Monkeys & Bamboo in Kyoto

I’m heading off on another adventure tomorrow! I haven’t really traveled anywhere outside of California since January, so I’m super excited! I’ll be posting a lot more on my Instagram, so follow me there if you want to see what I’m up to (: I was super bummed earlier this week when I saw the weather forecast for where I’ll be going…literally rain every single day. BUT. I checked again today and the rain is basically all gone! Funny how forecasts work…now I just hope it doesn’t change back.

Anyway, I was clearing out photos from my camera and organizing them on my computer. I realized I hadn’t yet posted about two of my favorite places in Kyoto! The Monkey Park and the Bamboo Grove. Both of these places are in the Arashiyama region of Kyoto. The whole area is incredibly scenic. I can’t remember exactly how we made our way to the area from our hotel…I feel like we took a bus and then just did a lot of walking. It wasn’t raining when we went (thank the lord), but it was super hot and humid. And the mosquitoes were feasting on us all day 🙁 Minus that, though, the whole walking part wasn’t too bad. So many pretty sights here–I was stopping every 5 minutes or so to take a picture!

The Monkey Park was our first stop. We got there pretty early in the morning, so there were no crowds. This place really should be called Monkey MOUNTAIN. I had no idea we were going to have to literally climb a mountain to get to the park. The route up is quite steep…and with the heat/humidity, it really wasn’t a pleasant experience, haha. They had massive fans along the route that my family and I took full advantage of. Further up towards the top there’s another rest stop building with AC. Literally an oasis in the middle of a desert. It took a lot of mental power to leave that rest stop and finish the rest of the trek.

But of course, it was all worth! There were so many monkeys running around in the park. And omg, baby monkeys are actually the cutest thing! Unfortunately, for safety reasons, you’re not allowed to get super close to the monkeys, so getting pictures of them was a bit tricky. The workers there are super helpful, though, so definitely ask them if you need help getting the monkeys to sit still for longer than a few seconds. You can also buy bags of banana slices to feed the monkeys, aka bribe them to pose for photos. They’re quite receptive to bananas! Who knew, right? 🙂

As cute as the monkeys are, don’t forget to also take in the views from the top of the mountain!

Later that day, we also went to visit Kyoto’s famous Bamboo Grove! This place is other-worldly–magical and enchanting! Very different, as I’m sure you can imagine, from being in a forest of trees. The stalks of bamboo reach up quite high, and the forest itself is huge! They have paved paths that you can walk along, though, so don’t worry about getting lost. Lighting here is a bit tricky to get right for pictures, so these pictures don’t really do this place justice. It’s one of those places that you just have to experience for yourself. And best of all? No admission fee! 🙂