Saturday, 09 May 2009

• World Travels - Okinawa, Japan!

  

  I've actually been traveling to quite a few places: Venice, Rome, Milan in Italy during Easter break as well as Okinawa, Japan; Bratislava,Slovakia; Salzburg, Graz, and Neusiedl and See in Austria. I'm currently based in Vienna so the Italian travels make sense but... why Okinawa, you ask? Because The Boi lives there, of course! Out of all my world travels, Okinawa was, by far, my favorite. Not because it was a tropical island, not because of the food (although... you know how I love my food), and certainly not because of the tiny Japanese ladies who are 58 and start hitting on your boyfriend in a restaurant.

  Shall we start at the beginning?

  The Boi was kind enough to book me tickets on Air France, which means...

  Haute airplane cuisine!

  

  Smoked salmon AND baguette? *sigh* I love the French.

  

  People looked at me weird for taking pictures of my plane food, so I hope you appreciate it.

  After eating, I looked out the window: Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough but... Siberia? Ihad to fly over Siberia to get to The Boi. I felt like some prince in a fairy tale, going to retrieve my princess. But that sounds awkward, so ignore that bit.

  

  I arrived in Okinawa, after 20 + hours in planes and four differentairports (Vienna Schwechat, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Nagoya, and Naha).I told The Boi that I would be there at 4.30 pm and he's very punctualso I strode out the doors, expecting to see him at the gate and a hugesweeping hug. 5 pm. Still no Boi. Maybe the rain caught him up, it wasraining cats and dogs because it was monsoon season. 5.30 pm. Mildpanic, as I am now stuck on a Japanese island with non-existentJapanese skills. I mean, the most I can say is hi and thank you andexcuse me and I-am-Korean (like that would help me in any situation...)

  Well, it turns out The Boi was waiting for an hour and a half atInternational arrivals, while I was at Domestic. Note to self: forwarditinerary to Boi next time.

  So this is not my official firstmeal in Okinawa, but I was hungry the night I arrived and forgot totake pictures of delicious Japanese-style curry rice. Thus, my secondofficial meal of the trip.

  

  And then I actually woke up from jet lag to notice The Boi. Oh yeah... you're why I came to Okinawa! Haha... just kidding.
  
  Mine

  

  Then we went to the American Village, where there are a lot of stores and odd Japanese knickknacks.
  
  Apparently, one can get pliers from a coin machine:

  

  Random shots from inside the mall:

  

  

  Then the beach, one of the only times we could go because I got The Boi sick soon afterwards.
  
  I think I got some form of swine flu in Rome, as I was the sickest I've ever been. Super high fever of 104, in bed all day and pretty much at the point where I wanted to die and call it a day. I recovered, went to Okinawa, and proceeded to give the same thing to The Boi... sadness. But anyhow, these beach pictures were taken before that:

  

  Holes, by Louis Sachar (doesn't this photo remind you of the book?)

  

  This photo should look familiar (it's the banner at the top of my page). Will you be my pair?

  

  Random beach shots:

  
  

  

  Finally, a Japanese bluebird. I mean, not really a bluebird as in thespecies, but the color was blue and... *sigh* My English is starting tosound really awkward, now that I've been in Vienna for four months.

  

  Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Part two will be up soon.

   

  Have you been to Japan?

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