2024 Bali to Tokyo March 28th Okinawa
I'll start this one if with a quote that really resonated with me!
“We were all created incomplete and will find no rest until we satisfy the deepest hunger and thirst within us."
I just finished the second book in the series about a Christian in Roman times and the horrible persecution that took place. God was quietly working through the lives of His people to grow His kingdom. Here is another quote. Please replace" Rome" with our own culture and find much the same to be true...
“Rome points the way to wealth and pleasure, power and knowledge. But Rome remains hungry. Just as you are hungry now. Search all you will for retribution or meaning to your life, but until you find God, you live in vain.”
This one sure brought me pause?🤔
Okay, hopefully I didn't lose you there! Keep reading at this day was a great one!
Our entry into Okinawa was a bit tumultuous. They had only four immigration agents to assist our entire ship through the immigration process. It took well over an hour to get to our buses for the tours. As a result, all the tours were running late, very late. Here is a photo of the line for immigration.
As a result of the tours starting late, everyone got back to the ship after lunch had already been closed down and everyone was famished! I was lucky enough to have been prepared by bringing a macro bar & a baggie of granola. Great job, Rebecca!!! Unfortunately, that was not enough to avoid the inevitable meltdown that occurred when John's blood sugar randomly dropped as the tour was at its end and we pulled back into the port. To avoid total catastrophy and minor bloodshed, we ran to the room and ordered room service before they got to terribly backed up. An order of salmon, steak, sweet potatoe fries, hamburger, French fries, salad and lemon sorbet got us back to sanity. They really should have anticipated the cascade of issues resulting from the immigration issues. Leaving the lunch buffet open would have solved so much! John and I continue to come up with great ideas for everyone on how to operate their businesses with more efficiency and thoughtfulness! Lol😺
Back to the tour! Our first stop was the Okinawa world wonder 7. It is a theme park that was set over the Gyokusendo cave. You begin by going through the underground cave system that runs the entire length of the park and takes approximately 40 minutes to go through. It is spectacular! There are blue, green and purple lights to illuminate the cave in specific areas that make it look simply magical. These pictures don't do it justice at all.
Can you imagine the first person to ever discover it? What did they do? Swim in it, use it for religious ceremonies, or simply stare in awe at God's creativity. The hidden treasures of this world continue to draw me.
The cave was quiet, damp and serene. If not for the metal walkways and fake lighting, you could almost feel like you are in any time in history. As we entered from the cave back to civilization, it felt as if we were as ascending from Jurassic Park itself. You can't tell by this photo but the plant life outside the windows was tropical and felt absolutely prehistoric.
Here was a tree that had the most beautiful flowers on it, you think they were fake!
Above ground and on to the next adventure! The rest of the park contained cultural exhibits and hands on Japanese crafting adventures. You could weave on traditional Japanese looms, paint ceramic lions, make glass jewelry, die fabrics with traditional Japanese blue dye, and do much more! This is s place I'd love to spend all day! We were able to see a dancing dragon and hear the beating of drums to an ancient Japanese folk song.
How about some Japanese trivia?
Household in Japan often contain two dragons flanking the entry to their home. One has an open mouth. One has a closed mouth. Which one is female and which one is male?
Answer: The dragon with the open mouth represents the male devouring wealth and prosperity. The female has a closed mouth indicating her protection of the wealth and prosperity. Western philosophy- momma Bear! Eastern - momma dragon!
The park experience ends with a reptile and "other critters" zoo. I saw fuzzy bats hanging during nap time. It was hard to get a good photo with the glare of the glass but trust me...
Super cute!
Turtles, snakes and lizards too!
There was a huge yellow snake that was taking pictures with families but John wasn't interested. It was currently taking a photo with a family of five children. The little girl on the end was happily holding the snake's head while the little boy in the center was screaming in fear. John's opinion is that the screaming child was showing great signs of intelligence.🤔
Our next stop was the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. It was beautiful created with expansive landscaping and interesting architecture.
We weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum but I will report that they did a great job of reporting on the history of the battle of Okinawa and included so many actual artifacts you really felt empathy for all involved. I've never been a history but myself but definitely see the true value on learning from our past. Especially as it relates to such tragic loss of life such as seen in war. There was a great focus on our responsibilities as humans to do our part to create peace and avoid war altogether. Well done!
After lunch on board, we took the shuttle to the main Street downtown. The experience felt much like any other big city you think you might visit in any other country except this one was super clean, organized and efficient! The cross walk even had a diagonal cross walk in addition to the standard crosswalks so that you could efficiently cross from corner to corner. Wow, why don't we do this?
They have a definite love of the spamwich! Spam & Egg, wrapped in rice and seaweed! Um, No thank you. 😬
The souvenir shops were very clean! Not a spec of dust. Some weird stuff though.
Frog coin purse anyone?
I met a new friend.
I well end this one (sorry it was so long) by telling you about the most amazing part of this department store! They had an entire section dedicated to desserts. In not taking about just any cookie! They had beautiful, fragrant, elegant and exquisite pastries and various treats that looked so good you would actually question eating them. The whole area has such an aroma that I just didn't want to leave! Smell heaven.
Sorry ... One last thing! Does anyone see the irony in this photo?
Me, an American tourist taking a photo of Japanese people taking a photo in Japan! No? not funny? ...I laughed! 😺
Wow, the cave looks AMAZING!
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