Hello Okinawa!

We safely arrived at Naha Airport early this morning and we headed to take the shuttle bus which was provided by the car rental company. When we arrived their little office about 20 minutes away from the airport, we realized that we were not allowed to rent the car as we did not apply for the International Driving License. Damn! At that moment, we were clueless and not sure what we can do and with little sleep onboard did not help us out much!!

Finally, we decided to give up the idea of renting a car and took a taxi to our resort instead. The journey took us about 1 hour 10 minutes from where we were and we dozed off in the cab along the way. When we finally arrived, our eyes welcomed the sight of a beautiful hotel.

At the lobby of Sheraton Sunmarine Resort, there was a pond filled with marine fishes and our kids got really excited and suddenly super energetic. As we were still about 2 hours to our check in, we decided to have our lunch at their restaurant and check out the hotel later.  

Luncheon at the hotel café was really good. There was even a section just for the kids. Thumps up for that really! Then we explored the hotel and they even had a playroom for kids while the parents can have a game of darts, pool or even a drink just next to it. Fantastic idea indeed!

Okay, as for our room, it was simply gorgeous! We had three beds in the room and there was still enough space for us to put our huge luggage. There was a big balcony where we can have our clothes hung after washing and the view from our room was amazing!

We went to the beach which is within the hotel premises and man…the view was great! There were indoor pools, sea sports facilities and the flying fox activities for hotel guest. For those who preferred to sit and soak in the sun, you can enjoy sleeping on the hammock. It was really comfortable to just laze on the hammock under the sun though the weather was really cold! I am loving the weather here as we were able to soak in the sun but enjoying the cold wind at the same time. How cool is that! 

As the evening approached, I managed to catch the beautiful sunset at our balcony while I was putting our clothes out for drying. It was such a lovely sight and I wished I could sit here and watch the sunset everyday! Awwww…..

The hotel was really nice to arrange a transport from the restaurant that we were planning to dine it. They came on time to fetch us to the restaurant which was about less than 10 minutes away. We understand from the hotel staff that there were a number of restaurants that provides free transportation once we made the booking. 

Tonight, we went to Paikaji Japanese Restaurant and this is one of their local restaurants. When we arrived, it was already filled with many patrons and there was even a singer on stage to entertain their guest. We browsed through their menu and ordered some of their local delights like the Okinawa toufu, goya champuru, Okinawa Soba etc…  

I got to say that we enjoyed all the dishes that we ordered as they were really tasty and the price was reasonable too. The only dish we did not really like was the tempura… it was different from the ones we had… it was too fried and oily compared to those we had in Tokyo and back home.

After a sumptuous dinner, we were sent back to the hotel by the restaurant driver and he was really nice and friendly. For the 1^st day adventure, I LOVED IT! Good night!