The rest of Okinawa...

My week in Okinawa was pretty nice.  I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to take a dive trip to one of the islands near Okinawa but this is a business trip, after all.

As for the hotel situation I mentioned in a previous entry, after being in my hotel for a few days I had to checkout.  When I checked in, the situation wasn’t explained to me very clearly.  So, given that and the fact that I was on a discounted industry rate, I figured I would try to get to the bottom of the situation.  Was the rate I was paying not available for the other nights of my stay?  Was the room type I was staying in not available?  Or, was the hotel completely booked?

Those seem, at least to me, to be simple questions to have answered.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I asked a few questions when I checked in but I didn’t push it.  The night before I was supposed to checkout, however, I decided to get the complete story.  So, I ask the question at the front desk.  Well, what seems to be very good English in short, simple conversations turns out to be utterly useless in a more in depth conversation.  I have to commend the staff, all 4 that it took to get an answer, for knowing a great deal of English…especially compared to my complete inability to say anything intelligent in Japanese.  But, they just seemed to be speaking English words but not communicating anything.

So, I just kind of nodded, smiled, and figured I would have the person who was picking me up the next day…who is bilingual…intervene and get to the bottom of this.  When she comes to pick me up the next morning, I ask her to speak to them and she does.  Turns out, I just can’t have the same kind of room that I’ve been in.  I need to move to a smaller room for the next night.  Then, I have to checkout again as there are none of that type available for the rest of my stay.  I have to move into a larger room.  

This is still a pain in the ass, but better than having to move from one property to the next.  Plus, this hotel is really nice and overlooks the ocean.  Little did I know, the third room I would have in this hotel was spectacular.  The room had 2 single beds, and a small sitting area with a sofa, tv, and desk.  The bathroom was split.  The toilet…heated, of course, with sprays for front and back…was in its own little room as you enter the room.  But, where the bathroom would be normally were 2 rooms.  One area with mirror and sink and a wicker rack for towels and the other was the bathing area.  A glass door opens into a room with a normal (for Americans) size bathtub and a tile area for showering.  Both the bath tub and the shower area had its own spigot.  This room, incidentally, was probably 3-4 times the size of the bathroom in the first hotel I stayed at in Japan…and the toilet wasn’t even in it!

Looking off my balcony, from any of the rooms, you were basically looking out over the ocean.  But, directly below is a little area where you can sit and have a few drinks, some appetizers (which I never found anyone to explain to me in English), and enjoy being outside.  In addition, there is a chicken coup (complete with rooster in case you have trouble waking in the morning), a “cage” for a pig and couple of goats, an area for a couple of ponies, and a place with 4 dogs which, to me, appeared to be for rent.  It would make more sense if they were babysitting the dogs, but I think they were loaning or renting the dogs to tourists.  A little bizarre…

I did manage to have a few good meals in Okinawa.  A couple of very good Thai restaurants…one was actually a street vendor…a sushi restaurant, of course, and a brew pub.

The brew pub was found on accident.  Over the weekend, when a typhoon was near and the weather and sea weren’t suitable for diving, I decided to take a taxi to Naha City and check out the little shopping area there.  It’s an interesting city.  Basically, the popular area for locals and tourists alike encompasses both trendy, top end stores as well as a couple of “arcades” of, basically, crap.  I should note here that if you get some of this crap when I return, it came from the really nice, trendy, top end stores.  It just looks like crap.  Hungry, as usual, I found a brew pub.  Helios.  Most places were closed since it was the middle of the afternoon or they just didn’t appeal to me.  So, I figured I would have a couple of beers and, if the food looked ok, have a meal.  The menu wasn’t very large, so I went with the fish n’ chips.  Of course, I had to use sign language to figure out if the skin was still on the fish, or not.  After about 10 minutes it seems, and I mean seems, clear that it does not come with the skin.  So, I place my order.  

When the food comes, it is phenomenal.  The fish and chips are battered in tempura.  Very light and crisp.  But, unlike tempura in the States, this tempura actually has a little taste.  Easily the best fish n’ chips I’ve ever eaten…as long as you don’t include LJS.  So, a couple of days later, when another person from our company flies in, we head back to this place.  We all order fish n’ chips and, again, it is fantastic.

The guy who flew in came directly from Virginia.  He was wiped out, but was up for a couple of drinks on the patio at the hotel.  Those of you who know me are, I’m sure, surprised to hear that I joined him.  So, I order a draft Asahi and he orders Aowomori (sp?), the local Okinawan version of sake.  After I polish off my beer I try the Aowomori myself.  It’s pretty good.  Probably a 12 oz glass with ice cubes to the top and then filled with Awomoroi.  Very clean taste, not harsh like a sake or vodka.  The taste, to be clear, is what is not harsh.  The next morning, when I wake up in my room in the clothes from the night before an no clue when I stumbled to my room, I learned what IS harsh.  Holy crap.  Needless to say, it was a long day and an even longer flight that evening.

Okinawa is now just a memory…