Okinawa pt. 2

So i realize now that I had failed to post the second day in Okinawa in my last blog even though I said I would cover the 1st and 2nd day. In this post I'm only going to cover the 2nd day because there are so many photos I want to share that there wont be room to write about the 3rd day.
So here we go.
Day 2
We woke up really early in the morning to have breakfast. The breakfast food wasn't so great, but really can't complain since the whole trip was so cheap. After we climbed on the bus and drove for about 30 mins (I took a nap since I was still tired) and arrived at where we would be doing glass making. The glass making was really cool! We didn't actually get to do the glass blowing/shaping because we used a mold but we did get to blow it and eventually shape the rim. So it was still a really fun experience.

Afterward we went to Okinawa Ocean Expo, which I guess is similar to Sea World in America. It has the second largest aquarium in the world. Also went to a sea turtle exhibit manatee house and a small dolphin show. This was also the first day I got to go to the beach! There was a public beach at the Expo park where me and a bunch of IES friends went to relax after wandering through the park. The weather was really nice and the water was also pretty nice (but can't compare to Hawaii of course). The aquarium was really cool, but it definitely did not feel like it was the second largest aquarium in the world. I think my favorite part (other than enjoy the sun on the beach) was spending time in the manatee house. The Manatees just seemed so calm and happy so it was really relaxing to watch them just floating around.
We ended up eating lunch at the Expo park since we were spending about 5 hours there to enjoy all the park had to offer. I ended up ordering Tsukemen noodles that came with vegetable tempura. And here is where I had my first run in with the Okinawan cucumber which is called goya. This thing is super bitter and...not very oishii. Since it is really famous in Okinawa it was present at other meals such as our Dinner barbeque later that night, buuuut after my first experience I learned to avoid it.

Here are some photos (click on any photo to enlarge)




Me blowing/shaping my glass cup which I got to keep!


A giant puffer fish at the aquarium


Me with one of the turtles


Dory and Nemo hanging out!







This is the giant part of the aquarium which held 3 whale sharks and tons of giant manta rays! Super cool!






At the dolphin show.


The girls enjoying the beach


Ice cream! I got Okinawan sweet potato flavor.



At the manatee house


Dinner barbeque (you can spot the weird cucumber near the sausages on the platter)

Here is a close up image of the weird Okinawan cucumber

Although they taste really horrible it turns out they are really healthy for you. They have 50 times more vitamin C than a regular cucumber. Maybe that is how Okinawans live so long, eating these things all the time.

I will try to post about the rest of my Okinawa trip as soon as possible!

Oyasumi!