Japan Exodus - Day 21: Back To Naha (Sigh)

A free beer, no frame of temporal reference, and the beach were all great things to fall asleep with last night, and great things to wake up from as well. I could practically hear music.

Alas, my time in Okinawa is all set to be over and done with. The ferry back to Kagoshima on Kyushu will depart at 6 am in the morrow, and so I must travel back from where I started again today. Or worse, I could have stayed in Naha as I almost did. I hated the atmosphere, but was comfortable in the sense that I found a pretty good place to camp, had access to unlimited free Internet, and found a small outlet strip mall for tourists to shop at. Not that I am in the market to shop, I wouldn't want to carry more than I already am. However, outlet malls mean outlet food. Good cheap food. And that my brethrens, I am all about.

Point is, I pushed myself out of that comfort and not because I was sure I would find something better. Not sure why I did now in hindsight, lets say that a twenty four hour boat ride would not be worth sitting around all day. You know how the rest goes.

The clouds of the day signaled the soon approaching rain. The blew in strong across the ocean horizon in small uniform patches, forewarning the much larger dark could that hung in the back. There would be rain, no doubt. I hope that my ferry will not be delayed, as it has the tendency under bad weather conditions. A whole day or more of waiting for a bad storm to clear in Naha is my idea of torture. Kill me now. 

The front of my bike. Very happy with this set up.

Check out this wicked puncture!

One thing that happens when you ride the same bike for as many thousands of kilometers is you become immediately aware of any sound or feeling that is not normal. Funny to say, but I did not feel this large protrusion if you can believe it, I heard it. A small clipping sound. By the rhythm and pace of the sound I guessed something had suck to one of my tires. You can imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw this (I don't have any idea what it is, but I'm keeping it) coming out at a 90 degree angle from my rear tire. How the metal piece managed to really wedge itself in to the tire was something that I was almost proud of, I wanted to call someone around and say "Hey! Check this out!"

Oh, I have had much much less puncture my tires, especially my rear. From all those punctured tubes I learned two lessons. First, I learned how to patch a tube with my eyes closed. I got that skill down pat. Second, I learned to not skip on tires. If you are going on a trip, make the investment. And if you don't believe me, know that from this industrial grade paper-clip looking thingy, my tube was not punctured. Yes, I did not get a flat. Amazing! I know.  

This is what the first half of the stretch back to Naha looks like. Lots of green being cut down the middle by cement and guard rails. 

When I stopped to look down off that highway, I could easily imagine what this place looked like before it was occupied. 

Well of course, you know I had to stop off and visit that all you could eat pizza restaurant. Got in plenty of my pizza slices, and all of my greens plus a little more with my salad. Then I went back for some pizza again beacuse, uhhh, yeah. This time with beans and the Okinawa special of taco rice. Thats every thing that goes into a taco, sans the taco shell or tortilla. Not bad, not bad at all. Lastly I found some curry which I somehow missed my last time out. I poured it over some white and taco rice =) Andres recommends!!!

Snack time! There is no way I am going to rely solely on banana chips and raisins this time. This time I'm going to the market and stocking up on some real food. And check out what I found: uncut maguro (blue fin tuna) maki roles! They're my favorite! I always order them at the kaiten sushi restaurants and couldn't believe my luck! The cuisine on the trip back to Kagoshima is going to rock!

Picked up some sweet friend sweet potato and pumpkin, a couple of those tuna roles, and some well needed fruit. Watermelon is so dang expensive in Japan, so maybe this was a day old or something? Its about to be two days old sense its food for tomorrow, but that is totally OK.

With a full belly I was able to make my way back to Naha where I know await my ferry boat. I hope that the terminal doesn't kick me out because the rain has already started, and going anywhere in this storm would cause a lot of trouble. As it is now, I am fine, in good spirits although a little tired. The ship has no warning of delay even though the wind in howling, and I still couldn't eat another grain of rice if you paid me. I'll try and rest my head somewhere soon, maybe this window...

Terminal love,
-A

PS. Happy birthday to my sister Gabi!