Iceland Travel - August 2018 ( Part 1)

From starting of the year, when my brothers, Kelvin and Joe mentioned that they were planning their  Iceland trip, they asked if we would like to join them. We very much wanted to but we know that the cost of travelling to Iceland can be exorbitant. Throughout the first half of the year, they kept us in the loop of their plans, the routes, the accommodations and flights tickets. Ken and I became even more interested in joining them. However, we only managed to book our flights at the very last month before the trip because we will struggling with, you know, parting our money. Lol. The plan, (not a popular one), was to leave our children behind and they will be taken care by our parents. That was the only way to save on air tickets. Flying from Asia to Europe can be really costly. Needless to say, the children were not happy and kept asking why they couldn't go too. *guilty

Finally August arrived and these will be the first time we were travelling without the children. sob...
We flew, transit, waited, flew, transit, flew - all in over 30 hours. Yes, can cry. Of  cause there were other flights available but we booked ours at the last minute and the air tickets were getting expensive. So we booked the cheapest but not the ideal routes to go to Reykjavik.

We arrived 1 day earlier than my brothers and we decided to tour a little on our own and getting used to the weather. You must know that coming from a tropical 32 Degree Celsius temperature to below 10 degree Celsius, can be cold for us. Haha! And to the Icelandic people, it is summer for them. We have seen France in their cold weather but nothing beat the cold wind blowing at us in Iceland. To us, summer in Iceland, is like winter in France. Haha!

I went online to tripadvisor and many tourists who have been to Iceland, mentioned other than going to Blue Lagoon, Waterfalls, Glaciers, etc, they also said it is worth going for whale watching tour. Since we do not have a lot of time, we asked the hotel to help us make the arrangement.

Whale Watching
We booked a 2.5hrs tour which will start at 1pm and the guide came to pick us up at the hotel. We arrived at an old harbour and somehow we were the only 2 persons taking the boat cruise. Hooray! The guide told us the Icelandic people were watching some matches and that explained the streets was quite empty too. So the boat ride started, I wanted to say that the wind blowing at us was really cold. Brrr... The weather was an extremely good one with sun. We saw birds, puffins and dolphins but no whales. Alas... there is no guarantee when it comes to wild animals. Nevertheless, Ken and I enjoyed the boat tour very much. the guides (husband and wife) were very friendly and shared information about the different kinds of birds and whales.

 the harbour

 I was all wrapped up for Iceland summer. haha

 

Giganta

Not too far from the harbour, there was a little path that led to a baby giant who lived in a cave.





 

2nd Day - Blue Lagoon

The next day, Ken and I went to the airport to meet Kelvin and Joe and also to pick up the rental car. Just some words of caution, rent cars from reputable companies, especially those with many shops worldwide. Our rental car was in a bad shape with an error message prompting us throughout the trip, empty gas tank, was over-charged, etc. Finally, we got it settled after 2 over hours which made us rushed down to Blue Lagoon.

We were totally not disappointed with what we saw at Blue Lagoon, the staffs were friendly and helpful, the water was the right temperature for a full body relaxation, the place was a pretty sight. We got our towels (which was part of the package), changed out and head to the pool. Yahoo!

 

 The Blue Lagoon is the top tourists attraction in Iceland. I would say it is worth it and a "must go".
After Blue Lagoon, it was already late at night and it's time for us to find our airbnb.

 

 



Food that we bought from a 24hrs supermarket. Just heat up.

 

Kerid Crater

The next morning, we drove out to see the Kerid Crater. Kerid is a striking volcanic crater lake on the Golden Circle route, with blue-green water on deep red slopes. Absolutely stunning.

 

 

Geysir Geothermal area and Guggfoss waterfall

Next,  we head to Geysir, a geothermal area where Iceland's largest erupting hot springs can be found. Here we'll see the geyser erupt every 4-6 minutes, up to 30 metres into the air.

 

 



The next stop is the powerful Gullfoss waterfall, a large beautiful waterfall in glacier river.

I am really cold. Brrr... lol

 

Hallgrimskirkja (Church)

Next we visited Hallgrimskirkja (the largest church in Iceland and one of its tallest structures). We did not want to pay money to go up the viewing tower so we just took photos around the premises. This is an unusual-looking church, inspired by the forms created when lava cools into basalt rock. I read on the internt that the view from the top looks out over the entire city, plus the rocky, volcanic landscape and the sea beside the capital.

 

 

Next, we walked on using our GPS to find the sea nearby. It was about a 15- 20mins walk.

 

 



 

Let me continue the rest of the Iceland trip in a later post. ;).





 

 

 

 



Okinawa Trip (Japan)

I always wanted to go Japan because people rave about it's food, it's culture, good manners, weather, good dress sense and a super clean toilet. Haha! A clean toilet that can at the same time wash your ass, who's complaining?

After coming back from France, I hardly travel. Have to save money right? Finally, we decided that we probably save enough for a decent trip and we picked Okinawa. Hooray! Never regret this decision.

I kept seeing advertisement from Jetstar airlines that they fly direct to Okinawa. In the past, there were no flights that fly direct from Singapore. You have to transit at Tokyo, Taiwan or China. But with Jetstar, it look us 5.5hrs to reach the beautiful island of Okinawa. Such short distance, to sit in a budget airline, I really have no complain. And we save time and money in this way.

Okinawa is famous for it's beaches, watch sunset, bitter gourds, pineapple, purple sweet potatoes, pork meat in soup with noodles or grilled pork sliced and Shisa dogs . I love Japan also is that, hotels have washing machine that you can wash by yourself at such cheap price. That's means, we can minimise space in our luggages.

1st day:

• Reached Naha International Terminal
• We choose OTS rent a car service because they open very early so we don't have to wait.
• We drove to ANA International Hotel. We choose this hotel as we wanted to be far from airport which is more town and city. We will slowly drive back to stay near airport for our last few days.
• We get to explore the facilities there. There are many things to do. Examples: Arts and crafts, swimming, sea sports, Submarine activities, take photos, etc. There is no gym though. I realised that many hotels there do not have a gym and I guess they emphasise on water sports instead.

 Such nice view of the pool

 Our hotel in the background

 Submarine experience!

Famous rocks behind for photo-taking

 children made a photo frame each

In their pyjamas :) Provided by the hotel.

 

2nd day:

• Drove to Cape Manzamo, take photo
• Drove to Nago pineapple Park (please try their giant pineapple sundae. Super awesome!)
• Watch Sunset on sailboat at the hotel
• Dinner at Salvatore Cuomo

 so many pineapples!

 automated, so we just have to sit back and relax

 souvenir photo to bring home 

 talking dolls that you can purchase

 Must try pineapple sundae. It's enough for the 4 of us

 on sailboat to watch sunset

 

3rd Day:

• Drove to Churaumi Aquarium/ Ocean Expo Park
• Kouri Island. we climb up to Kouri Ocean Tower to have a spectacular view of Okinawa
• Dinner at Ufuya 100 years old restaurant. They are famous for its unique house, which is now a restaurant and they serve premium pork meat. (Please make a booking as it can get crowded. We didn't book but managed to reached there by 6pm.)

 there is an outdoor play area for free!

 the road from Okinawa to Kouri Island

 Ring the bell, they said

 Ufuya restaurant

 

4th Day:

• Check out and drive to Hotel Nikko Alivila (you can choose Renaissance Okinawa but it was fully booked)
• Visit Cape Maeda which is very near to our hotel
• Went to Cape Zanpa for sunset
• Dinner at Hanagasa (cheap and delicious food)

 Bye to hotel ANA

 At hotel Nikko Alivila

 a church, probably used mainly for wedding

 Cape Maeda

 Cape Zanpa

 Hanasaga which is near our hotel

 

5th Day:

• Gyoku Sendo (Limestone cave)

 

6th Day:

• Drove to Kokusai Dori. No carpark nearby so we park at one of the public carpark when we saw one and walked 15-20mins to the market.
• Lunch at Makishi public marketfor sashimi
• Maihama American village and we took the ferris wheel
• if you have time, you can make your way to sunset beach, which is nearby

 look for this entrance into the market

 selection of seafood

 they will bring it upstairs to cook or prepare the sashimi

 Maihama American village

view from ferris wheel

 

7th Day:

• Lunch at Janatei (Supposedly, a place when filming took place)
• Drove to Crown Plaza Harbourview as it is near airport (please note that as we get nearer to town, the hotel rooms get smaller)
• visit Shurijo Castle. (they said is a must-see but we went and the castle is under renov)
• Return car

 Lunch at Janatei

 Shurijo castle

Bye Okinawa

 







 



8th Day:

• Home sweet home

I seriously want to go Okinawa again. I can't stop thinking about it.:D