Well we headed down to Kamakura on the southern coast for a nice day trip to get away from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan Tokyo. That's exactly what we got. An hour at the Hase-dera temple provided some much needed serenity amongst beautiful temples, golden Buddhas, heavenly incense, and darkened caves. A quick walk to the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) was an impressive 10 year project to be seen. And getting lost along the Daibutsu hiking course was a fun off-the-beaten path jaunt for the two of us. Yet the hike left us exhausted, especially since Tania is catching the throat cold I had at the start of the trip.
Yet, instead of giving in and heading back to the room at 4pm, Tania suggested that we check out Yokohama on the way back, which ended up being a great idea. We focused on Yokohama's Chinatown, which was much larger than we expected. Filled with a crazy amount of Chinese restaurants, a ton of gadget stores, and enough squishy (aka pork bao) (hello Dood!) shops to fill a conference room full of dim sum fans. It's a wonder how many places stay open with so much competition within a 5 block radius, but they do, and it made for a fun stroll on a Monday night for some Americans.
Now we're back in the room and we made it all the way to 10pm. I'm already apologizing to our hotel neighbor because I know the two of us are going to be in deep comas until well into tomorrow, and one of us might (will) be snoring to the heavens. I'll let you guess who.
Some more thoughts about this beautiful country...
- People will sleep wherever and whenever possible, especially the trains
- You can pay a taxi fare with your cell phone. I wish the US would catch up with this technology
- Chinese musicians' facial expressions never change, as noticed during a surprise performance during our dinner in Yokohama's Chinatown
- We are now masters of the Tokyo crowds and subway system (if you knew how crazy these are, you'd be proud of us, too)
- This is truly a community. People bump into each other and think nothing of it, where people would give each other a hard time in the US. People don't think of littering or defacing public areas. People respect each other in every fashion. I love this.
- Japanese people love canned coffee drinks, not energy drinks like in the US. A different type of sweet pick me up, I guess
Heading to bed now. Cool to think that tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. I remember watching it happen, and admiring people who came home with pieces of it. A great moment for Democracy. Let's hope for more around the world in the next 20 years.
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