Return to Arashiyama: Monkeys!!
To be honest, the real reason I wanted to go to Kyoto again was to visit the monkey park. Just to remind you, the monkey park is a place you hike up to in the mountains around Arashiyama (near Kyoto) where troops of Japanese monkeys live. They are wild monkeys, free to come and go as they please, but they tend to stay around the park because they can get food and water there.
People can buy peanuts, chestnuts, or sweet potato chunks for the monkeys and feed it to them from inside the human cage. I assume the cage is there to protect you from being overrun by hungry monkeys. It's kind of funny though, people in the cage and the monkeys outside it. Oh, and don't worry, no outside food is allowed, so they're not getting fed anything unhealthy. The staff also makes sure no one does anything to hurt or scare the monkeys.
Their little hands feel like worn leather.
Baby monkey! Awwwww
There is definitely no shortage of monkeys.
It was really hot, but I was still surprised at what we found at the watering hole. Swimming monkeys!!
They dog paddle.
The younger monkeys in particular seemed to be having a blast. They'd jump on top of other monkeys already in the water and do gigantic belly-flops off of the bushes. I was jealous.
This little guy climbed out of the water right next to me. He's got a nice spiky do going on, doesn't he?
One more Mama/Baby shot to wrap things up.
People can buy peanuts, chestnuts, or sweet potato chunks for the monkeys and feed it to them from inside the human cage. I assume the cage is there to protect you from being overrun by hungry monkeys. It's kind of funny though, people in the cage and the monkeys outside it. Oh, and don't worry, no outside food is allowed, so they're not getting fed anything unhealthy. The staff also makes sure no one does anything to hurt or scare the monkeys.
Their little hands feel like worn leather.
Baby monkey! Awwwww
There is definitely no shortage of monkeys.
It was really hot, but I was still surprised at what we found at the watering hole. Swimming monkeys!!
They dog paddle.
The younger monkeys in particular seemed to be having a blast. They'd jump on top of other monkeys already in the water and do gigantic belly-flops off of the bushes. I was jealous.
This little guy climbed out of the water right next to me. He's got a nice spiky do going on, doesn't he?
One more Mama/Baby shot to wrap things up.