touring Enoshima and Kamakura

Yesterday in Kamakura, we went to the Buddhist temple Kotoku-in and saw the Great Buddha. It's a 13.35 metre high bronze statue which weighs 93 tons. It's the second largest monumental Buddha in Japan, dating from about 1252.







And, of course, what does every 13.35 metre high Buddha need?

Really big sandals.




Spent the day touring Enoshima island and other temples and shrines in Kamakura. It's been a whirlwind tour and I'm not even sure I understood a lot of what was going on. I was surprised to find that not even the most mainstream tourist places had much in the way of English signs or maps. I had to rely on Emi to translate, but her translation skills are not that good (somewhat due to lack of confidence) and the fact that she's sort of a tourist too, having been out of the country for two years. When I put my pictures in an album I'll be able to add the commentary from information I can pull from guidebooks and the internet.

This morning, after spending the night at her parents' home, we took a two and a half hour train ride from Kamakura to the airport. I took Thai Air to Bangkok (6+ hours) and then Bangkok to Singapore (2+hours) to stay at the airport until my flights tomorrow.