Under The Emerald Sea of Okinawa

March, 2017

I figured if I’m going to do activities that scare the crap out of me, I’d rather do it in Japan where safety is a pretty big deal. So. Scuba diving.

I booked the tour with Marine House SEASIR Naha through Japanican.

• How much: JPY12,000
• What is included: hotel pick up, boat ride, all gear rental, lunch, personal guide.
• What do you do: three stops – two for snorkeling, one for diving. So I strongly recommend against booking snorkeling, as with a little premium, you will have diving on top of snorkeling. Oh, and they’ll take your pictures too, no worries. So you only have to bring yourself.
• Minor detail: You cannot fly 24 hours before and 24 hours after diving, apparently. It’s due to the air pressure stuff.

So around 7 or 8 in the morning, a van with their logo picks me up at my place of accommodation, then we get our gear from the shop (based on size). We then walked to where the ship was docked, and had a quick orientation and test run (e.g. how to breathe, hand signals). Off the boat goes, and we can snorkel from the first stop to the third stop. You get to choose when you wanna do the diving – I did mine in the second stop. Around lunch they serve food, while drinks (including hot coffee/chocolate) are available the entire time.

That’s all I’m gonna say – everything else is up to you to experience. ;P

Ikebana

We did Ikebana – flower arrangement, under the guidance of a grand master in Tokyo. The funny thing is – apparently she can tell a lot about your personality based on your flower arrangement.

She told me I have a tendency to do things before I think (because of the way I bent the stalk), and then she told me I have a creative artist in me. When I said I’m an accountant, she said that creativity does not necessarily mean art – it can mean seeing a process, understanding it, and finding out how to change it.

She got everything right.

Hitachi Seaside Park

This is Hitachi Seaside Park, about two hours north of Tokyo. You’d better check your calendar – the view changes per month. Yep, per month.

OTW to Haunted Falls

August 14, 2016

Spoiler alert – the journey was a lot better than the destination.

OTW to the Munduk Base

August 14, 2016

Sometimes the journey’s better than the destination. In this case, there are two journeys – both better than the destination.

One is the journey from our hotel to the jump off, then the ride from the jump off to the Haunted Falls.

Talent: Kechak-ing for an Hour

Say:

Kechakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchakchak….

Heck, I can’t even type it in (Thank you, copy paste!) That’s the highlight of the performance in Uluwati.

Bali’s Botany Lesson

We went expecting a Civet Farm and ended up with a plantation – with a free botany lesson and a dozen tea flavors. Who’d have thought I’ll have a botany lesson in Bali???

Zoo Adventure: Taman Safari

We only had one open day to explore, and we chose to go to Taman Safari Indonesia. It took us around two hours to get there (40 minutes of which was us stuck, nonmoving (yes, I timed it), then six hours to get back. Oh, the beauty of Jakarta and nearby areas traffic.

Chasing Mangoes

Mango pizza. Mango pasta. Mango on everything. I flew to go to this Land of Mangoes last January 2016. I was too early.

Quick Stop at Osaka

We weren’t that fond of cities nor Japanese food so we basically just passed through Osaka. (so why were we in Japan??! haha) With the buzz of people milling around us, it was hard to find some peace and quiet.