6 Weeks, 6 Countries: My RTW Trip Update

Greetings from London!

And so here I am, at the end of the First Leg of my tour! It's crazy to think that barely 3 months ago I was still working at Bosley, savoring my last days in corporate America, and preparing for my Round The World trip as a full time vagabond!

Now, after about 6 weeks of non-stop globetripping, I am finally in London enjoying some down time with my very good friends who are taking turns taking me in. Life is good, people. Life is good.

Let us go through a quick summary of the past few weeks of my life, shall we?

After leaving Los Angeles, I spent about 3 more weeks working for Bosley in the Philippines before handing over the reigns to my successor, Maui. Then it was followed up by a month of basically bumming around in Manila, trying to spend as much time as I could with my friends and family before disembarking on this trip. Let's not forget the brief agony I had to go through, healing myself after my Eye Surgery.

Proper quality time with my good friends in Manila!

The month went by quickly, and before I knew it, off to OZ I went with my Shiny and Happy travel buddy, Karen. The trip started off a little shaky when Karen had a booking mishap, but she was thankfully able to join me in Sydney a few days later. Sydney was great, and I enjoyed it personally because I got to spend time with family, most of whom I never even knew till I got there!

We flew to Melbourne afterwards, staying with Tito Bogie and Tita Bes, two amazing hosts who took us around the city like pro tour guides! (Thanks guys!!)

I flew to Auckland alone, leaving Karen to work in OZ, and thus began my adventures as a Solo Female Traveler.

In New Zealand, I pretty much couchsurfed my way down from Auckland to Wellington...
Driving from Auckland...

To Mata Mata for Hobbiton

To Rotorua for some Maori Education

To Gisborne for the First Sunrise

To Napier for some amazing views...

And then finally to Wellington...

I fell completely in love with New Zealand, and flew out of there with a heavy heart... making a silent promise to myself that I will go back to Middle Earth, and conquer that beautiful place!

And then I was off to Japan!! Where I enjoyed the company of my high school best friend, and the amazing FOOD that the country offers...
I spent time in Tokyo where I got to experience the Japanese Tea Ceremony, thanks to Hotel Chinzanso...

And then we made our way down to Kyoto via the Shinkansen, where I spotted a Real Live Geisha!

After a week in Japan, off to the Middle East I went, to hang out with a few friends in Dubai.

Desert Sun, Lavish hotels, and a million malls later...

I am here. Finally... in London

...Working on "accidentally bumping into" Henry Cavill.

It has been quite an amazing journey already... I am bursting with stories I want to tell, and I've only just started! Now more than ever, I am reassured that I made the right decision quitting my job to travel. If I went back to LA now, after barely 2 months of being on the road, I'd already come back an enriched person. Imagine how much more could happen in a year?

Possibilities are endless.

I'm very happy to be in the UK right now... I think it's really good that I have some down time over here to keep from burning myself out from flying too much. Now at least I'd finally have the chance to catch you guys up on all the things I had to skip blogging about... For the next few weeks I'll be having a lot of "throwback" posts, mostly on the places I visited on this trip.

After that - it's off to Iceland I go! Or that's the plan at least... I don't really have everything figured out or set in stone yet, and oddly enough, I kinda like it that way. We'll see... I'll keep you guys posted.

In the meantime, I'll be bumming around in London ;)

Dubai: Desert Heat and Piercing Glares

As-Salamu Alaykum!

I made it to the Middle East, and I'm sitting comfortably in an airconditioned room (much like any other room in this place) here in Dubai!

When I arrived, the first thing I noticed is that there are SO MANY Filipinos here! Seriously, more Filipinos in another country I have ever seen! It sort of made me take a step back and wonder where I was for a second. Did my plane take a detour to Manila? I asked someone where the toilets were, and to my amazement, the response I got was, "Kabayan! Derecho lang tapos kaliwa." (Fellow countryman, go straight then left)

Amazing! Having that many Filipinos around definitely helped make me feel at home right away.

However... the second thing I noticed is that the men over here stare at you like they've never ever seen a woman before. Granted, most of their women here are covered up in their Abaya's, or their national dresses (long robes covering them up from head to toe)... so I guess when they see so much as a collar bone (which was the case with me), they gawk at you and linger with no shame.

If I didn't have the knowledge from Sex and the City 2 to back me up, I probably would have slapped the first man I encountered to gape at me like that. It's not very comfortable... and it's not complimentary either.

After a few days, I got used to it and just learned to ignore and look away. I suppose it's just part of their culture... It ain't my favorite, but you gotta roll with the punches. :)

My good friend, The Desert Fox Cristina

Anyway, I stayed with a very good friend of mine, Cristina of The Diary of a Desert Fox for the first half of my visit. Her condo is situated in a prime location, with amazing views of the city.

This is the view from my window.

That's the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world

She was very protective of me and refused to let me go out of the condo till after 4 or 5 pm because of the heat. It's a good thing the sun doesn't set till after 730 and it's still bright till after 8:30.

Most of the things we did were indoors... I saw A LOT of malls. The biggest mall in the world... with the largest indoor aquarium in the world... A mall with the only indoor snow facility/ ski resort with penguins that you can hug and kiss, that you cannot do anywhere else in the world... A mall with the only Egyptian theme with pyramids and hieroglyphics...

Largest Indoor Aquarium in the world at the Dubai Mall

Ski Dubai. An indoor Snow facility in one of the biggest malls in the world, The Mall of Emirates

I saw a LOT of hotels and buildings! The ONLY 7 star hotel in the world! The TALLEST building in the world! The Largest Resort in the Emirates!

The lovely Madinat Jumeira

The Leap of Faith -- a 90 feet drop at an 84 degrees incline, featured on one of the
episodes of The Amazing Race

Who ever is in charge of Dubai is fond of superlatives. Everything has to be bigger, better, the ONLY and THE BEST. It's a little overwhelming!

It's a good thing I had the company of good friends to keep me grounded. It was great to be able to catch up with people I haven't seen in over 10 years... Friends who were thoughtful enough to let me have the true taste of Shisha and Shawarma!

My parents and two sisters have been to Dubai last year, and they insisted I include it in my itinerary. I could see the appeal... I really do. It's a spectacular city... It's VERY rich... which I guess is also the problem. I think it's one of those places you can only enjoy if you have money... Or if you have the Filipino connection... which was the case with me. :)

I was a little disappointed though, that because everything was so glamorous and man-made, it was difficult for me to look into the real culture of the Middle East. Apart from the call to prayer I hear everyday from the mosque's, I didn't see or feeling anything authentic...

I felt bad about it, but I had a great time nonetheless. My friends made all the difference...

In the next few weeks, I'll go into detail about the specific places I visited and the things I did. For now, we'll have to settle for a summary :)

Ma'a Salama, Dubai!

See you soon, London! Bloody 'ell!!!

The Japanese Tea Ceremony Experience

One of the primary reasons for my desire to visit Japan was to be able to experience the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The fascination may have started from seeing the movie, The Karate Kid Part 2. You remember, right? They were in Okinawa, there was a big storm, and Kumiko performed the tea ceremony for Daniel-San to let him know that she was falling for him? :)

Yes, yes. I think we have already established a few blogposts ago that I am a nerd.

Well, I thought it was beautiful...  And I remember grabbing a few bowls in the kitchen to imitate Kumiko's graceful movements. After that, anytime I saw any reference to the Japanese Tea Ceremony on TV, I was glued.

Which is why I was so happy to find out that The Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo offered the Japanese Tea Ceremony experience to their guests, and I consider myself very lucky to have been able to participate in such a beautiful Japanese tradition!

The hotel has an authentic tea house located just inside their garden. The experience for a participant like me starts even before one enters the tea house. When I arrived, I was asked to wash my hands and mouth in a stone basin, or "Tsukubai" as a sign of spiritual readiness.

There is also a special way of entering the tea house. You take your shoes off, and you sort of crawl in using your fists, starting with the leg farthest from the Alcove, which is the area where a hanging scroll is hung and flowers are displayed (most important part of the room).

The Kimono

Now, this next part is my favorite step... and it's not necessarily part of the traditional ceremony.
After all of us have crawled into the tea house, the ladies shut the windows and doors to give us some privacy... to be able to strip me down  ---- and dress me in a Kimono! :)

Getting my Tabi on!

Upon my request, Hotel Chinzanso was able to rent a Kimono for me to wear to the ceremony for the ultimate Japanese experience! They asked me to arrive early because they said it takes about a half an hour to put one on. I thought they were exaggerating, but boy, they weren't kidding!

"Please bring honor to us all..."

Putting on a Kimono is an art form! I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman... and the song "Bring Honor To Us All" from Mulan, was playing in my head.

It felt like a ritual in itself, putting the clothes on. One layer after the other, I was slowly turning into one of those Geisha's I always thought were cool. Stomach in, chest flattened but out, a twirl here and a twist there, until finally...

Voila! I have transformed!

It's weird... but because of the way the Kimono hugged my body, I felt more delicate somehow. :) I could barely move and hardly breathe, but I loved my outfit!

The Ceremony

After being dressed, the real ceremony could finally begin. As part of the tradition, our host served us a dish of sweets (Wagashi) before tea. It's supposed to balance out the tea's bitter taste.

Yummy!

Our hosts were amazing to watch. A lot of their movements were synchronized, from entering the room, to kneeling down, to presenting our dish -- it's almost like a dance.

In fact, I think I can go as far as describing the entire ceremony as a spiritual dance of sorts. Every movement was graceful and precise, from the placement of the utensils to the way their wrists move while mixing the tea. It was just like in The Karate Kid, only SO MUCH better.

After watching them work, wearing a Kimono finally made sense to me. They weren't just clothes anymore, but an instrument... to help one uphold the grace that the tradition deserves. It's part of the aesthetics of the dance...

The Tea

This was the moment I've been waiting for. I finally get to be Kumiko!
As the Shoukyaku or the principal guest, I was served first. Our Teishu or tea ceremony host, placed a bowl of green tea in front of me, and then knelt down beside me to show me the proper way to drink it.

1. Place the bowl on top of the left hand, and raise it to chest level
2. Using the right hand, turn the bowl clockwise twice so that the front side of the bowl is facing left
3. Raise the bowl a little higher with a simultaneous nod to the host, accompanied by a word of gratitude for making the tea
4. Bottom's up!!!

I can honestly say without any bias, that it was the best green tea I've ever tasted in my whole life.

Fun Fact

Right before finishing the tea, it is customary to make a LOUD slurping sound as a compliment to the host, letting them know their tea was delicious! The louder the slurp, the bigger the compliment! :)

The Experience

I had the great pleasure of conversing with one of the tea hosts, Ms. Shiho Sakayori, to learn more about the ceremony. She said that the process is not just about drinking the tea, but more about the spirit of Japanese hospitality. Everything the hosts do, from picking out the flowers for the Chabana, to the heating of the water and the placement of the utensils, they do in consideration of their guests.
"In everything that I do (as a host), I am thinking of you," she said. And I really did feel the warmth and sincerity in her words and her actions.

During the whole time I was there, from being dressed in and out of the kimono to slurping the last drops of the tea, my heart was filled with affection for my Teishu's, the Japanese, and just Japan in general. Ms. Sakayori was right... The Japanese tea ceremony was not about the tea (even if it really was the best I've ever tasted)... To me, it was an accumulation of the best of Japanese Culture. It's about beauty, grace, generosity, tradition, hospitality and love.

My Teishu's Shihoh Sakayori and Harue Kamiya

To the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo and my Teishu's... Thank you so much for such a special opportunity. I will cherish every moment, and will remember this experience for the rest of my life.

Otemae chodai itashimasu!



** If you are in Tokyo and are interested in participating in this wonderful experience, head over to Hotel Chinzanso. Details of the Japanese Tea Ceremony can be found HERE

******
Hi There! Have we met before? You look familiar! Those shoes look great on you, by the way! I’m Eartha and I recently decided to quit my job to travel the worrrrld! Join me in my adventures by checking back on my blog, and leaving me a comment or two!

• Subscribe to my blog and get updated every time I post here!
• Add me to your feed reader here!
• Wanna be Facebook friends? Like my page here!
• Are you as epigramatic as I am? Tweet me @earth2eartha
• Do you have cool photos on Instagram? Check mine out too @earth2eartha
• Or if you want to leave me a message or a limerick, email me here!

Come and visit me again soon! :)

*****

Exploring Weta Cave in Wellington

While we're on the Lord of the Rings bandwagon, let's get into my visit to the Weta Cave in Wellington, New Zealand!

The Weta Workshop is a special effects and prop company that produces set, costumes, armour, weapons, miniatures and creatures for movies like the LOTR Trilogy, The Hobbit, Avatar, District 9 and The Chronicles of Narnia to name a few.

Now - The Weta Cave is Weta's mini museum, theaterette and shop on the corner of the workshop itself. That's where I went!

The mini museum is free... It's really tiny - it looks more like a shop than anything else, really... but you get to watch a 20 minute video of some of the coolest things Weta has produced (which I really enjoyed), AND most importantly, you are allowed to take photos.

So I went nuts!!!

These trolls are right outside Weta Cave

Having a little fun with them...

Gandaaalf!!!

Holding hands with Lurtz, the leader of the Uruk-hai's!

Apart from Lord of The Rings fun stuff, they've got a few other cool displays from other movies like District 9, The Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, plus a whole bunch of other New Zealand local TV shows and movies I'm not familiar with.

THE WATER HORSE!!! I love this movie!

Kong!

They do offer a "behind the scenes look" on the Weta Workshop itself where they take you on a tour of the prop room and see a little bit of the workshop (through a glass). It costs 20 bucks to do it, and you are not allowed to take photos, sadly.

I thought about it for a good 20 minutes, going back and forth, thinking about whether or not I should do it... In the end, my good senses overruled my "need" for photographic proof and I went for it.

I was SO glad I did the second I stepped foot in that workshop. For a movie geek like me, it was like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in there... I wanted to touch and EAT everything, even if most of them really didn't look that appetizing (like Elijah Wood's face mold for example).

We saw guns, we saw chainmailles, face molds, swords, monsters, a 10 foot tall Navi, a miniature Rohan (or was it Isengard?)... And a GIANT Treefolk (you know, like Treebeard?) sitting in the middle of the room.

That "shirt" Aragorn is wearing is chainmaille. Like a body armor shirt thing made of chains.

No photos, no touching. I was going crazy... Did I ever tell you guys that I failed The Marshmallow Test?

Anyway... We spent almost an hour in there with our guide (who was an actual prop maker/set designer) explaining how meticulous their staff was when it came to their work. It takes tremendous amounts of time, blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish even the tiniest little prop or costume. For instance, one of the guys assigned to chain each chain of the chainmailles actually lost his fingerprints from all the manual chain linking that he did! Insane!

This "Contract of Bilbo Baggins" for example, a prop used in the movie, The Hobbit, was
written by hand... and this is about 6 feet long! 

Oooh, and as a bonus, we actually also got to see a few guys in the process of making actual props for movies! I heard that they were doing final edits for the new Superman movie in the next room (or building) too! Eeee! Henry Cavil!

I had a great time... It would have been so much better if we were allowed photography, but I understand the privacy.

The next time you guys visit Wellington, YES, visit the Weta Cave for sure!
Should you go and do the backstage tour? I'd say, if you can spare 20 bucks, Why Not? If you are as big a movie geek as I am, it will be worth it. :)

Actual Feet used by Bilbo Baggins

:

Hobbiton: An Expected Journey

In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.

He lived a cool life full of awesome adventure and they made a few movies about it! Now all the movies have been filmed, everyone is happy, and the hole... in the ground... still remains. Yay!

As an obvious Lord of the Rings and Tolkien fan with a Rivendel Elf as one of my good friends, paying a visit to the Hobbiton Set Tours as I traveled through New Zealand was a no brainer!
In fact, I could even go as far as saying, Hobbiton was probably one of the main reasons why New Zealand was in my itinerary in the first place! Just like The Sound of Music tour was my main reason for visiting Salzburg, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was my reason for visiting Orlando.

I'm a movie nerd. Loud and proud.

The beauty of Hobbiton is that one doesn't necessarily have to be a LOTR fan to enjoy it. I mean, if you are, then you'll absolutely go nuts! If not, you'll think it's an amazing place anyway!

The Hobbiton set is located on a real New Zealand farm in Mata Mata. It's huuuuuge (1250 acre) and really well kept! I remember commenting on how many sheep there were as I was driving towards the location, not realizing I was actually already in the farm's property!

Do you see the sheep?

So basically a few minutes before my tour departure time, our tour guide, Jack,  gathered us around in front of The Shires Rest, a quaint little cafe for visitors, to wait for the bus that takes us all to the set. It was a very quick ride with spectacular views of the farm. And just a couple minutes before we arrived... there was a collective gasp, and there it was.

Click on the images to enlarge. They look better!

All of a sudden, I was magically transported to Middle Earth, and all that matters in the world was the one ring of power I held in my hand, and how I needed to help my fellow hobbitssess to destroy it by throwing it into the fires of Mordor!!!

Before I did that, I figured it didn't hurt to roam around The Shire and visit Bag End. :)

The tour set up was quite easy. Jack gathers the group around on one location, usually a hobbit hole, to talk briefly about a little history. How the Hobbiton Set Tours started, how they maintain the farm, which hobbit hole belongs to which character, etc... then he leaves us to take photos and go nuts for 10 minutes or so, before he moves us on to another spot. It was great! Very informative, yet not too hectic.

A few of the fun things I learned about the set is that almost all the holes are just fake prop doors... meaning there's nothing to open, because there wouldn't be anything inside. Only 2 doors actually open where you can step inside...

This one...

And of course - Bag End. Bilbo's and Frodo's residence :)

No Admittance, Except On Party Business

But it's not like there's an actual set inside... there's nothing in there either. Just space. I know. Hollywood, eh? It doesn't make it any less cool though, in my humble opinion. In fact, every single thing about this place is spectacular!

View of The Shire from Bag End

Bag End with the big Oak Tree on top

My eyes couldn't get enough of everything... the views, the hobbit holes, the land... I wanted to be left alone for a few hours to just be there. To absorb Hobbiton... The Shire... Middle Earth.

Unfortunately, we had to stick to our schedule and head over to The Green Dragon Inn for our free refreshments. It was just as well because as we started to walk towards it, it started to drizzle.

View of The Green Dragon Inn

The Green Dragon Inn Bridge

Even inside The Green Dragon Inn, it felt like the tour still continued. It looked just like inside Frodo and Bilbo's house...

Apart from these extra tables and chairs... ;)

Having a nice ginger ale with my new tour friends, warming ourselves up by Frodo's fireplace was a great way to end the two hour journey through The Shire.

My chest was heavy on the bus ride back to The Shire's Rest... Probably because of The One Ring bearing more and more weight on my neck...

But probably also because I didn't want to leave at all. I guess it must have been what Frodo and Sam felt, leaving the Shire for the first time to head to Bree.

They say the whole of New Zealand is Middle Earth, and Mata Mata is Hobbiton. Lucky for me I still have a couple weeks to explore the country, so the tour technically doesn't end yet. I do still have the task of taking the ring to Mordor (Tongariro National Park) after all!

The Hobbiton Set Tours is definitely worth going to New Zealand for. If the photos haven't already made it obvious, I had the time of my life!

First thing I did when I had the chance was to re-watch the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Part of the fun is the excitement that comes with seeing certain scenes, and knowing that you've been there, and in my case, lived it... even just for a couple hours. I know I JUST did the tour, but seeing the movies and reviewing my photos made me want to go - there and back again.

And back again...

And back again...

**Check out Hobbiton Set Tour's Website HERE to find out more about their tours. It's definitely worth it! I swear on the precious!

******
Hi There! Have we met before? You look familiar! Those shoes look great on you, by the way! I’m Eartha and I recently decided to quit my job to travel the worrrrld! Join me in my adventures by checking back on my blog, and leaving me a comment or two!

• Subscribe to my blog and get updated every time I post here!
• Add me to your feed reader here!
• Wanna be Facebook friends? Like my page here!
• Are you as epigramatic as I am? Tweet me @earth2eartha
• Do you have cool photos on Instagram? Check mine out too @earth2eartha
• Or if you want to leave me a message or a limerick, email me here!

Come and visit me again soon! :)

*****