get all of the treatments in before I leave. Each month she runs specials so even though you might be impressed by the costs on her website, stop in and see what specials are currently running. The March specials are the same as the February ones and I took a picture of the list and have put it here. I can assure you that you barely feel anything when doing these treatments. Also, it doesn't take much time each session (you can literally go on a lunch break or in between classes, right after work, etc). I did not experience any redness in the treated areas and there were no after effects. After the zap, that's it. Here is a map...

2/21/11 Today I embarked on the "Explore the North" tour and wow, was it packed with things to do/see/eat! The tour started at the Nakijin Castle (which happens to be a World Heritage Site). What I gathered from the tour guide was that there were a lot of concubines. They had children very young. They lived in separate quarters, concubine quarters if you will. We were taken to the site of the concubine quarters and let me tell you about the view. If that's how you get a view like that... Next stop on the tour was lunch, which was delicious, teppanyaki style, meaning that you have a grill built into your table where you cook your own food. After our meal we headed to Pineapple Park and tasted lots of samples and whatnot. This is a great place for gifts for people, they have everything that you can imagine in pineapple...except Kit Kats, WTF. Next up we went to the Ryuku Glass Craft. This place is amazing and I do hope that I'll be able to get back here in th...

2/20/11 Most amazing dinner tonight. Went to a restaurant called En Okinawa, highly recommend it as the waitstaff is great, but the entertainment on Sunday nights is PRICELESS. Zampa drummers! The intensity of the performance was truly amazing. I had to capture it on video to share! I hope you enjoy! The shisa dog came out and danced. I have to tell you, it was actually really frightening at first and I'm an adult. I can't imagine seeing that as a child, and the restaurant had several children. At the end of the Shisa dog's dance if he puts your head in his mouth it's said to be good luck. He did this to me, hopefully someone who I was with has a picture! Such a fun experience, no words do it justice! On the way home we stopped at Blue Seal for some ice cream. MMM! Oh yeah, and check out the motorcycle shop that I found on the way up to En Okinawa. Nifty huh? Makes you want to run right out and get one? No? "Skid mark motorcycle shop" Without fur...

2/20/11 Today was the big day! It was rainy and kind of nasty, but also kind of perfect if you choose to run 26.2 miles on a tropical island! The marathon kicked off around 9am, so at 8 I walked down to Comprehensive Park...the location of the start and finish. There were swarms of people and more Lycra and spandex then you ever care to see. Don't even get me started on the shorts that could pass for underwear. But hey, they're running 26.2 miles so I guess they can wear whatever the heck they damn well please, and that they do. I saw a man wearing a white Lycra suit with a banana penis (?), a man in a full monkey suit that had a tail and red butt, men dressed as women, women dressed as princesses, anime characters, animals, and everything else you can imagine. They weren't letting spectators out of the park to get to the street where the race was being run, so I hopped a wall/fence so I could be right at the front. Now, I didn't just do this on a whim, I had to...

2/19/11 View from lookout  Ventured out to Cape Hedo today (after hiking Hiji Falls). It's quite close and along highway 58. Cape Hedo is the point where the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. It is the uppermost point on Okinawa. The drive up the coast to Cape Hedo offered several choices for humor, mainly in the road signs that they had out for construction or various warnings. All of the construction signs feature cartoon animals (almost like you see in a baby nursery) performing various construction tasks. An oxymoron at it's best. My favorite warning sign of all was the one featuring the "land crab". Never did see an actual land crab, but I was definitely warned for a good 5k about their existence. Watch a for land crab The drive was rather scenic but since the sun was not out and the seas were rough, I didn't take many ocean pictures. It just wasn't as beautiful as normal! Here is a video that I shot from the lookout point at Cape...

2/19/11 Hiji Falls, Okinawa Went to Hiji Falls today. It's a beautiful hike that consists mostly of stairs (up and down both ways) and bridges. By the half way point (the suspension bridge seems to be half way) I was sweating to death, and the sun wasn't even out. I can't imagine doing this hike in the summer or on a sunny day. It was intense, and I've been walking almost daily and doing at least 5 miles per day. Hiji Falls is definitely worth the effort though, it's a beautiful falls with plenty of humor along the way (the signs are a hoot) I could have done without the plethora of snake warning signs with graphic pictures. I guess that's what you get when you're on an island that is inhabited by deadly snakes. If you want more info, google Habu Snakes. I detest snakes and refuse to even take a pic of the signs to show you what they look like. Think big. And deadly. Nuff said. Back to the falls. At about mid point there is a suspension bridge (re...