We met Paul in the lobby while Jodi slept in and ventured down to the local bakery and coffee shop for breakfast. Paul had flown in from working in Europe and we had a week's worth of dirty clothes, so we took advantage of the laundry facilities while we ate. Before too long breakfast and the washing was done, so we packed up, checked out and caught a couple of trains down to Ofuna.
Ofuna is about an hour south-west of Tokyo and our base for the next couple of days for exploring Kamakura. Heidi and I really enjoyed this little town last visit and we thought it would be nice to take Paul and Jodi there. Heidi found that accomodation in Ofuna was cheaper than Kamakura and only 10 or so minutes away on the train. After a few little power-naps amongst the travel party, we arrived in Ofuna to rather bleak and miserable conditions. The Japanese are rather strict on their nominated check-in times, so we rearranged bags, left them with the hotel and went back to the station's foodcourt for lunch. For once this was rather unsuccessful and the weather looked like it was holding off a little, so we threw caution to the wind and headed off to Kamakura.
At the station in Kamkura we were happy to find one of our favourite restuarants still operating and I was happy to introduce Paul to the "world's best" katsudon (fried pork and egg on rice). Yum! After a delicious lunch, we ventured out and started exploring. We were able to reorientate ourselves quickly and soon headed down one of the cute little back streets full of little boutiques on the way to some famous shrines. After a quick stop in a bottlo to pick up some local beers, we soon arrived at Hasedera- a temple to the 11-headed goddess 'Kannon'. It had a rather nice garden and a rather unique cave area.
It was only a short walk from here to the Diabutsu - a giant copper statue of Buddha and probaly the best-known tourist attraction in Kamakura.
After more photos, it was time to start making our way back. Heidi had read about the "Diabutsu Hiking Trail" which was a track linking North Kamakura station and the Diabutsu and somehow managed to convince us that this would be an energetic and rewarding trip back to the station. We started to have second thoughts at the first set of stairs and third thoughts at the muddy crossing, but we soildered on and hiked along the ridgeline.
It was an interesting walk, full of shrines and temples, the occasional view of the ocean and an unexpected sunset view of Fuji-san. We're all eagerly awaiting the (financial) returns on our side-trip to the Zeniarai-Benten Shrine (money-washing shrine).
A couple of hours later four weary tourists found themselves on the train back to Ofuna and looking for dinner. We headed to the back-streets and passed on some long queues to BBQ joints and gave a yakitori place a go. A beer and a plate of chicken was all we good stand of the smokers beside us and we moved on to a cheap, delicious and smoke-free tempura place on the way back to the hotel. I think we all slept very well that night.
The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, consisting of salad (?), scrambled egg, cold cuts and bread & jam. Paul & Jodi (P&J) quickly realised that coffee stops were mandatory on the way to the station and we were soon on the way to Kamakura again. Last trip we rented bicycles from the local convienence store and wevwere disappointed to find out they no longer offered this (cheap) service. We returned to the station, found the bike rental shop and were soon terrorising the locals on the footpaths and roads of Kamakura, along the ocean front and across the bridge to Enoshima, an island just off the coast. The ride included a stop at a beachside lookout that gave Paul & Jodi their first proper view of Fuji-san and our destination today - Enoshima Island. It was a beautiful moring with a nice blue sky and we all appreciated the view - it was the best we had all day.
Enoshima Island and Fuij-san
Enoshima was a lovey little island and something Heidi and I missed on our last visit. We toured the local shops, shrines and gardens, including about a million steps up the mountain and bought some fresh senbei (rice crackers). Whilst at the top of the mountain we took time out to watch a young magician entertain an appreciative crowd - he was quite the showman! Back down in the village we had some tasty food from a street vendor for lunch, including a particularly tasty dark beer from Kamakura Brewing. By this time the wind had picked up and the ride back to Kamakura was a bit fresh on the bike. We returned our cycles and took P&J along the main street in the tree-lined walking track - we all wished that the cherry blossoms were out now instead of just buds. We walked another flight of steps to the main temple and returned to the station via the "shopping district" full of local shops of arts, crafts and senbei. Based on the previous night's dinner experience, we decided to host our own and back in Ofuna we stocked up on dinner supplies at the local supermarket. With plates of sashimi, yakitori, tempura, edamame, salad, ebi (prawns), gyoza, tonkatsu and more... plus plum wine sodas for the girls and more Kamakura and Enoshima beers for the boys. We had the last two rooms in our corridor so we dragged our chairs outside and feasted in the corridor - which attracted at least one strange look from a guest. But seriously, when you're wandering the corridors dressed in your dressing gown who are you to judge? We rolled our furniture and ourselves back into the rooms after and hit the hay on another big day. Our hotel was right beside the train tracks but we didn't hear a thing all night - amazing insulation!
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