Okinawa, JAPAN

My workplace organizes a vacation getaway for some of the employees each year and I decided to join them. The invitation was also extended to Matthew, but since the entire group consisted of women he decided he would take a break and stay in Taiwan for some alone time, it also gave me a chance to get to know my co-workers better. In truth, my employer came as well after my peers coerced him into coming, so my boss was the only male; I didn't see him much and actually forgot he was on the trip at one point.

I was so excited that I barely slept the night before and it didn't help that I had to be at the bus by 5:30am. I slept a little on the bus and the plane. Okinawa is only about a one hour flight from Taipei. Once we arrived it was touring time right away. I have never traveled in a large group before. Most of my travel experience have been solo and to be honest I actually don't care for the guided tours. We did see quite a bit of stuff, but you spend so little time at each place it almost feels pointless. It was a learning experience and I certainly will not complain about the price: NT$20,000 ($667CAD). That paid for the hotel (with one roommate), my flights, all of the meals while over there, and the tours. Not too shabby if I may say so.

Once we got off the plane it was rush to the bus and off we go. By the way, any information I have about the places I saw is limited as the tour was all in Chinese and I don't speak a word. So, I might unknowingly be wrong about some things that I might have just misunderstood during a mistranslation.

Our first stop was Fukushu En Park. It was built as the 10th anniversary of Okinawa's friendship with Fuzhou City of China and the 17th anniversary commemorative project of Naha municipal city government. It was completed in September 1992 and is 8,500 square meters in area. It represents the great trade era of Ryukyu and its Chinese architectural style has enormous impact on the Okinawan culture.

Our next stop was just next door, Kume-Shiseibyo (Kume Confucian Temple). This temple honours Confucious, a great philosopher and the founder of Confucianism, who lived about 2,500 years ago.




As you can imagine, there are plenty of temples in Japan, just like most Asian countries in general. After the first temple, we went straight to see another. While driving down one of the highways, I spotted a beach and it was in the most bizarre location, under the highway bridge! Yes, there were people there who were actually swimming when I took this picture and I was jealous.

After this we were dropped off downtown where we could do some shopping, then headed to dinner with the group and finally off to the hotel. I didn't really know what I had gotten myself into when I signed up for this tour. All the information I was given was in Chinese and I was told that someone would translate it, but that never happened. So, I didn't know what we were doing when or where I was supposed to be at what time; I just kind of followed everyone else. I was totally expecting to have some down time where I could just do my own things, like tan on the beach and swim in the ocean, but to my grave disappointment, that wasn't included. This was as close as I got.

I had to sneak into the ocean as I was told it's too dangerous to swim in at night and the tour guides wouldn't "allow" me. I was at a beach, across the street from our hotel; it's not dangerous, it's sectioned off. I understand their thinking it's dangerous and that's because very few Chinese know how to swim. I'm not going to lie, I was a little pissed when I found out that at no time would I be able to go swimming or actually be in some form of water. I have lived in Taiwan for over half a year now and hadn't been able to go swimming because of either weather and simply because there are no good beaches around unless I go all the way south to a national park. Anyway, I was very happy to actually be able to at least stand in the ocean. After I snuck in my ocean time, I headed back to the hotel for a midnight snack with the girls. What do you think we ate?

Sashimi, Sake, and beers of course! It was the best friggin' sashimi I have ever had; so fresh. Ugh! I miss it and crave it like a mad woman anytime I look at this picture. My mouth is salivating right now.


After we stuffed ourselves with alcohol and raw fish it was time for bed; for some well-needed rest.

The gift shop at the hotel, as well as any alcohol selling store, has these very potent alcoholic drinks which are also very expensive. I almost bought a small jar for Matthew, but then I decided against it because I wasn't sure how customs in other countries view these items. I'm sure it's a bit strange when you say, "Hi! I have a dead snake in a jar filled with alcohol in my bag, and I would like to enter your country."

The next morning we piled onto the bus and were off to the Okinawa Memorial National Government Park and the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (which I was insanely excited for).

I have a thing for the water and I'm not exactly sure why that is. When I was a young child I was petrified of the water, but my mother forced me to take swimming lessons until I was a teen. When I was 6 years old I actually drowned in a pool but was resuscitated. From that point on my mother made me take swimming lessons twice a week at two different centres so I would learn all the survival skills. I think that once I was in my late teens I really started to love the water and became strangely fascinated with fish. That being said, both my father and my younger brother are commercial divers and they spend a lot of time underwater, but I have not yet tried snorkeling or scuba diving; it's on my list. But until then, I shall enjoy all these silly aquariums.

Anyhow, once you past the entrance in the aquairum you come to a shallow tank where you can touch starfish and sea cucumbers. So that's what I did. The starfish were surprisingly hard almost like touching a rock; I wasn't expecting that at all and it shocked me a little. The sea cucumber was a bit more squishy like you would expect.


 

This place is huge! The aquarium is made up of four floors, with tanks containing deep sea creatures, sharks, coral, and tropical fish. The aquarium is set on 19,000m² of land, with a total of 77 tanks containing 10,000m³ of water. Water for the saltwater exhibits is pumped into the aquarium from a source 350m offshore, 24 hours a day.


There are plenty of small tanks with different kinds of fish and the museum is broken up into sections representing different parts of the sea and the creatures found in them. I love how colourful some fish are. I also really like funny looking fish that just seem to entertain me even when they aren't trying to. Don't you think this cuttlefish is so cute?

The main tank, called the Kuroshio Sea, is 35m long, 27m wide and 10m deep. It holds 7,500m³ of water. This tank is seriously impressive. Whale sharks and manta rays share the main tank with many other species of fish. It also hold 80 species of coral. The aquarium has successfuly bred some manta rays. One of the whale sharks, the largest, measures 8.5m. This is one of only a few aquariums that keeps whale sharks in captivity, and they are currently still trying to breed them.

It's feeding time!

After we toured the aquarium it was time for a dolphin show. The dolphin show is located outside. I felt a little bad for the dolphin as their aquarium seems very isolated. Apparently there are tunnels from the outdoor aquarium that leads to the aquarium indoors which is where the dolphins are normally when there isn't a show on. It seems a little crazy to me, but I guess it's possible. Talk about a real expense though.

This might sound silly but I have always thought that dolphins were just bizarre and they kind of scared me. I guess I just think they're devious creatures hiding behind a cute face. I would much rather swim with sharks than dolphins no matter how stupid it sounds; it's probably a ridiculous fear to have.

It's time to say goodbye to the dolphins and aquarium.








Next stop, a garden with butterflies and a bird sanctuary. This part of the trip really wasn't all that interesting and I think there might have been a mistranslation. I wouldn't personally have chosen the word 'sanctuary' in a title when the place is more like a zoo; the birds were in cages and there weren't very many types of birds there to begin with. After that, we headed out for a quick lunch and then to the Kadena Air Base. In truth, we didn't actually go to the air base. We went to a building with a lookout from across the street. While we were there not a single plane took off. It might be beacause I used to be an Air Cadet, so I have been to my fair share of air fields, that I don't have much interest in just looking at an air field. I suppose it was deemed interesting because the Japanese seem to be very interested in American culture and this air field is used by the United States Air Force.

We headed to a salt museum. Yes, salt. Okinawa is known for its salt products. They put salt in everything.

We were given some time for shopping. Instead I ran across the street to get a better look at the ocean, but I found something even better. A path that leads into the ocean so you can get a view of the ocean from the ocean.








It was very beautiful with the ocean breeze in my hair, and there was even a man enjoying a sea-doo ride in the distance. I had an epiphany while standing out there, I NEED to get myself a place near the water or even better, maybe I should just live on a boat so I can be on the water.

The one good thing about being the only non-Chinese speaking person on the tour was the ability to play the "foerigner" card. The tour guide seemed to be very angry that I went off track and visited the ocean instead of spending the dedicated time in the gift shop. But, being that I don't speak Chinese and the tour guide spoke some English but not enough to communicate with me, I escaped the ridiculous lecture. I actually found that tour guide to be more annoying than anything else, he always tried to joke with me but I never really got his jokes and I just found him irritable. I think he was angry because he also gets some kind of a payment or a percentage when we spend money at these shops because he only brings people to very specific shops, so when people like me decide not to even look in these shops, I lose him money. I don't really care about buying silly souvenirs because they just collect dust and take up space in my luggage when my luggage space is already limited.

After he lectured me through a Chinese co-worker who didn't bother to translate, we headed to dinner - Japanese barbecue. The table has a built in barbecue and it's really like a buffet. You can go up and take what you want, or some restaurants have you order off of a menu. Everything is uncooked and you cook it on the barbecue at your table. It was certainly delicious and also a lot of fun. After that we headed back to the hotel for some down time before bed.

The next morning we hopped on the bus and headed to Shurijo Castle Park. Shurijo Castle served as the center of Ryukyu Kingdom. It has architectural influences from both China and Japan. The park was impressive but not as large as I would have expected.

Koufukumon Gate: The east side managed the official registry records, and the west side housed the office that managed the temples.

Nichiei-dai: A sundial placed in front of the Roukokumon Gate. It is said that the use of the sundial began in 1739, and kept the time in the kingdom until 1879, when Ryukyu became a prefecture of Japan.





There were many gardens and things to see and learn there. However, one of the larger buildings was under renovations when we were visiting, and you had to pay to enter the building. Unfortunately, the entire exterior was hidden behind scaffolds and sheets. We continued and walked around the gardens to some lookout points; they give a gorgeous view of the city below. The heat was excrutiating that day, but the breeze at the lookouts made it a little more bearable. Though, I certainly went through enough bottles of water that day - I definitely got my recommended dose of water. After that, we headed to Gyokusendo Caves at Okinawa World (a theme park of sorts).

Okinwa Worls is a touristy theme park about Okinawan culture. Its main attractions are the natural caves, a craft village and a snake museum. Gyokusendo Cave is the second longest cave in the country, with a total length of 5km.

However, only about 850m of the cave is open to the public, but you can see spectacular stalactites and stalagmites.









After exploring the magnificent cave, we headed back to surface level and watched a show on traditional dance and music. There were many foreigners there, by the bus loads. I didn't realize that guided tours were as popular as they are. After that we headed out for dinner, and hot pot was on the menu (it's not even a Japanese dish, it's Korean). Either way, I got to eat some more seafood, and king crab legs were on my plate. Delicious!

We headed back to the hotel for our last night's sleep in Okinawa. The next morning we headed out to the harbour for a fun ride on a glass-bottom boat. I have been on many boats before, but never a glass-bottom one. I guess I didn't know what to expect. I was picturing a small boat for some reason, with the centre being made of glass. I was wrong. it was a rather large boat and they drive out to the ocean and turn off the engines. The workers call on a certain amount of people to go to the basement part where they have some windows. Taking pictures didn't turn out as clear but I'm sure just diving in the water with the creatures is even better than some images.

It was a fun experience nonetheless. Although, I will admit that it has given me another reason to learn how to dive. Yes, it's shameful. Both my father and brother are professional commercial divers and I have never even gone snorkeling. It's on my to-do list.

This day was a bittersweet day as it was our last day in Okinawa, and it was really more like a half-day. After the glass-bottom boat ride we headed back to the downtown core for our last meal in Okinawa.







Many of us chowed down on lunch like animals, in a rush to run out and get our last minute shopping done. For those of you who don't personally know me, I have a younger brother and he likes T-Shirts. When I was a flight attendant I use to buy him one everywhere I went.

In Okinawa I was having a hard time finding him one, in fact I never did. They had plenty of T-Shirts there, they just didn't have any in his size. The largest size I could find was an XL and even that seemed difficult enough. My little brother isn't so little, he's about 198cm (6'6"). So, he's pretty tall even for our home country of Canada, but here in Asia, he's more like a monster. I took one of the T-Shirts out of the packaging to look at it and their XL size isn't the same as the ones in North America and I knew right away that it wasn't going to fit him. My search pretty much ended there. So I went and had my last salty Okinawan ice cream cone.

We piled onto the bus and headed to the airport. As you can imagine the bus ride to the airport, the plane ride back to Taiwan, and the drive back home was a quiet one. Exhaustion had finally set in. It was time to take a short rest and start the work week the next day. The biggest difference I found between Taiwan and Okinawa was that Okinawa felt and looked like an island, like how your mind pictures an island. Taiwan has never felt or looked like an island to me. I have yet to see a beautiful beach here. Okinawa was like the Japanese styled version of Hawaii; so if you are in the area you should check it out. It was certainly worth the $600CAD.

Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Natural Science

I like museums. In fact, I love them so much that I studied Art History in university. Within that program I had to also study museology (the study of museums); that was rather dry. Despite all that, I still enjoy visiting museums. In Taiwan, most of the museums are closed on Mondays which happens to be the day that we normally travel to the city because it's less busy as most people are working. However, on this particular ocassion, we went there on a Sunday so I could visit the Botanical Garden in Taichung after our errands.

In Canada, I've noticed that visiting museums can be a bit expensive, but here the cost of visiting the Botanical Garden for both Matthew and I was about $2 CAD. Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually knows what a profit is. The cost of things here are so low I just think labour is free and that they don't care to make a profit on anything. Either way, it works better for me when it comes to saving money. The Botanical Garden is located right behind the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung city.

I don't really know why I like visiting gardens, I don't have a green thumb and I actually don't like to touch plants or dirt, but I do enjoying looking at them. Inside this glassbuilding  are a couple of waterfalls.

It isn't a very large garden but it is very pretty. The pathway through the greenhouse is flanked with tall trees on either sides and colourful flowers near the ground.

I thought the interior of the garden would be hot and humid because the outside was hot and the sun was beaming down that day. But the inside was actually cooler and more refreshing than outside. It was still hot, but it wasn't as hot as outside.

The garden was also home to some very strange looking plants as well.

After having walked around through the garden, we came to a fork in the road. Up the stairs back to the exit or through some glass doors to see what was on the other side. So, of course, we chose the doors. It was only a gift shop, BUT there was also a small aquarium of fish and some bright frogs!




I have this weird unexplainable joy when I'm around fish. I don't really know why they entertain me so much, but I find them fascinating. I clearly can have the time of my life doing pretty much the most stupid things. Just look at my dorky face. I think people need to surround themselves with simple things so they can all wear ridiculous faces like me.

I think Matthew was a bit surprised at how much fun I can have just by watching fish. After I had my fun, we decided to head outside to check out the grounds. As we were walking along a path, I saw the fattest white cat ever. I'm not sure if it was a stray, but if it is, it eats well because most strays are very skinny and skittish but this one wasn't really afraid of humans. It didn't exactly come right up and want to be pet but it didn't cowardly run away the moment it realized we were looking at her.

The outside grounds were very nice, and during our walk we even saw a few runners. I know what you're thinking, 'runners? like people jogging?' Yes, exactly that. Most people are probably like me; I thought that I would most likely be considered fat and would have a hard time finding clothes that fit me. That hasn't been the case. I have been very surprised at how many fat people are in Taiwan. With the popularity of fast food and convenience, a lot of people are overweight. Even among my students who range from the age of 6 through 18, I have a lot of overweight students. Exercise just isn't viewed as an important activity. There are of course many people who don't eat the fast food and who don't exercise but also don't seem to gain weight. Even though the Taiwanese people are hard workers, almost obsessively - they work 6 days a week, they are actually very lazy in other aspects. I live only a few blocks from my workplace and live with other co-workers, none of them walk or bicycle to work, they all drive. The Taiwanese just seem to think that spending 5 minutes walking is too far away. So, when I saw the runners at the botanical garden, I was impressed. Who wouldn't want to go for a walk or run when the path through the botanical gardens look like this?

Cassey & Allister's Visit to Taiwan

Back in early August, Matthew's sister Cassey and her boyfriend were headed to Asia for both work and travel, and of course they came to visit us in Taiwan! At first I thought they might get bored because we live in a small city, so we went ahead and planned out things to do and show them. They arrived on a Saturday, so we took them to the night market which Matthew and I visit each week (yes, we're predictable). I have this crazy addiction to a chicken sandwich that one man sells there and I had to introduce them to it. I'm pretty sure I got Cassey hooked on it. We bought some, and later before leaving she bought another. They truly are delicious, you guys just don't understand.

There are many things at the night market; tons of random dollar store items, shoes, clothes, food, and bumper cars! Yes, a very cheap version of bumper cars. There are no safety standards here, so these metal bumper cars have no seat belts. Cassey, Allister and myself decided we would hop on one each and take them for a spin. You just walk up to one, hop on and place a NT$10 ($0.35 CDN) coin into it and you're off! Ok, so I'm apparently a very horrible driver. I will let everyone know that I have never been in a car accident when driving a real car, but I seemed to have crashed into every possible person and thing while driving the bumper car. At one point I crashed into the car of a Taiwanese man. I didn't realize how bad the situation was at first, and I shall warn everyone that I was a coward. I rammed into his car when trying to turn mine around. He had a small girl who was maybe around the age of 3 or 4 years. She fell out of the car and smack her face into the concrete ground. I only realized it was a child when the man picked her up and held her in his lap. At that point I managed to turn my car around, speed back to Matthew (who was the only one not participating) and jump out of the car as fast as humanely possible and ran away like the coward I am. Luckily, this is Taiwan and no one is responsible for pretty much any accidents. I only ran to the side of the track where Matthew was, so it was possible for them to see me and come and approach me, but there really isn't anything that would be done here anyway. But really, that action repesented how horrible of a human being I am. I hope the girl's face doesn't hurt much. It was a pretty embarrasing moment and I panicked.

We didn't stick around the bumper cars area for much longer after that. We moved on to eating and introduce some newer foods to our visitors.

The next day we drove down south to Chiayi to the same place we had gone to with the motorcycle gang. The difference? This time is wasn't a holiday weekend and the place was booming! There were vendors all over the place selling all kinds of food, not just Taiwanese food. We ended up having Indian food and it was delicious. I had wished I brought a swimsuit because there was a beach! It was a man-made beach and it was super busy.

I didn't get to play at the water park for too long, everyone else was dying in the heat, so they wanted to buy some drinks and relax in the shade before moving on to something new. While walking back to the car, we came across an old fishing boat, which both Cassey and Allister thought was a neat old boat for show. To their surprise the boat is not for show, it's actually still in use by current fishermen. Can you believe this boat is still in use?

We ended up also showing them a temple which Matthew and I had visited before with the Lehi and Mark. This time, the temple was dead; there was almost no one there that day. It wasn't quite as interesting as when we had originally visited.

On Monday we drove up to Sun Moon Lake in the mountains. Sun Moon Lake is the most popular destination for honeymooners in Taiwan. Originally, it was two separate lakes, Sun Lake and Moon Lake. During the Japanese occupation a hydroelectric dam was built, which resulted in the two lakes becoming one large lake; it is the largest lake in Taiwan. That being said, it's still very small compared to most lakes in Canada; you cannot actually see Sun Moon Lake on a map of Taiwan unless you zoom in a few times.

Once you get to Sun Moon Lake, you can take either a left or a right turn and drive around the lake. At certain parts around the lake there are stops and things to do or see. Our first stop was a peacock farm. We stopped there for a bit and got some nice pictures of the pretty birds. One even wanted to show off for me!

We continued on our way until we got to the ropeway (cable car). We we unsure of what was on the other side of the mountain, so we tried to find out. There were some small shops there and a cultural village, but we couldn't visit it because we were supposed to buy tickets for it on the other side of the mountain where we bought the tickest for the cable car ride. There was also another cable car ride from the cultural village to an amusement park, so we didn't get to check any of that out that day. Perhaps Matthew and I will go back there to see what it is. Despite having missed out on that, we did get a pretty view of the lake from the cable car. This cable car ride was eerily quiet.

When we got back to the point of origin, we hopped in the car and continued driving around the lake making random stops. We found a neat trail through some woods and hiked down until we came to the water. We sat there for a while and watched the local boats pass by. It wasn't a super sunny day so the heat wasn't too bad, but the breeze down by the water was still very refreshing.

We hiked back up and continued driving until we got to the end. They are currently still constructing a path around the lake, for walkers. The walkway is complete in certain parts so we decided to check it out. From the bridge you can see these strange shaped floating devices on the water. I'm not completely sure what they are, but they look like floating gardens with flowers and plants. 

We waited for Matthew to get his perfect picture; setting up his old school film camera with tripod and all. It's funny watching him do his thing, sometimes he looks very pleased and other times he looks like he just feels frustration.

The drive home was a quiet one without much conversation. I guess the heat and the outdoor activities got the best of us as we slept for most of the ride leaving Matthew with no one to keep the ride interesting. We got to Taichung city and took our guest to our favourite restaurant for a good meal. The next day, I had to work as did Allister, so Matthew and his sister got there own day for whatever they wanted. Wednesday morning they packed their bags and Matthew drove them to the airport so they could head off to Shanghai for more exicting adventures. It was a short visit but we had fun and saw many things; I hope they enjoyed Taiwan just as much as we enjoyed having them.

Tent Testing

On the last weekend in July, Matthew and I joined Lehi (the other Canadian in town) and his family on a camping trip. An interesting fact - Matthew and I met last year while camping, also on the very last weekend in July. It was a funny coincidence that this invitation just happened to be on the same date.

Anyhow, I'm not sure what most people think when they think of camping, but I wasn't expecting what we got. We went to Puli (in the mountains) and drove up a small mountain where we would be camping. It was pretty fancy. We had toilets, showers (maybe normal for a camp ground), but we also had electricity, running water, etc. Matthew and I have a small two person tent and this was the first time we got to test it out. Even though it was pretty cold that night, inside the tent was hot. We had bought our camping gear according to how big it is when it is packed because we need it to fit on the motorcycle. So, we bought sheets instead of sleeping bags, and we don't have any pillows, etc. Even though our sheets are as thin as most peoples' curtains, I was dying in there from overheating. I slept pretty well considering.

Either way it was pretty fun and at least we know the tent works. It was so quick to set up and take down. You forget how relieving something as small as that is until we watched the other couple who has their family sized tent; and just how long and complicated that process can be. By the time ours was packed that had only managed to take the fly off and was just starting to pull out the poles. Monica (Lehi's wife) couldn't believe we were already done. Then we were off to get home.

It was a fun trip, and here's a picture of the us on the camping trip. It's a much smaller group as the other couple only brought two of their six children along for the trip.
At the same location as where we were camping, you can also go hang-gliding. That's what the windsock is there for in the background.

Typhoon Soulik

Here in Taiwan we get typhoons. I went to work like any normal day on Friday, July 12th and taught a few classes like normal. The government makes the announcement of whether schools will be closed because of a typhoon. They made that announcement by the afternoon and so when 6:00pm came around everyone was to go home and stay indoors.

A typhoon day is kind of like a snow day except is applies to everyone. A typhoon day means that no students need to go to school that day, including the teachers. A typhoon day, unlike a snow day back home, also means that EVERYTHING is to close by at certain time, so no one is to go to work. So, after work on that Friday, Matthew and I went to the grocery store. This is probably the only time the grocery stores are actually busy; everyone is stacking up on food. We went home, ate some instant noodles, played board games, watched movies. Nothing really exciting. However, I did enjoy the most beautiful sleep that night; I like storms.

The next day, work was also cancelled. By Saturday evening things had calmed down and we went out for a walk. In our town there is a man-made river which is always empty and dry. It was constructed for this purpose, to aid in the prevention of flooding of the city during a typhoon. This is what the river looked like that evening (I'm not sure how deep it is, but it is deep enough that if you fell in you would have a hard time climbing out).

This walk was refreshing but short as it started raining again; I guess it wasn't quite done. The next day (Sunday, July 14) though, Matthew and I wanted to see what we could find outside. We came across a number of fallen fruit trees that day. Here is what we found while scavenging.

A papaya, little bananas, oranges? (I'm not actually sure what that last one is) And by Monday everything was back to normal.