Day 8

Today started out a bit rough. I woke up a bit late because I stayed up till 4 editing photos and I suffered a little bit. Initially I was getting frustrated because we keep going to same places together, taking very similar pictures, but what matters is that although some of the people on the trip may be taking similar photos I can still put my own angle into it. These photos will stick with me for the rest of my life, no matter how similar they are to any others. Anyways, after we roamed for a bit we got on our bikes and went to an awesome buddhist temple with an enormous zen garden. I've never felt so at peace in my entire life. While we were there I took out my book of leaves (I brought a bunch of dried japanese maples leaves from home to leave in different parts of japan) and did a trade a leaf for a leaf and left it in the temple. It was awesome to leave a bit of home in such peaceful, monumental place. Even if the leaf gets picked up in the wind and carried off to sea, it still sat in that beautiful garden for an instant. After we left I walked with a spring in my step, got on my bike and peddled as fast as I could go. We stopped along some rice fields to shoot some more and climbed up another hill for the sunset. We returned only to head back out again for one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Today was a good day, a reallly realllllly good day.