Monkeys and Maple Leaves

Cailyn, Megan, Emily, and I went to Arashiyama (western Kyoto) today. We saw many famous places and did many spectacular things.

Spoiler: I kicked a monkey.

The beautiful Arashiyama area is home to Japan's semi-famous "Monkey Mountain." At the top of the mountain, there's a beautiful view of Kyoto. There are also, as one might imagine, lots of monkeys, which do monkey-like things. Their primary activities seem to include picking insects off each other and being photographed by tourists, which leads us to...

THE GREAT MONKEY DEBACLE:

While I was taking one of several hey-look-at-that-cute-monkey photos, another monkey came and, unkown to me, sat at my feet. When I lowered my camera and started to walk, I kicked the monkey. Yes, I KICKED a MONKEY. I'm told it jumped several feet in the air and ran off, shooting me what my friend described as a "DUDE, what the hell?!" look over its shoulder. I did not see this expresion because I was busy hiding my face from as many as six Japanese people who were staring, open mouthed, at me like I'd punted the unfortunate creature off the side of the mountain.

Needless to say I got off that mountain as fast as I could, lest the monkey (or the Japanese people) had a chance to plot revenge.

After a short walk on the other side of the river, we reached the temple Tenryu-ji, a prime maple leaf viewing spot. The path leading away from Tenryu-ji runs through Japan's most famous bamboo forest.

It seems "famous" is Japanese for "crowded."

We then made our way back down to the Arashiyama bus stop and eventually back home. On the walk back from Makino Station, Megan stopped for Taiyaki. The friendly taiyaki salesman gave us all a "bonus" taiyaki, presumably because it was late and they won't keep overnight--a surprise ending to a lovely, if at times embarrassing, day.