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Published: November 22nd 2015
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Hello world,
Well today we did do something a bit more than sloth on the beach.
When we arrived (2 days ago now) we had caught the public bus (the 120 to be exact) from the airport to our accommodation in Chatan, when riding the bus we saw a busy and what appeared to be the main street of Naha, Brad then decided that we must go back and have a through investigation of everything that it had to offer. So with the weather a little overcast and a strong wind it was no use laying on the beach today. So firstly we put on our running gear and went for a jog further down the promenade, which we had seen so many people running on and waddled a little ourselves the day prior. Now Brad and I are by no means super fit people but we like to stay active and because we had been so slothful yesterday i felt that we needed to put in some exercise today, Brad disgruntled as usual in the morning... finally got out of the nightmare bed and we set off. I thought that we would be doing more running on this
holiday but have discovered that when one is backpacking... and literally carrying between 15 - 20kgs for hours up and down train stations, on buses and walking... oh, the walking we have done... going for a run after that is really not necessary and i understand why this mode of travel is usually done by the young or as we are, young at heart.
We ran, jogged and walked all up around 8kms, Brad had done some stairs and i spotted a little beach side shake that had on it's closed sign "Mojitos 600 yen" and i immediately said, we are coming back to that. Since being on our holiday i had yet to have a cocktail... i haven't missed them, but being beach side i felt that it was only appropriate. So we jogged and saw restaurants and bars that we might like to visit later but as the day was getting away and the sun higher, we felt that we needed to get back and showed to catch the 40 minute bus ride back to Kokusai dori which Brad was so determined we visit.
Again when we arrived we were hungry (i feel like this is
our main motivation to get out of our apartment some times and that i am always mentioning it in this blog, we having been eating okay but without such things as a toasters, knives and forks or tongs, preparing food has been a challenge) we decided not to settle on the first restaurant and explore what the street had to offer. We saw some crazy shop fronts, nothing like at home... and were interested in all the tourist paraphernalia on offer. While this adventure is about our experience we also want to make sure that we bring back little somethings to those at home that helped make it possible and this street appeared to be the place to find such things. When wondering through the streets we noticed it was closed to car traffic, it being a Sunday we thought that maybe that was done because of the amount of foot traffic, not thinking anything more of it we decided to make our way up the right side of the street and then back down the left to ensure that we didn't miss anything. We were probably half way through the right side when Brad's stomach demanded that we stop
at a restaurant, i was unsure and wanted to keep looking but he said nope, and we went inside... and boy was i glad i shut up and listen to Brad's stomach.
We we had was like a cook it yourself style BBQ known as "Yakiniku" which translates as "grilled meat" and it was wonderful.... we chose not to go for a cheap option because we have only had one red meat dish on this entire trip which was in Disneyland on our Anniversary when we had the most beautiful beef thin rare steak of my life with pepper sauce, so having ordered drinks we waited and the grill was lit in the middle of our table. Brad was surprised at how fast everything came out, to which i responded "yes, because they don't have to cook it... we do" we both laughed. We then fully enjoyed the experience of cooking thin slices of the best beef and pork along with sides of vegetables, and munching our way through rice, accompanying sauces and pickles with miso soup... it was truly an experience, and if you ever see that sign "Yakiniku" and are interested, i strongly suggest you walk in
and try it.
With belly's full we paid and went on our venture for little trinkets and things... We stumbled on many of the same shops selling the same souvenirs much like the stuff you find at home being sold to the Japanese about Australia only the reverse, and decided to look down a side street that seemed never ending, it was filled with more locals and when we were near reaching the end we saw some sexual suggestive material and some American marines looking shifty in the back of one shop and we then turned tails and moved quickly back to the main street. We had completed the entire right side of the street and began our descend down the left. My brother had contacted me requesting Pokemon merchandise and Hello Kitty for his girlfriend, i bought two small items of Hello Kitty for her and was then on the hunt for Pokemon for him. Funny enough we then found the Pokemon Store within this strip and i not being sure of exactly what he wanted, bought a small limited edition plush toy and informed him i would also try in the Tokyo Mega Pokemon store for the
heritage collection DVD set that he desperately wants. Having made our purchases and feeling we had seen all the street had to offer, we caught the 120 bus back the 40 minutes to our apartment. Having dumped our score, we then went in search of the cocktail bar i had seen earlier this morning... on foot. All up today we walked no less that 20kms and we were starting to feel it. We finally reach the bar and it was pumping... it had been open since 12pm and some of the patrons appeared to have started their festivities around that time... I was happy enough to stay but Brad wanted to see if we could have a sit down meal at some other restaurants we had seen further along the path. We made our way there but it now being closer to 8pm on a Sunday night they had stopped serving food. We gave up and began the walk back to the apartment. We stopped at the shop and bought some crackers for cheese and found that around this time of night they mark down all the house made sushi, which we snapped up some. Finally back at the apartment,
we cracked some beers and dug into cheese and crackers... and that has brought you to now.
Tomorrow we plan on doing a snorkelling tour which is another 40 minute bus ride from where we are staying in the opposite direction from where we went today and to be honest, at this point i really don't know if i can be bothered but we will see how i feel when my eye's open tomorrow.
Stay awesome lovely people, and Sayonara for now, Love Bradaline xoxo
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