Japan

The draught is over!!

At least for a little while. The last couple of weeks have been insanely busy and very stressful. I am very thankful to have them behind me. 

I prefer the blue serenity of the skies ahead. (Cheesy. I know.)

That was the view to the south as I landed at Naha. The sun was just setting as I took off from Taoyuan and was really really pretty but it was during that nasty NO PHONES time after take off and so I couldn't document it. 

I am currently in Okinawa, Japan visiting my boyfriend, Zac.  He is deployed here with the US Marine Corps and it seemed silly not to swing by when I had the chance. It has been really great to see a familiar face and to explore a new country (you know me, I'm always up for that!)  

This is the view from the room. Not so bad, eh?

Tomorrow I leave Japan, go back to Taiwan for two hours, then fly to Hong Kong where I will meet up with my Aunt. She will be my travel buddy for the remainder of my time in Asia. 

One of the first things I noticed in Japan is that there is a lot more English here than in Taiwan. Maybe it is because the island of Okinawa has a huge Air Force base and a number of Marine camps, so the local population has just adapted to the western influence. Of course, in such adaptations a few things get lost. For example at breakfast this morning I was perusing my drink options. Here are two: 

To the left was "Hibiscus tea" and to the right was "orange juice" but in the middle my options were "cat's whiskers" and "fishy-smell herb."  I didn't have the courage to smell any to see if they were, in fact, labeled correctly.  Not really sure what translation they were going for but I don't think they got it right. 

In the hotel room itself, there were a number of beauty products. Next to the sink were four bottles:

 The foaming wash I get. I also get the make up remover but.... Moist water? Moist milk?  No clue. Can you get water dry? 

In the mirror you can see my new iPad in its pretty blue case. This is what I will be traveling with for the remainder of my trip and therefor what I will be blogging with. The blogger app is not as in depth as the actual site and so there are a lot of functions that I will not be able to mess with. For example, the preset font size is too small and I usually (when I remember or someone reminds me) make the font bigger. However, I can't change it from the iPad. I will keep working on the settings but you all just might have to use the zoom option on your computers for the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately. 

I'm going off to enjoy my last 20 hours in Okinawa then I'm on the road again. Regular posting should resume in the nest couple of days!