Monkeys...up close!

This monkey seems very wise!


Monkey above the Kyoto valley...


It's a baby!


Feeding the monkeys!

Oh, my gosh! It was the best day EVER! First we visited one of the most famous Zen gardens and then walked up a mountain to the Arashiyama Monkey Park. There are 150 monkeys who live here (I don't know what kind of monkeys, again limited by not being able to read Japanese...)and once you hike to their observation platform, you can watch them play, fight and even feed them. For 100 yen, you can purchase bags of apple chunks or chestnuts and feed them through a window. Much like feeding a horse, you put the chunk of food flat on your hand. They grab it from your hand with their very human, soft little primate fingers and munch it down. We watched them during feeding time and then observed them interacting and playing with each other mere inches from us. The baby monkeys rode on their mom's backs and nursed hanging from their bellies. It was magical. I have never been that close and personal to a monkey. I really wished that Cameron and Xander could be there because they would love it!