Epic monorail adventure! (Part I)

Today was an epic day of adventure.

The idea was pretty simple: get on the monorail at the Post office station, then go all the way down to the first stop and then start travelling!  Each stop I would get off and wander around and take some pictures.  The plan was to do it all in a day.  Only managed half of it, but next week will be Part II.

So...

This is a map of the monorail system, I got on at Tsubogawa, which is the Post office station and then took a monorail to Naha-kuko, the airport station.  I took the moped to the post office and parked up there.

So, first stop Naha-kuko:

Yup, it's an airport, not really much to see...

Next stop was Akamine, which looked familiar...

Yup, it's that second hand store.  I went back in and spent ages browsing, looking for a Mazinger Z toy for my sister.  No luck, but did get her a Gundam one.  That place it like a nerd's dream.  And there were several nerdy Japanese guys there (actually saw some fat people too, so rare on Okinawa).  They had models of just about every anime and manga character and, well, lots of girls dressed like this:

Why yes, that is a sword clenched between her large breasts.

I bought myself a little Cat girl model, and why not?

Across from all this was a massive Japanese air base that not on the map I picked up, which is funny as it's blatantly there and not a secret, but on the map it's a brown blob!

Next station was Oroku,

Which was next to a massive shopping mall, inside of which is a Body Shop and a Uni Glo.  Now, in Japan, Uni Glo is like Primark!  They've totally rebranded for Europe.  T-shirts are about £8, so I'm definitely coming back before I head back for a little shopping trip...

Also here was a Mr Donut

See that sign?  "World's Best Coffee and Fresh Donuts", well that needed testing out!  So test it I did!

Doughnut (I can't stand the American spelling) was good, coffee was okay, a little too bitter, but they do come around and fill it up.  Did the sign mean that is had the best coffee in the world and the best fresh doughnuts in the world or did it just mean the best coffee in the world with fresh doughnuts as a side thing?  Either way it's LYING!!!!

What a disappointment.

Next station was Onoyama-Koen, which is one of the two stations either side of the Budokan.  I didn't get off as I've been here loads, but here's a picture of the baseball field:

Station after that was Tsubogawa, so no get off and no picture either.

Was the next station.  The bus terminal is here, and there's a big dance hall, but it's closed so nothing really interesting.

Then I got to Kencho-mae.  This is the station for the Okinawa Prefecture Central Office and the attached shopping mall/business centre.

Nine floors high!  With a museum and the head quarters of several big businesses inside.  Real high end place, all Paul Smith and Pierre Cardin and such.  Managed to finally find Global knives for James too, so bonus!  There's a cinema inside and the Naha Museum, which is small but nice.  The basement is a junkfood court and the top floor is a roof garden/high end food place.  I ate here and had Soki Soba, which is a noodle dish with pork.  Filling.

From here I hit Miebashi which struck me as slightly familiar.  I rang Steve as we said we'd meet up and he said he was near Furujima.  I said I'd be there in an hour, giving me time to get off at each stop on the way and see stuff.

  I walked along the street and found a big book shop and looked inside.  It struck me as being very similar to one I went to with James.  Looking inside I was like: Wow, the layout is exactly the same, it must be a chain or something.

It then dawned on me that it was a book shop I'd been to with James.  Whoops.

Bought a BJJ book.  Steve then rang and said that he was at the station.  A bit of a mix up in communication, so I skipped a few stations and headed on over to see him, the idea being to get back on the monorail afterwards and go back to where I started skipping.

We met up and he showed me another gym and we generally wandered around the area, going to the big shopping centre (the one with the cinema where I saw Alice in Wonderland) and having a Starbucks.  We sat outside and chatted about Karate and such.  Now, it was a hot, hot day, muggy too.  I woke up in the morning and needed a shower and the rain cloud were gathering all day.  It broke during out conversation outside of Starbucks.  We were five metres in under cover and the rain came down hard and then the wind came in harder, blowing the rain onto us.

So inside we retreated.

The rain didn't retreat however, even now it's still coming down.  We spent some time in the arcade (for an old guy he's got a hell of a talent with an arcade gun) and then bought umbrellas and braved it.  I got on at Omoromachi, which is the station attached to the shopping centre.  I rang James and he was able to pick me up from the Post office as there was no way Betsy was going to start :(

All my time on the monorail and it was never late till I got to Omoromachi, where it was 4 minutes late, and people were grumbling and the announcer kept saying how sorry he was.  The weather was terrible and I could see why the monorail was running behind time but they were acting like it was the worst thing ever.

Anyway, James picked me up, we came home and Hisano bought pizza.  A damn good day, all told.  Humm, I'm peckish now.

Next Tuesday I will complete my journey!