Let's Go to Kyoto! Day 4: Temples, Nijo Castle, and a Wild Monkey Adventure

Hey so guess what? School started yesterday for me! Finally! It's so nice to get back into a classroom after two months away. I was afraid I'd forget everything, but I've been doing okay so far, so I suppose that's good. Today was my first core class, and that went really well I think! I still haven't figured out my special topics in Japanese courses yet, but this week is auditing week so I'll probably have it hammered out by next Wednesday or so. So that's exciting!


Day four was our last day in Kyoto, so we wanted to make sure to hit some interesting spots before we headed out the next morning. We woke up early and headed just 15 minutes down the street from our hotel to To-ji!

The main gate.

The pagoda as seen from the street.

The pagoda at To-ji has the distinction of being the tallest wooden tower in Japan. There used to be a twin temple on the other side of Kyoto, called Sai-ji, but it burned down in 1233 and was never rebuilt. To-ji also has a nice garden, which we walked around in for a bit before heading on to our next destination.

Tokyo has made me forget wildlife exists. I was way too excited to see this little guy.

I was going to caption this my "Stereotypical White Girl in Japan Photo," but then I realized these are plum blossoms, not cherry blossoms...

 After To-ji, we hopped on the train to Nijo Castle. I have to say, Nijo Castle may have been my favorite part of the trip. It was open to the public, unlike the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and had information in English and Japanese on the signs along the way, so it was nice to be able to confirm what I THOUGHT I had understood from the information signs. Also Nijo Castle used to be the Kyoto residence for the shogun from 1626-1867, until ownership was transferred to the Imperial Court. And because I love history, I thought that was pretty much the COOLEST THING EVER. There was no photography allowed inside, so you'll just have to make do with pictures of the exterior and the surrounding gardens. Not that that's a bad deal.

 There are two palaces within the grounds: Ninomaru palace and Honmaru palace. Ninomaru palace is older than Honmaru palace, being pretty much the "original" palace on site; Honmaru palace was a residence of a prince that was moved from the site of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1893, replacing the old inner palace, which burned to the ground in 1788.

So this was the second wedding we accidentally crashed this trip...

The exterior of the Ninomaru palace.

Look at the detail. It was just beautiful.

The gardens were absolutely gorgeous.

Under this is a palm of some sort; according to a sign it is kept covered during the winter to protect it from the cold. This is apparently the traditional way of doing so.

The Honmaru palace exterior.

Honmaru palace.

There are dozens and dozens of cherry trees on site.

Cherry blossoms up close.

THIS is the Stereotypical White Girl in Japan photo. More to come this month, I'm sure.

These are plum blossoms. They're still pretty though.

After Nijo Castle, Margaret and I made a quick stop at MOS Burger, which is without a doubt the best Japanese fast food restaurant out there (their fries rival McDonald's!), to warm up and have a quick lunch. It was delicious.

So after lunch we made our way over to Arashiyama, which is a REALLY neat part of town. I kind of wish we had been able to spend more time there, but I feel like we would've needed an extra day to get all of the exploring done.

Our first stop in Arashiyama was Tenryuji, the head temple of the the Tenryu branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism and a UNESCO World Heritage site, like To-ji and Nijo Castle. Tenryuji had easily the most fantastic garden I had seen. Hands down. We spent a good while just strolling and taking photos. Even though it was a bit cold and rainy, I think it was definitely worth spending the day outside just for this garden alone.

Tenryuji's main gate.

This pond, called the Sogen pond, and its surrounding garden are considered Important Cultural Properties by the Japanese government.

There's a really dense bamboo forest growing on the side of the hill.

This is probably my favorite picture from Tenryuji.

After Tenryuji, we decided to explore Arashiyama a bit. I bought some more black sesame yatsuhashi and sampled some soy milk soft-serve ice cream, which was really good! I think I'll have to give that a try when I get home and have access to an ice cream maker again!

Yes, this bed and breakfast IS called "Mind Games." I don't know either.

Standing on Togetsukyo bridge!

While exploring, we came across an interesting sign.

It was the sign for the Arashiyama Monkey Park entrance! I hadn't had the opportunity to see Japanese macaques yet, so Margaret and I decided that it was worth the $5 ticket and a 30 minute hike up a mountain to see them.

Just starting out! It was quite a trek, but it was good to get the exercise.

Park rules!

Every few hundred meters there would be a new monkey quiz. Margaret and I are pretty much monkey experts now.

There was also a pig. But they didn't tell us about that on the sign.

One of many educational signs along the way about the characteristics of Japanese macaques, or Nihonzaru in Japanese.

This monkey just about killed me. I was saying how excited I was to see monkeys and it came shooting out of a bush. I was so surprised I almost fell off the edge of the trail.

One of many monkey butts we saw that day.

"If a monkey is lying on the path, please walk past it without looking at it."

After a good 30 minutes or so, we finally reached the top. It was terrifying yet awesome. All of these monkeys are wild, though they are quite used to humans (as most Japanese macaques are). There is a place you can feed them, but Margaret and I were a bit too scared to do that. We just walked around in the pack of monkeys and took photos.

Being spring, there were many baby monkeys about!

Inside this building is where you can feed the monkeys through the mesh. That way it's safe for everyone. We were still too afraid though.

You could see all of Kyoto from the top!

There were a TON of monkeys hanging out on the roof.

Puddle jumping: fun for monkeys AND humans.

Animals never stay still when you want to take pictures with them...

I like this one. He thinks he's hot stuff.

I really wish this picture had turned out just a bit less blurry, but oh well.

BABY MONKEY ON A PLAYGROUND SLIDE.

Obviously the decision to put a children's playground in the middle of the territory of 170 wild monkeys was rethought over the years... it doesn't seem like it's used any more (thank goodness).

I took a video of the baby monkeys playing together!

Having rained all day, the park was quite muddy. Also one monkey was a little angry because the other monkeys were ganging up on him, so he decided trying to eat Margaret's jacket was a good idea. It wasn't. We had some laundry to do when we got back to the hotel.

The mud washed out really easily, surprisingly enough!

At least he didn't rip her coat!

After the monkey park, we headed back to the hotel to do some laundry and rest up a bit before heading out for some girl talk over yakitori and beer. It was the best way to end a really busy trip.

It was SO GOOD, guys.

Then we stayed up a little late watching reruns of old dramas and being ridiculous and it was fun. I woke up early the next morning to catch a morning train back to Tokyo so I'd have lots of time to recover and also so Margaret could meet up with a friend without me tagging along. I tried to meet up with some friends studying in Kyoto, but the timing didn't work out, unfortunately. I went home and spent the day napping and going through pictures.

All in all, I declare LADYTRIP 2012 a huge success. In four days, we saw 11 World Heritage sites, crashed two weddings, and hung out with MONKEYS. I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any better than that. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to go traveling with Margaret, and I hope we get to go on more adventures (albeit on a much smaller scale) before the end of the second semester!