Saturday, November 08, 2014

Harvest-time in Okinawa and elsewhere

Bangkok skyline
October is early enough for Christmas in Bangkok
We got a request! Thanks for submitting your interest. I may have to post early for November to respond with what there is to do in Okinawa at Christmastime.
This post is actually the October post -- re-cap, if you will. Another busy month. They all seem to be!
Update from last month: Chomp (the mealworm) has left the building. Or rather, he moved to another location. As he matured, he became rather a curious little mealworm, testing the boundaries of his enclosure. In fact, once we discovered that him on the kitchen floor, having escaped his pen and made a break for it!

Chomp, “exploring the studio space.” [Editor’s note: do we need more cowbell?]
Alas, one night we forgot to put the lid on his container, and the next morning he was gone. So he may still actually be somewhere in The Penthouse, or he may have moved to another villa. All we know is he is gone. Hopefully Chomp is in a better place now. No more apple slices for that little guy. *sniff*
I've begun a project to determine how many nights this year I have spent in hotels. The back-of-the-napkin calculation right now puts it at about 100 days, just for work.
Some of my favorite super heroes! You may recognize the two on the left.
I unfortunately was on travel during Halloween. That didn't stop a super-hero invasion of the local base housing! I am getting my fill of Halloween candy by taking a little bit in to eat with lunch each day at work -- don't tell J. and L.!

Naha Airport artwork
In September on the way to Taiwan I started a tradition of trying a new kind of KitKat bar each time I transit the Naha airport. Japan is known to have many unique varieties.

This Sakura Matcha KitKat was much better than the Red Bean version I tried last month (not that it was bad).

I went to a cool art museum in Bangkok. Many of the works made me feel like I was standing inside the album liner from a P.O.D. record.

P.O.D. album cover, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown (1999)


 I also found a place in Bangkok that served multi-flavored (and colored!) versions of the Shanghainese soup dumplings, called xiaolongbao (小籠包), that I like to eat when I am in Taiwan.


I'm probably a little biased, but the ones in Taiwan were better.
On the way to Thailand, I transited South Korea. Incheon Airport had a cafe with the following window display:

I am not sure what those things on the middle shelf are that look like extra-thick French toast with a scoop of ice cream on top, but next time I am at that airport, I am trying one!
They also had a cute toilet set up for those with little buddies in tow.

I hadn't see a small commode like that since we lived in Taiwan!

Earlier in the month we went to the beach. The weather has started to cool off, and October was the last month this particular beach, Araha, was open, according to the signs. So now the pool is closed, the beach is closed - what good is it to live in the tropics when they are only marginally tropical? :)

This little buddy likes the waves, just like his older brother does.
Actually the cooler weather is nice. I can walk around at noontime and not feel like I am going to melt, which is what it was like when we got here in August.
We also went window-shopping for pottery and glassware. The Tsuboya Pottery District in Naha is fantastic for this! I think I could really spend a lot of money there if I am not careful.

Where will our travels take us this month? Find out in the November entry! (And stay tuned for information about Okinawa things-to-do in December.)
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