I’m just going to come out and say it:
I have always loved monkeys. Ever since ithatching little Marcel on Friends, I thought: “how cool would it be to have a monkey for a friend.” Of course, people conceal the fact that most monkeys are poo-flinging little mongrols. So, there’s that.
Anyway, I never really realized just how truly intimidating monkeys are. Anytime I hear there’s monkeys around, I can’t help but get a little giddy. But, visiting them comes with all these rules: don’t look at monkeys in the eye, hide all your valuables (because they’re poo-flinging little thieves, apparently), feed them with your palms open and DON’T LOOK THEM IN THE EYES (I’m serious).
So, imagine my surprise when Frank said we’re going to visit monkeys. My eyes lit up like the fourth of July. “Monkeys?! All for me?” I asked. “Ummm, sure,” he replied.
On the way to see the monkeys in Arashiyama, I was reminded once again of the very important rules when visiting these furry little jerks. They’re basically posted everywhere as you walk up the hill to the park.
You can try to get next to the binoculars. You can really try…As we rounded the corner to the very top, there was one fully-grown monkey waiting in a tree. He peered down at us, presumably to let us know he’s watching, or because he liked my hat and wanted to take it.
There were only two kinds of food we could feed the monkeys: apples and peanuts. Naturally, I went for the healthy choice. With palms opened wide and without daring to look in their eyes, the greedy lil’ boogers snatched up some apple chunks. We then walked around and watched quite a few monkeys preening each other.
See! Everyone loves apples!
The afternoon with the monkeys woefully ended with a monkey fight. Not wanting to be a part of the scrap (because monkeys are vicious), we backed away slowly and retreated down the hill.
Hanging around town. Lots of cherry blossoms!Just past the city is a very large bamboo grove with bamboos that soar high up into the sky. It’s amazing just how tall bamboo can grow and that they can manage to stay upright despite being so thin. The bamboo are so tall, that very little light got through. People also instantly got a lot quieter. You know how when you watch David Copperfield or some other magician do a trick and you scratch your head and think: How did he do that?!!?! That’s what walking through the bamboo grove does: you scratch your head and think how is it that everyone got more hushed. Try it. Watch people get quieter in the bamboo forest.
Shhh. Bamboo.A little further down the road are a lot of different temples. There was a miniature moss forest temple. But my personal favorite was the Love Temple. Not because I’m so in love with my husband or anything, but because every single statue at the temple had a different facial expression. Some were happy, some were sad, but no matter what, every statue was its own unique individual.
The Moss Forest Each one of those statues is different!
What do you think? Ready to try the bamboo grove mind trick?
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