Pam: We left Kyoto this morning a little after 9 a.m. and took the local JR Sagano train line to the Saga-Arashiyama station (5 stops away).  Along the way it started to rain.  When we came out of the train station it was showering quite steadily – Emily purchased a plastic umbrella from the local convenience store.  Then we trudged down the street, getting wetter and wetter and wondering if it was really worth it to be there.  (Okay, so it was mostly ME who was wondering what we were doing there . . .)

We reached the Togetsukyo bridge and crossed over the Katsura River into the main part of town.  It was still raining quite steadily and I was debating about whether to attempt the trek to the monkey park after all.  (Yes, I was a bit peckish . . .)  Anyway, we walked a bit down the street and passed the little shops and restaurants.  As we passed one shop, there were two girls in yukatas handing out samples of cold green tea.  Would you believe that one of the girls was Mayu – Emily’s penpal who we met with on Wednesday for the movie and dinner!  What a coincidence!

It happened to be her first day at this job; it was so nice to see her!  We chatted a bit and I took Emily’s picture with her.  Then, we promised to come back and purchase some manju (rice cakes) from her shop later on.

After that happy occurrence, we gained (I gained) the energy to tackle “monkey mountain”.  So we trekked back across the bridge and up to the entrance gate to the park.  We purchased our tickets from a little machine and handed them to the man in the booth.  It was still raining quite steadily and there were very few (we saw three) people around.  We started the hike up the hill.

Note to Steve: it was like the Hacienda trail in some parts - just add more rain and mud.  Joyful.

After hiking uphill for about 15 or 20 minutes – in the rain – we came upon a little playground area (empty) and a small building with an overhang and benches.  We made our way to the building so we could stand under the overhang and escape the rain.  On the map we were given this was called an “observation area” for the monkeys. 

As we stood there, we started seeing one, two, three monkeys on the slope about 30 yards away.  Soon there were a few more, and more, and more . . . They started running, playing, and cavorting around the playground area.  Silly us, we thought the playground was for little kids!  Actually, I got a little freaked out with so many monkeys around and just the four of us.  I kept my umbrella open and pointed out as a “shield” (haha).

Debbie, Emily & Candace took dozens of photos – while I stood watch.  One monkey was making his way over to Debbie’s bag; she picked it up before he could snatch anything out.  Then the monkeys started sitting and standing on the benches (also to get out of the rain?) and climbing up the rafters of the overhang.  We saw some really little babies who were carried by their moms either on the mom’s back or hanging off her underside.  So cute.  We were really lucky to see so many monkeys and there were no other people there!  We saw people pass by on the trail, but no one stopped as we had to take pictures (maybe there were too many monkeys for them?).

The rain subsided and we went up the trail a bit more to the feeding station/rest room (the map said to “feed the monkeys from the restroom” – we had to figure out what was really going on!).  At the feeding station there was the “ranger station”, a “rest” room, and – yes – bathrooms too.  We had a great view of all of Kyoto from there.  There was one monkey sitting on the pay binocular/viewing machine.  I told Emily to stand near him to take a picture.  Well, apparently he felt like she was invading his “personal space”, because he got sort of mad at her just as I took the picture.  The park ranger was there and shooed him away – then he got mad at the ranger.  Just in a bad mood, I suppose!

We went into the “rest” area where there were some benches and windows covered with fencing.  The idea was to buy either a bag of nuts or sliced apples for the monkeys for 100 yen each and feed them through the fence (probably so they don’t attack the people . . .).  The monkeys were climbing up the fence and stretching their arms and hands inside for food.  It reminded me of pictures of refugees begging for food from the other side of a fence. . .

Anyway, refugee images aside, it was easier and more fun to feed the monkeys than those aggressive deer in Nara Park!

Afterwards, we made our way down the mountain and crossed back over the bridge.  It was about noon, so we decided to stop for lunch before going to the bamboo grove.  We ate at a nice little restaurant right on the corner right after we crossed the bridge.  It was all non-smoking (yay).  Debbie had beef curry rice, Candace ate tempura udon (is anyone keeping count of how many times Candace has had this?), Emily had unaju (unagi on rice with soup on the side) and I ate “yama kake hana soba” – which is a fancy way to say tororo soba (mountain yam on buckwheat noodles with bonito shavings).  We all enjoyed our meals.  Emily finished with an orange shave ice with gel (like thick jello), and Candace had a lemon shave ice.

After lunch we walked through town to Tenryu-ji shrine.  There is a beautiful garden there that was designed and “built” in the 1200s.  We walked through and took pictures (thankfully it had completely stopped raining) and went through the back gate to enter the Sagano bamboo forest area.  The reason we knew where to go is because the Ikeda family visited (and got a little lost) last year.  It was much easier this time . . .

The bamboo forest was rather dark since it was so overcast today, but it was still quite pretty and an awesome sight.  Emily took many photos in hopes of capturing a perfect one to frame for her bedroom.

At the end of the bamboo forest walkway we took a left turn into a nice park area (that went behind the shrine garden).  There were a few people walking including a woman with a very cute dog.  The path took us along the river, and we ended up at the same corner as the restaurant where we had lunch.  It was a very pleasant walk since the temperature was mild and it wasn’t raining!

We then walked back to the confectionary shop where Mayu was working and sampled some Kyoto-style manju (rice cakes) with strawberry paste.  We bought a couple of boxes.  Then we told Mayu, “see you next year!” and told her good-bye.  Emily stopped at another sweets shop and picked up a couple of cute jars with candies in them.

We made our way back to the JR station and came back to Kyoto by 3:30 p.m.  Debbie said that she took a little nap and a quick shower; Emily & I went out by bus to the Onitsuka Tiger (shoe brand) store in downtown Kyoto.  By the time we got into downtown, it was pouring torrential rain.  Yikes.  We went around a short block looking for the store, then got reoriented and found it on the 2nd pass down the street.  You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find buidlings in Japan, much less find them in the POURING RAIN – did I mention that it was POURING???

Emily found some cute shoes (the sales people must be so bored in those boutique-type shops!) – and the young sales guy was very indulgent of my bad Japanese (he said that his English was bad and he had only studied a little in school . . .)  Anyway, we told him that Emily had bought a pair of Onitsuka Tiger shoes last year in Sapporo and that she loved them and wanted another pair from Japan – US stores don’t carry that brand.  He was very appreciative of her brand loyalty and thanked us for coming into the store – and told us to come back next year too! 

We walked back down the street and continued our search for a hat for Alex.  He put in a specific request for a certain hat like one he got last year, but we haven’t had any luck trying to find it.  Along the way we found a small arcade where Emily got a little stuffed chicken wearing little pants and a crown (I know, it sounds weird).  There was a bus stop right outside the arcade, but after we saw four buses bound for Kyoto station pass it by, we decided that it was the wrong stop for today (Saturday).  We walked a bit further down and came upon the next bus stop where we caught the “express” bus to Kyoto station.  Hurray – we were finally seated and dry!

By the time we reached the station it had completely stopped raining.  I soaked two pairs of sandals today.  We went down to the basement of the Isetan department store and picked up some gift boxes of cookies and our dinner – Chinese cold noodles for me and some pork dumplings for Emily.  As we walked back into the room, the Chiyas were just leaving for their dinner run.  They stopped by after their dinner, checked their emails, and then went back to their room to pack.

That’s it for now – I’ll let Emily upload some photos from today, and maybe a video too?

Please leave us your comments!

Mayu and Me (Emily) in Arashiyama

Monkey and Baby

Baby Monkey

Me and Monkey. About 5 seconds later it jumped for me and was screeching. Seriously!

Candace and Debbie and a view of Kyoto

Sagano Bamboo Forest

Are these dragonflies? Damselflies? They fluttered and didn't float like dragon/damselflies. Odd.