The Mommy Trip, Part I
The Mommy recently visited me here in lovely Japan. It being her first time here, I tried to gently introduce her to the many wonders of my current country of residence.
This means that we went to Okinawa, Land of Much Beauty and the Occasional False Weather Report.
As is customary for me, I accidentally scheduled our trip to coincide with a mini-festival and other fun things. Thus, The Mommy got to experience for herself what my everyday life is usually like. It consisted of thoughts such as, "Whatwhatwhat?" "Who are all these people and why are they doing these things?" and of course, the all-encompassing "Huh?"
The occasional "Neat!" and "Ooh," also made an appearance.
Here is Kokusai Dori, the main street that was a mere thirty-second walk from our hostel. This means we were right on top of all the action! It also means the action was right on top of us, particularly during sleepy-time. The Mommy was at first greatly disturbed by the crosswalk song, which she compared (rather unfavorably) to a snake charmer's song (perhaps if the snake charmer were feeling like playing a slightly more jaunty tune, and also perhaps if said charmer were a bit drunk). Given time, I think it could have become like a gentle lullaby to her, especially with the other patron's arguments about whether or not to engage in intercourse creating a soothing background in which to drift off into dreamland.
But maybe not.
Kokusai Dori in all its glory!
People were blowing bubbles outside the Starbucks. Despite my questions at the Mom 'n' Pop shop we went to for lunch, I still have no idea why all this was going on.
This lady is apparently a singer. She also slightly resembles a towel rack.
Here's a juggler/performer/man in need of contacts! He did many entertaining things, most of which sadly ended with his glasses flying off and landing in a clattering heap on the pavement. I gave him $2. Those scratches will need a lot of buffing, I know.
Unicyclist! He was quite entertaining. He had two American-looking guys help him get up onto the unicycle, neither of whom apparently spoke Japanese. Their Engrish was not so good, either. Unicyclist got frustrated with them at one point and taunted them with this: "Do you speak Engrish or not!" *sigh*
The next day, we woke up and changed all our plans around since it was supposed to be bright and sunshiny. Fantastic! we thought. Let's do all manner of outdoor things today, when there's absolutely no possibility of rain!
Rather predictably, it rained.
Our rental car - completely independent of me! - turned on its windshield wipers. I named him Einstein, and patted and cooed at him a bit more than my own Grayson would probably have liked to see.
Einstein brilliantly helped us get to a nature park called Bios on the Hill (that's pronounced bee-ohsu for those of you who are also not very skilled at Engrish).
Lovely flowers!
The Mommy in front of the flowers!
Ta-da~!
The Mommy was enchanted by the monster hedges.
She was also fond of the chickens and roosters.
But of course, her attention was again riveted by the monster hedges once their eyes started glowing and they spat mist everywhere.
Then it began drizzling, so we got on a covered boat for a tour of the park.
Hut with a lady who would later charge outrageous prices for umbrellas ringing a gong.
We were out on the boat for quite awhile before it started actually raining. We saw such things as: Pineapples! Water buffalo! Giant ferns! The backs of Japanese people's heads! And some flowers.
It was quite lovely. But also raining. So we went for a very brief walk, and encountered these things: Water dragon hedge! Water buffalo cart! And beautiful flowers!
Then we made a strategic retreat to the car and snacked a bit while I whined about directions and attempted to get us lost again. Despite my best efforts, we arrived at the Nago Pineapple Park unscathed and full of tasty snacks.
Huzzah Pineapple Park!
There were lots of itty-bitty pineapples there.
Also, the wonderful pineapple carts made an appearance in my life again, and I mocked the recorded voice to my heart's content. I still occasionally wander around saying, "King PALM trees," and "Do you know what pineapple stands for? It means pines and apples!"
It was a pretty ride, though.
With little pineapples, slightly bigger pineapples, and many pineapple samples waiting at the end!
After gorging ourselves on huge bowls of Okinawan soba, we headed back along the coast towards Naha, making a brief stop along the way to see Cape Manzamo, a gorgeous look-out point. The pictures don't do the water color justice, likely because the sun was fighting off clouds much of the time.
I was happy to be there, anyway, and maybe felt a little bit like the King of the World.
The Mommy decided to make a pun, happily yelling "The waves! The waves!" and flapping her hand at them. I found it sort of adorable.
La~! Lovely.
The next day dawned bright and clear, so we headed off to Churaumi ("beautiful ocean," in the Okinawa dialect) Aquarium a.k.a. the happy place of a great many marine animal lovers.
Churaumi is populated by a great many flower animals. The Mommy was enamored with the flower turtles. Adorable!
Here's a flowery manta ray, and one of my favorites, the winking hermit crab. He won't stay a hermit for long with that charming face!
Then I decided to kiss the flowery whale shark. Because I'm sort of in love with them. What's more romantic than a flowery whale shark, honestly?
He looks a bit shocked in this one, likely because he's a reserved Japanese whale shark, while I'm clearly a brazen American girl. So forward!
But it was such a lovely place! I can hardly be blamed for feeling a bit amorous, no?
The guard at the main gates kindly took a picture of us.
Then it was back down to the dolphin show! I was moderately trod upon by small children, but I hardly noticed because there were adorable dolphins frolicking just feet in front of me.
Sploosh!
Sea turtle!
Dori!
The Hamburglar!
...Pro boxer?
The Mommy!
Tiny, adorable fishies!
Giant, moderately terrifying shrimp!
Eels? Snakes? Bendy-straws? Who knows.
I wish this had been my nightlight as a kid. F'real.
I wish I were in there, actually kissing a whale shark. So amazing.
If I had been a dog, I would have been whining and pawing at the glass. As a human, I whined and made small petting motions towards it. Much more dignified, I feel.
I felt no desire to be in this tank, however.
Favorite fish ever.
Doesn't he just look like all he needs is a cigar, and maybe a fedora? It's like he's grumbling out a speech into a microphone, all the while considering how to keep his mafioso buddies out of trouble. Love.
Hurro, manta ray!
Ah! A flasher! Scandalous.
And that was all for the aquarium. We booked it to the near-opposite end of the island (with a stop-off for delicious, delicious Mexican food at Obbligato on the way), but sadly didn't arrive at Ryukyu Glass Mura in time to make our own shiisa. A shiisa is a great lion-dog protector! Often sold in pairs for outrageous prices, but cheaply obtained at the source where they're made.
We did, however, get to watch people blowing glass. They even posed for us! Kind people.
We then went to the souvenir shop, and laughed and laughed at all the stickers which proclaimed "100% hand-made in Vietnam!" before gleefully snapping up some beautiful pitchers with the much more enticing stickers of "100% hand-made in Okinawa!"
Then The Mommy bought shiisa (yay shiisa!) for the bargain price of about $5. We looked in the city later, and were quite satisfied with ourselves when we saw that shiisa of the same size were roughly twelve times that price.
I sadly returned Einstein to the car rental place after cursing my way through Naha traffic for about 30 minutes. Einstein was a good car; I miss him... particularly on hills.
The next day, we woke up bright and early, grouched with a Japanese-Australian man about hostel workers not setting out breakfast or showing up for check-out, and took the monorail back to the airport, where we flew over many miles of ocean back to beautiful Kagoshima.
But that's a story for another update.