Day #9

This morning we all got up early and went to the Zenkoji Temple that is right around the area that Hope's apartment is at. This temple is much like all the other and had the usual shops leading up to it which was our last stop shopping!! This temple also had the "Hallway of Enlightenment" or something to that effect. Hope had been in the "Hallway" before and didn't care to go into it again so Rach and I did it while Hope waited. Of course we had to take off our shoes outside the temple and then there was some sort of praying ceremony going on that we had to walk past. Then we were instructed (with gestures again) to walk down this steep flight of stairs into darkness...but we had to make sure to keep our hands on the wall. The deal was you were suppose to follow the wall in complete darkness and halfway through the walk there was a large key embedded in the wall that you were suppose to touch. The funny thing is about this is that you can't see ANYTHING.....i mean anything. You couldn't even tell you had your hand in front of your face even though you know it's there. Rach was ahead of me and a few seconds in she touch someone's back and kinda freaked cuz all of the sudden she's touching a soft warm thing. She then saw my watch glowing and didn't know what that was either. I had the person behind me hitting me by accident too every once in a while but it wasn't a big deal cuz you couldn't see a damn thing. :) Eventually we were lead back to the light and to civilization. An old man saw we had a map of the temple area and was really excited to gesture to us to go over to the river area. We just smiled and nodded our heads yes and headed over in that direction. Cute old men! :)

We wandered the around the temple area by the river where there were a million turtle just hanging out. We also noticed that they dressed up their statues. They had bib-like things around their necks and hats on.

We walked back down and did some shopping before Hope had to go to work and we had to find the Monkey Park.

Today we had to do everything ourselves. We bought our train tickets and did our matching the symbols game, etc. Old pros I tell ya! :) The wacky part was yet to come. The train took us into the boonies. We were going through mountains and saw small houses here and there every once in a while and hardly anyone was on the train anymore. We got a little concerned we were going to miss our stop and not know it. We didn't miss our stop because it ended up being the last stop and for a good reason....no one lived in these towns in the mountains, especially in Yudanaka. The Yudanaka train stop we got off at also acted as a bus stop. We had an hour or so before our bus to the Monkey Park so we wandered around hoping to find some place to eat lunch. What do ya know a convienent store right around the corner, now convienent! We took our food back to the bus station, sat on a bench and enjoyed the view of the mountains but was a little concerned at the clouds heading our way. Dumbass me decided that I didn't need to haul around my trusty umbrella this time around but I did bring my Monster windbreaker. As long as my camera didn't get wet it was ok.

We felt stupid going to the window of the bus station and ask for the Monkey Bus but that's what Hope said to call it and that they would know what it was....and he did. He typed the amount of the ticket on a calculator and we paid up. Then we waited. Eventually a bus pulled up in the bus station....oh, goody, now there was 4 people in the area (me, Rach, the guy selling bus tickets and the bus driver) no other people were seen. We went over to the bus driver and said, "Monkey Bus?" and he nodded yes and we boarded. A few other people actually arrived and boarded too to our surprise.

The bus driver totally knew that we had no idea where we were or where we were suppose to go and that we didn't speak any Japanese. He took it upon himself to help us out. So after driving through small little hick towns and stopping every so often he gave us a look in his mirror and nodded his head to let us know that we were suppose to be getting off for the Monkey Park. The problem was that it looked like he was dropping us off in the middle of nowhere....there were no signs telling us where the park was. The bus driver noticed that 3 other people (a man about forty, a woman about forty and another older lady probably in her sixties) were getting off with us and he pulled them aside for a second and said something to them. Then he looked at us again and pointed to them and we followed them out of the bus and followed them as they starting walking up a small street. We felt stupid following them but we had no idea what else to do. A few minutes into our walk the man started to talk to us a little in English. He told us that he worked for IBM. We walked toward this building where the 3 people stopped....we think it was their hotel. We asked if the Monkey Park was down the road further and they nodded their head but looked concerned. We felt weird and just really wanted to be on our way and not bother those people anymore so we said goodbye and walked down the road ourselves. A few minutes later the older woman caught up to us and started chatting in Japan and started leading us up the road herself. The road was steep because we were kinda hiking up a mountain. The poor woman kept leading us up the road and we REALLY felt bad and wanted her to leave for her own sake. We tried to communicate to her and pointed up the road and said, "Monkey Park?" and she smiled, said something back in Japanese and kept on walking up the road. She finally let us go once we got to a tiny dirt path which would lead us to the park. That poor woman had to hike all the way back down the road to her hotel!!! We couldn't believe that she was so kind and was concerned that we wouldn't find the park and get lost.

The dirt path went for miles it seemed. It just wound it's way through the mountains and the path actually outlined the edge so that one side of the path dropped straight down forever. You would almost definitely be killed if you ever fell down there.....would hit a tree most likely as you rolled down to your doom. It was so beautiful though. It was a forest of trees and the clouds were so close to us....very relaxing.

The Monkey Park itself was just a part of the mountain area. There was a cabin that was used as a gift shop and a place for the 2 staff members to hang out. The one English sign outside told us not to look directly into the monkey's eyes or they will see it as a threat and possibly attack. GREAT!! :) The monkey's are wild, they just hang out cuz they get fed and there are hot springs for them to relax in. There are millions of monkeys though, ok, not millions but a few hundred! You were able to just walk around the paths and the monkeys were running around you. I've never been so close to a wild monkey before in my life! :)



We were the only ones at the park, not including the 2 staff members. One small monkey actually climbed Rachel's leg and almost pants her.



What a great videotape that would have been....would have won American's Funniest Home Videos for sure! There was even a webcam set up that shows the monkeys bathing. Check it out!

Right as we started to leave the park (right before it closed) it of course began to rain. Thank goodness for the trees because it kept us pretty dry...but the path started to get slippery which was a little unnerving. We stopped for about a half our at a little shelter thing halfway through our walk because we had a long time until our bus was suppose to come get us....it was so cold though.

We realized when we got back to the main road that we didn't know where we were suppose to wait to catch the bus back. We decided to wait on the opposite side of the road that we were let off on. We then saw a bus park in a church parking lot across the way but didn't know if we were suppose to be there. Then our bus driver from earlier in the day started to drive by, recognized us and pointed over to the bus across the way. We were a bit confused at what he meant until the bus driver from across the way called us over to him because he was our ride back. Our cutie bus driver was still looking out for us!!!! :)

We boarded our train back to Nagano station. We were the only ones on the train. We patted ourselves on the back for another day of running around Japan without our trusty translator. The rest of the train ride we amused ourselves by watching the teenagers across from us flirt with each other and giggle.

We met Hope at her work again, finding it easily this time, and we headed over to a restaurant to meet Hope's fellow US teachers. They were all nice and fun to talk to. During our meal a drunk old guy (about seventy) came over to us and started talking to us. I think he called himself MR. G??? Anyway, he wanted to practice his English. He told us he was an English teacher and wanted to visit the US. He wasn't a big fan of George W. Bush and tried to mimic his facial expressions......it was HILARIOUS!!! He said he liked Clinton better than Bush...lol! After he left we were told that he was definitely drunk or he would have NEVER come over to us. All businessmen got drunk after work and most sought out prostitutes after or partied until they had to work again.

Speaking of prostitutes, we saw a bunch on our way home from dinner. They were wrapped up in floor length Reebok jackets and held out business cards or something. We saw about 3 business men just going down the line taking their business cards. I guess the deal is that he calls the girl he likes on her cell phone. She wears the big jacket that she opens up if asked to.

We spent the night packing our stuff as well as we could. We also got dressed up in Hope's komono and had a fashion show.....lol! This was our last night in Japan. :(