Fish Market, Buddha and an Earthquake all in one day!

It's been quite an eventful day.  A few friends and I started the day by catching a cab at 5 am and heading to the fish market.  Now you might think "What possible excitement could there be at a fish market and why would anyone even want to go there?"  It was great!  The taxi dropped us off at the entrance to the market and, with cameras around our necks and lugging our backpacks we headed across the parking area.   Certain that the man calling to us was going to tell us to leave, that we were not supposed to be there, we stopped, trying to understand his Japanese words.  What he actually wanted us to do was hop onto the back of his small, flatbed truck.  Fools that we were, the four of us jumped on.  You have to realize it's slightly bigger than a golf cart, so not a lot of room to sit down on it.  Oh but no, he insisted we stand.  We figured out why afterwards...it's generally stacked with fish.  Kind of stinky!  Okay, nothing to hold onto, but we conformed.  Our new best friend took us on a wild ride through the market place to the auction, dropped us off, smiled for a few photo opportunities and took off, leaving us surrounded by the biggest fish I've ever seen, lots of men with their hands stuck into the fishes' bellies and dozens more of the flatbed carts literally zooming all around us.  One slight step into their path and we might be the next dead item on the auction block.  Suddenly a bell began to ring and then the shouting started.  They were auctioning off all of the fish.  It was so great being right there in the middle of it all.  We stayed for about an hour then headed back to the hotel.  

The plan was to grab a quick bite, shower and meet in the lobby at 9:00 so we could head out for another subway adventure on our way to Kamakura for the day and an opportunity to see the Big Buddha.  Being that punctuality is key on this trip I readied myself quickly and had a bit of time on my hands.  I decided to relax and organize my treasures that I had purchased during the previous days.  I wondered where the strange typing noise was coming from since I hadn't heard it before and knew that the business room was 14 floors below me.  Now being on the 34th floor the building can move at times, but it seemed to be moving more than usual.  So much so that I began feeling a bit like seasickness was setting in.  Wow, was it that windy out?  It hadn't been windy at all earlier.  Wait....could that typing be the building?  Could the swaying be....Nah.  After about five minutes I began to wonder if I should get the hardhat and flashlight out.  Mild panic was beginning to set in.  Did I really know what to do if we did have an earthquake?  I decided to leave the room, the creaking was getting louder.  Do I take the 34 flights down the stairs or use the elevator.  I chose the elevator thinking if it were really an earthquake they would have turned it off, so I waited, hopped on when it arrived and began talking to about 10 others inside with me.  They were telling me there had been an earthquake north of Tokyo that registered at around 7 and we were feeling the effects of it.  WOW, I experienced and pretty large earthquake!  I was about 250 miles from it, but certainly felt it.  How crazy was that.  Needless to say I made my way to the lobby and it was all the talk down there.  

Next mission...conquering the subway once again.  It was still quite a feat, but we did it without any wrong turns this time.  Much easier with only a few people navigating through the stations.  Kamakura is a fishing village south of Tokyo.  It is home to an 800 year old, very large copper Buddha.  VERY LARGE!  We acted and looked the typical tourist type.  Lots of pictures, lots of walking, lots of shopping, lots of people and lots of food.  What a great day!  What great experiences!  How lucky am I?  Tomorrow I'm off to Tanabe for a week!  Will write from there next.

I know school is over, but I have homework for my graduates...Write me and email!  I miss you all.  tsamokar@sbcglobal.net   Hope the last week was a good one and everything went well.  Hope you continue to check my blog.  Will post more pictured tomorrow night. 

Hugs to all.