Category Archives: travel

a little (or a lot really) more okinawa

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So, the main reason I went to Okinawa was to dive. But, as I got there a little earlier than I needed to and you can’t fly within 24 hours of your last dive, I did squeeze in some other activities. And I even managed to put some makeup on…once.

But before I can even get to Okinawa, let’s discuss my little oversight when booking my flight. I went for cheap, and thus ended up on a 6:00 am flight from Narita. Now, in NY, a 6:00 am flight is not a big deal. You can take the subway, or the bus, or hop in a cab for a max of $60. In Tokyo, there is no bus or cab early enough to get you to Narita at 6:00am, let alone by 6:00am. And a cab ride? Around $200. So, upon realizing this two days before my departure, I had to book a hotel by the airport.

Freak rainstorm hit while I enjoyed a little pit stop to visit my friend Chelsea. Note to all: always carry an umbrella in Tokyo if you’re not going to check the weather.

Professing a cheap price and airport shuttle, I booked a two star hotel. Well, two star was probably a little generous. This picture illustrates pretty sell what the rest of the experience was like. On top of which, oh, no airport shuttle before 6:30 am. What the what? But at least it was only a $25 cab ride… But hey, it was a bed for a few hours of sleep and a quick trip to the airport. And the combined cost of the hotel and the cab…less than half what the cab ride would have been. How ridiculous is that?

So, after my flight, I had a few hours to kill in Naha (the “big” city where the airport is) before I needed to hop on the bus to head north, so I decided to go see this castle at the end of the monorail line. It had some amazing views and was a good little excursion. In addition to that, I got to see a little dance performance and just enjoy seeing a new city. It’s so different from Tokyo. Much more Hawaii feeling…but older and a little more Asian (but only a little).

And then it was time to take the bus and head to the American Village to meet Jan, the dive dude. He was much younger than I expected, but super nice (as stated before–not sure why I didn’t take a photo with him) and I was just so happy to be getting back in the ocean with a tank strapped to my back.

We went for two dives over these beautiful soft coral reefs. Visibility was not great, but given that there was a typhoon just four days earlier, that was to be expected. It was still incredible. I’ve never seen that much soft coral before. And so many beautiful fish. I was also reminded how much I don’t love beach entry diving…but also how quick it is. One of my favorite things was that Jan had this new type of BC, at least new to me. They are super stripped down and have a heavy plate on the back so it’s a lot easier to hover and achieve neutral buoyancy. Also, the don’t make you feel quite so think and stay-puffy. Yes, that’s a technical term.

Jan loaded up lots of tanks for all of our dives over the next two days. That’s a lot of air.

After those first two dives, Jan drove me up to the pension (like a cheap B&B) where he’d made me a reservation for two nights. The cutest little house in the world with the nicest woman…who spoke no English. It was fantastic. He also showed me where a couple of restaurants were for dinner just a short walk from the pension.

After Jan dropped me off and I got settled, I headed to the restaurant he called “authentic Okinawan cuisine” which also had live music happening. It was so great. The food was delicious (I was introduced to taco rice) and the music was so fun and the people were so friendly. I was the only white girl in the whole place.

Great light fixtures
Rocks and grass (fake of course) on the ceiling. So funky.
Okinawa is all about the pig…
Including pig ears. Can you see them? Hint, they’re super thin slices.
Super fun singers! See video below. The song is one you hear all over Okinawa.

The next day was all about diving. It started with a very Japanese breakfast (of which I tried a little of everything…pickled plums are something I will never have again, and marinated seaweed I can live without, as well. The pineapple, however, was amazing!

Jan picked me up and we headed to the dock to meet a number of other divers. We were going out for three boat dives. I was so excited. And it was incredible (the photos of the actual dive were already posted in my dive post).

Between dives we got off the boat and had some lunch. I couldn’t resist a wander over to the beach and this Shisa was just calling out to me to take his photo. So cute! (Click the link for the story…it’s pretty cool and they are all over Okinawa and Kyoto (as I found out this weekend).

Shisa

I wish I’d had my own underwater camera to take on the boat because the views were amazing, but it was way to wet for anything that wasn’t water proof. The dives were all great and it was fun to have lots of company on the boat (not that I could understand most of them, except for Jan and the couple that was diving with us). There was a group of underwater photographers and it was cool to see them get all set up under the water for photo shoots of various things. In addition to that, I got to do my first hole and tunnel diving. I don’t think cave diving is in my future…but holes and tunnels are pretty amazing.

I got back to the pension completed exhausted, lightly sun-kissed, and super salty–basically in the best state one can be in. I fell into bed knowing, but only after telling the pension lady (I don’t know what you call her) that I would need to have breakfast at 7am. We had an early start to go diving with the whale sharks.

And that experience is one I will remember for the rest of my life. Swimming with such a huge animal and being able to reach out and pet it. Seriously incredible.

After that, the diving was done so there would be time for the nitrogen build up in my blood to release prior to getting on a plane. It’s one of my favorite things about destination diving. You have to take the last day and relax. And relax I did.

I decided to spend my last night at more of a beach hotel than a budget pension. Granted, it wasn’t super luxurious, but with views like this and a location on the beach, who needs uberluxe? I spent the afternoon laying out and walking along the beach. It was just lovely.

When that was done, I needed to figure out what to do for dinner (the hotel restaurant left a little to be desired) and I was ready to put on real clothes and some makeup. So, I got dressed and headed down the road on a lovely walk during which I got to watch the sunset and stop as often as I wanted.

By the time I finally got to a any kind of civilization, I’d walked about two miles, but it was totally worth it, especially because it was this place we’d driven by four times in the past two days and it was this great touristy place with an awesome shop and several restaurants. Think Dole Plantation in Hawaii..but instead of pineapple, they had all of these purple potato treats (an Okinawan thing). I enjoyed yakiniku (Japanese version of Korean bbq) for dinner and then shopped my little heart out. It was a perfect last night in Okinawa.

Me and a giant tart

Monday morning I took a nice long walk on the beach and saw some fun creatures and collected some shells.

The I packed up and headed to the bus stop to get back down to the airport, stick my bags in a locker, and go do a little more damage in Naha. I was hoping to get a few more things for the nieces and nephews and I still needed to get my bowl. Naha actually has an entire pottery district, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find it in time, so I headed to the main tourist drag and figured I’d find something there. I ended up missing my stop, which put me right in the neighborhood for the pottery district and I found these amazing ramen bowls. (Shown back at my apartment with delicious, homemade tonkatsu.)

I also got to see some awesome t-shirts (among lots of other shopping).

Rad Wimps. Japanese translation for Hipster.

And I ended up getting so much stuff I had to buy a new, awesome bag to get it all home in.

One of my nieces is going to be super excited about this…

I would love to say that the rest of the trip was uneventful, but that would be a lie. Nothing major. Just a piece of luggage stuck on the baggage carousel with no one able to figure out how to get it unstuck and the rest of stuck waiting for baggage for about 30 minutes. But, considering what an amazing vacation it was, small price to pay.

The end. Up next…Kyoto.

underwater

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A lion fish – as dangerous as it is beautiful.

Once upon a time, I had just finished up my sophomore year in college. I was relatively depressed. My mom was dead. My sister was on her mission. We had to sell the house I grew up in. And I was forced to sleep on a love seat. In the family room. With zero privacy. Even though there was a perfectly good bedroom that was being used as an office. (Lots of fodder for therapy…)

I realize that this is a lot better than most of the world has it, but this was a rough adjustment for me. I was struggling with my never ending eating issues. I was slightly obsessed with exercising. I was trying to keep my mom’s swim lesson business going from my dad’s backyard both out of a feeling of duty and because I wanted to earn some spending money for clothes and such, but mostly duty. These were not happy times. Mind you, not the worst of times I’d had up to then, but still, they were pretty crappy.

In the midst of my personal hell, my younger brother, who did have his own bedroom because he was still in high school, which apparently means you need a bed or something, was working on his senior project; a particular form of torture meant to keep seniors at my high school engaged through the end of that fourth year. While I had decided to focus mine on sewing, my younger (and wiser) brother had chosen something much more fun. He decided to focus his on scuba diving which included writing a paper about something related (nitrogen levels in blood?) and then getting certified.

Suddenly, there was a little light glowing in the dark depths of my unhappy existence. Somehow I managed convince my dad to pay for me to get scuba certified. I mean, it’s a two person activity and what was Justin going to do without a dive buddy? (My mother taught us well…and my father has a hard time saying no if tears are involved…) So I signed up and suddenly there was some kind of fun happening in my life. For those of you who know me and/or my family, we are all water babies. I’m pretty sure my mom is teaching her grandkids how to swim before they come to this earth. I don’t remember learning to swim because it happened so early in my life. I was on a swim team at the age of four, helping my mother teach lessons at the age of 12, and spent my summers in a bathing suit (sometimes even falling asleep in one). I have loved the water as long as I have been alive, so diving seemed like a very logical thing to take up.

It was also something that I knew my mom would have loved knowing I was doing. Once upon a time, my mom taught a woman at my church how to swim so that she could get scuba certified. Talk about impressive. I mean, going from not even being able to swim to scuba diving as an adult is kind of amazing. Not that scuba diving requires you to be an incredibly strong swimmer, but it does require you to be extremely comfortable in the water.

Back to the point. One of the things I’ve always loved about being in the water is the quiet. Not that swimming itself is quiet–it’s actually quite loud–but underwater, hearing is not easy. Things get muffled. The world (at least for me) becomes very quiet. And quiet was something I needed.

And then there was the freedom I felt while under the water. No need to surface for breath. Flying through kelp forests. Swimming along with schools of fish. Hovering above the sand. No thoughts of how much weight I needed to lose. No concerns about how cute my bathing suit was (in Monterey, where I got certified, it was covered by 14 mm of neoprene). My only concern was making sure I stuck with my dive buddy. That was it. Not worrying about talking to my buddy. Just making sure I could see him and vice versa.

Maybe diving doesn’t appeal to you, but hopefully you can understand why I fell in love with it. It’s not just the experience and all of the amazing things I’ve been able to see. Diving saved me at a point in my life when I needed saving. So, perhaps you can understand why, after four years of not diving, I was so excited for my trip to Okinawa this past weekend. And it did not disappoint. I found this great dive operation with this super nice German dive master who took me out on six fantastic dives. He also found me this lovely little pension (think somewhere between B&B and hostel) to stay at and drove me to and from it each day.

While I was a little nervous about the whole thing, everything I needed to know came right back into my mind. It was just like riding a bike. And suddenly, I was right back in my happy place. So content to be floating over fields of soft corals, swimming through schools of fish, diving into the dark abyss of a hole formed by coral over thousands of years, peaking under over hangs and through tunnels to see what could be seen, and watching a few not-so-nice creatures float by…hoping they wouldn’t come to close.  (Or, in the case of the reef shark…stalking it. Sharks aren’t so scary, I promise. At least not little reef sharks.)

And then there was the whale shark…which took the whole diving thing to a totally new level. Awe inspiring doesn’t even begin to describe it. It took my breath away in the best way possible.

Note: all photos are from my dives, but were taking by the lovely Jan of Piranha Divers.

gyeongbokgung palace

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First of all, I finished the book I started reading about North Korea, The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag. So good. So interesting. And thanks everyone for your other recommendations. I’m going to start watching some documentaries…but I had to get caught up on Grey’s Anatomy and Revenge. (Yes, a sad commentary on my priorities…)

So, my last two days in Korea involved visiting a palace, a museum, a shrine, some qt with a childhood friend, and lots of rain.

To being with, the palace. It was amazing. Especially the grounds. The only one I made it to was Gyeongbokgung, but it was awesome. I wandered around outside at first. There is so much around it including the National Folk Museum of Korea, which I absolutely loved, and a recreation of Korean villages in days gone by. I could have spent hours there if I’d had them. And it was free. Crazy, right?

It’s funny. I don’t really enjoy reading about history (unless it’s in historical fiction or memoir form…and there’s some drama involved), but seeing it? That’s a different story. Especially when it’s a history so different from my own.

And now, the photo tour with a few captions to go along.

Just cool looking.
These are statures of scholars and military officers, usually erected in from of the tombs of  important figures in order to spiritually guard them.

A rotary grinding mill which was used to thrash and mill grain and soften woven straw.

A cool waterwheel, but I love the mountain in the background, too.
A replica of a town at various points in modern history (20s-70s or so).

This was an entire sculpture garden with all of the signs of the Chinese Zodiac. The Dragon reminded me of an awesome Chinese New Year party my roommates and I threw back in college.

This video showed photos comparing past times and today. It was awesome.

The palace gardens. I could have stayed here forever. So beautiful.

The actual palace.
Palace guards. Loved their uniforms.
A sculpture guarding the palace. Dragon? Dog? Falkor?

korean food

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Two weeks later… In case you thought this whole Asian experience is just fun and games, it’s not. I am here to work and work has been busy and I’ve been exhausted. So, back to Korea (which I can’t believe was two weeks ago)…

I became a huge fan of Korean food after having it all of two times in NYC, so I was super excited to actually go to Korea and try the food there. (If you ever make it to NYC…you know, since Korea might not be the top of your travel list, pay a visit to Koreatown. Worth it.)
I had a list of foods to try. Sadly I didn’t get to all of them. But I did try some I didn’t know about. Amazing. Enjoy!
Wood coals all ready to go for my delicious galbi. This place was recommended by one of my apps…it was amazing.
Meat cooking… I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian.

And cooked. All the little dishes are various forms of vegetables, most pickled, including kimchi–a Korean specialty.
This was the display outside a “restaurant” where I did not eat. The vat in the back with the red soup in it was some sort of soup (duh)…and it just didn’t look super sanitary. I also found it funny that they cover their fake food in plastic wrap. I’m assuming it’s fake anyway…
While I’m all for street food, this assortment of meats and fish sitting out in the open (not especially cold) air for who knows how long didn’t work for me either. 

And then I came across fried dough with veggies and noodles inside (they had a bulgogi one, but they were out of it by that point in the evening). It was delicious. But since when is anything wrapped in dough and fried not delicious.
This is possibly my favorite street in Seoul (of the ones I was on). It’s this great little tourist trap with all sorts of shops, restaurants, and street vendors. I might have spent half of a day there.

The Korean version of ebelskiver filled with red bean paste. I didn’t have any (not a huge bean paste fan), but it was super fun to watch this woman work at lightening speed making them. 

These are little pillows made out of super fine threads of sugar (floss) and filled with nut mixture. The video below shows the people making them. Kind of fun.  I actually only had one of these after I got back (I bought some at the airport to take back to my coworkers) because I wasn’t super excited about eating them. But I should have been because they were good. And I bet they were even better fresh.

There were lots of waffle places around. Not sure why. But I finally broke down and had one because they just looked too good. And they were good! 

Yeah. More fried dough. This one was filled with a brown sugar and almond concoction. Koreans like to fry things.

Ginormous dumplings. Again with the frying.

Just in case you need to get your drink on without missing a beat. Yes, plastic bags. Keepin’ it classy Korean style.

Another little ebelskiver thing happening…only this one was automated. Super old school technology…and totally effective. 

These are a sort of ice-cream cone. They had them hanging here and then you waited in line to have one filled with soft-serve. I also didn’t try this (there’s only so much a girl can eat in a day), but they looked awesome.

Bibimpap. Recommended by several people and a first for me. It’s this rice and veggie concoction that comes in this iron bowl, still sizzling.

the dmz

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Writing this is a little daunting. I’m not sure how to describe the experience I had going to the Demilitarized Zone. It wasn’t overly emotional or anything. But it was strange. I’ve never been that close to war in my life. Thankfully. So very thankfully. And it’s not like the horrible attacks that happened just last week, which I can’t begin to fathom either. But it is still a war zone and it was a life changing experience, just the same.

To be honest, I’ve always been fascinated by the Cold War. Not interested, per se, but fascinated. There’s a big difference. When I went to Berlin for the first time not so many years ago, I had a similar experience. The thought of locking people into a country just fascinates me. I don’t really understand it. I try because it’s my nature to want to understand what possesses people to do such things. I find people in general fascinating. I love figuring out why they do what they do. But the stuff that the Cold War was made of I cannot even begin to understand. Try as I might.

Back to not being interested. I don’t really care about the facts and figures so much. The dates of attacks? The military strategies? Not my thing. What fascinates me is the indomitability of the human spirit, the deception of a few evil people and the desire for power so great that one would do horrible, unthinkable things to get it. Or to get the illusion of it, because let’s be honest, it’s not real power. Real power comes from respect and love, not fear.

In any case, when I made the decision to visit Korea, I hadn’t even thought about the DMZ. I didn’t even know you could visit it. I’d seen pictures and videos on TV, but I didn’t realize it was a tourist attraction. And I’m not really sure what motivates everyone to go there. But I know what my motivation was. I wanted to see North Korea. I wanted to actually see the land behind the barbed wire fences. And see it, I did. And it was pretty eerie.

Prior to going there, I also started reading a book, a memoir, written by a survivor of a North Korean “re-education” camp (aka concentration camp) called The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag and it has been a very good read. It also made the visit that much more effective, I think. And unlike visiting Berlin, a place that no longer has concentration camps, looking over into North Korea I could imagine the people who are still experiencing such awful things and it was powerful.

Okay, enough of that. I will now give you a tour in photos because that’s how I roll. I’m going to apologize in advance for the poor quality of a number of them. I might have accidentally taken some unauthorized photos along the way. Also, I have no time to edit pictures these days (other than the occasional crop), so these are all straight from my camera.

It’s hard to see, but on the other side of the river is a propaganda village. Essentially, a fake village that was built in order to encourage defectors back in the days following the Korean War (or the fighting part…the war is still technically happening). 
These mountains in North Korea used to be covered with tall trees. Our tour guide told us that most of the trees near the borders are cut down in order  to make it harder for would be escapees to hide in them. 

An old train that used to run throughout Korea before there was a North and South, damaged during the war and now a monument in Imjingak near the Bridge of Freedom, where it is reported that POWs were exchanged during the war.

The bridge…and how sad that this river just goes to waste because it sits in the DMZ. 

Before we went into the Third Infiltration Tunnel (aka the Third Tunnel of Aggression), we watched this super creepy, propaganda filled (the South is guilty of it to) film. It was slightly traumatizing.

The tunnel down to the tunnel…a 300+ meter hike down…and back up.

A photo that accidentally ended up on my iPhone. The tunnel was creepy and made for the average Korean (aka short people…no offense to my Korean friends) 
Kijong-dong is a city just inside North Korean (another accidental photo). The former propaganda village now houses factory workers as there is a factory that exists there supported by South Korea.
A better shot with my real camera from behind the yellow line (where I could take pictures)…I had to hold my camera up and shoot blind though, so it still isn’t fantastic.

This train station has been built in anticipation of the reunification of Korea. It is the last train stop before North Korea and will beginning of the link that will connect Korea to Europe.