Category: Okinawa

Food, Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Seoul, Travel

japan day 5 – okinawa, korea day 1 – seoul

by labelle l.Leave a Comment on japan day 5 – okinawa, korea day 1 – seoul

This is the last time I’m having breakfast for this Okinawa trip. 😧 Let me show you the huge omelette! The frying pan must be very big.

Mentaiko pasta, although the pasta wasn’t what I have hoped for but better than nothing.

Mentaiko toast later.

Weee~

Lychees not very good.

_

Checked out of hotel and now we are checked in at the airport. Going Seoul next!
Had a jelly drink before the flight!

Conclusion for Okinawa.
Okinawa is like Phuket for the Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans but a lot better because it’s Japan. Lol. Cleaner and more organised.

I want to come back again. Maybe for 1 full week, after TC has gotten his driving license. There’s many other parts of Okinawa that I wanna go but there’s no transport unless we are rich enough to always take cab…

Hotel was good but the bed not so… we always wake up feeling tired. The bed was uncomfortable.

_

Getting on board!

I like how their shopping catalogue looks like a floral catalogue.

Bye Okinawa 👋 Wait for me! I will be back!

_

Annyeonghaseyo from Seoul!

Ooh. My luggage is security ensured. 👍

_

My first meal in Korea!
Actually it’s just some food from the Airport’s convenience store. Haha!

One side sweet, one side spicy. Best of both worlds. Yum yum.

Egg and luncheon meat roll. Ok ok only.

First drink! Lol… wtf.

So boyfriend bought the Airport limousine tickets. ₩15,000 each. It will be cheaper if you take train… It will only be like ₩4,250 each to our destination.

The bus that we took.

Wooo… very comfortable seats. That’s why so expensive also.

_

At Hotel Morning Sky.

The room is big.

Standard toilet. No bathtub.

We can finally wash clothes!! Yay!
Let me show you the most incredible thing.

One full fridge!!! Omg… hahahha!!! Don’t think I can fill it with that much food though.

Thanks to my Sis for lending me her Cashbee card!

Snack first!

It’s a sausage wrapped in bread, breaded with breadcrumbs and fried. Yum.

Boyband thing going on here. I have no idea who they are.

We have no idea what to eat for dinner. Like againnnnn… lol
Ended up at this dumpling restaurant because it smells good.

Huge kimchi dumpling. Very spicy.

We shared a anchovy stock chopped noodles too. Not bad. The soup a bit too salty though.

Takeaway for supper!

Ah Xiang was here.

Give us the wrong item. Lol. This one is more expensive too. But the spicy flavour is really too hot for us to handle, we threw away the leftovers.

Food, Japan, Okinawa, Travel

japan day 4 – okinawa . arts museum

by labelle l.Leave a Comment on japan day 4 – okinawa . arts museum

Breakfast again! Sorry, I promise this will be over once I leave Okinawa tomorrow. 🙇

Porridge today! See that heap of mentaiko?

Mentaiko porridge! 🎉

Eggs in fish on a bed of eggs.

Yoohoo! Mentaiko toast! I’m so gonna have mentaiko everything tomorrow.

_

I bought this last night. I hope it helps maintain some of my weight and don’t gain too much during these 2 weeks.

My face rounder, right? Right?
Omg. 😱

_

We’re going to explore the area around the hotel.

Selfie.

Wefie. 👫

Here’s a clearer picture of the hotel.

Arts museum next.

The building itself is an art.

Taking a look at the history of Okinawa. ¥440 per pax but if you have the monorail passes, it’s only ¥330.

Wooo… nice…

Small bird.

Skeleton of manatee aka dugong. They really have ‘hands’!

Lol lol. Human chasing the deer.

Carvings.

Shellfish that boiled. 😂 Very helpful, thanks.

I thought they looked the same but actually has so many different types. 😞

This one so cute! It’s a water dropper. Don’t know drop for what.

Flourescent stones.

Tadaa…

This mall has toy’r’us and a supermarket.

_

To the next mall! That’s just beside the previous.
This place has Muji, Uniqlo, Daiso and a very big sports shop. We bought quite a few stuffs here and I managed to find green tea powder for baking in the supermarket!

We had lunch in the foodcourt.

TC’s curry rice.

And mine, the loco moco.

Why their plants so pretty one? Why?

Whyyyyy?

This bag is so so so pretty, can. Omg. I had to psycho myself so much… I don’t want to spend $50 on a bag that I may not use often.

_

Travelled back to Main Place.
Bought juices.

White peach was yummeh. Blueberry was alright.

Bought rockmelon for ¥380! Quite expensive but nevermind. They even have the sweetness of the melon indicated.

_

Unloaded and rested in the hotel for an hour before we head out.

_

Dinner at the shopping street. Couldn’t find anything to eat, although I wanted BBQ initially but it’s so common everywhere. Okinawa food restaurants are everywhere too…

We ended up at A&W again and we totally don’t mind at all. Lol.
Yeah!!! We got one float each! Which we probably regretted later.

I ordered the A&W burger, while TC had the same thing again. This is so so so sooooooo good. The beef patty was well grilled, plus the bacon… perfect! The cheese was alright but it was too thick, very jelak for me.

Float selfie!

Food, Japan, Okinawa, Travel

japan day 3 – okinawa . shuri castle

by labelle l.Leave a Comment on japan day 3 – okinawa . shuri castle

Pictures of my breakfast again!
Firstly, let me show you the spread from the breakfast counters.

Scrambled eggs and pasta.

Ham and sausage.

Fishes.

Salad bar.

The yummy cinnamon french toast. There are also a few choices of bread, soup and porridge to choose from.

The curtain gives a nice touch for the ambience.

This is what I’m having today!!!

There’s Okinawa udon and I had a weak coffee.

Just had to make something special.

_

We left the hotel only at 1pm. Lol. Because I was busy dayre-ing.
Anyways, here are the prices for the 1 or 2 days monorail passes and I have confirmed that the ticket starts from the time you get it.

Yay! That means we can use it until we leave Okinawa. Heh heh. Can truly make good use of it. By the way, monorail fees aren’t cheap. Just from the airport to our hotel which is 11 stops away, like 20 mins, is already ¥300. Which is $3.90 SGD?

_

We’re heading to Shuri Castle. But first, lunch.

This restaurant is popular for their Okinawa udon, which looks like soba because they are not the usual thick white udon. The place may look closed but you’ll see a huge sign outside that says they are open. Just open the door…

The menu is in Japanese and it’s hand written. Lol! Cannot use google translate. Luckily their food is quite standard. Just udon in different sizes, fried rice, onigiri and only 1 side dish which was sold out. The lady can explain with a few actions and simple english.

Very small and cosy shop.

Although the soup is plain and simple. The fish cake is quite good, it’s a little more chewy and sweeter. While the pork slices are tender and flavourful. It was really really good. We order the medium size to share. ¥500.

We had a fried rice good. ¥200. Simple yummy food. Quite filling for us.

_

Shuri Park
Had to walk quite a distance from the Shuri Station.

Wooooow~ What a scenic place.

There’s so many ducks too.

It was funny watching this duck trying to go down the stairs.

I thought this guy was a duck whisperer.

Until I sat down myself…

And now I’m the duck whisperer. 😂

The cat keeps watching the duck. 😞

Then it came over while TC was looking for something in his bag.
‘Sorry mate, no food here.’

The back of the castle. Lol.

_

Shuri Castle. Now we’re getting in!

Rest area.

There’s aircon and fans inside. The only downside is the loud tourists.

But still… always good to have portable fans and battery chargers for the hot weather.

We didn’t go inside the castle… ¥880 for the ticket to go in. If you have monorail day pass, it will be ¥750.

Anyways, didn’t go in because we googled and the place doesn’t look worthed it. Most pictures… are just like these… Plus, too many loud tourists in there. They are just going to spoil the trip.

_

We had ice cream instead.

4 different flavours on one cone! Cherry, mango, purple sweet potato and I think the last one should be vanilla. 😋

Ok, time to head back.

Why Japan’s houses so pretty one?

TC calls these the bunny flowers because the white petals look like bunny ears.

_

Aeon Mall
Found a mentaiko snack in a old-school tidbits shop! Tasted just like the one from Daiso.

_

There’s a foodcourt and it consists of stalls like Lotteria, Gindako, Sukiya…
Students actually study in the foodcourt.

I had a beef bowl.

While TC had pork. I think beef is more fragrant.

Here’s a Okinawa drink! Just guava juice la. Lol!

_

I shopped at Uniqlo! The flare skants that i wanted is only like SGD$69 here. SGD $10 cheaper. Guy’s stuffs are somehow more expensive here, don’t know why. We compared prices with the online shop.

Saw this… ¥20,000. Next watch to target!

_

Koi
Gonna try their seasonal drink. Shekwasha green tea.

I feel cheated. When I order seasonal drinks… it’s always lime tea. Damn, LIME TEA. 😤

_

Don Quijote
Yay! Got my instant soups!!! At a sale price too.

This too.

Nice!

And a huge cuttlefish snack.

Food, Japan, Okinawa, Travel

japan day 2 – okinawa . kouri island . bise fukugi namiki . churaumi aquarium . cape manza

by labelle l.Leave a Comment on japan day 2 – okinawa . kouri island . bise fukugi namiki . churaumi aquarium . cape manza

Today got runny egg yolk for breakfast!

Fishes are good. Those at the back are Japanese yam balls for the acquired taste buds.

Having the Okinawa specialties again. Yes, luncheon meat is a special. Lol. The one at the front, don’t know what it is but it’s good.

Fruits too.

_

Heading out to get to the tour bus meeting point.

_

There’s audio but it’s useless. I can’t hear anything, it keeps breaking.

Toilet break. The sky looks like it’s gonna rain today too.

_

First stop: Kouri Island. There’s a small beach.

Basically, you just come here to look at the scenery and flowers.

Spotted a horse!

_

Second stop: Bise Fukugi Namiki

The trees are along the pathways. Very pretty place but it’s very hot too.

Cute shisas but no shopkeeper in sight.

Walked to an area where we could see the beach! There’s wind!

_

Third stop: Churaumi Aquarium

The weather was very very unforgiving.

Got our tickets!

This lobster is huge and it has hairy legs.

The kissy fish. Lol.

Here’s a cuttlefish.

Jelly fish.

Angel jellyfish.

We went to check out the whale shark. It’s enormoussssss… I know you can’t see it in this small photo. Lol.
But yes. Enormousssss~ 😃

Look at that manta ray! Probably longer than my height. It’s swimming above the whale shark…

We managed to get a table at the cafe beside the ‘tank’. Hello, affordable food! Thanks for making it a better experience for poor people like me. Lol. Anyways, you can see human heads at the bottom of the pic and the whale shark is swimming pass.

Tried Okinawa’s specialty, Taco Rice. This is like ¥600 or ¥700? It’s just alright. I think nacho cheese doesn’t go well with rice. 😕

TC had a braised meat in pita pocket with chips. Miserable amount of chips. Poor guy, he thought he could share the taco rice but he didn’t know there’s beef in it.

Forced the guy to send me this picture. Haha!!! Anyways… look at thattttt… so awesome!

Try spotting me with that 360° camera. Lol! I’m sorry if you happen to be there at that time and I spoilt your photo like how I spoilt the TC’s. 😶

The cheeky stingray that keeps playing on the curved glass. Swims up and slides down the glass. Lol. Or maybe it was just trying to eat us.

This deep sea fish has very huge eyes!

Specimens from the sea.

Big place but not big enough for the fishes.

Went to see the mantees aka dugong aka mermaids. Lol. Today I learnt that they use their fins to kind of hold their food while eating.

And they have some fur.

This one keeps entertaining us with her flips.

Look at her. Ya, I know it’s a her. They use their fins to ‘crawl’ under water too!

The park keeps misting outdoors because it is very very hot. Although Singapore may be even hotter than this. 😂

Anyways… why my guy so shuai here? 😍 lol.

I don’t know which Okinawa island that is but I call it the Nipple Island.

_

Fourth stop: Okashi Goten
Basically it’s a place that sells Okinawa’s purple sweet potato snacks.

We were given one each to try before we reach the place.

Can see how the tarts are produced here. I can only see how the tarts are packaged at the time we reach. Lol. Bought a small box of the purple sweet potato snack, not the tarts because that would easily break apart in my luggage.

_

Last stop: Cape Manza
So bright, you can’t see the sea line but I assure you… this place is gorgeous.

Already thinking about whether we could come back here to take wedding photos. Lol.

That famous elephant cliff on most pictures.

Some pretty flowers too.

_

We shopped at the 藥 mart after the tour ended.
I did buy a pack of tax free stuffs like make up powder, hada labo… but I cannot open the bag until I leave Japan. So I’ll update those another day.

Bought chopsticks for days we feel like having supermarket food.

I’m thinking this is brown sugar flavour?
Anyway, the mentaiko flavour which I bought yesterday… has like cheese flavouring in it.

Bonito flavour.

_

Rested for a few hours before going to the supermarket for food!

You can’t see it but I have one whole box of fresh mentaiko inside the yakisoba. Muahahahaha!

And a big Fuji apple! Yumz. ¥198 for this.

Our dinner totaled up to ¥1,600 which is quite cheap for the variety already.

Food, Japan, Okinawa, Travel

japan day 1 – okinawa . ashibinna . kokusaidori . naha main place

by labelle l.Leave a Comment on japan day 1 – okinawa . ashibinna . kokusaidori . naha main place

I love love love Japan’s hotel breakfast. They put quality in every single dish.

😍😍😍😍😍

Always start with a salad. Fiber very much needed during travels for me. I always constipate during travels.

The omelette… omg… damn good. The french toast at the back is good too!!

Some of the specialties in Okinawa. Stir fry bittergourd. Not as bitter as I thought it would be. TC not a fan of it though, I like bittergourds.

The thing in the little bowl is a tofu… it’s a little chewy? It’s a very acquired taste. Tasted nuts… a little sweet and salty at the same time. Very confusing because all the flavours just comes together at the same time.

Banana and Okinawa’s sweet potato snacks. Hmmm… I’m not a fan of those snacks.

_

Here’s a picture of our room. Lol. Trust me, we are usually not that messy. If you have been to japan before… you know how small hotel rooms here are. It doesn’t really matter how much you pay for, the size of the walkway in the room is narrow. We don’t even have space to open our luggage… 😑

Almost forgot to mention that we received free vitamin drinks from the hotel too. ✌

Here’s a nice view from our hotel room!

_

Okay, time for me to prepare and head out for some shopping.

_

That’s the hotel we’re staying at.

The street.

There are 1 or 2 days monorail passes available! 1 day means it lasts 24 hours from the time you buy from the ticketing machine. ¥700 for 1 day. Don’t remember for 2 days. Haha. Update again when I’m getting it 2 days later.

Monorail doesn’t move very fast… it does take quite long to come.

It’s quite scary sometimes to think that there’s nothing to “hold” on to the monorail. Once it leaves the station, it’s just the railway and nothing at the side.

Wefie while waiting!

That’s the monorail.

We head to Platform 4 to wait for the bus that goes to Ashibinna. The bus comes every hour, so good luck if you missed it. 😅 Not the bus pictured below, that was the bus we have to take when we go to the LCC terminal.

So here we are. Let’s see…
I really don’t think I’ll get anything though. I don’t have any money budgeted for branded stuffs even if it is on sale.

Very hangry. I need to get food first. Wanted to order from here initially but… they take quite long to prepare food. So I went to another which doesn’t have any queue.

This one.

He has heaps of yakisoba.

Shared one and it’s pretty good. ¥1,000 though. Lol. Cannot complain.

I didn’t get any bags, shoes or clothes. Michael Kors’ price is really good though, 40% off and the shop is giving another 30% off on top of that. Coach too and they still have pretty new designs.

I bought something from my favorite shop though. Ka-ching!

Omg. I love these cuties a lot. I would have gotten everything if I was rich and have to space to put everything out. Lol.

I bought 3 capsules from the machines. I feel cheated by one of it, also my fault la. I thought it was a toy but turns out… it was only a badge. 😂 Can’t wait to play with my new toys!

Done with the outlet within 2 hours because I really don’t want to spend so much. I am very cheapo.

_

Gonna head to the main shopping street, Kokusaidori. Get down at Kencho-mae station and walk over, it’s just nearby.

There are many quirky shops around.

They have weird snacks like this one.

Snake wine. 😨

Many shisas! Maybe I should get a pair. 😏 The first shisa on the left at the top row very cute hor? Like feeling nervous.

There’s a shop selling things from the aquarium and there’s a tank filled with little jellyfishes! So nice to see! I can’t wait to go to the aquarium tomorrow.

Finally found the ice cream stall! I will advise you to look for a stall with more flavours, the one we went to has only 10 flavours. But even the other stalls that I’ve seen, they have like 20 flavours? I thought they would have at least a hundred. 😞

TC got a softee, purple sweet potato and vanilla. Can’t really taste the sweet potato.

And I had a gelato, sugar cane flavor. Now that I think about it… isn’t it just sugar? Hahahha! 😅

This shop sells very pretty stuffs! I bought a few but can’t be bothered to open up and take pictures of them now because it’s all nicely bubble wrapped. But I did get the pretty star sand here.

Oh look!

We just witness the making of baumkuchen!

Looks good.

Okay, I give up. It smells too buttery. 😵 Good if you like butter. ¥650 for this pack.

Found a market!

There’s a stall selling baked stuffs.

I bought a Okinawa brown sugar cake. Not bad.

Yay! There’s A&W!

Hi Rooty, nong time no see.

They even sell t-shirts here.

TC had the orange chicken burger. It’s not bad seriously. You see that thick white slab? It’s cream cheese and it doesn’t have that bad milky smell. Wooo… am I getting more immune to cheese or what?

And I had the coney dog of course. Wanted one float each but they are out of floats. Damn it.

_

We went to Naha Main Place.
I thought there was a Daiso here but actually the building’s name itself is, The Daiso Sen… Main Place. Cheat my feelings. 😅 But there’s a Tokyu Hands in here and a huge supermart which I love because they have soooooo many food. Hhahahaha.

Tadaa! Food!

Got this because mentaiko. I saw mentaiko in the mart too… raw mentaiko. I’m not thinking how I can get that home and still be able to keep it fresh. 😞

Had my favourite sweet potatoes!

TC’s favourite pork liver.

And dessert!

_

By the way, here’s my toys which I bought from the outlet mall.

Here’s number 1 with my finger for size reference. Cute hor??? 😆

And number 2.

Hmm… I wanna get the 3 other designs too leh.

Gotta sleep early, we have a day tour tomorrow.

Food, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Taoyuan, Travel

transit: taiwan taoyuan to japan okinawa

by labelle l.Leave a Comment on transit: taiwan taoyuan to japan okinawa

Good morning from Taiwan! I didn’t manage to sleep well during the flight. The lady beside me kept moving and kept fiddling with plastic bags, she was so so so noisy and inconsiderate. The seat is simply uncomfortable even though we topped up for more leg space.

Anyways! I had the egg mantou I have been craving for ever since I had it 2 years ago. The mantou so big and it’s only 25NTD. The stall is, Mai’s, inside the Airport’s foodcourt.

How do they make something so simple, so yummy? The fluffy mantou and fried egg with sauce that tasted like it’s just soy sauce but I wasn’t able to replicate it. Even the guy approves. 😋

_

Left our luggages at the Luggage Deposit Booth, so that we could go around easily. Very cheap, 100 NTD per day for 25kg. Eh shit. we never check whether if it’s per luggage. Lol.

We’re going to Taoyuan Train Station now, 36NTD per person. Just have to change coins here, if you don’t have enough. Then head to platform 14 or 15 to take the bus.

Can’t post 360° images here. So this will do for now. Lol.

_

Now having brekkie no. 2 at Family Mart!

Egg salad looking good. 188 kcal.

“Ha mu” onigiri. 😆 269 kcal. I only had one. Lol.

_

I am back with more food. Lol. Lol. Because I’m not suppose to be shopping today, so only keep eating small small meals.

We’re back to this humble little duck soup stall that we came 5 years ago. Lol.

Really small shop, the stall / kitchen is just next door. They used to be outside the shop.

More details here.

Duck soup! I ordered the wrong one, it should be the Tang Gui Duck Soup. Haiya, nevermind… this is good too.

Appetisers. 😋

Sesame oil and ginger pig’s liver. Damn good. I dunno how they can cook until it’s still soft and tender but there’s no blood.

_

Chilled at Starbucks with a honey roll cake and some drinks. Nice but a bit dry.

_

And now we’re back at the airport having tauhuey while waiting for our flight to Okinawa.

Waiting to board now.

_

We’re at Okinawa!!!
We landed at the budget terminal, so we had to get out of the plane. The stewardess told everyone not to stop and take pictures. We whipped out our Theta instead. So here’s the plane! Again the 360° would be even more awesome if you can see it here.

Another quick picture of the budget terminal. What’s more amazing is that there’s no conveyor belt here, so we just stood around to wait for the airport staff to push our luggages out one by one.

Waiting for the monorail! Okinawa doesn’t have trains and you can only travel 1/4 of Okinawa using it.

Inside the monorail.

Here’s how the ticket looks like. You scan the QR code with the ticket facing down at the gantry.

_

We’re pretty tired already. It was raining when we reach Okinawa, we had to hold on to our umbrellas while lugging our luggages to the hotel. Checked in. Drop our stuffs.

I was so hungry, I didn’t even bother to take pictures of the room. It’s super tight and squeezy anyway.

Most of the stops are closed when we got out to find a place to eat around our area. Anywhere will do, I’m so hungry… Anything will taste nice.

Woooo… the toast looks good.

When the food was served… I was like, “Shit. The food here looks like Saizeriya.” If you know me, I only had Saizeriya once and I condemned them. They serve disgustingly cold food. Luckily, the food was warm and the hamburger was quite tender and good for it’s price.

The guy’s pork chop was tough. Lol.

_

Going to bed. We cannot stand it anymore. Still cursing the girl beside me on the flight to Taipei. Luckily we still managed to have short naps on other transports. 😪