Okinawa World ~ Kingdom Village

It was a perfect day to enjoy a little Blue Seal ice cream.... I had beni-imo (purple sweet potato) and Rodney had Sugar Cane. Both tasty, yet not as sweet as you'd think!

When we came off the escalator out of the cave, we meandered through an orchard and fruit stand, pottery house and glass blowing pavilion both with gift shops. You can even pay extra to do your own pottery and blow your own glass! We decided to save those for future visits. 

As expected we found more put-your-face-in picture spots :-)  

Then we entered the village....

It was made of traditional Japanese homes and each housed different traditional crafts, which were demonstrated and were available, for a price, to try your own hand....

We gave weaving a whirl!

My 'teacher' 

Rodney's 'teacher' 

  We wove coasters! 

 In this house.....

 ...you can get your picture taken in traditional Japanese kimonos!

 A cultural center

 There's a brewery onsite that brews Habu Sake!! Yep, those are very poisonous snakes soaking in the sake! 

Then we got to see some Eisa Dancers and Taiko Drummers, but, sadly, no pictures allowed :-( 

As you work your way through Kingdom Village, it returns you back to the front of the park and the exit.

Yes, let's meet in Okinawa world again!!

Okinawa World ~ Gyokusendo Cave

The cave was a nice 21C/70F degrees, but was quite balmy at 91% humidity!! So, we got dripped on all the way through!

This shisa was guarding the entrance

Sorry for the blurriness, but I enjoyed the pictured demonstration of how a stalactite and stalagmite form a pillar.

"Bell of the Rising Dragon" 

 "Golden Cup"

Each of us with the "Gathered Drapes" 

The Japanese love their little put-your-face-in picture spots!! 

It was neat the way the fish's eyes showed up so blue :) 

After walking through the cave, you ride the escalator which brings you up at the back of Kingdom Village. 

Okinawa World ~ Habu Museum

Rodney got a surprise long weekend, so we took a couple of days to play tourist!! Our first day's visit was to Okinawa World. It has three parts: Habu Museum, Gyokusendo Cave, and the Kingdom Village.

 We entered the park just in time to catch the 10:30 Habu show!

On the way into the show, we went through the Habu Museum.

See them hanging in the trees??

 Can you believe they are even more dangerous than they are mean-looking??

 The signage may be in Japanese, but the pictures usually speak loud and clear :)

 The Habu Show was all in Japanese, but it seemed they were explaining about habus and how to avoid getting bitten!! They also brought out a cobra! Afterwards, visitors could get their picture taken with the python :)

After this fun, we headed on over to go through the cave....

Happy Birthday to Me on Kokusai Street!!

Since Rodney was out of town, my friend Carrie took me on a special day outing for my birthday to Kokusai Street :)

 We started our adventure with a delicious lunch at Captain's Inn!

 Being a teppenyaki restaurant, we got a nice little show, too!

 Our tasty lunch included bean sprouts and green peppers, tenderloin, potatoes, fish (on the shell, it was gel-ish enough to be cut out in the shape of fish!), tofu, onions, and a piece of purple Okinawa sweet potato!! What I didn't get a picture of was the garlic rice which was probably the best fried rice I've ever tasted!

Even after that filling lunch I had just enough room for a scoop of dragon fruit ice cream. 

 I picked up a box of dark chocolate chinsuko to take home. They are simple cookies kind of like crispy shortbread (originally only eaten by the royal family) then dipped in different flavors: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and strawberry. I believe they do seasonal flavors, too.

Like on Hollywood Blvd, there are many photo spots :) 

 I'm an Okinawan sweet potato treat!!

 Lucky Cat waves his greetings

 The entrance to the Underground Market which historically housed the Black Market. There's the main walkway that runs down the middle with branches off in both directions. One friend of mine says she always uses her GPS so she can find her way back out!! There are all kinds of little shops: fruits/veggies, clothes, pottery, glassware, food, baked goods, souvenirs, etc.... 

 I did make one last stop before we headed home..... Yes, its a "squatty potty"!! "How??" you may ask, well, its actually pretty simple~~ drop your drawers to your knees and squat over the hole :-)

Thanks to Carrie, I truly had a memorable birthday!!