Heading Back to city life in Naha

January 11, 2024

We have loved our time here. It is starting to feel nostalgic as we once again say farewell to a wonderful experience. We fly home next week.

We could have rented these, which might have been fun. We elected to have a break without wheels!

Conventions, weddings, sports tournaments, bus loads of visitors to stay and 2 cyclists…all enjoying Okinawan hospitality.

Enjoyed visiting with this young woman from nearby Nanjo who was picking up some guests.

We were going to head down the hill to the coast, but we found this paved route which looks interesting. We feel like we are on top of the world, in the middle of dense tropical growth. We’ll see where it takes us.

We are liking the route so far. It is always fun to find a route free of cars and surrounded by nature.

Lovely bougainvillea growing along our bike route atop the hill.

Suddenly we were out of the dense forest and came upon these family plots.

Nature is recapturing the space from this building.

Our cycle route ended, but we are very happy with infrastructure on this road. Love riding on the brown paved lane which is always smooth.

The Shisa, one of the guardians of this Japanese base.

Oh my goodness….we ate at this Thai Restaurant, Cafe Curcuma, some weeks ago when we were staying at the coast. At the time, the only road we knew of was straight up…probably the steepest road we have ever ridden. It turns out we could have entered from this spot. Wish we had known…Barry’s brakes were never the same from coming down this steep hill.

This was odd…a large truck on our lane. It turns out that a South Korean film crew are here filming.

They told us they were filming a Korean Variety Show.

We had seen the crew from South Korea staying at our hotel when we had breakfast this morning.

We have seen posters of this incredible winding bridge which has about 3 loops before you get down. It is incredible to ride it.

We have come full circle…back to the Pacific Ocean.

We love the wide paved sidewalk for cyclists and walkers. 👍

This bridge has artistic touches, like these mosaics.

We also enjoyed appreciated seeing these art pieces mounted on the railings of the bridge.

Bridges are often interesting in Japan with artistic details added. This bridge is a favourite.

As we got closer to,the bottom, we saw this quirky yard…not sure if it is an attraction or a home.

One minute, life is perfect…and then Barry gets a flat tire…on the rear, of course.

We found a small piece of glass that had punctured the tire and inner tube.

Thanks to having to deal with a flat tire only a week ago, Barry got the job done quickly. A few cement blocks stacked up worked great to raise the trike .

We are back on the Pacific Coast. This campground is next door to where we stayed a few weeks ago and we will ride down to donate a few camping supplies that we won’t take home.

Climbing the steep hill from the campground. We donated a mallet for tent pegs and a partially used stove canister.

Nice to see an area like this, on prime waterfront land, being used for farming. These fertile low lying areas are valuable.

Okinawa is such a different place than the other four main islands of Japan…Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. Okinawa’s remote location alone with its sub tropical climate stands out in contrast, as well as having a very distinct culture, architecture and food from the rest of Japan. We feel like after a month here we are beginning to understand the differences, but there is much to learn. The main island of Okinawa is 112 km long and in places, 6 km across. The main city of Naha has a population of 350,000 and one department store, Ryubo. It is the only department store on the island of Okinawa.

We are back in Naha and will stay here until we fly on the 16th. Department stores typically have good places to eat on the ground floor which is often a Food Court with places offering takeaway and dine in. We liked the look of this one with set meals.

We chose well. The place was bustling with groups of locals eating together. We were the only foreign visitors. Barry’s set meal included miso with mushrooms, marinated tofu, sashimi and braised (fall off the bone) meat with veg, and an Okinawan donut (top R). Outstanding meal.

Mary Ellen had miso soup, burdock root salad, chicken…so tender. Set meals are a very good value.

Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 2,245 km (1,394 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0