Ah, the sweet smell of the sea...

Well, we touch down in Okinawa with no problem and I take a taxi to my hotel. The cab driver seems to know which hotel I'm talking about, but then he asks me again about half way there and pulls out the map. Since I've never been to Okinawa, I'm a little concerned but figure it doesn't matter. It's Saturday afternoon, the weather is fantastic, so what do I have to worry about?

Luckily enough he drives me right to the hotel. I pay the tab and a girl about half my size, literally, humps my bags onto a cart. She has to go up a ramp so I offer to push the cart but her pride gets in the way. I actually think the cart weighed more than her. I get to the check-in counter and so far the place looks pretty nice. I check-in and they inform me that there are no rooms for later in my stay and that I'll have to check-out. Fine...not what I want but I can make the move to another hotel. What's one more hotel on this trip?

I get to my room on the third floor and as I walk in the room I'm facing the East China Sea. Very nice. Overlooking the beach. Pretty sweet. So, I unload, relax a little, and go take a walk around. Having not eaten yet today, I wander around looking for something appealing. I find a Hawaiian joint and away I go. Too many choices on the menu, so I start with an appetizer of fried shrimp and french fries while I look over the menu. I decide to order the Hawaiian Pocomoco (I think) which is rice, topped with a hamburger, topped with an egg, sunny-side up. Here comes the appetizer. Perfect. Well, not so fast. Looks fantastic so I dig in. One problem, these tiny little shrimp haven't been peeled and, unfortunately for many parties involved, there is more exoskeleton on these bad boys than there is meat. So, I skip the shrimp and eat the fries. The fries were good.

The main dish shows up and I dig in. It sucks. Not terrible, but not good. So, I eat the burger and rice and call it quits.

I walk around the "village" area...I think it's called "Mihama American Village"...to see what's around. Oh, great, the whole area must be for Westerners. Well, much to my delight, it turns out that the American Village is not FOR Americans. It is supposed to present America, apparently, to the tourists from mainland Japan and other Asian countries. The first souveneir store I hit was full of Coke, Disney, and American sports memorabilia. Sweet.

I call it a day and head for the hotel. I'm able to watch the sunset off my balcony...pretty sweet...