Love at the First Sight. #ILoveOkinawa, Japan

You can say it as love at the first sight for me.
(The video explains everything)

Portraying the greatness of both world; the subtropical weather and an ancient culture, Okinawa have everything to offer, from water sports to longevity diet to friendly islanders, what is not to like here.

It has always been my dream to visit Okinawa and this increases after I passed by diving license last year, including the earlier 2 visits to Japan. Enchanted by their history, culture and custom, I set to search for other interesting places in #Japan narrowing it down to flower power Sapporo and obviously the beautiful island of Okinawa. Boasting the title of having the most centenarians is a street, island and country, I embark on a knowledge cruise to seek their fountain of youth (read: Okinawan diet formula).


Okinawa Food

Critical to their famous healthy diet, Okinawans practices 'Hara Hachi Bu' or 'stop when you are 80% full' which resulted in eating lesser calories. Aside from this, their main intake is vegetable, low-meat diet, rice, tofu, bamboo shoots, seaweed, pickles etc pair with Japanese green tea.

Every prefecture in Japan have their famous food for the soul and made from 100 percent wheat flour, Okinawa soba is the clear winner for Okinawa prefecture. Being told that it is usually homemade and serve with love, travelers can visit the 'soba-kaido' area where more than 60 soba shops can easily be found.


Longevity Formula

Do you know that Okinawans are more likely to reach above 100 years old? It is believe diet, exercise and lifestyle that blessed the Okinawans to have life longevity. How I wish to experience their lifestyle, and one do not even need to drink water from the fountain of youth, adopting their lifestyle might do the trick and you'll live to be a centenarian.

Coupled with having an Okinawa gene and a healthy life style are two of the contributing factors for longevity. Family upbringing, daily activity, weather etc plays an important role in their living life quest.


Lifestyle

Grow old gracefully is widely practiced here, fortunate to live in a non-stressful surrounding and having a positive attitude, great social support group and Japanese strong spiritual beliefs help keeping their youth intact. As an islander, the Okinawans are accorded with the typical fresh island air and sunshine year round thus making exercise easy.

For you traveler out there, you might just go ‪#‎iloveokinawa‬ like me after learning their culture and visiting this beautiful island. There are a contest running where the prizes are unique and brought to you all the way from Okinawa. Visit https://beokinawa.net/my today to participate.



Step by step

‘Like’ Visit Okinawa MY -> Select 3 photos out of the 20 -> Click 'like' on the 3 selected photos -> Winner will be picked and announced through email at the end of the contest

Red and White Sand Dunes of Mui Ne, Vietnam

THIS is it!
THIS was why I picked Vietnam.
THIS was why I decided on Mui Ne.

Wouldn't you?

The Red Sand Dunes

Overlooking the blue Mui Ne sea certainly gives this red sand dunes a breathtaking feeling, shops with hammock selling icy cold drinks was an advantage to tourist like me who can't bare the hot afternoon sun. The main activity here is sledding and you'll see kids renting their sled from the parking lot right till the sand dunes top, calling and attracting us tourist. Despite our initially thought of wanting to help these kids to earn an extra living, they are, however, smarter than any of us when it comes to negotiating and persuading (and conning). Don't be fooled.

For one to get a cool, long and high speed slide down, one need to climb higher and where I say climb, I mean really climb. High, tough, tiring climb. One thing for sure, the view up there is awesome even if you don't intend to sled.

And the annoying part is, whatever goes down, must come up. And no one enjoyed this part.

Tips
Negotiate the lowest most you can
The kids will insist you tip them highly after the sledding
The kids can be obnoxious when persuading you to tip them
Sunblock and hat a must
Protect your phone and cameras from sand
Wear slippers (I hate it when sand gets in my shoes)

PS : Budak-budak tu akan tolong you naik bukit lepas tu insist you tips diarang tinggi, then marah-marah, bahasa pun agak kasar.


The White Sand Dunes

This is one of the famous view if you are in Mui Ne and we managed to capture it.

Our next stop was the white sand dunes and to our joy, they offer ATV ride here and like a kid we jump to the opportunity. ATV ride at the sand dunes makes me feel like an adventurer in a making; Indiana Jones! Where's my whip?

The ride is not as challenging as those I've experienced (jungle) before, yet the instructor drove us, perhaps worried that we might hijack his ATV? Hahhahahha... My expectation is that the instructor will ride at a high speed, then break and skid (drift) while cornering (Yeah, I watched too many movies)... Dream on Lily! That will never happen. Never. Having said that, the climb up the sand dunes was thrilling and we even chased the cattle with the ATV. That was the coolest experience ever!

This was the reason why the instructor don't trust us. This ATV belongs to Andrea and Jard (siapa yang berat nih?).

The climb.

One of their worries, we might drove the ATV down the lake. Ahaks.

When traveling, company is important.

Tips
Get a fun instructor who will chase cattle with you
Get an instructor that will go the extra mile and take you wondering around the area
Sunblock and hat a must
Protect your phone and cameras from sand
Shoe is preferred (safety reason)

#TravelTips | Overland Backpacking Route

I bumped into this overland backpacking/travel route in Asia, Australia, Europe and Eastern Europe which I decided to share with you fellow travelers. I don't think much explaining is needed for this entry... have fun traveling!

Credit : Pinterest, Google and Student Universe Tours.