Kamakura: Temples, Shrines, and Beaches

On my previous trip to Japan, I visited Kamakura with my uncle's family.  I had nothing but the best memories of lush green temples, a very large Buddha, and great meals, so I had to go back.  Vishaal and I decided to take a day trip to Kamakura as it is only an hour away by train.  We stopped one town before Kamakura and ended up walking to the main town.  This was an amazing walk because we really got to see non-touristy Japan.  It was also wonderful because every couple hundred meters you would see a temple.  We chose two temples to go into. The first was a temple which back in the day seemed to double as a battered women shelter.  The second was a temple actually built by the Chinese. I cannot describe how many trees and beautiful flowers were in each of these temples.  These are truly peaceful places.

My favorite Buddha sitting at the entrance of the first temple. 

Laughing straight back at the god of happiness.

an original mini

Hysterical.

We then made our way to Kamakura to go see the largest sitting Buddha in the world.  While I have seen it before and seen a million pictures, it still had the effect of taking my breathe away.  There is nothing really to see other than the Buddha on those temple grounds.  However, Vishaal and I still stayed there for about 45 min just taking in the atmosphere.  It is amazing that this Buddha used to sit inside of a temple structure.  The temple was washed away by several tsunami's and a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th century, so every since it has remained in the open air. 

Amazing doner hot dog made for us by a super cool Moroccan man.  Bomb.

We had some fun photo shooting. 

Kamakura, besides being filled with temples and shrines, is ultimately a beach town.  We took a local train about an hour further along the coast to a place called Enoshima.  This a a total surfer town.  We got there right before sunset and there were literally hundreds of surfers out on the water taking in the view.  If it wasn't so late in the day I would have wanted to be out on the water too!  Normally on a clear day, there are amazing views of Mt. Fuji from Enoshima.  Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to have clear skies.  The sunset was still beautiful and the mountain range that we could see was stunning.  

so many surfers

Loving being by the water. Only thing better is to be on/in the water.

It's hard to imagine we did all of that and made it back to Tokyo in time for a very late dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Ivy place.  It was so great to be able to travel with Vishaal and show him around my new stomping grounds!