11 April 2015 - "Exploring the North"

11 April 2015 - Saturday

I woke up early this morning so that I could be up and ready for a 0815 departure to Kadena to join the ITT tour "Exploring the North."  We would be going up North around the town of Nago which is 3/4 the way up the western coast of Okinawa.

After having our coffee, I got changed for the day and soon it was time to leave for Kadena! After a nice 20 minute drive, though the weather was 68 and cloudy,  We arrived at the Community Center at 0844 where our bus was awaiting.

I showed my travel voucher to our tour guide who then let me on the bus. A lot of people showed up at the last minute so our departure was slightly late at 0905.

After an introduction by the tour guide Ayumi, she told us where we would be going today. First we would be going to Najkijin Castle Ruins, then we would go to have lunch at Fruit Land, (Japanese BBQ), then tour Fruit Land and Pineapple Park, after that we would go and blow our own Ryukyu Glass, then conclude with a tour of the Orion Beer Factory.

The drive up to Nago took us about an hour. Driving through the scenic countryside was a true joy. I loved seeing the pretty green scenery.  One thing is for sure, when you see a lot of green, you know it rains a lot!

We arrived at Nakijin Castle around 1020. We were told to return to the bus no later than 1120. With that in mind, we stepped off the bus and hot our tickets for the ruins and the Castle museum from our tour guide and then we set off to tour the Castle!

It was an amazing experience! The castle was made from these limestone rocks which themselves were formed out of coral, hundreds if not thousand years ago. The walls were extremely tall and the whole castle complex was amazing! I saw the riding field, where the Ryukyu Lords trained their horse for war! I saw also where their court held sessions and religious ceremonies! It was absolutely an epic experience to say the least!

I walked around the castle for around 45 minutes and then headed to the museum. The museum was interesting with a lot of very neat artifacts, but none of the signs were in English! Oh well! The highlight of the museum for me was seeing pictures from the Battle for Okinawa, pictures I had never ever seen before! Those demanded a bunch of photographs!

After I was finished with the museum, I returned to the bus around 1110. We departed Nakijin around 1130 to head to Fruit Land for lunch. When we arrived, we were shown the way to the restaurant. At the table, we had our own grill with a covering of foil on it, which had oil for cooking the food. On plates, there was pieces of raw beef and chicken to cook, as well as bean sprouts and vegetables. Also there was a cup of salad and a jar of soup with cups for each of us. And a cup of rice!

It took me a few minutes to figure out that this was a cook it yourself meal. But once I figured it out, I had a blast! It was extremely delicious! After I had my lunch, I picked up my tickets for Fruit Land and then Pineapple Park. I hung out with an older couple from North Carolina and their family who they were visiting. They were very nice!

We first headed to Pineapple Park. It was a very interesting experience! Lots and lots of pineapple ! And interesting info about pineapple! It was not until the 80's-90s, that Okinawa got export licenses for pineapple! We then toured the gardens there, which had key lime plants among other things. We then toured the shops and I sampled pineapple wine, pineapple sponge cake, pineapple cookies, pineapple filled pancakes and pineapple juice!

After we finished in the shops, I bought myself a pineapple ice cream cone! It was extremely delicious! Then we headed back to Fruit Land! It was an interesting park filled with a lot of fruit trees, such as dragon fruit, papaya, macadamia nut and guava! We also saw a lot of beautiful birds, macaws, parrots, and hawks! It was a bit of a maze to get out, but we managed and were back on the bus by 1350!

We departed Fruit Land at 1400 and headed to the Ryukyu Glass Factory! We got there and they each assigned us a number, we then were herded into sections and sat on chairs. There we received our gloves and arm band coverings as well as the paper cones we would use to blow our glass!

The process itself was simple, but a bit tricky. I took my paper cone and put it on the blower. You have to blow softly and first then blow a bit stronger until it fills the hole. You are then taken over to a chair and sat down and shown how to roll and shape your glass! In your right hand you have what appears to be like a pair of giant tweezers and you use that to shape how large or small your hole is while rolling the glass around with your left hand.

It was truly an awesome experience! We then got to tour the gift shop! I found some nice little glass items to bring home as souvenirs. I had my picture taken during the glass blowing, by one of the members of the tour, a lovely young lady named Brittany. We went across the street to a drink machine and I got a cold latte, which was absolutely delicious! 

We were on the bus by 1435. Our bus left around 1500 to head to the Orion Beer Factory. We arrived at 1510. We made our way inside the building marked "Orion Beer Happy Park". We all got green badges and the children in the group got green badges with dots. The tour itself was fascinating! We were first shown the ingredients that make up the beer.

We were shown an overview of the process, which is simply, mashing of the ingredients, the fermentation, maturation, and filling and then distributed. We were then led along hallways where we could see the machines that perform these processes. It was an epic experience! It was cool to see the fermentation process on video screens and the beer bacteria forming! One of the amazing facts of the tour is they produce 1,200 cans of beer a minute!

At the end of the tour, we were led to the beer tasting room. You got two tickets if you were beer tasting and one ticket for a soft drink. I went with the two tickets, planning on giving one away. They also gave you nuts to consume with your beer. The nuts were absolutely delicious! I am not a huge beer or any sort of alcohol drinker, but the Orion beer was the best light beer I have ever had! It had a nice smooth quality to it! All of the Orion beer production is done here on Okinawa, with parts of the distributing process done elsewhere!

After the beer tasting, we headed back to the bus for our ride back to Kadena. We were on the bus at 1615. We departed around 1630 for Kadena. It was a beautiful drive back down the coast to Kadena! We arrived at Kadena around 1720. I said my farewells to the tour members and awaited pickup by Mary. 

Mary picked me up at 1735. We headed to Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ to meet Angie and Greg for dinner. It was a really nice meal! It was just like Stir Fresh at home, except they didn't have as many vegetables as Stir Fresh but it was just as delicious! My first serving with noodles was huge!

I had a smaller second serving. Dinner with Angie, Greg and Mary was outstanding. Shannon C stopped by, which was very nice and we talked with her a bit. There may be a chance we might dive on Monday. We will see, keep our fingers crossed. I was given a surprise by Angie, beni-emo Kit-Kats! Yum yum! After dinner, we began walking out to our car when I realized I had forgotten my backpack! Oh no! I ran back and got it!

We had a nice and quiet drive home. When we got back, I stayed up a little bit and then got ready and went to bed. It was an extremely extremely epic day! Looking forward to seeing what today (Sunday) brings!

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