A pre-wedding Honeymoon? (21 days around Asia)

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 16 (Part 1):

This was probably the ultimate R&R day for the trip. With loose plans involving food, drnks and plenty of pool and beach time. Waking up to this view, we were sure it was going to be a satisfying day.



Halekulani has 2 breakfast options so for our first morning we picked Shiroux, which is a french restaurant of an evening and does set breakfast meals of a morning. Being in a club room we had breakfast included which consisted of fruit and yoghurt, juice, coffee or tea and choice of a main as below


I went with the pancakes and my partner the eggs benedict. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.





All of it was spectacular, from the fresh fruit to the beautifully poached eggs and hollandaise on the benedict. The star was undoubtedly the pancakes though. Fluffy and thick but light to eat and that hazelnut sauce with a drizzle of maple to add sweetness was to die for. Easily the best breakfast I've ever had.

After breakfast it was time for pools number 2 and 3. First it was the quiet pool which also offers a swim up bar and is (like the ocean terrace pool) adults only. We spent a bit of time here as it also offered an amazing view and as soon as the bar opened we had a coughtail each.




After this we spent a little bit of time at the signature orchid pool. This is a much larger pool and more family oriented but beautiful nonetheless and what you most likely see featured in resort promotional material.



After baking in the sun for a little while we checked out the indoor pool and onsen/spa in there but it more of a lap pool or option for if it's raining. We decided it was lunch time so returned to change and head down to a restaurant called Shogun Burger that I had my eye on.

The staff at the hotel took us in the complimentary golf carts to the northern gate saving us a fair bit of time walking. From here it was about 5 minutes up the road. We had beef burgers and their loaded fries. Both were spectacular and I'll argue no one makes a beef burger as juicy and tender as the Japanese. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the Mentaiko mayo on some of the fries as I'm not a big fan of the taste of Mentaiko.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 16 (Part 2):
Following lunch we walked back passed the hotel to a public beach for some snorkelling. The rules around snorkelling within Japanese resorts and indeed on many excursions are pretty strict with regards to wearing life jackets. Now while I understand the cautious approach of many Japanese to this, particularly given that ocean swimming is not as common as Aus and many tourists to Okinawa aren't good swimmers, but I am obviously not a huge fan of this as it massively detracts from being able to explore underwater properly.

Luckily just up from the hotel was a public beach with no real rules so we spent the next hour or so in the water exploring the coral and abundance of sea life!




After this we returned and changed for afternoon tea in the club lounge. This consisted of a bit of a different assortment of food to the evenings and some specialty drinks, as well as the free flow champagne.








There was time for 1 more ocean terrace pool swim, before returning to the club lounge for more champagne and then making our way out of the resort (once again on a golf buggy) to then the 50 mtrs walk to Hale'aina HOA for dinner. This was right outside the resort and therefore a lot more affordable. It's Hawaiian themed as per the name, something that is massive in Okinawa if you haven't picked that up yet, and offered quite good meat and seafood.



For around $30 that surf and turf was unbelievable and the hibachi chicken was also super tender and a big hit. It was a bit of a shame not to get to check out some of the other restaurants in the hotel but with most starting at 15000y per person for food only, and with a couple of unexpected big purchases before our trip, we were happy to settle for something more affordable.

After dinner we hit up the local Lawson across the road for some more dessert before hitting the hay after a big day in the sun.

 

[Trekky1]

Enjoying your TR very much!

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 17 (Part 1):

Waking up early to make the most of our last few hours at Halekulani we immediately headed to House Without a Key for the breakfast buffet. While not quite as good as the a la carte meal the morning before it was still a high quality offering with a huge variety, which you can see per our plates below...




The barista made coffee was also fantastic and arguably one of the best of trip. The Okinawan pork was fantastically tender and the benedict while not as good as the previous days, would rival most served in cafes in Australia fresh.

After breakfast we had time for 1 last swim so headed to our favourite, the Ocean Terrace Pool, right as it opened and had it all to ourselves.




After dragging ourselves out we headed to the room to pack, checked out, had our car promptly delivered and with tears in our eyes departed towards Naha. Honestly this was one of the best stays we've ever had and was just as good if not better than any hotel experience we've had, at least certainly up there with our time at the Four Seasons HK in a club room which we thought would never be matched.



We headed south towards Naha with one very important destination in mind - Hama Sushi. This one was right near Kadena Air Force Base so was full of very loud Americans but still hit the spot.



Given we were nearby Mihama American Village in Chatan we decided to explore there for a while to kill some time as we were early for our check in to our hotel in Naha.





We spent a bit of time wandering around the bizarre collection of shops, got some souvenirs and finished with a blue seal ice cream which really hit the spot on a 32 degree day.

Finally we drove back into Naha and checked into Tokyu Stay Okinawa Naha. I picked this place primarily due to the fact that it was affordable and had a washer/dryer in the unit, something we hadn't had access to since Miyazaki. We checked in and had a high floor room with an OK view but the best part was the proximity to a monorail station and therefore access to Kokusai dori and Makishi Market.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 17 (Part 2):

After check in we showered, changed, threw on a load of washing and headed back out to explore Naha. Tokyu Stay as mentioned is right next to Tsubogawa monorail station so we wandered down there and jumped on the very busy monorail bound for Miebashi. Once at Miebashi we walked up Chuei Dori toward Kokusai Dori and Makishi market. But not before seeing some obvious safety hazards on the way...




We wandered about Makishi for a little while and took some photos of some of the staples of Okinawa, seafood and Habushu... Very curious if anyone has ever tried it, as the prices just seem outrageous!





We popped out of the market and found a little Irish bar to have a few pre-dinner drinks.



We wandered back to Kokusai dori after a couple of Guinness' and hunted for somewhere for dinner. We ended up at Yakiniku Panari. This was somewhere we just stumbled across as it seemed to have a good selection of meats and side dishes available.

Honestly this place was fantastic. I guess Yakiniku is hihgly dependent on how well you can cook yourself but the meats were fantastic and so were the accompanying side dishes. It also wasn't over the top expensive unlike some of the other yakiniku and teppanyaki places on Kokusai Dori.

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As you can see I also got a chance to get some taco rice, a big favourite of mine among Okinawan cuisine. The pork as you'd expect in Okinawa was great and the wagyu fantastic.

After dinner we ended up heading to a rooftop bar/nightclub for some electronic darts and drinks. This wasn't really planned but we ended up having a lot of fun here, and drunk cheese fries are always a great idea.



Once the club started to get a bit too nightclubby for us we started the walk home.



The architecture in Okinawa varies quite a lot and the city hall building is quite a cool example.



The walk back took about half an hour but we'd miss the last monorail so we didn't have much other option. We detoured via 7/11 for a last dessert trip as this was our last night in Japan. Once we returned we prepared for bed but I had an awful night as the washer/dryer kept showing error messages and resetting itself. Not exactly ideal when you're trying to get 10 days worth of washing done and a cycle takes close to 4 hours...