Rented a car to tour the north west coast of the island. Beautiful sandy beach near Busena underwater observatory tower. When the sun shines, the sea water has many different shades of blue. It has some coral reefs around hence is a good snorkelling spot. The underwater observatory tower is a way to appreciate the fish life in the water, without getting wet.
Further north is Bise, a town next to the sea famous for Biseno Fukugi tree walk. Because of strong wind and powerful sunshine, a lot of evergreen fukugi trees were planted around all sides of houses. Forming long cris crossing tree lined alleyways in the area, very pleasant to wander around.
Nearby is Churaumi Aquarium, the major attraction for me is to see manta rays and whale shark in close proximity. Of course all the other species are equally beautiful to see in close up, the attraction of an aquarium, versus snorkelling.
A bit inland is the ruin of Nakijin castle up a hill, surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, built in 14C during the Ruyuku period. The extensive external stone wall structure with many curves is in good condition. The huge stone wall and the site among hill reminded me of Machu Pichu in Peru. The stone walls are surprisingly similar to those built by Inca too.
There is nothing left inside the walls except marks of building foundations. A lot of broken Ming dynasty porcelain wares were found in the ground, a sign that the kingdom was rich and trading actively with neighboring countries.
There are over 300 such castle ruins in this island, very surprised that I haven’t read about this in my research of what to see.
The final destination of the day is Kouri Island. Beautiful water colour and scattering of rocks near the shore. Okinawa is bigger than we thought and the driving speed is slow, 50km in cities and 30km in many countryside lanes, can’t get far easily.
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