It's only been a week!

It feels like we've been gone for much longer but it's only been a week. We've crammed in a lot of sight seeing, walking (averaging more than 8 km a day), eating vegan food, etc, and we are looking to slow the pace in Malaysia. We leave for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, January 25, 2012. We are booked for a week at the Reggae Mansion Hostel. Our room has shared bath and I think after this I will make a more concerted effort to get ones with private bath.

Over the last 2 days we have been busy. We spent some time walking in Yoyogi Park. We had a yummy lunch at Sofa Vegetarian Cafe We had a great meal at Eat More Greens which included amazing vegan pie and strawberry doughnuts.



We had a great vegan Indian meal at Nataraj Restaurant which included vegan naan made in part with a Japanese spinach like vegetable called Komatsuna. It gave the naan a greenish color but it tasted just the same.

We took the train from Tokyo out to Kamakura. We spent the day walking all over. We walked along the sea shore and around a few temples. The sea was beautiful and we had a lovely dinner overlooking the shore at The Organic Hemp Style Cafe






One of the temples was Hase-Dera which was on a hill with a steep stair case. It also had a small cave which we walked through, having to bend down to the waist in some parts to get through. The highlight of the day was spending time at the Great Buddha of Kamakura. It was a breath taking sight. It was made in 1252 out of cast bronze and is 13.5 meters in height. Quite the feat of engineering for over 750 years ago! We were able to also go inside of the hollow Buddha and examine to craftsmanship.






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Reflections

We spent today in Kamakura area. We saw many lovely things but I was also reminded up the terrible suffering that occurred during the tsunami. This area was not directly hit but as I looked at beach garbage it reminded me of the tsunami debris that is washing up in other areas. My heart goes out to all affected.





We also came across this little stranded starfish. It reminded me of one of my favorite guiding poems;
IT MATTERS TO THIS ONE

As I walked along the seashore, this young boy greeted me. He was tossing stranded starfish back to the deep blue sea. I said, "Tell me why you bother, why you waste your time this way. There's a million stranded starfish, does it matter anyway?"

And he said, "It matters to this one. It deserves a chance to grow. It matters to this one, I can't save them all I know. But it matters to this one, I'll return it to the sea. It matters to this one, and it matters to me."

I walked into the classroom, The teacher greeted me. She was helping Johnny study, he was struggling I could see. I said, "Tell me why you bother, why waste your time this way. Johnny's only one of millions, does it matter anyway?"

And she said, "It matters to this one, he deserves a chance to grow. It matters to this one, I can't save them all I know. But it matters to this one, I'll help him be what he can be. It matters to this one, and it matters to me." - author unknown

I am grateful I had the opportunity to put him back into the sea.


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