Travel Tuesday - Japan Part 2

We were fortunate enough to attend a traditional tea ceremony. The irony of this situation is that I don't drink tea at all. In my entire life I have most probably swallowed down 2 or 3 cups.

I was warned that this tea was made in the absolute traditional way. Tea Leaves are dried, ground up and made into a paste with water. More water is added and eventually you have a thick tea. A "sweet" is made from beans and egg to eat before you drink the tea.

I was sceptical, but willing to try anything and ended up being the only person to finish my tea and contemplate a second bowl! (yay me)

I found it very refreshing and it settled my stomach. We ate so much the entire trip that I wish I had had a bowl of this tea on hand at every meal.

Each meal is served with green tea - but the kind you make at home - I tasted that tea as well and did not like it.

Each temple has an entrance gate of this kind. The gold discs vary, but they are generally the crest of the reigning emperer or the person who donated the gate.

Traditionally, this gate is said to cleanse you spiritually as you walk through (physical cleansing is done by means of a water purification closer inside). You should never walk through the middle of the gate as it is believed that that is where the spirits enter. You should enter off-centre.

A VIP Feast including Sea Urchin, Salmon, raw egg, asparagus, in season mountain herbs, seafood etc

Even the Japanese employees who joined us commented on how special the meal was. 

This was the starter!! ( We were only told that once we had gorged ourselves on most of the meal)

Main course was tempura prawns and another cooked pot of meat and vegetables. 

Another lunch in town.

The raw egg is beaten with your chopsticks and the meat is then dipped into the raw egg before eating.

It sounds gross, but gives the meat a delicious creamy taste to it.

Once I got over the fact that I was eating raw egg, it was rather tasty. Beside.... if I can eat raw fish (not sushi, raw (grey) fish, I can do egg.

This was the entrance to a market. Tokyo is not known as the most expensive city in the worls. 

The flea market was affordable when it came to curios like chopsticks, but in general, the price of everything else was pricey.

A Coke from a vendor was about R42 ($4)

We visited Nikko National Park.

A National Heritage site, this park is the ideal spot for hikers.

Lovely scenery.... a bit of a steep climb, but well worth the effort. We also needed the exercise after all the eating we did!

This was the first hotel we stayed in. Not very Japanese looking, but very pretty. The 32nd floor has a restaurant with a view to die for. There was a waiting room where you could help yourself to coffee while waiting for a spot to open up.

If you missed Part 1