Monkey Park and Nara Mountain Burning Festival (Jan. 26, 2019)

This morning I got up fairly early in order to take a bus to Arishayama to visit the Snow Monkey Park. It was pretty cold today and the park is on water so it was a brisk outing. I found the park, and then the monkey area. To get to them, you have to climb the mountain which is a steep climb for about 20 minutes. I made it up ok, saw the monkeys then made my way back down. I wanted to be back to gather my stuff and get going on the train to Nara. Here's some pics from the monkey park visit and other street shots.



After the park, I got my stuff and left to find the train to Nara for the mountain burning festival. They do this every year on the fourth Saturday in January. It's a huge event complete with Shinto parade, rituals along the parade route, and fireworks. Then comes the part where they set fire to the side of a grassy mountain to bring peace for the coming year. It was very cool, but incredibly cold. I'm still chilled and in my bed with two pairs of pants on and two shirts, including my hood. An experience worth doing though. On the train here, I met two guys from France. One works in Japan and the other works at the same company, but is just here for two weeks on business. They were going to the Nara festival as well, so we joined up and they brought me along with them. Julien, the guy who works in Nagoya, had been to the festival before so he knew his way around well. That was perfect because I've reached my Wifi limit and now only have slow Wifi which sometimes doesn't connect at all when out. It's ok because I'm almost finished my trip, but is definitely a pain and slows me down getting to places. There's lots of free wifi, but not when I'm walking and trying to find my way along the little windy streets. So, to be taken along with them, was just perfect. Here are the pics of the festival and dinner afterwards. We ran into another French guy while at the festival, who joined us as well. It was a stray cast of four, but really fun. There are a lot of deer here, that's what Nara is famous for, but the interesting part is, that they roam free all over the place and people feed them. They were all around the park where the festival was held, just hanging out hoping to be fed. Super weird at first, but very cool. Here's the pics from the park, the festival, some street shots and dinner. After that, I came back to the hostel and they went to a pub for a drink. I didn't want to go because I was so cold, and was more drawn to being in my cozy jammies, and bed, writing my blog......lol.





It's back to Yokosuka for me tomorrow. I hope to hang out with Keron before leaving. He has sure offered me an amazing experience! Pretty soon, I'll leave for Canada, stopping to visit Jan in BC, then onward home. Still some days left though, so stay tuned.