Monkey Park Iwatayama

Continuing our soggy saga, it was raining lightly as we set out to spend the day on the western side of Kyoto. Luckily, my camera had dried out and seemed to be working again - yay! We had a quick 7/11 breakfast and caught a cab to the Golden Pavilion. After a quick visit, we walked to a nearby station. A tram pulled up and we stepped on, headed for Arashiyama.

Aside from being outrageously purple, the inside of the tram was decorated for tanabata, with leaves and paper streamers hanging from the ceiling. With all this to look at, it took me a while to realize what one of the kids sitting across from us was wearing on her head - a 'Virginia is for Lovers' hat. I nudged Monica and we attempted to communicate to the girl and her friends that that was where we were from. After getting off at the station, the kids caught up with us to take a picture - too cute!

Stepping out into Arashiyama, it quickly became clear that this part of town had a different vibe from the rest of Kyoto - almost beach town-y, but with no beach, of course. Our first stop was the monkey park, so we walked across the long bridge over the Katsura River. The sky was cloudy and boats lined the nearby fall-line. On the other side, we found the entrance to Iwatayama Monkey Park and began our climb.

I'd read that the walk up to the Monkey Park was a bit of a trek - the people who had written that are lying liars who lieee. It was literally a mountain. The path doubled back frequently, with a few benches scattered here and there, along with board with monkey facts so that you could pretend to stop and read them in an attempt to preserve some dignity as you caught your breath. 

It was exhausting, but close to the top, we started seeing monkeys wandering. We passed a playground (for kids or monkeys?) and entered the wooden shack at the top of the mountain. One of the neat things about the monkey park is that the monkeys are free to roam their natural habitat, while the humans who wish to interact with them are enclosed. (You can wander around outside the building as well, so long as you keep a bit of a distance.)

I bought some chopped up apples to push through the screen to the monkeys - peanuts are also available. The monkeys would clamber down the screen and extend a paw, which you could then gently shake before handing over the goods. (Tiny monkey fingernails!) There were a couple of baby monkeys that were so much fun to watch. I was in photography heaven, and so happy my camera had dried out in time to use its great zoom. 

Eventually, we headed back down the mountain (much easier) and headed into town. We spent a few hours shopping and exploring Tenryu-ji Temple. Back at the train station, I got a strawberry kakigori with condensed milk poured over it - so sweet, so good.