January 18: Naha, Okinawa Day 4

This morning, like the previous mornings, we went down to the breakfast buffet at 6:30 am and beat the rush. I was in the mood for carbs so I ended up having a pretty unhealthy breakfast, but at least I controlled my quantity well (gotta find the silver lining somewhere). The croissants at this buffet are surprisingly good. They always look like they might be a little overcooked and dry, but when you bite into them they are crispy and light and not as rich as European or American croissants. I finally remembered to add an over-easy egg to my bowl of rice & braised pork and I was not disappointed with the result.

Breakfast

After breakfast we went back to our rooms and I took a nap while Christal and Luke hung out in her dad’s room. Around 11:30 or so Auntie Tokimi, Uncle Dan and Hi-Obaachan Yukiko came over and took us to visit Christal’s biological grandfather one more time. He was sitting up when we got there and was very excited to see Luke again.

Hi-Ojiichan

From the hospital we drove to lunch at Marukame Udon. Christal and I both ordered kake udon with onsen-tamago (soft boiled egg) and I added kakiage (mixed vegetable), kashiwa-ten (chicken) and karei (flounder) tempura on the side. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, because I barely finished and when I did I was stuffed. The udon was sanuki style, which are thick, square noodles and the chain is the same as the Marukame Udon in Honolulu.

Kake Udon w Onsen-Tamago & Tempura

When we finished with lunch we took Hi-Obaachan Yukiko back to her house in the Kokuba neighborhood, which was really close to the restaurant. We said our goodbyes and then we drove to Auntie Tokimi and Uncle Dan’s house to drop off Uncle Dan.

With Hi-Obaachan Yukiko

Auntie Tokimi then took us to the new Aeon mall, which is huge! The first floor has a fairly large aquarium that surrounds the elevators and houses two zebra sharks, a small Napoleon wrasse, a couple of moray eels, some large parrotfish and various other fish.

Best Mall Aquarium I've Ever Seen

After taking a look at the fish we went shopping for a little while and then Christal and her dad went and got some soft-serve to snack on. Once we had finished the ice cream we took another quick look at the aquarium and then Auntie Tokimi took us back to the hotel. We headed back to the rooms and Luke got a quick bath before the four of us went down to dinner at the buffet in the hotel. The buffet at the Loisir hotel was much better than the one a couple of nights ago when we went with Uncle Dan. The quality of everything just seemed to be a notch higher all around. After we finished dinner we went back up to the room and did some packing and then went to bed.

Soft-Serve @ the Mall