It Finally Happened... MONKEYS!

We woke up to a gorgeous, sunny Kyoto morning and some vocal harmonies by what we think are local monks.

There were two of them walking throughout the neighborhood chant/singing. We went out on the balcony to watch and listen. Also by singing what I really mean is holding long notes.

First we had to go pay the rent so we walked two blocks to the bus stop, rode that for a few more blocks then wandered down the next street endlessly while we searched for the rental office. It was the first time we'd been there and a lot farther then we had anticipated but we got there eventually and it was right near a train station that we took to the outskirts of Kyoto in the Arashiyama ward... or district or whatever. I'll figure that out eventually. Lex did great in the ergo carrier and I much appreciated Kevin carrying him. 

The outskirts are older Japan and much more country. I wish you could see just how lush everything is in this picture. It was beautiful, and there were so many different colors of green on such a huge variety of vegetation.

Here's another one... but I just don't think it does it justice. Where's Ansel Adams when you need him?

This was the first indication we were on the right path towards the monkey park. A lot of our exploring Kyoto with an end goal in mind is really just shooting in the dark hoping we get close to our target. We have about seven different maps and can usually get close enough to figure it out... eventually. The monkey park was our easiest adventure yet... as far as finding it anyway. The sign led us up a short pathway of stairs through an old shrine to a place to buy tickets.

From there the shop keeper told us, "Don't touch the monkeys." Fine I thought, of course not they are wild animals. Then she said, "Don't stare them in the eyes." I got a little freaked out at this point imagining a wild monkey attacking me when I looked just a little too long, but we'd be careful to avert our eyes. Then she said "Hold on to baby, monkeys might take him." Wait, what? Ok I changed my mind. Let's go home. At this point I didn't really know what to expect and the monkeys were becoming bigger and more aggressive in my head by the minute. 

Still, Kevin said it was safe and we'd be fine so we proceeded up a pathway that we were told was a 2o minute walk to the monkeys. It might have been 20 minutes for Chuck Norris or Chuck Norris-like individuals but it was not 20 minutes for me. It was also not a walk but a grueling hike practically straight up. Ok I might be exaggerating just a tad but it took a lot longer than 20 minutes, was steadily uphill the whole way with more crumbling stairs than I can count. We were out of breath and sweaty but not so uncomfortable that we couldn't take in the scenery. It was one of the prettiest hikes I've been on. So many different types of trees. There were waterfalls too, little ones, and whenever the trees opened up the view was breathtaking, As pretty as it was I was glad when we reached the top... almost anyway. Right before the top there was a gang of monkeys right on the path and we weren't sure what to do. They had red bums and faces and were not in fact terrifying or ready to pounce. They were napping and scratching.

The monkeys are free to roam about but if you want to feed them you go inside a little hut/cage. We tried to get Lex to feed them but he didn't want to share and kept trying to eat the food himself, it was mostly apples.

Kevin and I both took turns feeding them. You are supposed to lay the food on the sill and they will pick it up but they'd much rather just take it from your hand. The little monkeys hands and figures were so cute! They really are fascinating and I can understand why some people spend so much time observing them. The whole monkey park was an anthropological site and had histories and pictures on the inside. Most of the park workers are also students or scientists. 

This little girl had the right idea and laid all her food out on the sill... just out of reach. It certainly got her an audience anyway. Occasionally the monkeys would get in little fits and fights over the food and would whoop and yell at each other. 

This is us after the hike all hot and sweaty. Luckily they had people food and water at the top too.

A worker was nice enough to take our picture!

Then we were so exhausted we plopped down and napped. 

We didn't get a chance to nap, but Lex slept like... well a baby on the way down. Arashiyama was filled with trinkets and foods all along the main street and we'll probably go back because there was so much we didn't get to explore. 

If Lex is high enough he loves to hold on to the handles in the train.

WARNING: There is a scream during the following video from a very tired little 1 yr old.

I don't know if these will play or not but I wanted to include a panoramic view of the city. It is packed.

We were all tired at the end of the day but slept a little too long during nap time. Because someone didn't want to go back to sleep we played for a little instead. 

That was Saturday. Sunday we woke up and had a route worked out to head to church. It's about six miles away and we decided to take the train as there's a station that's very close. The problem was there wasn't an exact address and even if there was the address system here is nothing like what we are used to. We walked for about an hour, exploring about one square block and after asking 4 different people we ran into a couple that actually knew what we were talking about and they were determined to help. We finally got clear directions, backtracked, and found... an empty church. It was in a warehouse like building and looked like it was still in use just closed up for the day. I'm thinking maybe everyone was watching general conference at the stake center. We'll see if we can find a number to call and try again next week. I'm hoping it'll work out eventually. After that bust we went back home and organized our things for the week. 

We're trying to use our time in Japan to achieve some of our goals since there are fewer distractions like TV around. So this morning Kevin woke up at 6 to go run and work out at the park, and so far we've had a very productive and successful day. It's now 9:37 and Alexander is actually napping! It also didn't take me an hour to get him to sleep. I call that a major accomplishment. That's it for now.