Monday, February 28, 2011

More about snow monkeys

As if there aren't enough pictures of the snow monkey hot spring on Flickr,
here are mine:
(assuming the flicker embedded slide show trick works...)




http://www.flickr.com/photos/58896081@N04/sets/72157625805638429/

Of course, I am back home now, in frozen SW Ontario, trying to catch up with all
the stuff at work, and at home that was put off.

But I still have a few more posts for THIS trip, which I will get around to as
soon as I can catch my breath and do the dishes, laundry, shovel the snow,
back taxes, stuff at work, morestuff at. . . . WAugghhhH!!!! I wanna go BACK!

No crying...

More info about the hot-spring snow monkeys:
They are Japanese macaques - and really quite common in rural areas of japan.
This bunch found a hot spring, took it over, and became a tourist draw.
Their cousins in town pester shop owners, raid stores and hissss!!! at
visitors to temples. This group however are just relaxing.

The Visitor's center, a few hundred yards away has lockers so
YOU DO NOT BRING FOOD, (hanging out of your pack-sack,
like some thick headed tourist, to the hot spring - lest the
enterprising monkeys relieve you of it..

Check out the Live-Cam at:
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm

After we got back to Chiba, we cancelled the Kyoto trip..
Who needs 400 year temples after seeing SNOW MONKEYS !!!!!