Our first stop was at the famous Daibutu (Great Buddha) statue. It was much larger than I had anticipated. We stopped to take lots of photos in front of the awe inspiring statue.
Kunmi and I tried to do one of those optical illusion photos where the object in the background appears much smaller than actual. However, after guiding Kunmi for about 10 minutes, telling him "higher, lower, left, a little more to the right" I finally gave up and just took the best shoot I could. 
Next, we got to go inside of the Buddha. To my surprise, it is actually hollowed out and several people can fit inside. It was interesting, but extremely hot, so we only stayed in their briefly, just long enough to pose for a photo op.
After having some fun with the Daibutu, we walked a little ways to the beach. Being from Vegas, I get extremely excited at every opportunity I have to see a large body of water. Even though it was overcast that day, I was looking forward to putting my feet in the water. 
Once we got to the ocean, we were all surprised to find a man feeding a large turtle just a ways down the shore. Although we thought this turtle had simply surfaced from the vast oceans of the coast of Japan to mingle with local beach goers, we quickly learned that the turtle was merely the man's pet he had brought from home. Nevertheless, the Japanese man feeding his pet turtle celery and carrots kept us captivated for far too long.
After we'd had enough of watching the turtle feast on veggies and twinkling our toes in the surprisingly warm water, we headed toward the main temple complex in Kamakura. The temple complex is aligned on a central axis. As you approach the main temple site, you walk down a long road, through a series of temple gates. There are beautiful trees and bridges at the entrance of the site.
The temple complex had a lot of interesting things that seemed unique from the few other temples I have visited. There was an enormous wall of large barrels that were used to store and transport sake (alcohol) during festival celebrations.
There was also a pond filled with large lotus leaves growing like stalks of corn from the depths of the murky pond. This pond was filled with just as large fish, frogs, and other beautiful creatures. The most entertaining part of the trip to Kamakura was probably watching a group of young boys trying to catch a fish with a net. They almost fell into the pond about 15 times and the anticipation leading to such a drastic event was enticing. Sadly, none of the kids fell in the pond :(. But I was there with my camera ready, locked, and loaded just in case.
The day trip to Kamakura was very entertaining. Several of the temple complexes in Japan have more or less the same things, so it was refreshing to visit one that was unique and had lots of interesting things to experience. But at the end of the day, a temple complex is still a temple complex; they do not differ that much from one to the next. Therefore, I think what made my day in Kamakura was the company of my classmates. It was a perfect opportunity for us to bond. Also, my Japanese is most fluent when I am speaking with my classmates outside of the classroom at an organized outing such as in Kamakura. We had a lot of fun laughing, joking, taking photos, enjoying each other's company, and of course, speaking in Japanese.
After we'd had enough of watching the turtle feast on veggies and twinkling our toes in the surprisingly warm water, we headed toward the main temple complex in Kamakura. The temple complex is aligned on a central axis. As you approach the main temple site, you walk down a long road, through a series of temple gates. There are beautiful trees and bridges at the entrance of the site.The temple complex had a lot of interesting things that seemed unique from the few other temples I have visited. There was an enormous wall of large barrels that were used to store and transport sake (alcohol) during festival celebrations.
There was also a pond filled with large lotus leaves growing like stalks of corn from the depths of the murky pond. This pond was filled with just as large fish, frogs, and other beautiful creatures. The most entertaining part of the trip to Kamakura was probably watching a group of young boys trying to catch a fish with a net. They almost fell into the pond about 15 times and the anticipation leading to such a drastic event was enticing. Sadly, none of the kids fell in the pond :(. But I was there with my camera ready, locked, and loaded just in case.
The day trip to Kamakura was very entertaining. Several of the temple complexes in Japan have more or less the same things, so it was refreshing to visit one that was unique and had lots of interesting things to experience. But at the end of the day, a temple complex is still a temple complex; they do not differ that much from one to the next. Therefore, I think what made my day in Kamakura was the company of my classmates. It was a perfect opportunity for us to bond. Also, my Japanese is most fluent when I am speaking with my classmates outside of the classroom at an organized outing such as in Kamakura. We had a lot of fun laughing, joking, taking photos, enjoying each other's company, and of course, speaking in Japanese.
