Naha

The driver was polite, attentive, the car was clean, and he drove steadily.

A must-see in Okinawa! Murni is absolutely gorgeous! After watching it, I felt I would definitely come back again because there are so many performances, the dancers changed into so many outfits, and the atmosphere was incredibly high-energy. Don't worry about feeling out of place just because you're a foreigner. There are so many highlights in one show that you won't know which to prioritize, and you won't have time to take photos or videos! It's truly breathtaking. There's also time to chat with the audience, asking where everyone is from and singing local songs. Please arrive early, as the dancers will greet and interact with you. You can also give tip coupons and take photos with them at the end. Personally, I didn't choose the all-you-can-drink option because I was too busy watching the whole show; I only finished my drink at the very end, although some people did drink a lot. The beer glasses are huge, so it's up to you. In short, it's a must-see in Okinawa. You can buy tickets from a Taiwanese website up to a month in advance. The location is a bit unclear, but there are always kind Japanese men nearby who will tell you where to watch the show.

The shuttle service requires advance booking. The hotel will inform you of the pick-up time and order according to the route. You will fill out a consent form on the vehicle (must be in English or Romanized spelling only). Instructions on the boat are provided in Chinese, as well as Japanese and English. Life jackets, diving masks, and snorkels are provided on board. For those with nearsightedness, 200-degree and 400-degree masks are available. Because my prescription differs between my eyes, I inquired with the shop beforehand. They explained that they might not have a matching prescription and suggested wearing contact lenses. However, the mask I received had mold on the silicone part. Upon arrival at the designated spot, an instructor will lead a snorkeling trip around the boat area and feed the fish. However, perhaps because the instructor didn't speak much English, there wasn't much explanation during the snorkeling. The instructor took photos, but it seems each group only got one photo. The photos were disappointing. The shop will ask everyone to download photos from an encrypted cloud album on the return trip, but they weren't uploaded that day. To my great disappointment, when I checked the uploaded photos the next day, not a single one of ours was uploaded! Although the album description stated that photos might be blurry and therefore wouldn't be uploaded, seeing other groups with numerous photos while our instructor only took one or two, which weren't uploaded at all, felt incredibly unfair. After the first snorkeling session, we were regrouped according to the optional add-on program to search for sea turtles. Many people were there, led by two instructors, for about 20-30 minutes. Unfortunately, we didn't see any turtles that day, but it was already stated that we might not see any. During the search, we could feel the instructors were very diligent in looking and ensuring everyone's safety. On the return trip, you can quickly shower and change on the boat (the shower area is at the bow, an open space; you can use the simple curtains to change or wait in line for the two toilets). If you use the shuttle service, you must change back into dry clothes before boarding the vehicle. The waves were calm that day, and I had taken motion sickness medication beforehand, but I still felt a bit dizzy towards the end of the trip. I highly recommend remembering to bring your own motion sickness medication and take it beforehand. Overall, it was a smooth and comfortable experience. Apart from some mold on the mirror and uneven photo shooting, it was generally satisfactory.

It's very convenient to use, and the on-site staff are very friendly and will teach you how to operate it and display the QR code if you don't know how. The only downside is that the redemption method for the FunPass Okinawa co-branded badges isn't clearly stated. It's true that you can redeem badges at one attraction, but you can only redeem one badge at a time, not at different attractions. This means it's best to redeem two badges at once; if you only redeem one, you can't redeem any more, which is a waste of a badge. I lost one because I bought two more value-item sets to collect badges, and only discovered this problem after redeeming three attractions—it was too late.

The entire tour was guided in Japanese, but you could roughly guess what was going on by observing the locals' actions. The advantage of booking and filling out forms on KKDay beforehand was that you didn't have to fill out forms on-site. Those who booked on the day still needed to fill out forms nearby. Because it was the eve of a typhoon, there weren't many people, about 20 or so. When the time came, we were taken onto the boat and waited on either the upper or lower deck until the boat reached a certain point. Then we could go down to see the fish. The visibility that day was average; we could see the fish, but the water wasn't very clear. After a while, we were called back upstairs where the staff provided bread and fish food to feed them. After feeding, we could go back downstairs to continue watching. Before leaving, the staff invited everyone back upstairs to wait for port entry. The boat was large, so it was very comfortable and didn't rock at all. From the outward-facing seats, we could see planes taking off and landing, and the children had a great time.

DMM is a great option for a rainy day trip, as it's conveniently located next to a department store, allowing you to spend a whole day there. There are lockers at the entrance of DMM so you don't have to worry about carrying heavy bags. Although it's not very large, everything is well-maintained. I recommend exchanging for some NT$100 coins to use as souvenirs in the gashapon machines. The hermit crab fishing game was surprisingly popular with the kids. I highly recommend setting aside a whole day to explore this area. The complimentary ice cream voucher requires a certain spending threshold to redeem, so we didn't end up using it.