i'll have a cup of tea and tell you of my dreaming

Another day with incessant rain. Moved to my next hostel, right next to Kyoto station. Then headed to Gion, where I got a bit lost looking for a particular teashop. It later turned out that the reason why I couldn't find it was that they hadn't put the sign for it up yet! I still believe my map reading skills have improved tenfold in the last few years.

Anyway....went to see a Geisha dance show at Miyako Odori today, with a cup of green tea first. I can't say I'm a massive fan of the powdered green tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies, but I do love the whole notion of respecting tea and the guests you have the tea with. The geisha dance was really cool. The way they move their feet, the colours, the dresses....

I then went to the downtown Kyoto area and spent almost a hundred quid on a teapot and some lovely hand-painted tea cups for drinking green tea (the leaf variety this time). They are so beautiful and the shop owner (apparently the oldest tea shop in Kyoto?) was really knowledgeable about tea. He explained about 3 different ways of preparing the tea - will look forward to trying them out!