The Seas, The Sun & The Air - The Okinawa Way Feb 2017 (III)

There is this village of Longevity known as Ogimi Village that I have heard since young.  I recalled there was this documentary showing the very healthy grandpas and grandmas at Okinawa who have lived for more than 100 years! I still remember that the music of the documentary was very cute and I have tried to recall the tune to my dear.

One of the "secrets" of Longevity is the food they take at Okinawa.  Uniquely that most of the traditional Okinawa dish have bitter gourd. There is also this purple potato which we saw it in the TVB show.  Googling for a good place to makan, we found one very interesting restaurant known as Eminomise (Emi's restaurant).  There was this special "longevity" meal which you needed to book in advance but too bad we didn't realise until we were about to check out from our hotel!

We still decided to proceed there and asked the hotel staff to help us booked a table. Upon reaching Eminomise, we parked our car and saw a vegetable farm opposite to the restaurant. My dear said the farm were the source of ingredients for the meals and the food would be fresh.

We were ushered to our wooden table by the staff who all spoke very good English. We were near a TV set which was showing documentary of Ogimi Village, I think.  We were seated also next to the windows and we could hear some noises from the school nearby.  We got to try any versions of longevity meals they offered as we needed to live another more 100 years to travel to many more places and experience life. 

The lunch was indeed very nicely placed and fresh! It was the very first time that I ate a bitter gourd that was not bitter! I was not sure why and my dear's explanation was they were from the farm - fresh from the oven, and organic! I was not sure why they liked to put the giant "ikan bills" - these fishes were the only one that I passed to my dear to eat.  I liked the okinawa donuts which were slightly sweet and since then I craved for them whenever we makaned in okinawa.  My dear commented in the diary that I was very "game" in trying new food in a new country.  However, I would conveniently pass to her what I dun dare to try. Cos of this, she usually ordered another dish different from me.  She didn't indicate the reason(s) but I thought she could pass some of the stuff that I liked to eat to me bah?  Haha. 

The Seas, The Sun & The Air - The Okinawa Way Feb 2017 (II)

Our trip happened to coincide with the Sakura Festival for Okinawa -  there was this Sakura festival at Nakijin Castle and we had not seen Sakura@night.  So, we purposely timed our journey to catch it at night - 12 Feb 2017 supposed to be the last night of the festival.

We passed by this Butterfly Garden from the Aquarium to hotel to prepare for our night "excursion". It is known as Ryugujo Butterfly Garden.  From the exterior of the building, it didn't look like a garden but more like a castle to us. It was a small garden with one indoor section where we could see more butterflies.  I rem I wanted to bring my wife to see the one at Airport (recently we went and did not see many).  It was both fun and a bit scary to see that the butterflies rested on a bouquet of flowers and a red hat which were tools for visitors to use for photo-taking.  We took turns to put on the hat and I had to make sure I dun "snap" or "flap" any butterflies flying or hanging around my head with the red hat. Of cos, took pictures to see how we looked.

The journey to the Nakijin Castle was on GPS and there were full parking everywhere.  We did a few rounds to try to get parking lots but no luck.  My dear then did a very clever move and decided to stop at the entrance of a carpark and tried to seek help from the parking attendants - they looked like retired grandpas but still very strong and fit.  The "grandpa" attendant heard that we could not find any lots and allowed us to wait a while and enter the carpark! Bingo, we got one lot haha.  

We always like to visit Japanese festivals and we had gone to a few. They were very interesting and traditional - you could see arts & crafts, old childhood goodies (I assume as I could not find in Japanese shops) and music. 

Wondered how this Sakura festival would turn out? 

It was quite apt and "romantic" especially nearing Valentines' Day. Imaging ourselves in seas of Sakuras and likely no bees at night to disturb us?  The Sakura trees were "lighted up" with lights and we followed the locals and walked up orderly.  Maybe we were the only foreigners?  

As I didn't take my tripod out, we had to hold our breath and steady our hands to take night shots. I believed my dear loved the night viewing of Sakura. Since our first encounter with Sakura, my dear has been loving them whenever she sees them. Many times, I have to remind her that there are many bees flying just above her head when she gets too close to the Sakura trees.

There were also performances by locals and we sat down on the benches to cheer and clap like everyone. There was then this particular tune and the cute whistling that caught our attention.  Re-playing the video immediately reminded us of the ambience and festive joy then.  I started to feel the warmth of Okinawa people.


Hungry, we decided to get some "local food" and I again wanted to try the local Okinawa noodle soup. My wife asked me to order one bowl to "test" first and I was initially a bit grumpy why so "troublesome".  Again, she was the smarter one as she knew I dun fancy the "fatty meat" in the bowl. Lucky we only ordered one bowl. 

Something that I should learn to be practical and not too adventurous. 

[See more info for your road trip -  on the Festival at http://okinawatravelinfo.com/events/nakijin-castle-cherry-blossom-festival-2017/]

The Seas, The Sun & The Air - The Okinawa Way Feb 2017 (I)

We decided to venture to Okinawa after being prompted a few times from shows from TVB and Channel 5. A lot of preparation works needed to be done and my dear got the most important thing to get us started - A big Okinawa map.  The map helped us in planning our routes and this was the first time that I would be driving in an overseas setting.  Couldn't help but felt a bit anxious especially with the road signs and driving patterns.  We did our International Driving Permit and one more document to take besides our travel documents. My dear did more research than me, getting the "map codes" and "phone numbers" of places that we planned to visit [These nos were the GPS] after I told her which regions that we would go.

We had a very pleasant surprise when we checked in at Airport - upgraded to premium economy seats and delighted that we joined Asiamiles membership. Haha, I was still a bit frustrated when I could not check in on the self-service kiosk cos they had upgraded our seats.  My dear thought only my seat was upgraded and she thought we would have to sit separately which I won't do so.

Cosmo Omoromachi Station 

We took Cathay to HK and transit to Okinawa & the journey was good. From flight to Okinawa from HK, we were amazed and at the same time a bit anxious flying over the deep blue seas haha (too much TVB show). We decided to relax and stay one night in Naha. We had booked our rented Toyota car near DFS and we stayed near the Omoromachi Station on Yu rail monorail. It was like a service apartment and typical small room but very clean and neat.  There was a big emporium nearby for replenishment.  To be well prepared for journey tomorrow, I was asking my dear to observe how people drive and park, and how was the parking system.  A bit too edgy.

"Ninja" WIFI

One point worth mentioning is the rental of WIFI Box - we got this Ninja WIFI rental from Naha Airport and it turned out to be a very useful tool for our WIFI on the move like "Ninja", haha. In fact, kudos to my wife for the suggestion as I was still stuck to "travel SIM" method. 

We didn't do much shopping but my dear already "targeted" her shoes and things to buy. As we would also be returning car to the same place, we could buy the stuff on way back. My wife promised me that she would help me look out traffic when I began driving tomorrow. Yup. 

Picking up the car was easy and took us about an hour including registration, short briefing on road signs and driving speed (40 km/hr) and purchase of discount tickets. We had chosen Toyota Axio - slightly smaller than Altis but still a very comfortable car which could seat 5. It was a white car and we were taught how to use the in-built GPS and off we went.  Car rental is useful and essential if you need to travel around Okinawa. With this mobility, we also managed to go Hotel Hopping daily. The first step out into the roads was quite OK though we got lost in making too early turn. After 10 minutes, we were quite used to the Okinawa Car and on our way to our first sight - Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.  It was a long drive and we were on the Expressway which allowed 80km/hr drive. We collected the toll ticket from the entrance of the Expressment and payment of toll would be done at the exit point. Very interesting feel for us. 

After driving for a while, the GPS "spoke" to us that we had been driving for nearly 2 hours and asking us to take a break! It was so funny and interesting and we drove past some eateries and decided to stop at one to try. Amazing feeling just like the show in "Japan Hour" where the hosts would drive and stop to taste nice food. You never know what to expect to eat if you have not planned  to do so. My dear asked me to order a vegetable with luncheon meat noodles soup while she tried the Okinawa pork noodles. Well, the dish was suitable for me as not much "fats". It was a pleasure makan for replenishment.  I liked this kind of feeling and impromptu stop, and I didn't know I was "addicted" to it during the journey.

The climax of the Aquarium was the big tank and seeing the big whales. Very big aquarium and largest one we had ever seen in our history of aquarium or underwater world visits.  Haha.  We wanted to see this "Kuroshio" Adventure and missed the lift to Level 4 a few times until we had to ask an auntie at the cafe.  There are fixed timings to venture into Level 4 and hence could not miss it. Surprisingly, not many people or visitors were interested. This place is where you can see and walk along bridges above the water tanks with the whales/fishes below you.  It was a big complex and you could also have a bird eye view of the seas around the Aquarium.

   

Well, we also followed the crowd to see the Dolphin Show. They were very well-trained and some were really very big. I wondered how the big ones jumped so high. Very cute dolphins and it reminded me of "Free Willy" equivalent though Willy is not a dolphin. 

 

Bangkok - Doing Things Differently in Aug 16

We did different things this time round in Aug 16 - a nearly two-week stay in Bangkok and we decided to venture into other areas of Bangkok.  First thing was to stay near Chao Phraya River and got to get a better view of the river.  We checked in to Chatrium, a very clean and good hotel instead of staying at our usual hostel (We stayed a few days). The view was splendid and I was tempted to stay near the river every time we visit Bangkok. Though the place was without BTS, we could still easily get to point to point via boat or taxi. One point that impressed us was how they kept our baggage and asked us to identify our baggage when we came to retrieve it.  Very professional. 



It was quite interesting though to hear workers doing morning exercises at the construction sites nearby. There seemed to be very ongoing projects, and not sure if the view would be obstructed next time. 



We visited a night market which was quite far from our hotel.  About 30 mins taxi ride.  It was a "Train Market" - a very huge complex behind Secon Shopping Centre. The complex was huge and there were exhibits - old vehicles on display. This night market was different from Chatuchak or the night markets that we visited. However, we didn't buy anything though we took some photos. Weather was hot in Aug, and probably why we didn't stay long enuff till dusk.  I had wanted to buy a couple shirt but they dun have our sizes.



Have wanted to do the Mae Khlong Train Market route for many times. This time round, we decided to do so via tour agency.   Didn't want to be bothered with the DIY journey, and not sure if the market was opened or not.  We joined this Taiwanese-operated tour agency and it was quite fun mingling with the travellers.  There were 4 taiwanese in the group, and my wife was de facto tour guide. She explained and talked more than the tour guide.  I think she is a natural "tour guide". While she was entertaining the group, I was too tired and dozed off on the return leg.  Focusing on the Train Market, it was very fun to see the train moving slowly into the market and the vendors steadily keeping their stuff. My dear was too excited and she accidentally stepped onto the "boundary" of one auntie and she slapped my wife's leg. Frankly, I was a bit pissed off by the action but my wife looked quite guilty and our focus was re-directed to the coming train. Till now, I could still remember the "loud slap on the leg" - actually I was quite angry.  My wife was still videoing as the train crawled in and I have to keep telling her to come back behind the railings.  Behind the backdrop was constant loud whistling by the train warden.  



Part of the tour package included the famous touristy Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Unlike the previous round with my parents, my wife and I were sitting in a wooden boat going through fun corners of the river.  A bit different.  The stalls seem to be lacking in variety of stuff to sell - not as interesting as before.  I tried to find the big fan hanging on the wall but couldn't find it.  I remember my mum took a photo with it and it wasn't there anymore.  Something similar no longer there. 

We also tried thai cooking class this time. Haha, I used to be quite reluctant to do so but since we had a longer holiday, we decided to try.  We got to learn to cook green curry, satay and tom yam soup during the lesson.  It was quite interesting to start the class by visiting a local market and understanding how to select the ingredients. During the class, the first task was to chop a bunch of ingredients and my wife thought I would be quite slow to do so. However, when she saw me chopping like a "pro", she knew she was the slow one.  Another surprise for her was the operation of the stove.  I was able to on the gas without much difficulty, and I was grinning at her with my "achievement".  However, I was labelled by our teacher to do "bungy jump"ing the ingredients.  The oil looked pretty hot and so I "dropped" the stuff into the pot and it was "bungy jumping" to the teacher. 



We got to know a mother and daughter team during the lesson.  The mother was quite surprised to know that we purposely came to learn cooking as part of our trip. She had thought we were working in BKK. Her daughter however was actually working there. When we shared about the cost of ABC cooking, she mentioned that we could do "instalment".  Didn't get the point that we wanted to put across for sharing.

It was quite fun doing things together and doing different things in familiar grounds. Truly enjoyed the good longer break and made new discoveries with new experiences:

* My wife bought a few local lady wear and she looked like a local Thai lady in it
* We also stayed at Chinatown and we got to see morning Chinatown and taste a new noodle shop
* Morning Chinatown market was where my wife got her local wear
* Stayed in cab for nearly 1 hour during evening peak and didn't realise the long duration when we were chatting
* First time doing haircut in BKK
* Coffee Bean-ing at Dao - very nice cake shop
* Volunteering work to play with babies - a very unique experience and we hope we had made a little joy in the short day with the babies
* 7-11 Banana cakes were very popular snacks
* A new vegetable that goes well with egg - a dish recommended by our Thai friend

Land of Fairy Tales - Denmark Part VII

One of the highlights of our trip was to go and take a look at the famous cover of the Lonely Planet guide for Copenhagen - Nyhavn. It is a place with rows of beautiful coloured  houses lining along the river.  It fascinated me for a long time, and I had been harping to go and take a look.  And finally, we were there. Frankly, it was a nice place for seeing and relaxing though the windy weather made it a bit "tough". We went there twice, one by walking from our hotel and the other by boat.  It was still a nice and beautiful experience and the "that's it?" kind of feeling.  Decided not to dine there though as we had specially booked a dinner at "Krebsegaarden" - a top ranked restaurant in trip advisor. We had our dinner on somewhat like a "tasting menu" - and each serving came with a different wine from different countries. My wife drank much than me and we were a bit worried on making our way back to hotel drunk. 




The little mermaid statue in Copenhagen found its meaning as it was one character from HC Anderson's fairy tales.  Dunno why it felt a bit magical to me. Maybe it was "born" in Copenhagen as a result of the fairy tales? We didn't do the typical tourist photos as there were too many people queuing to take a photo with the mermaid.  And another reason was we were more interested by the sakura trees in Copenhagen. 

Another area worth mentioning is Christiania. It supposed to be a "Freetown" which is on its own, and it was converted to a residential area from an army barrack.  We felt a bit interesting and also a bit wary as we were told that "no photography" was allowed in certain areas of the Freetown.  So, I told my wife not to take any photos in the Freetown.  There was indeed an area of "strange smell" with booths in camouflaged cover - not really sure what the booths were selling though - but it was "no photography" zone.  The place was quite huge to us, and a few entrances and exits from different corners of the Freetown.  Along a lake, there were houses with owners from Japan and other countries too.  It was an unique experience. 





Coming to Copenhagen - we have to go to the old amusement park - The Tivoli Gardens.  It was the oldest operating amusement park and it made me reminded of the times I played in our amusement park back in homeland.  The Gardens, however was huge.  In fact, we could see the scary "Star Flyer" from our hotel and it was not for the faint hearts.  I personally liked the "Flying Trunk" which showed a slow ride into showing the famous stories by HC Anderson.  We also tried a "safe and mild" looking Odin Express train ride and well, it was fast and furious at certain turns and this had scared my wife too. Oops.  The Ferris Wheel was another highlights and my wife said we got to take in the day and night for different views of the city.  For the night ride, we were the only couple taking the ride and the operator told us "Enjoy" and "Woa Woa" with a grin.  My wife said he thought he was doing us a "favour"...


I decided to do something different this time in regards to free breakfast served by the hotel. We missed the opening hours of a very famous cake shop near our hotel - "La Glace".  We went past it a few times and it was closed due to Danish holidays.  We decided then to skip our hotel breakfast on the day of our check-out and ventured to try the cakes.  We were one of the first few to get in the shop. Well, the cakes were yummy and the chocolate drink by my wife was concentrated and thick. Haha, we liked the cakes. There were locals ordering cakes and even wedding cakes.  Eating cakes in an old shop was a fairy tale thing to me and us. 

It was a very magical feel for being in Denmark. Quite different feel as compared to other visits.  In summary, we are re-living our fairy tales - Lego, Sakuras, Tivoli, Cakes etc.  It would be very apt to end this blog with a quote from HC Anderson - Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.  

Yes, I agree totally.  Our lives are wonderful bunch of lovely fairy tales. 

Land of Fairy Tales - Denmark VI

Moving back to Copenhagen City in a way marked the last segment of our Denmark trip. In fact, it was supposed to be the focus of my itinerary - I didn't know much about Denmark or Copenhagen and my wife did much research to excite our journey.

We didn't realise that there were Sakura trees in Copenhagen, and we started our craze again. We did some surfing via net and realised that there were sakura trees in two sites that we wanted to explore - one park and one cemetery. 

The first venue - the Langelinie Park, where the Little Mermaid statue is situated.  We took a bus there and it was easy journey.  We strolled and saw some Sakura trees and we started getting close and snapping photos. As there was supposed to be a park with about 100 Sakura trees, we ventured further to look for them.  I suddenly remembered our Japan trip where I took my wife to see similar number of flowering trees in an "ulu" town and ended up with no trees and no tourists. 



Bingo! After viewing the very famous little mermaid statue, we found a park full of Sakura trees. I wasn't sure how many trees were there but it was definitely more than what we have seen so far. I like parks in Europe - locals really make good use of the park for picnic, chatting and gathering. It feels different to the way we treat parks here. We would usually sit down on the grass and under the sakura trees to enjoy the fresh air and at times flowers around where we sat. Of cos, my wife would "feedback" that I am not a "nature" person. Why? Cos I would always ensure "no ants, no bees, no insects" on where we sit. We used to collect the flowers for scrapbook. Maybe we had seen the trees in Japan and they were supposed to grow in Japan and we had collected the flowers before. So, we didn't do so in Copenhagen. Similarly, we didn't do so in Beijing. 

Besides this park, there were some other venues for Sakura viewing.  Yes, cemetery. It was a famous cemetery - the Assistens Cemetery.  It was also the resting place for many famous Danish people including HC Anderson. 

It was a good read in the net to realise that Danish people go to the cemetery for picnics and excursion. Very different from our culture here. We took a bus to the Assistens Cemetery and missed a stop and had to u-turn. 

The place was quite huge with paths and directions to different graves.  It was a tourist place too for people to pay respect to HC Anderson. In fact, there was a directional sign to lead the way.



My wife loved to take close-up shots of flowers. She took one with a bee but she didn't realise that the tree was full of bees buzzing. It was quite scary to see so many bees and she also a bit "scared" after I told her about it. Haha. But it was nice and pretty place.  Locals will paddle with bicycles through the tracks in the cemetery. There were people paying respect to their loved ones.



We saw one lady with a wooden basket attached to the bicycle. This was quite a different type of bicycle that my wife had tried to cycle previously at Coney. Yes, but it matched the whole ambience and I proposed for her to take a photo with the bicycle and the background. After a few shots, the owner asked us if we wanted to take a couple photo together. My wife told her "I am shy" to ask and then the owner helped take a few shots for us.  Very friendly locals.

I guess it is in their culture and way of living. So far, we have met interesting and friendly people in Denmark. Frankly, I started to like the country. It is definitely one place for retirement living. Haha. 

Land of Fairy Tales - Denmark V

We decided to do some trekking after the hearty breakfast on the date of departure from Aeroe Island. Usually, I would be quite careful about the time management but we didn't really walk around our B&B and it was like not really "staying in countryside". Needed to move around to "feel" the local atmosphere.  So, I "okayed" to the trekking and we did our packing before proceeding out. 

Mogen told us to be careful on the trek as there would be rocks - I still wondered why at that moment.  We started along a sandy trek. There were nice small houses along the trek and I was looking for any wild dogs (I heard some barks in the distance). My wife, however, was really enjoying the fresh air and country side trek.   Nice blue skyline, rows of houses and greenery - perfect for a wide angle shot and I had to set up a few tripod points to capture the countryside feel.  

There were trees that looked like Sakura trees, and we were quite fascinated about them. So, we tried to frame them in our photos with the backdrop of all the nice distant houses and greenery.  Even when we were "framing" the photos, I still on a constant lookout for any dogs.  We didn't see any wild dogs though but we saw a "bunch" of chicken.  My wife believed that the chicken were waiting for their owners to feed them - they were quite noisy when we passed by. Maybe they thought we were the owners?  

Besides the amazing trees and houses, there were also something very special and unique to us especially for my wife.  She was very amazed at "barter trade" - yes - there were carts or wooden "shelf" installed outsides some houses and the owners simply just put their homemade items for sale.  If you are interested to buy an item, you can just take and place your money on the "shelf" or cart. This type of trading shows how honest and simple the lives of these villagers on the island. Very interesting, and this was something of an experience - a local living experience that we liked.  Something that was similar here was the sharing of books in some neighbourhood.  

After some walking, we finally reached the beach and the weather was warm due to our exercise. For a moment, I still had the notion that the beach would be sandy.  In fact, it was rocky, and I suddenly realised this was the "dangerous" part of the trek that Mogen warned us.  There were some locals standing in the waters fishing. It was really cold and we wondered if they were going to catch any fish. We started to walk on the rocky rocks, and we weren't sure if the path would lead us back to our B&B.  However, I did recall seeing the beach (or to be exact the sea) when we were at B&B.

We were quite happy when we saw a glimpse of our B&B - we were a bit worried that we might have taken a wrong route.  It was about 10 am, and we supposed to leave at 1030am to catch a bus and the ferry.  It was a nice trek and a trek with my wife, my tripod and cameras.