19th Year Blog Anniversary

19 years....I really did not expect to keep this blog alive for such a long time. But this is a good digital avenue to keep records of the episodes of my life. Looking back, 2024 has not been smooth sailing for me. Company conducting retrenchment exercise (though I am not one of the statistic, thank God), pay freeze, passing of a colleague's hubby due to cancer, a friend's child died due to cancer as well.... seems like the once avoided topic "Death" has shown itself coming into the mid life cycle. I guess that's part of life.

On a happier note, my family went on 2 holiday trips this year (Australia and Japan). We certainly enjoyed ourselves. Hopefully, next year can be better! (Things certainly doesn't look good now. Trump incoming as USA president in Jan 2025, South Korea and France government are in turmoil, Ukraine and Russia war are still ongoing with the aggressor seems to be winning....etc) Sigh....

Some Statistic:

Page Count: 87197 +5163

Year on Year increase: +777 +17.71%

Japan Day 6 - Cape Manzamo, Daisekirinzan Park, Cape Hedo

27 Oct - Today, we are on an excursion to the northern Okinawa island, so time management will be crucial as a 1-way trip takes about 90mins. Before breakfast, we dropped by the famous Cape Manzamo, which now needs a 100yen admission fee having built some nice souvenir shops and cafes after COVID.

Cape Manzamo Entrance

Cape Manzamo

Nice view overlooking East China Sea

We spent about 45mins there and left promptly when other tourists from tour groups started arriving and crowded out the photo spots. On the way to our next destination, we stopped by Flap Coffee and Bake Shop to have our breakfast. One thing I have to mentioned is that they served really the best coffee I ever had in Okinawa! Food wise, it is good, but you need to give them a bit of time to prepare the food.

Best Latte I ever had in Okinawa

Ham and Cheese Toast

After breakfast, it will be another 60mins drive before we reached the Daisekirinzan Park. Daisekirinzan is a subtropical forest national park with trails & unusual rock formations. We came totally unprepared as we did not expect to climb forest trails with elevation with the presence of mosquitoes!

Different rocks that can be found within Daisekirinzan 

Heart Shape Rock

Dinosaur face

Climbing steps after steps

Nice view from the top of Churaumi Observation Deck

Rock formation

End of tracking - We gave up after taking the most popular (and longest) route in hot weather

Last stop of the day - Cape Hedo. Just here to enjoy the scenery at the most northern point of Okinawa facing the Pacific Ocean.

After we are done with the photos, we dropped by a café near the carpark (辺戸岬こうようパーラー) where we had the best Taco Rice ever had. The stall offers a generous variety of ingredients for the toppings, eggs and side dishes, way more than what other restaurants provide. Rice was slightly purplish, which I have no idea is food coloring or they used the purple sweet potatoes for the color.

Taco Rice with many ingredients

Okinawa Soba

Japan Day 4 - Cape Chinen Park, Okinawa World, Umikaji Terrace Senagajima, American Village

25 Oct - Today is another outdoor exploration day via a 10 hours rented car accompanied with a Chinese driver. For breakfast, we settled on Rose Garden which offers toast and waffles set with unlimited coffee or ice tea. The restaurant has accumulated a 4.2 rating with 1199 Google Reviews, which means the food must be good! Well the reviews certainly did not disappoint us.

Rose Garden

Maria's French Toast with lean bacon

Extra Thick Bacon with Waffles

After breakfast, we continued on to our next destination, Cape Chinen Park. The scenic view it provide was 100% worth our time to visit.

Cape Chinen Park

After spending about 45mins taking photos, we proceed to our next destination, Okinawa World to visit the underground limestone cave. The whole walk will need about an hour to walk through the cave system. It was quite educational, with signboard explanation how the cave was formed.

Gyokusendo Cave

Upon exiting the underground cave, you will reach the next section of the park - Tropical Orchids, where it grows about 50 kinds of 450 tropical fruit trees such as pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, dragon fruit, star fruit, lychee, kegaki and jaboticaba.

Star Fruits!

After spending 3 hours within Okinawa World, we exit the park and drove to Umikaji Terrace Senagajima. The location is well known for their low, white structures lined up in terraced rows with a beautiful view of the sea simulating a distinctly Mediterranean flair. We did stop for a while to have the famous Blue Seal Ice-cream.

Umikaji Terrace Senagajima

With time running short, we did a drive by to the American Village. It kind of reminds me that we are back in the USA! The theme of Americana provides a nostalgic pleasure for residents of the American bases nearby as well as an interesting diversion for the locals. The Village resembles a big American outdoor shopping mall with lots of shops, restaurants and a large parking lot.

Japan Day 3 - Exploring Sheraton Okinawa Sunmarina Resort

24 Oct - Today will be a "Stay in Resort" day as we hunkered down to escape the remnants of Typhoon Trami. With no outdoor activities that can be done, we plan to explore the rest of the resort facilities. For a start, we have booked a 1 hour Karaoke Room to try out some Japanese songs. We also plan to  accompany the little one as he explore the Indoor Playground and have fun jumping into the ball pit. Last but not the least, we will also be spending some time in the heated indoor pool and the outdoor water slides if we can brave the cold. 

Since the reviews for the resort breakfast is not fantastic, we ventured out to Buruno, which has a 4.6 rating out of 36 Google reviews. This is one of few shops which opens for breakfast serving Onigiri (Surprisingly, most open typically around 11am). I have tried most of their varieties and all tasted not bad! In the end, we came back again 2 days later... haha

Buruno shop front

Teriyaki Pork Wrap

Okinawa Cooked Rice

Spam & Egg (Okinawa Specialty)

For dinner, we tried the Izakaya Chinuman (Manza Tei) near our resort. An interesting fact about Izakaya in Okinawa is that most carried an adult cover charge ranging from 300-500 yen per pax. Once you paid, they will serve you some appetizer.

Chinuman (Manza Tei) Shop front

Sea Grapes (Okinawa Specialty)

Tuna Rice

Tuna Stir Fry Noodle (This is nice!)

Cover charge appetizer

Soba Noodle

Spam and Starchy Egg (Feels like oyster omelette)

Sushi