Mood:  special

Songs of Gospellers always remind me of the days in Boston...cuz my roommate had CDs and we used to listen to them a lot . :)

Anyways, I went to Miyako-jima last week!

It was a very beautiful and peaceful island. Most of the island was covered with sugar cane fields which make the mild sound of wind, and of course the sea around the island was amazingly beautiful in bright blue, dark blue, and tarquois blue colors... it was just stunning and made me wanna stay there for a couple of hours.

When I was driving around the island, I sometimes saw dogs walking freely by him/herself or in a group of 2 to 4...smiling and humming...

Their feet were even skipping and looked so happy and lively. 

There were even goats and horses (they were tied tho) along the roads. They also looked happy.  The goat I saw on the coral rock was looking over the wide ocean smiling . Very cute.

I also enjoyed the cuisine of the island.  I had Miyako-soba twice for lunch. It tastes similar to Yaeyama-soba I had on Ishigaki, but a bit different, I guess.  Miyako-soba was simple but tasty soba. hmm..

I kinda like Yaeyama-soba better though.

Besides, I had yummy lollies as well.  Shoga-to (ginger tasted black sugar) I bought at the supermarket was very good.  A can of rice drink (yeah, it is liquid rice) named MIKI was...a very weird drink. It tastes a bit sweet but feels very heavy, like omo-yu. It's very unique. Seems like works good when you're hungry but don't have any food. 

Needless to say, I visited the famous lighthouse of Miyakojima.  It's a Higashi-hennazaki toudai. I could go up to the top and look down the wide and blue ocean. It was specutacular....

At the shop near the lighthouse, a good grandma gave us a glass of sugarcane juice for free! It was very sweet and yummy. While talking, she gave me a pack of Sa-ta-antagi- (fried sweet) for free as well. It was the most delicious sa-ta-antagi- I have ever had.  You definitely should try it if you have a chance to visit Miyakojima some time. It's sold 100yen/pack.

I also had tasty okinawa dinner. Umi-budo, goya, various champru-, Miyako beef, a-sa, etc. etc.,....

The stalactite cave (sho-nyu-do) I visited was stunning too....  When I walked down the stairs to deep down the ground, there was a dark cave. I walked through the fense gate, then I saw lots of gorgeous stalactite columns growing down from the high celing and up from the ground. Inside the cave was perfectly silent but with the sounds of drops leaking down from the stalactite columns..  On the ground, there were so many awamori bottles ppl put for aging. The stable humidity and temperature inside the cave seem best for aging the spirit.

Every bottle had a msg card, saying "after 5 yrs, we'll come back..." or something like that. :) It was a very nice space.

 The beautiful coral beach, sugarcane fields, spectacular views...I enjoyed them all.  What I regret is that I couldn't dive into the sea.

Definitely I will, next time.  I guess I'm getting addicted to Okinawa...