The woes of transportation- Nagasaki to Okinawa

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My last day in Nagasaki was on Friday and I spent it walking around the city again familiarising myself with the small back streets and little arcades and shops. In the arvo it cleared up a lot and so I bought the english version of a Japanese newspaper called the Japan Times and went to a lovely little park and read it, it was nice to just sit in the sun and read and relax. And it's funny how much news I miss being here and not watching the news or reading newspapers regularly!

I went back to my accommodation that night to pack my stuff as I would be leaving the next morning and the old lady gave me a leaving present, a little doll thing and some lollies and a drink for the bus the next day as they knew I would be travelling all the following day, how sweet! And when I left the next morning they took a photo as they keep a log of all the people who stay there and the old lady insisted on being in the photo with me and they even gave me an umbrella as it was raining. Even though I only had to walk to the tram station which really wasn't that far, they insisted. They really are nice people, it's a shame I had such a unpleasant beginning.

The beginning of my ever so long journey to Okinawa that took a good day and a half started with an 8.30am bus, I didn't arrive in Okinawa until 8pm on Sunday, the next day! It seems silly that I had to go back up to Fukuoka in order to go south again, especially since i had only just come from there, but the buses that didn't back track on themselves were all booked out, it is the summer holiday season after all. The trip to Fukuoka took 2 and a half hours and then the bus I caught from there to a place called Kagoshima (which is at the bottom of Kyushu and Fukuoka is at the top) took another 4 and a half hours. And lucky me I got the bus that had a single Mum with a screaming baby! Fun!!!

I arrived in Kagoshima at 4pm and still had to make my way from the centre of the city to the ferry terminal, and I had no idea where that was. After consulting the information desk I found out that there wasn't a bus that went directly to the ferry terminal and the next bus that went the closest wasn't for 45 minutes. From there I still had to walk another 10 minutes to the terminal. Which doesn't sound too bad but with a heavy backpack it's a killer! When I got off the bus I had no idea where the ferry terminal was so I just headed towards the ocean, gotta be close right? After walking for what seemed like ages, and was actually only 15 minutes, I found myself in what looked like a shipyard, big containers and forklifts everywhere, and just when I thought that maybe I had made a wrong turn somewhere I saw a tiny little alley that led to a building that turned out to be the ferry terminal. I was expecting something a lot bigger and more passenger friendly, it is the place where most of the boats to Okinawa leave from after all. And did I mention that it was still raining? Lucky I had that umbrella after all!

The building was small and jam-packed with people who had huge backpacks or suitcases like me, and all talking very loudly. I made my way to an empty seat and waited to board. The boat left at 6pm and we lowly 2nd class ticket holders were allowed to board at 5.30pm, so when they called us I joined the line and as I was about to go outside to get on the boat the guy who was handing out umbrellas noticed my ticket and said that before I boarded I had to change it at the ticket office where they would give me a room number. Oops! Hadn't thought about that, I just assumed that since I had already bought and reserved my ticket that I could get straight on. So I had to go to the ticket office and of course the line was huge and so I didn't actually board the boat until 5.55pm, cutting it close wasn't I?

Like I said I had the cheapest ticket they sold, 2nd class, which put me in a room with 15 other people, the room actually accommodated 27 but it wasn't full. It was basically one big carpeted room that had extremely thin mattresses and blankets and rock hard foam for pillows that you spread out on the floor. And lucky me got the room with yet again another single Mum who had two little boys, one was a baby and the other about 5 or so. So if the baby wasn't screaming the little boy was whinging. And I actually think I have a high tolerance for children, living with my little brother and sisters has helped that but they were really annoying me. And there were also two old ladies as well, one who farted all night long and I'm not sure if she even noticed it because she made no reference to it whats so ever (which the little boy thought was just hilarious!) and the other lady who made this sound like she was coughing up a fur ball. Needless to say I didn't sleep very well that night.

The boat made its way south through a few other islands and stopped at a few to let people on and off, one of them was at 5am and they made a really loud announcement over the microphone thing which of course woke everyone up, including the baby which meant no more sleep for anyone else in our room! Slowly everyone in our room got off at some of the other islands until it was just me and another lady and then a cabin crew came in to tell us that we had to change rooms because a group of boy students were getting on and staying in that room, I don't know if there wasn't enough room for us or if the cabin guy thought that maybe we would feel uncomfortable or something but we moved rooms, which was actually a blessing in disguise because we got given a little room with bunk beds for the two of us, and after having a little chat we both fell asleep! When I woke up about 4pm they had opened the restaurant so I had an early dinner and found out that the boat was running a bit late and instead of 6.40pm we would be arriving around 7.10pm.

For the rest of the arvo I either read or watched the ocean on the deck. There wasn't anything to do on the boat, I think it is primarily a container boat that happens to let passengers on the upper levels, there weren't even seats on the deck. As we were arriving near sunset I watched the sun getting lower in the sky as we pulled into Naha, the capital of Okinawa. The sky was a brilliant orange and the water a gorgeous midnight blue, it was beautiful! You could definitely feel we were further south, the air was so much warmer. Okinawa is a chain of islands to the south that belong to Japan , around the tropic of cancer, which is like being just north of brisbane in Oz, near rockhampton or something. So it's nice and warm!

After 25 hours on that boat I was so glad to be on land! I didn't get sea sick or anything but I was tired of the constant swaying, as it was I could still feel the waves for the rest of the night, even as i was trying to sleep in my bed at the youth hostel.

When we got off the boat there were people there handing out leaflets and taxi drivers trying to get you to ride a taxi to town but I had heard that the taxis in Okinawa are extremely expensive so I got rid of them straight away, even though I actually had no idea where I was going. From the simple map in my guide book I knew that I had to head east and that eventually I would come to a main road so I did just that and the point where I emerged was actually only a 5 minute walk to the bus station! When I got there I asked at the information desk what bus to catch to the bus stop that was closest to my youth hostel and they guy said that it was his bus that was due to leave in one minute and so he walked me to where his bus was parked and said I could get on there instead of waiting at the bus stop because I had a heavy bag, which was nice of him. I couldn't have planned that better if I'd tried! When I got off at the designated bus stop I thought it would be a long walk to the youth hostel but it was actually just up a few side streets. You know how usually the map you print off the website is deceiving and the place always looks a lot closer than it really is, well this was the opposite, it looked further away.
(OK, I just have to mention quickly, Laura (Canadian) "Get Busy" by Sean Paul just came on at the internet cafe and it made me think of you! I miss you!! That song brings back some fun and interesting memories!!!)

Sorry, so yeah the youth hostel was really good as far as youth hostels go, it was really clean and the bed was actually quite comfy, and I had a room to myself because it wasn't full. And the most exciting thing was that they had a washing machine, which probably doesn't sound exciting to you guys but I hadn't been able to find a laundromat in Nagasaki or Fukuoka so my clean clothes were running out fast! And the next morning they gave me free coffee and some chocolates for the road.

So this morning I made my way back to the bus centre and put my bag in a locker and set out for the day. Yey!! I'm in Okinwawa! I'm in Okinawa! I had been looking forward to coming here for so long! There are blue skies, sun, palm trees, people wearing Hawaiian style floral shirts (even the bus drivers), water everywhere, be it the ocean or rivers and everyone is beautifully tanned.

Even though Naha is a big city the main street which is called Kokusai Dori which means international street is really famous and is packed with souvenir shops and tourists. I spent the morning walking up and down the street looking in all the shops, beautiful shells and beach style jewelery, Hawaiian style shirts for sale, surf shops, a huge amount of clubs and bars, which aren't open, but they have photos of the inside out front and they are beach themed. This is what I had been waiting for! This is my type of city! And I haven't seen the beaches yet. But I'm off to one of the islands further south tonight called Ishigaki. Yey, another overnight ferry! Ishigaki is supposed to be beautiful, only small and not very developed, not many towns or anything, but I'm there for the sun, sea and sand so that suits me fine!
I don't know when I 'll get internet access again, I won't be back in Naha (here) until 29th, but I'm hoping I'll find somewhere otherwise too much information to write about at once! So don't hold your breath.
OK, this is way too long, going to go and have another walk up and down the beautiful sunny streets of Naha before my boat leaves, this is great! Oh, I'm sorry, it's winter in Australia isn't it? Ha Ha Ha Ha! Hee Hee Hee Hee!

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Photos

Hibiscus
Just after a rainfall