March 25 (Day 8)

Andrew Silver, Zair Hashmy, and Andy Li

Today the girls and boys split up. The girls began their days by eating their breakfast at 9:00 and the boys ate breakfast at 9:30. After that we both spent the day in different buses.

Tea Ceremony:

Then we took a bus to a Tea Ceremony. We were instructed to take our shoes off before we sat down at a table with tools and bowls in front of us. Then we were taught by a professional about the differences between matcha tea and green tea. After a short lesson we were instructed how to make matcha tea including the cultural manners that go with the process of creating it. After that we got to drink it!

Bamboo forest: 

Next we went to the bamboo forest. The bamboo was so tall and there was so much of it. Walking through the towering bamboo was an amazing experience! Also many people bought really cool souvenirs in shops near the bamboo forests such as swords!

Golden Kinkaku-Ji Temple:

After that we went to the Kinkaku-Ji Temple. The temple was very beautiful and combined with the pond in front of it made it a very scenic spot! The most notable features of the temple were definitely the fully golden paint job and the golden phoenix sitting at the top of it. There were also many fun things to do around the temple such as trying to throw coins into a bowl and smelling incense! Many people also bought snacks here. 

Dinner: 

After a long day of sightseeing we were all really excited to eat dinner. We walked to a small restaurant, put all of our shoes in lockers, and entered a room with many tables that had grills on them. We were served very delicious foods such as okonomiyaki which are noodles shaped in kind of  a pancake form. All of the food was served on top of the grills and ensured that our meals stayed hot and fresh. Many people also enjoyed the two hours of free beverages the restaurant provided and ordered a lot of drinks. Overall the meal was very filling and tasted very good.