Monday, July 8, 2013

...The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft agley...

Shit happens. 

I packed everything. I left the concert early. I set 5 alarms on the World Clock app of the Touch. I went to bed (too late, but to bed). I needed to get up at 6 AM, meaning the alarms start going off at 5:30. I woke at 4:30, saw I had an hour, went back to sleep. Woke up again thinking I am way too rested. Looked at the time - 7:26! The alarms did go off, but I had muted the sound on the Touch for Michiyo's concert. Didn't think to turn it back on. Good for me everything was packed. Good for me I had reviewed that route to the airport. Good for me I had built tons of extra time into my planning. So I made it, caught the flight with a little time to spare. Didn't get to shave and out of three pairs of glasses managed to take the wrong one, but I made it. 

No shots of the flight. Even though I booked this back in Sapporo there were no window seats available; there were very few seats, period. I thought it strange at the time, given the long lead-time and that I am traveling on a Monday. The reason was clear at the airport - two huge gaggles of kids; teen-aged boys and kindergarten-aged girls. Why such a big number of such young girls would be needing to make a trip like that is beyond the limits of my imagination, but that is where all those seats went. 

I don't have a lot of shots period because I have only been in the town, no beaches or jungles yet. In fact, I am not here for beaches or even jungles (which I prefer to beaches), but to go to that southmost point.

Shit happens. 

So my first priority, even before checking into the hotel, was to go to the ferry company to make sure I get a seat on the ferry to Hetaruma tomorrow morning. The English-speaker they found for me, tells me getting a seat is no problem; I can do that 20 minutes before the boat leaves tomorrow. The problem is, is the boat is going to leave at all? There is a typhoon on the way. The company won't decide until early tomorrow if they are going to make the run. If they make the run there, they may not make the run back. The typhoon will only affect my island, Hetaruma, because it is so much farther away than the others. So here I've come all this way, at no inconsiderable expense and may not be able to do what I came for. Or worse, do it, then be stranded, because the plane leaves on Wednesday when it leaves, with me or without me. 


Shit happens.

Naha airport.

The bus to the plane. I hate being bused to the plane.

Ishigaki airport.

They tell me it is paradise. What it is is hot and muggy.

A threatening sky.




My hotel (middle, with tower) from across the port.


Nice to know my hotel is a tsunami evacuation building. Probably not good to stay on the ground floor though.

The port from the fifth floor of the hotel.
These shots are from Eifuku Shokudo, known as Tony's. It is famous. I asked the desk clerk where to go to get some Okinawan goat. She was impressed I wanted it. She told me of two places. One was farther away, but the more recommended of the two. It wasn't Tony's. I went to the bus depot to inquire about which bus to take, though I knew it was #11. Do I need to say that I had already bought a bus pass? #11 did go by there, but it was past the time of its last run. It was barely six in the evening. I bit the bullet and took a cab. Got there, (and it is god forsaken and off the beaten path), the place was closed. I showed the driver the place the clerk had marked on the map for Tony's; he was open. The goat was good.






Have a look at these...



Awamori. No, I didn't buy either of them.

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