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Day 7- Bold bamboo, murderous monkeys & gushing Geishas
After a bit of a sleep in (a cocktail too many last night?) we took off to Kyoto's Arashiyama area for the day. We stopped at a little place called Holly's Cafe for Breakfast and enjoyed coffee, mango juice, eggs on toast and pancakes (yes, we're still eating lots).
We made our way to Arashiyama via the subway and then another train (we are getting super good at using the ticket machines)!
The township is absolutely gorgeous and has tonnes of temples and shrines you could visit- but much like the churches of Europe- once you've seen one you've seen them all- so we went straight to the bamboo forest instead! It was amazing! The bamboo grows so tall and blocks out all sunlight!
After a stroll through the forest we made our way through the town, over the Oi River and then hiked up more than 200m above sea level to Iwatayama Monkey Park. We were told the monkeys were used to people but not to make eye contact with them. We learnt the hard way that this rule should not be ignored. I accidentally made eye contact with a rather large monkey that was blocking the path and it screeched at me, to which I squealed louder and ran away like a little girl. The Canadian tourists nearby found this all very amusing! Needless to say, my face quickly went the same colour as the monkey's butt - bright red!
Once I recovered from my near-death- by-monkey experience and made it to the top of the mountain the view back over Arashiyama was stunning. We got to feed the monkeys some apple from behind a very secure cage (we were the ones caged) and then we watched the offical feeding frenzy from outside. It was all pretty cool and worth the huge hike and embarrassment!
We made our way back down the mountain and back to the area near our hotel for some more sushi for lunch.
After a much needed rest at the hotel we took off for Kyoto's famous entertainment and Geisha district, Gion. Gion was absolutely buzzing. The area was filled with thousands of people. A couple of the side streets still feature the old traditional wooden cottages and we spotted a number of Geisha girls wandering the streets between their bookings! It was a great site.
Looking forward to Mt Fuji tomorrow! Sayonara.
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