Day 13: Kyoto Free day: Arashiyama Monkey park, Golden Temple

Ivan and Jasmine: This morning we walked all the way to the top of Fushimi Inari at 7:00 AM, we were able to beat the whole crowd and even the heat for the most part. 

There were many separate routes on Inari but we took the main route that took us to the top where the Kami no Yashiro shrine is located. It was very pretty and getting to beat the crowd made it all the better.

Madeline: This morning we got up extra early to go explore a nearby shrine (Higashi Honganji), there was barely any people and it was super pretty. 

Then we walked through a bamboo forest that was super crowded (Arashimaya bamboo grove). 

Then we hiked a very tall mountain to go to a monkey park, the monkeys were all on the loose and they were super cute. 

Elliana: This morning, we decided to sleep in a bit at the Ryoukan, and took the 9am bus to Arashiyama Monkey Park. We got a little lost on the way there, but was able to do some shopping and eat gelato on our detour.

Once we made it to the top, we were able to see the monkeys free range and feed them apples from inside a safe location. They were so cute and polite. Afterwards, we went shopping for a bit again and then headed back to meet up with the group.

 It is too hot!! We escaped from the heat by spending time at Karaoke 

Then we went to the golden Kinkakuji temple. It was so beautiful and was definitely my favorite temple so far.

Locus: Today me, Jamison, and Sebastian got up and left around 7:30 to go to Arashiyama. It took a while for us to find our train in such a large station. When we got there we passed a lot of different places and sights such as togetsu-kyo bridge, a traditional Japanese bridge. At 9:00 we rode a traditional house boat up stream. It was very relaxing and we saw many birds. 

Afterwards we went to arashiyama's monkey park. It was a hike uphill but the view was amazing, we also were able to feed the monkeys peanuts there!!!! Next we went through the arashiyam bamboo forest where we saw someone handling a fushigi ball and heard someone playing a bamboo flute.

We got a little lost after that but found a really cool container themed cafe for lunch! When we got back to Kyoto we went and sang Kareoke for 2 hours, it was very fun and a great way to cool off. Finally we finished our day by going shopping in Kyoto station, overall it was a very fun eventful day!

Sayonara Kyoto Tower and Kyoto station! 

Hello Hiroshima!   We are staying at Hiroshima Red helment INN