Orange Friendly

Posted By Kelly Orange on September 20, 2008

I`m still in Day 1 here people, or at least I`m sober enough now in Day 2 to write about it. So after a short rest after lunch, we put some beverages in water bottles & grabbed a cooler and some cushions and headed down to the Seawall for a little sunset action and some chilling out before we went to dinner. I got to play with Rich & Nancy`s super awesome new camera (I love figuring things out) and gave them a little bit of a lesson on how to expertly use thier equipment before they embark on their own vacation to italy. There are so many cool features on it, I loved the panoramic shots & quick shutter & was able to catch a little bit of silliness with Rick and his dad showing off their dancing skills & now all I have to do is figure out how to make an animation, which shouldn`t take me too long since I am brilliant. J/K the internet is my favorite how to book….

Once the sun set we walked over to Yakitori`s which they call Stix because almost everything comes out to you on a stick. Chicken wings, pork, chicken and eggplant, steakums & cheese chunks & we had bacon wrapped everything you could think of…quail egg, asparagus, tomato, Enoki and I got to try some things I never even seen on a menu before…chicken liver, chicken gizzards, chicken cartilage, pigs feet, a meatball with a raw egg, & daikon. Some of my friends I`m sure would be horrified by this, but I tried it, and it was dang good. Then there was the Sake, they put the glass on a little saucer and fill it until it overflows and then you refill the glass from the saucer. It`s a little drippy but I just tapped it on the wet cloth they bring you as your napkin before I sipped. Let`s just say we were all stuffed & smiley. As we left we had to get a picture with Kenzo the owner, he was funny & was flying around the small restaurant all night just like a typhoon. Hard worker, that guy.

After our long meal we had to go visit Kenjo aka Mr. Smoke, a little Japanese man who is just super happy and knows very little english but is still great at communicating. We walked across the street to his new place (they kicked him out of his old one because he didn`t actually own the land he was on, he was just there for like 10 years!) He was so happy to see Rich and Nancy his face lit up and he held out his arms and came out and gave Rich a gigantic hug, it was really funny because we cleared the place out of all the marines that were in there & got to take over the small bar area almost right away. I ordered Sake, and right off the bat Mr. Smoke liked me (I`m pretty sure it was because he was drinking it too). He just kept making me all kinds of drinks and refilling my glass, and gave Ricky and I a shot of Awamori, Okinawan Sake. This stuff was 20 years old and in a clay vase & is really expensive. One whole clay vase can cost $500 or 50,000 Yen. You are supposed to sip it, and drink a little bit of water after each sip, it was so good & I don`t think I`d have that experience elsewhere. We hung out in there for a couple hours singing along to Johnny Cash & all kinds of great American music that Mr. Smoke would put on. Rick`s dad even went behind the bar and danced with Mr. Smoke, it was a happy fun time. Somehow we walked out of there only paying $50 for drinks for 4 people. I`m not sure how that happened, but there is one thing I am sure of and that is I have to go back before I leave.

We walked down the street looking for a taxi and then Nancy decided we should stop and find the shipwrecked boat that is turned into a little playground area, and after walking the wrong direction for a couple minutes we turned around and found it. A little drunken zip lining is what the doctor called for. I ended up falling off (it was like a 1 foot fall so no harm done) and have had sand stuck to me for the past 12 hours so I think I should go take a shower and get ready for the next adventure: A Castle and surrounding Ruins.

Category: Travel
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