Having explored the western side of Okinawa, our onward journey moved to the eastern side of the country. We had this "child-like" thought of staying at both sides of the country to experience something "different". We drove via the Kaichu-doro drive to Miyagi Island and stayed at Hamahiga Island. It was very funny feeling of driving from islands to islands connected by roads. Our lodging was at Hotel Hamahigashima Resort - it was very quiet when we checked in and I was worried if we were the only couple staying for the night. Imagine the whole resort with us and the hotel staff only. It was "so quiet" that we had to inform them that we would be eating dinner at the hotel in advance! How remote feeling it was.
We decided to "trip advisor" and selected one Japanese Restaurant called Fukuya in Uruma, the main island. It was an easy drive but the tough part was to navigate into the sharp 90 degree turn into the restaurant. Not very big but very "jap feel". The waitresses could not communicate in English at all, not even simple words and menu all in Jap. A very interesting encounter occurred - two ladies next to our table could speak a bit of English and helped us in our order. We chose two different types of fish and we requested for "local dish".
While waiting for our dishes, the ladies started to scoop up some of the "appetisers" and passed them to us to try. Gosh, very hospitable and warm-feeling. One tasted like fried potato chips while the other was vegetables with meat.
With the background jap music and guys in another corner drinking and chatting loudly, it was really special. We realised that Okinawan dish and Japanese dish are different - even the ladies asked us whether we wanted Japanese or Okinawan dish. We chose one "Japanese" and one "Okinwan" dish.
I was anticipating my Okinawan FISH, and wondered how it tasted like. When the dishes came, we saw that one of the fishes we ordered with help was the Japanese "grilled fish". Mine, so many bones and tough to eat, and it was really like Saba Fish. The other one was Okinawan FISH. WOW, it was really yummy when my dear passed to me to "try". I kept telling my wife who passed me the OKinawan fish was so delicious, fresh and yummy. And it was supposed to be her fish, her meal. To-date, I still dunno how to find the Okinawan Fish. We also ordered two Okinawan Beer and had a great time communicating with the ladies and waitresses there. My dear had to use wedding tunes "here comes the bride" to tell the ladies that we were "married" haha. It was so funny.
We drove back carefully to the resort and it was dark on the roads. I saw "green eyes" on the trees when I drove back. Seeing a few cars at the carpark assured us that at least we were not the only ones in the resort. Quiet, lull period I guess.
The sunrise the next morning was nice. Staying in the resort in the remote island gave us a serene feeling though. I went up to the public bath area but didn't stay long as I was the only one. Didn't catch the sunrise as planned in the area as it should be quite dark to go there to wait for sunrise....
Breakfast was a good spread and it was then that we realised got several families actually staying there yesterday night. My dear liked the breakfast. I was still searching if there were any Okinawan Fish! Haha.
After checking out, we drove around and would stop at jetties or near breakwaters to see if we could spot any sea creatures. Why? Cos when we were at Miyagi Island the day before, we stopped near a jetty and saw how clear the water was. We could see clearly sea urchins, and a few memos. Very clear, and this simple little thing fascinated us a lot.
