Kamakura Day Trip

Heya everyone....
Last Tuesday (29/04) we headed to Kamakura, which is a prefecture about one and a half hours from where I live. The train trip was a little tedious when we started out, but when you are with freinds its always fun. The trip was organised by the dorms, so it was pretty much all the dorm peeps and some other friends from around the area.

We hit our first destinatio, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, at about 11am. Here we saw the massive temple and experienced some traditional religious Japanese customs. The temple is surrounded by beautiful gardens, ponds and the most trees I have ever seen since coming to Japan. I think my pictures on facebook will do this place justice as I could never entirely describe it. But on entering we first sighted a bridge, which then led to a long path to the temple. The path was lined with small stores offering foods and souveniers. The food was crazy fun. There were toffee grapes....literally graps dipped in toffee...yummy. And I also had chicken kebabs which were delicious and only costed $1 each! Other foods included fairy floss, strawberries on ritz crackers, slushies and probably other random stuff I can't remember. Oh and the souveniers were like pokemon and other random wat nots.

The stairs to the temple were massive, but we clambered to the top. At the top we went to the outerside of the temple where fortunes are sold. I bought my $1 fortune and guess what it was 'kyo', bascially my luck sucks. Whats new there haha. It told me I would be sick for a very long time but eventually recover....I actually saw this as good luck cause I have been sick my whole life and now they tell me there is hope of recovery....hell yes, me likey! It also said I had to be careful with money, buisness and life, but doesn't everyone say that? Anyway, it didn't matter because I was told if I tied the piece of paper to the wall then I would leave the bad luck behind and have goodluck....I hope thats true! :)

After this we entered the temple, which was huge....it is a beautiful design and decorated with intimate detail. A picture here and a picture there and back down the stairs we headed. For lunch we hit a traditonal little Japanese restaurant and had ramen....yum yum and my tum tum.
We had another hour of free time so we hit the streets checking out the food stalls, clothes shops and enjoying the area in general. The Japanese people as a whole are extremely friendly and welcomed us into their stalls and also to suck us gaigin into buying stuff....but I would do the same back home...haha.

Back on the train we headed for Kamakura Daibutsu sightseeing....
Here in Kamakura we came across the giant Buddah, which was a stunning sight. I have never seen a Buddah to this extent. We also got to head into his belly....wasn't too exciting, but hey I have been in Buddah's belly....how many people can say they have done that?
Oh and I also I saw these massive thongs...you would have seen them on facebook. From here we headed back down the street and also I managed to get me a ninja star....its so cool...just need to sharpen it. Some of the weapons they were selling were insane...I wouldn't wanna mess with anyone with of those!

Back on the train at about 4pm we headed for Enoshima where I saw my first Japanese beach. It was massive, but the sand was not so cool. Definitely not white or yellow, but a dirty brown colour. Makes me appreciate even our shittest beaches back home. But all the same it was fun, but cold. The day was damn long and we managed to get back home at 7:30pm. So yeh that was my first "cultural" experience....and today I am off to Sumo Land....how cool is that. I have 1/2 an hour and the fun begins! I will post about that and my trips to akihabara, Dinsey Land, Sony Building and Tokyo Tower next week. Its a jam packed Golden week and we are hitting it hard.
Missing Oz land and hope everyone is taking care.

P.S Thanks for all the emails and sorry for my pathetically slow replies but time is killing me here....I will reply, just gotta get the time...where did it go? AHHHH