Date: January 9th, 2020
We had a great end to our trip, but this day was by far the most dynamic one in Okinawa though!
We started a bit early and checked out of our hotel by 10 AM. Going to the airport via the Yui Rail, we paid 500 yen each for a big storage locker for each of our bags. We had to be quick since we needed most of the day to buy our stuff from a big mall we were going to. Luckily our flight would take off at 8:55 PM Okinawan Time (UTC+9), so we wouldn’t have to worry about that.
That brings us to the star place of the trip: the Ashinibaa Shopping center. Boarding a shuttle bus which transfers us to the mall, the bus took about 20 minutes to get there.
I was surprised at how big the shopping mall is, since it has so many more outlets than the Jackson Mall back in New Jersey where I used to live. It’s like a big maze there, but you can easily navigate around if you have a tour map. 😃
We first went to Starbucks to get some sandwiches and drinks for lunch. We also realized that Starbucks allowed people to smoke outside the store, so the smoke drifted towards us and irritated us towards the point that we had to finish our lunch quickly. We next went to the store called Daiso, a Japanese store sort of like Michael’s in the United States. We spent the rest of the afternoon going to the main outlets such as Gap, Banana Republic, Adidas, and many other stores.
Towards the evening at 4 PM I soon realized as my mom was buying a new backpack – where is my blue bag with my Kindle, water bottle and YoYo Card used in Taiwan? Uh oh…
It turns out that I had to run all over the shopping pavillions asking if they have seen the blue bag. I was desperate of finding this, since losing this bag would mean losing a Kindle worth a lot of money. Finally, as a last resort, Mrs. Chien-hue and I walked up to Gap and asked the Customer Services lady. Searching for the blue string bag, she did not find the item until at the very last moment when we almost walked out of the store she waved a blue bag to us. Thank God for finding my bag! 😅
It turns out that while shopping at the Gap Outlet I was playing some video games on my mom’s phone so when my mom wanted me to try out a new sweater, I put it down on a random counter and tried it out. Then, assuming I had the bag, I turned and left the bag behind.
Catching the bus to the airport, Mom and I were stressed out but thankful since we almost lost a valuable possession in a foreign country. Nevertheless, God gave me a great lesson: don’t play games without knowing where your important belongings are. 😯
We ate some dinner at the airport, which was a Japanese ramen house. It was delicious, though the soup was really salty since Japanese people, unlike Chinese people don’t drink the soup situated in the ramen.
We caught the plane on time and entering Taiwan at about 10-11 PM. Saying bye to Chien-hue as she rushed to catch the bus to her home, Taichung, we decided that it was a good trip. My Mom I had an exhausting day and were half-asleep by the time we got to the Taipei Main Station. Getting home, it was already 12 AM and I even watched on my mom’s phone the day turn from January 9th to 10th.
This Okinawan trip was full of fun and I can’t wait to go to another place for another great vacation of good food, style, culture, and escapism!
That was a great trip. Thank you for your post.
Yes that was a great trip! Thanks Mom!