Ie Island: Land of Lillies!

So before Adrian jets of to Thailand for a couple of weeks and I head to Hawaii, we thought we deserved a little romantic mini-break! Through the base travel agent, we booked a night at the YYY resort on Ie Island for a surprisingly good price as it included transportation by bus and ferry to the resort, dinner at the hotel and breakfast.

The morning we left we actually had come excitement at 4:30AM...an earthquake. Adrian and I were both under the impression that Okinawa didn't get them but a moving bed and rattling glasses in the cabinet will certainly make you second guess yourself! They do come to Okinawa although pretty rarely. It was nothing too bad...we were back to sleep shortly there after and on the bus to the ferry by 9am.

The boat left from Motobu port on the northwestern end of Okinawa. The weather couldn't have been better and we had a lovely chat with some Japanese gentlemen in a strange mish-mosh of languages. From what we gathered, they were headed to the island to play golf. The ferry was only 30 minues and we then took a bus to the hotel. We left the rest of the group at that point and rented bikes to get us around. The island is very small. It's shaped like a peanut and I would say is less than 3 miles wide and maybe 6 miles long.

We made it to the lily fields from the hotel very quicly. Unfortunately, just as the cherry blossoms were behind schedule in January, so the Lilys were not yet out in their full glory. The ones that were out were lovely and you can certainly imagine that when they are all in full bloom it will be a site to see..there are over a million flowers expected.

So we pressed on after buying some yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick) to Wajee point, a lovely cliff area with spectacular views. Then we rode for back down the center of the island past Mt. Gatsuku and down into the 2 blocks of buildings that constitute the downtown on the island. We ended up at the Ernie Pyle monument. Ernie Pyle was a combat correspondant during World War II who was famous for his "grunt eye-view" accounts of what was going on in the war. He survived heavy combat in Germany, Italy and Africa only to be shot by a snipers bullet on Ie Island in the last 6 months of the war...April 18, 1945 to be exact. The monument was really simple but really nice I thought.

We then rewarded ourselves for our exertions on the bikes back at the hotel will a soak in the hot tub and drink at the pool bar. We took a long walk on the beach before having a really lovely Japanese meal in the hotel restaurant....with Sashimi, tofu and lots of goodies that I can't name but really enjoyed. We and several other Americans there seemed to be in the minority in choosing the Japanese dinner menu over the "Western style" meal. Why anyone wants to come 3000 miles for more of what you already had at home is beyond me!

It was a really relaxing weekend. I bought some lillies and am planning to make a go of making them grow on my balcony. Wish me luck, so far I have a pechant for killing any plant unlucky enough to be under my care!