Tom During our travels in Okinawa, an unfortunate event happened. The Shurijo Castle was burnt down 2 days before we were slated to visit it! 🙁 It was most unfortunate as this was an UNESCO heritage site that also held thousands of relics – all of which were lost in the fire. Nonetheless, we still decided to drive past to see if we were able to catch a glimpse of the remains…
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Visiting Okinawa Attractions – Shurijo Castle
During our drive around the premise of Shurijo Castle, we noticed that all the carparks in the vicinity were closed down. Moreover, guards were in place to prevent visitors from entering the grounds. Hence, it was practically impossible for us to stop the car and take any shots of the castle. If you’re visiting Shurijo Castle after it reopens, be sure to be early and hopefully get one of the parking spots available the castle’s complex.
Visiting Okinawa Attractions – Nishihara Marine Park
Our next stop was Nishihara Marine Park. You’ll be able to find parking on both sides of the road. One side leads to the playground while the other leads to the beach. At Nishihara Marine Park, we noticed that there is a store that sells BBQ packages, complete with beer dispensing machines. Also, there are various shady spots along the beach where these cooking stations can be set up. Can imagine that during the summer months, it would be very packed and probably a great place to hang out with the family.
This time, we also saw a group of boys playing beach soccer. They seemed to be really good, preferring to keep the ball in the air most of the time. Thereafter, we walked along the entire perimeter of the beach, just to dip our toes in the water and enjoy each other’s company. A really relaxing and enjoyable walk – especially with someone you love 🙂
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Visiting Okinawa Attractions – Cape Chinen Park
Cape Chinen Park was our next stop and we reached here at about 1115am. This time, there was a local band practicing on the slopes at Cape Chinen, so we were able to enjoy some music and enjoy our little snack while taking in the views. If we had a little more time, we would have stayed at the Pavilion to soak up the views as the waters are as clear and blue as they get here. Coupled with the fresh sea breeze, we felt completely relaxed and rejuvenated.
Visiting Okinawa Attractions – Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park
The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park is a strongly recommended attraction by one of our friends. Mostly because of the extensive playgrounds that the place affords – perfect for families with kids to enjoy a day out. We arrived at approximately 1215pm. Here, you’ll also be able to visit the Okinawan Prefectural Peace Memorial Park that commemorates the Battle of Okinawa in WW2.
Visiting Okinawa Attractions – Umikaji Terrace Senagajima (Okinawa Santorini)
Thanks to the awesome planning by Kate, we were able to visit Umikaji Terrace Senagajima – sometimes known as the Santorini of Okinawa. Or simply, “Faketorini” (ok…fine…we coined the term) 😛
Having been to the real Oia/Imerovigli of Santorini, Umikaji Terrace really pales in comparison. Nonetheless, the developers have done well in recreating a great public space for tourists and locals alike to hang out and enjoy a great time out. This time, we visited Hammock Cafe La Isla…
As the name (Hammock Cafe) suggests, there are hammocks that you can rest upon both outdoors and indoors. On a cool day, it would be relaxing to chill, have a drink and rest on one of the hammocks outdoors. The outdoor hammocks can allow one to fully sleep upon it. However, as it was relatively warm outdoors, we opted for the indoor hammocks. Likewise, we slept like a baby. The hammocks were surprisingly comfortable. Food wise, we enjoyed the beef tortilla (1000 yen) while the fish & chips (980 yen) was pretty average.
At Umikaji Terrace, you’ll be able to visit many restaurants, bars, cafes and shops that range from clothes, to soap and souvenirs. After waking up from our slumber, we walked around the terrace and watched several planes take off from the airport nearby. For desserts, we headed to SunRoom Sweets Senagajima…
If you’re visiting SunRoom Sweets at Umikaji Terrace, we strongly recommend the mango daifuku! There are like 5 layers to this amazing dessert. First, there’s a super thin and chewy, mochi like outer layer. Then, there’s the cream, cake , tart and mango puree. The person who created this dessert is a GENIUS! All the flavours and the textures combined, made it simply delectable. Not too sweet as well. Perfect for oldies like us 🙂
Visiting Okinawa Attractions – Mango Souko Naha
Just before we returned our car, we went to Mango Souko Naha, a shop that sells 2nd hand goods – akin to Cash Converters in Singapore. The place is quite well laid out with clothes in one section, toys in another, collectibles in another, musical stuff in another and tech stuff in yet another section. The only thing was that we found the price to be comparable to what one would find out sites such as gumtree and ebay (i.e. no genuine discounts).
After that, we returned our car at Times Car Rental, where we met with a small little hiccup. We actually pumped the petrol a distance away but when we arrived at the car rental, it was still full. Nonetheless, the staff wanted us to drive out again to pump at the designated petrol station in the city – where the price is slightly higher. We had no choice but to drive out and 280 yen worth of petrol, before we came back to return the car.
Here’s a summary of the attractions that we visited on Day 10 of our travels in Okinawa:
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Complete Review of Karakara Okinawan Buffet
To round up the evening, we visited Karakara Okinawan Buffet, at the top of the shopping mall next to the Prefectural Office Station…
Dinner at Karakara Okinawan Buffet costs 1760 yen and you can also have unlimited beers for 2 hours for 3000 yen. As we wanted to try out all the food available, we decided to go with only the food option. Here’s the spread at Karakara Okinawan Buffet…
From the online reviews, we saw that there were several negative reviews of Karakara Okinawan Buffet. However, we are in the “for” party and would totally recommend this place. For the price, you’d be able to try all the Okinawan cuisine “under-one-roof” – a very reasonable price of 22 SGD. You’ll be able to enjoy fresh Okinawan vegetables, Soba and our favourite stewed pork leg! In fact, the stewed pork leg was so good that we went for seconds, thirds and more (we lost count). The meat was tender and the collagen was slurp-worthy. Perfectly complemented the stewed rice. Yum!
For desserts, we were spoilt for choice with puddings, red bean desserts and salt soft serve ice cream. There are indeed downsides. 2 of them. The texture of the Okinawa Soba was bad. Even the totally delish pork stew was not able to salvage that bad texture. Also, the tempura was soggy. Otherwise, the Okinawan dishes such as the goya (Okinawa bitter gourd) and stir fried pork are pretty good as well. Plus, the variety more than made up for the negatives. So if you’re in the vicinity and not sure what to feast on? Check out Karakara Okinawa Buffet 🙂
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Book with Klook Here: Popular Activities in Okinawa
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The next morning, we did some last minute shopping (shops at Naha airport open at 7am) at Naha Airport and also got our breakfast there, before our flight back from Okinawa to Singapore.
We hope you have enjoyed our coverage of our travels in Okinawa! Stay tuned as we check out the top attractions in Okinawa and Food to Eat in Okinawa in our next couple of posts!
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