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Published: September 18th 2016
Convincing wild animals to sit in hot springs and pose for photos is not as easy as I'd hoped, despite all I'd seen on the TV. However naked men in outdoor hot springs with hand towels for hats seems to be rather common around Yamanouchi, but not as common as heated toilet seats. It's been an interesting day....
It's getting towards the end of typhoon season which means there's a lot of rain, I'm hoping it's worse here because we're in the mountains and it will get better in Kyoto. I woke a few times in the night to hear the constant downpour, wishing it would ease off but according to my weather app, there's no chance of that. This isn't the type of rain that merely trashes hair. No. It's it's the rain that has the potential to soak through to underwear in minutes if waterproofs aren't worn. And if they are worn as it turned out.
I found an urn of hot water outside our room in the morning and decided we'd better drink some tea before we offended anyone. Glyn said we also should use the flannels provided. Then began the stress of getting washed.... We'd
been given a kimono each but to be honest, I felt weird wandering around the Ryokan in it, especially as the washing area was downstairs, past the main entrance and reception desk. Glyn got into the gents area with no issue, but mine was locked with a young girl brushing her hair outside. It is meant to be communal but her friend had locked the door, so she was knocking and eventually yelling at her in Japanese for about 5 minutes as I stood in the corridor wearing just a kimono and feeling very uncomfortable. Eventually I was let in and managed to wash under the waist high shower which runs into the hot tub (onsen) which you're not meant to enter until you've showered. Strange logic, but that's what the sign says and I'm sticking to my instructions!
Our Ryokan proprietor (no idea if he even told us his name) gave us a lift up the mountain to the park. He told us a lot of stuff but I struggled to understand it all. There's around 150 wild monkeys living on the mountain in four groups. The park is a designated area for humans where the monkeys may
visit to warm up in the hot springs and eat food supplied by the park. Visitors are not allowed to feed or chase the monkeys and selfie sticks are banned - which made Glyn happy. You are warned not to be tricked into getting close to any seemingly tame monkeys because they will nick your gear. There's a photo of a monkey in the water holding a mobile phone with an caption about how the owner of the phone was chasing the monkey until it turned on him and snatched it. We have been warned!!!
We were dropped off at the edge of an unpromising looking trail where we had to hike through the tall trees of a dense forest for about 20 minutes. Upon arrival we came to a glorified hut still under construction and noted the sign banning cats and dogs. Who I wonder brings their cat? The hut had a platform from which we could look down on a collection of tattered wooden buildings posing as a hotel with cafe and onsen. We were told that the monkeys hadn't put in an appearance yet and we must wait at least an hour as these monkeys are
wild and turn up in their own sweet time. This gave me time to catch up on my blog, so no worries there.
People came and went and I dozed for a little while. Eventually Glyn called me claiming to have seen a monkey crossing the bridge, but I thought it was a wind up. However, it turned out that there was one lone male, climbing the hotel and chilling on the aircon fan. He then climbed a tree and started shaking the branches in a show of strength - I was impressed. A few people turned up at this point as did three young monkeys, one being rather small. They came right up to us to the delight of some Japanese kids who stood by them doing the standard Japanese two finger pose. One monkey sat in the roof above our heads so I got some nice closeup shots.... I think!
To my surprise, upon glancing down at the onsen, I noticed three people wearing nothing but hand towels on their heads sauntering towards the outdoor natural spa. I thought one was female but Glyn reckons it was three blokes (it's hard to tell once they were
in the water). I was a bit taken aback by this as were the Japanese family next to me who hooted with laughter and took photos. As did I, but just to record the moment!
Apparently the three monkeys that turned up weren't the right monkeys, so the actual park wasn't opened (and so we'd not paid anything yet) and it could be a few hours until the actual troop put in an appearance, if at all. So we popped to the rather basic cafe where the only food available was a local delicacy of glutinous rice stuffed in bamboo leaves, cooked in the hot spring called chimaki. It was ok, but a bit sweet even after being dipped in the ground soya beans. Low tables where you would have to sit on the floor were available but we opted for the western style tables as Glyn's knees and back don't hold with sitting on the floor. Obviously shoes were to be removed and fortunately there were no slippers to make a faux pas with.
We had not noticed that there was free tea available until a Japanese bloke poured us some from the urn, realising that the
tourists were clueless. Seems we were also clueless about the food situation as a Japanese couple turned up and ordered hot noodle soup to slurp on. This is normal and polite here, but it is weird hearing it - it's quite loud!
Back uphill to the monkey park where we were informed that the troop had still not turned up but we could go in anyway, so we thought we may as well go and see the hot springs sans monkeys. But to our surprise, three of the wrong monkeys from earlier were there, stuffing their faces in front of two tourists! Woo-hoo! I was happy with this as the monkeys tend to only go in the hot springs during winter to warm up and although it was raining, it wasn't cold. So I wasn't expecting them to go bathing anyway, Glyn and I both got selfies with monkeys and mine bared it's teeth and banged on a wooden railing to see me off. Bit cheeky I reckon as there's no way it could take me on, being only a dot of an animal. To be honest, the actual hot spring area was a manmade dump cluttered with broken
iron railings and concrete
Happy with the monkey action, we headed down the hill behind an elderly Japanese couple who also got more than they'd bargained for as another naked guy appeared down the hill as he was entering the onsen, small towel on head naturally.
The rain had just about stopped for the first time today so we thought we'd risk the 6k walk down the hill. It turned out that the hiking trail was the same as the only road up there, so unusually for us, we failed to get lost. Crossing over a river, we spotted some monkeys beside the road, then one on the bridge railing plus more in the trees! Could this be the elusive troop we'd been waiting for? They hopped off down a track, with some in the trees leaping by - our very own wild monkeys running freely around us with no fences, keepers or tourists - what a wonderful experience! We quietly followed until they came to a large dam with an artificial waterfall where they played in the water and groomed each other. We took photos but in the end just stopped to watch, deeply happy to have
been allowed to share this short time with them.
Eventually the monkeys meandered away up the steep hill and so we went on our way, glad that the rain had started again. The hill down was incredibly steep and I can imagine that driving up there in the snow must be the opposite of fun - one year recently they had 3 metres of snowfall!! The edge of town was marked with a graveyard and at this point we realised that the previous rainfall was but a trickle, as now it was torrential.
Walking through the old part of town (Shuba), that was full of onsen and hotels but little in the way of bars or somewhere to shelter. By the time we got back to our Ryokan, I was absolutely soaked through and the waterproof cover on my camera bag turned out not to be. Even my brand new waterproof hiking boots had given up on keeping my feet dry and my socks were dripping wet. The Ryokan man switched on a machine for drying ski boots so that we could put our sodden gear on it, then he suggested we have an onsen to warm up
- great idea, we both went for it.
We braved the rain yet again to pop out for tea, only it wasn't raining!! - it was just that the sounds of very full gurgling drains and rapid river made it sound like it was still slashing it down. Tea was at a more mainstream restaurant than yesterday where we got to keep our shoes. We weren't too sure what we were ordering or the sizes to expect, so went slowly, having to order again when we realised that we'd only requested enough food to feed a large mouse. Even with an English speaking waitress from the Netherlands who was Bridget Jones' doppelgänger turned up, we still messed things up. However I did get to try the local saki, 'Engi' which tasted like a very strong citrus wine and came served in a 180 ml white earthenware jug and finger bowl to pour it in.
The cherry on the cake of the day was the heated toilet seat in the restaurant! OMG, that was good - why aren't they a thing in the UK? I'm pretty sure there was one at the monkey park earlier only I didn't believe
it, as the actual facility was a bit rough so I'd convinced myself it was something to do with the hot springs. I was so impressed that I made Glyn use the loo even though he didn't need to! Sadly the men's weren't heated - boo!
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Mary
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Great blog Clare. Great to read & see your pics!