Tea Ceremony in Kyoto, Japan

Tea Ceremony with En 縁

Near Gion District, you can go to En Tea Room, and have a traditional tea ceremony experience. It was such an enlightening experience, and very meditative even just to observe the making of the tea. We went through an informal tea ceremony, which should normal last 4 hours but ours was only 20 minutes with plenty of time for explanation. Normally there are a maximum of five guests, however we had 10+ people in the tea ceremony room

The movements during a tea ceremony or slow, deliberate and well practiced. They serve Matcha tea - a powdered green tea. 

"Tea ceremony (the way of tea) is one of Japan's traditional cultural practices,
and is the name given to a synthetic art
that encompasses not only the making of tea,
but also tea-room architecture,
the appreciation of tea utensils and bowls,
and Zen Buddhism."

Japan: Kyoto

A view of Kyoto Tower and hte city from Kiyomizu Temple

Grabbing a quick breakfast before starting our day!

Japan: Fushimi-Inari Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Fushimi Inari shrine is the main shrine in Kyoto and sits at the base of a mountain (Mount Inari). You can walk up the mountain to smaller shrines. 

The earliest structures were built in 711 A.D at a smaller hill but later relocated in 816 A.D. It was built in dedication to the god of rice and sake. 

Nara, Japan

For 150 yen you can bbuy deer food. 

The deer overwhelmed a girl for now. 

The legendary deer that bow:

 

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Japan: Takasaki

Takasaki, Japan was added to our trip itinerary at the last minute. Takasaki has a population of approximately 379,000 people and is considerably more "small town" than Tokyo, Japan. It's a city in the Gunma prefecture famous for being the origin of the Japanese Daruma Dolls.

Rabbit Cafe R.A.A.G.F. in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan

Today we left for Harajuku to go to a rabbit cafe. It's tucked away on a smaller street near the station so after asking a few locals we made it! I had heard about puppy and kitten cafés, and I'm sure I've come across rabbit cafés while perusing the Internet. This was a big "to see" on my list.

Mount Fuji, Japan

When I first got to Japan, I ended up sleeping 13 hours because I was so jet legged. We had breakfast together in Tokyo before heading off for the day.

Gotemba Premium Outlet Mall (御殿場プレミアム・アウトレット)

Our first destination was towards Mount Fuji was Gotemba Premium Outlet Mall located in Shizuoka, Japan. There were many famous brands I recognized: Yves Saint Laurent, Michael Kors, Gap, Nike, Coach as well as quite a few that I did not recognize. I didn't end up purchasing anything there. We did stop by and have a Crepe, Iced Coffee and Iced Peach Tea (yum!)

YYZ ✈ NRT ✈ SGN: Trip to Vietnam & Japan

So I just touched down in Vietnam about an hour ago spending 18 hours in flight and 20+ hours total in transit. My aunt who I'm staying with has wireless internet here and plug adaptors which I'm ecstatic about! Its 1:36 AM in Vietnam (12:37 PM in Toronto I believe) and I'm wide awake. So I thought I might as well give an update.

Toronto Pearson International Airport

I took a taxi from my home to the airport and loaded everything up. Check-in was relatively straight forward and as per my dad's instruction, I arrived 3 hours before my light was to take off. I purchased a very expensive, single patty burger (no cheese) for $8.00 as they had nothing else, my French Vanilla Cappucino and a doughnut from Tim Horton's and proceeded to wait.

A photo I took while heading to my gate to board my flight.  

The wireless is not too reliable and I kept disconnecting every 15 minutes. Although they did have these nifty ipads around and plug outlets galore, which I really appreciated. I charged my SLR, iPhone (yes.. I did bring it with me...) and my dad's Windows Laptop.