Overall the trip went well. They endured the long bus ride there and walked up a long, snowy, sometimes steep path for about 30 minutes. Abbey walked some and was carried some. After the snowy path, they passed a "gushing geyser" (according to Abbey) and walked up a wall of steep stairs. Exhausting! But then... monkeys everywhere! The monkeys roam freely- you can watch them running around, foraging in the snow for food, jumping out of trees (as one did right behind Chad), and relaxing in the hot springs bath. (Look here to learn more about the monkeys, or here to see a webcam of them.) Chad said Abbey was quiet and interested in the monkeys, but didn't like all the snow and was spitting it out of her mouth.
After less than an hour in the freezing cold and falling snow, they were done and headed back to the bus. They fell once and Abbey had a meltdown, but they made it. The trip home took even longer due to traffic, and I was so glad to see them! Here are the pictures- click to enlarge them so you can see the monkeys better.
That is a real monkey! Right there! 
Adorable snow bunny Abbey poses by the snowy path. What do you mean you don't see a path?
Fortunately Chad was not by this creek when he slipped. Look at all that snow! Nagano hosted the 1998 winter Olympics, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.
The monkeys relax in the hot springs bath. Their red faces are very human like. You are not supposed to look directly into their "soulful" eyes as this is considered aggressive behavior. Though I must say, these monkeys look too relaxed to be aggressive.
That was fun... let's never do it again!
4 comments:
That picture of all the monkeys in the hot spring is kind of creepy. Like if they all suddenly decided to get mean, they could definitely take you. I'm sure that's a nice thought considering you just let Abbey hang out with them. But I think it's so cool that she got to see that. Sounds like quite an adventure!
That is so cool! Those monkey's look like they're in a hot tub, so funny. They're hitting on chicks.
Japan has the coolest things! I think this ranks right up there with those big white bouncy mountains for things I'll have to go see if I ever make it to Japan one day.
Seeing the snow monkeys is on my last of best things I did in Japan. Its also on my list of the worst, since that hike in the snow/ice on a narrow trail was pretty miserable when I was about 6 or 7 months pregnant!
And the tour guide went over the rules so many times I was sure those monkeys would attack at any minute. They seemed really calm and peaceful to me though. Probably because I didn't bring any crinkly wrappers to aggravate them.
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