Locky's English Playground

Saturday, 3 January 2015

Food, Travelling & Living: Food And Fun Of Okinawa -- Day 5

Various sushi at unbelievable price
Image from Locky's English Playground

We decided not to have any more Lawson for breakfast so we drive to the nearest AEON supermarket hoping to grab some delicious bites. The sushi looked amazing and we're very cheap, but we weren't too used to having raw fish for breakfast so we passed that chance.

Interesting ice creams
Image from Locky's English Playground

The types of ice cream not sold in Hong Kong accounted for almost 95%. I would have loved to send back boxes of them gone if they weren't so easy to melt.

And you think only Apolo has monoka?
Image from Locky's English Playground

Coin counter
Image from Locky's English Playground
Every cashier comes with a coin counting machine that does the tedious job. It's quick and accurate! And Hong Kong should adopt this tech.

Breakfast menu in McDonald's
Image from Locky's English Playground

In the end, we settled for McDonald's, which was not a bad idea considering that the food sold in McDonald's differs from culture to culture, so having an Okinawa McDonald's breakfast must be some sort of experience.

Our breakfast
Image from Locky's English Playground

And here is our choice. And as you can see, my phone is almost enjoying its electron juice on the right.

McDonald's hotdog
Image from Locky's English Playground

Since everywhere in Okinawa you can see land used by the U.S. Army (except that you don't see the soldiers at all), you will expect lots of American food, and here is a McDonald's hot dog.

Sweet McMuffin!
Image from Locky's English Playground

This sweet McMuffin tastes nice too! Sweet because of the raisin buns.

Sweet potato ice cream!
Image from Locky's English Playground

After breakfast, we went back to the supermarket for some ice cream, one of which we can never miss is the famous sweet potato ice cream .

Pretty girl candies?
Image from Locky's English Playground

This one struck me as a very intriguing product, not only they are advertising through cute girl group, but together with the name of the product as well, "Pop'n bubble". Seriously?

Photo booth
Image from Locky's English Playground

This may look like a normal photo booth to most people, but take a closer look now,

Image from Locky's English Playground

and you'll see it isn't any ordinary photobooth, you can modify instantly and get the best our of yourself, how cool is that? People beg to have one of these in Hong Kong as they all cursed the ugliness of official passport photo-taking booth, showing more blemishes than beauty, if there is any left.

Image from Locky's English Playground

After eating and eating, my wife and I met up with the big group at GE to do our final shopping. I came across this pair of baseball boots and realised that it was in fact the first time in my life to see such a boot! Those blades are crazy! Imagine if that was used for football?

Great deal!
Image from Locky's English Playground

For soccer, I will only use soccer boots. And I have yet to go for anything higher than HK$400. Guess who much this pair of Nike from Okinawa cost? It's HK$130!!!! I have got to buy them!

Face cover inside fitting room
Image from Locky's English Playground

I have also bought one soccer training jersey, and while trying it on inside fitting room I found this very nice gesture of free face covers for those who are afraid of losing their make-up or colouring their collars. How cool is that?

Okinawa departure hall
Image from Locky's English Playground

Overall, I love the Japanese's people's manner. They care about every need you have from head to toe, drivers stop their car the moment you flash those cornering lamps to let you switch lanes, ice-creams are the best. The bonito soup is mesmerizing!

A card I picked up at the airport
Image from Locky's English Playground

And then I picked up this card at the Hong Kong International Airport, and as usual, I did my part as a regular human being would, and I got this:

I hope the tag to Hong Kong International Airport will trigger more audience from around the world to see this on Facebook, because this kind of behaviour and manner is what makes Hong Kong a poor city.

Vocabulary:
blemish -- (n)[C] a mark on something that spoils its appearance
mesmerising -- (adj) very attractive, in a mysterious way, making you want to keep looking:

Resources:

Food, Travelling & Living: Food And Fun Of Okinawa -- Day 4 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2014/12/food-travelling-living-food-and-fun-of_30.html

Food, Travelling & Living: Food And Fun Of Okinawa -- Day 3 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2014/12/food-travelling-living-food-and-fun-of_22.html

Food, Travelling & Living: Food And Fun Of Okinawa -- Day 2 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2014/12/food-travelling-living-food-and-fun-of_15.html

Food, Travelling & Living: Food And Fun Of Okinawa -- Day 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2014/12/food-travelling-living-food-and-fun-of.html

Cornering Lamps @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Cornering_lamps

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/blemish_1?q=blemish+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/mesmerizing

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Food, Travelling & Living: Food And Fun Of Okinawa -- Day 4

Coffee, fried potato with beef, club sandwich and oden
Image from Locky's English Playground

Day 4 morning started off with a convenient store breakfast on the car as we wanted to maximise time for shopping.

Coffee, fried potato with beef
Image from Locky's English Playground

Didn't really like the coffee that much, coffee in Japan tends to be a bit bland, but I have stressed that I don't know how to appreciate good coffee as I am more of a Starbucks person, so you can take this comment with a pinch of salt.

Turnip Oden
Image from Locky's English Playground

Daikon oden (turnip in bonito soup) though needs no expert to you that they are truly delectable. My wife likes it so much that she can even have it as breakfast in the morning! That being said, this daikon oden is the one that gets sold out the earliest in any store!

fried potato with beef
Image from Locky's English Playground

But this fried potato with beef, to my dismay, had a hard, rock-like exterior and zero beef content.

Sign of private housing opposite the entrance of the castle
Image from Locky's English Playground

We were supposed to meet up with the rest of the dozens of the couple's family group and friends at the Shuri Castle for some sight-seeing, but since we arrived first, we proceeded with our plan first.

Image from Locky's English Playground

It was a time for students' school holidays, so there were many enjoying their moments of "jumpiness" in the air for their photo-taking.

Entrance
Image from Locky's English Playground

3D models of the history of Shurijo castle
Image from Locky's English Playground

3D models of the surroundings of Shurijo castle
Image from Locky's English Playground

There were quite a lot of 3D models of the Shuri Castle, but the real thing was what we were interested.

First gate from central path
Image from Locky's English Playground

Most of the gates of the castle are free of charge,

Panoramic view
Image from Locky's English Playground

and the panoramic view looking over the city was great,

Image from Locky's English Playground

except the central palace, which requires an entrance free of JPY820.

Tiles making up a image of the central palace
Image from Locky's English Playground

3D model reconstruction of a scenario
Image from Locky's English Playground

Image from Locky's English Playground

Of course, we didn't spend time trying to understand the history. It would have taken a whole day to do so.

Another 3D model reconstruction of a scenario
Image from Locky's English Playground

Beam constructed palace
Image from Locky's English Playground

Most parts of the paid areas do not permit photo-taking, thus the lack of photos here, but if you ask me, I think the walk was worth paying, since simply by looking at the amount of maintenance of the place you'll have to agree with me.

Never skip a chance for ice cream in Okinawa
Image from Locky's English Playground

Two things I did find really interesting that day. One was the limited edition tri-colour ice cream sold only in Shuri Castle.

Solar-powered lamp post
Image from Locky's English Playground

Two is the solar-powered lamp post around the park. This is something that every one should go for.

Uokura sushi
Image from Locky's English Playground

After we left the castle, we found a decent sushi restaurant called Uokura 魚蔵バークレーズコートwhere everyone can finally meet up.

Entrance of the sushi restaurant
Image from Locky's English Playground

There weren't too many customers at that time but you can never go wrong with sushi in Japan.

Steamed egg
Image from Locky's English Playground

Various types of sushi
Image from Locky's English Playground

All I know is, it was lovely to stack up many rows of 20 plates in the process.

View from my table
Image from Locky's English Playground

Seach eel
Image from Locky's English Playground

Talking about freshness and taste of Japanese sushi would be redundant. Photos of them should be enough to do a great job.

Ramen work ham
Image from Locky's English Playground

Salmon galore
Image from Locky's English Playground

Flounder
Image from Locky's English Playground

Crab legs
Image from Locky's English Playground

Zoom in
Image from Locky's English Playground

But one thing is for sure, there was no tuna on my plate.

Mobile bakery
Image from Locky's English Playground

Nintendo lookalike
Image from Locky's English Playground

Electronic shops in Naha are huge but did not have the latest models in stock. If you do want something very new, you need to call a week earlier and place order.