last blog from Okinawa - on to Shanghai

The symbol of Okinawa

The time has gone quickly. We keep finding there is more and more to do. Wednesday was a rainy day but we managed to go Round One, a sports entertainment complex. 

There was a video arcade where Louisa tried her hand at playing the drums.

On Thursday, we spent our last whole day on Okinawa going to Okinawa World, Arana Beach and ending the night with a dinner at Jack's.

Okinawa World. There were three main features of Okinawa World - a demonstration of the Habu snake and a snake museum, a musical cultural program, and a spectacular limestone cave about 5 km long. You can experience the day along with us by checking out our photos.


                       Habu snake

The demonstration and information about the snake was in Japanese. Try Wikipedia for more information. 

Cobra

The Habu possesses a deadly bite and is comparable to the cobra in its quick striking ability. The are numerous on Okinawa and there is much interest in the snake and its behavior.

They used to have a snake-mongoose fight but the demonstration now consists of an underwater race between a  snake and a mongoose. The Habu was clueless he was in a race but the mongoose sped right along.

The mongoose is approaching the finish line while the habu in the lower tube is still lounging around the start

                       The cultural program

The cultural program was about a half hour long and consisted of a drumming and singing. 

It was a loud, exuberant and highly entertaining program.We also viewed a glass blowing demonstration.

                        

                   The limestone cave

We enjoyed this cave. It was a tourist and child friendly cave. To us, it was more dramatic than Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. It took less than an hour to walk through the cave and see all the beautiful creations of nature. 

The lighting was enhanced by my flash but the water was a turquoise blue

An underground waterfall

                           Arana Beach

Okinawa - the birthplace of karate and Mr. Miyage - the karate master from the Karate Kid movies

We spent the next 2 hours at beach enjoying very pleasant sunny and warm weather. The kids enjoy doing things in the sand and walking in the water. Very relaxing!

Our time in Okinawa is drawing to a close

                             Dinner at Jack's

Jack's is a Japanese restaurant on Kadena Air Force Base. Both the food and the service were exquisite. This was our goodbye meal in Okinawa. We probably won't see our son, Tyler and his wife, April, and the grandchildren for another year at least. 

They are growing up without us around - but we connected 

The Japanese chef put of a visual display of skill, dexterity, and dramatic effects while cooking the meal at our table. The kids (and everyone) loved it.

Our food is under there somewhere

 Tomorrow we start our journey home by way of Shanghai. We overnight there on a layover and fly to Los Angeles on Saturday.