Tea Time with Lovely Ladies

Hello! How are you all doing these days?

This winter has been a little bit snowy.

I hope you all stay safe and warm ; )

I am Nagisa, a Tomodachi guide in the San’in area.

“Tomodachi” means “friend” and I am really happy to show you all my lovely hometown area as a friend!

Today I will talk about the day I spent with two lovely ladies from China! We went to the Daisen area in Tottori Prefecture and had some quality time together!

We have actually glimpsed signs of Spring here and there.

I cannot wait for Spring to come and enjoy Sakura (cherry blossoms)!!!!

First off, we dropped by Tottori Flower Park and enjoyed some flowers and the botanical garden!!

This park is actually one of the biggest flower parks in Japan, and you can enjoy the variety of flowers and plants every season.

They have some plants which are native to foreign countries such as the Philippines.

Like this one!!

This one is called “Hisui kazura” (emerald vine) and is native to the Philippines.

This is in season right now and you can see this everywhere in the huge greenhouse here!

She loves this emerald-colored plant!

Isn’t it pretty??

Alongside the walkway we found this little cutie!

We all got excited to see Ume (plum) blossoms starting to bloom because it is the sign of the Spring season to come!!!

Finally the season when all the creatures wake up and start to be active again has come!

Later in the afternoon, we decided to have a break with a cup of tea using spring water from “Hongu no Izumi”, which is prefecturally designated as one of the best waters in Tottori.

It is clean enough for a leading beverage manufacturer to use this spring water as an ingredient of a soft drink!!!

Isn’t it just wonderful to be able to taste the cleanest water directly from a spring??!!

While we were waiting for the water to boil, we saw families and children feeding carp in the pond.

Can you see the clear water in the picture above?

I have never seen water this clear water in my life and was actually overwhelmed by its beautiful surface.

We saw a lot of local people come to collect spring water and leave, which means this spring has been supporting local people for a very long time, not only sightseeing-wise but also living-wise.

Local people have worshipped this place, and that’s why it remains untouched and clean like this.

We sat around the table and had a cup of tea and cookies together.

The weather was beautiful, and the fresh breeze made me feel that Spring is really on its way.

We had Sakura-flavoured tea, and it gave us even more of a hint of Spring.

We talked about bunch of stuff, such as Chinese New Years traditions, family, and University life.

They are students from a University which is very close to my house, and they are in fact my neighbors!!

Therefore, we promised to hang out sometimes and I cannot wait!!!!

Thank you again for exploring San’in area with us, and I hope you also find some Spring in this travel memory.