after saying our goodbyes to kouhei, & shuji, ann, mandy & i headed to taketomi-jima, which we found to be an island with 300 residents and without a single supermarket or convenience store. we got picked up at the ferry port by the owner of the inn where we stayed. he spoke only japanese, so it was lucky we had learned all those new phrases from our buddies ;) the 1st day there was spent wandering around, enjoying the quiet, maneuvering rickety bikes, staring in awe at the gorgeous shorelines, collecting shells, and reflecting on our past few days. we ate curry at a cutie cafe and had dinner with the other travelers staying at our inn.
around 9pm we received our own personal concert from the 84yearsand3months-old grandpa living at our inn. he sang ancient okinawan songs and played the sanshin. the girls have photos, but i just wanted to soak in the details, so i kept images in my head. i slept so soundly and peacefully on that island and the next morning we woke up early for a tour of the island via buffalo cart.
the next day we took yet another ferry to iriomote-jima. the weather was pretty dreary, but we managed to visit quite a few beaches and explore one chunk of the island on bike. the youth hostel where we stayed had AMAZING meals and the first night we met a cutie 6year old who speaks english almost perfectly. the following day was warm but still somewhat cloudy so we decided to rent a car again and explore the island as weather permitted. highlights include riding another buffalo cart, laughing with ann&mandy, eating a picnic in our car surrounded by fields and an amazing ocean view, and taking a nap&then swimming at the first clean beach we found on the island!
on our last full day we headed to ishigaki, which is the next biggest island after okinawa [i think!]. that was quite an eventful ferry ride, as we had a brush with stardom. i stole this photo from the internet; we weren't brave enough to take a photo ourselves, but we honestly truly DID see sean lennon [as in john lennon's son with yoko ono!!!!]. unbelievable.
the last few hours of vacation were spent shopping for cool gifts, searching for an internet cafe, staying at a deserted, dirty hostel, and eating some phenomenal korean bbq. coming back to real japan on friday was a bit of a shock to the system, but it was nice to be back within train travel distance. fortunately the weather here was great, too. not beach going weather, but still sunny and pretty warm.
i wouldn't have changed a single thing about my amazing spring break 08, but it's nice to be home*
No comments:
Post a Comment