Day by the sea

We decided to get out of the hustle and bustle and travelled on the train to the lovely coastal town of Kamakura.

Shahreena was in charge of the train journey. Bad times;

The station next to our hotel is Shinagawa. She had us travel to the huge Tokyo main station, and then we get lost around there for about half an hour. Then we got the train overland from Tokyo main station to Kamakura. About 40 minutes into the journey, the train stopped at Shinagawa...damn.

But Kamakura was loveeeely. We first went to the Hasedera shrine. The shrine of Kannon, goddess of Mercy. It was beautiful and very Zen. The main attraction is a 30ft statue of Kannon. Which was pretty impressive! So impressive it inspired me to buy and light a prayer candle. I bought one which will "bring a wonderful person to me". We also bought a tiny statue of statue of a minor goddess which you write your name on the back and leave in this creepy cave. She will bring us "dedication". Then outside we each bought a prayer board which you write your wishes on and hang on a huge wall. I wished for "success and happiness for me and my loved ones" whilst Shahreena wished for "super powers"...

So I think I got it covered, love life, dedication, success and happiness. If this Kannon is the real deal and she answers my prayers, life is about to get pretty sweet!

Then we went to the shrine of the Daibutsu which is basically a 43ft statue of the great Buddha. Which was extremely impressive. We even paid ￥20 to have a little peek inside it.

We wanted to end with the Zeniarai Benten Shrine. Following the map (which as we've established, doesn't bode well for us) we set off. We came up to some steps, then more steps, then some more. Soon we had been climbing a MOUNTAIN'S worth of steps and the build up of lactic acid in our legs was near fatal level. When we reached the top, a man told us we had gone the wrong way and we needed to turn back and go up some MORE STEPS. So we had a breather, then did as he directed. The route he pointed us along, turned out to be a flipping two hour jungle trek! It was like actually like hardcore mountaineering. When we finally got back to civilisation, it turned out we were just down the road from the Daibutsu. OH DEAR.

Anyway, the Zeniarai Benten Shrine was very picturesque. There's a story that Minamoto no Yoritomo recieved divine intervention to build a shrine there on the holy waters. So people still flock there to wash their money in the magic waters. I washed some coins with which we would buy some more photos at a photo booth later...

After Kamakura, we got back to the hotel pooped and decided to stay in and go to the hotel cinema. We watched 7 pounds and it was brilliant but pretty sad. We had to go back to the room and read some Manga to cheer up before bed...

An undersirable side effect of being in Tokyo is the development of "Japanese tourettes". I find myself unwillingly shouting things, such as the names of tube stations and the word for "thanks very much".

IDATAKIMASU!

GOZAI MASU!

MEGUROOOOO!