They didn't attack this time...

"When you release expectations, you are free to enjoy things for what they are instead of what you think they should be."

-Mandy Hale

     One of the things I struggle with while traveling is expectations.  Trips just never seem to turn out how movies make them seem (for example where is the super attractive guy that is apparently supposed to show up when a single girl is traveling? This always happens in the movies!)  and usually I have researched the place I am going to death which creates some pretty high expectations.  This trip I actually did pretty well on the research front as in I didn't research, I left most of the planning up to Beth.  This trip the problem came that our trip was so amazing that when we actually got to the whole reason for this trip, the snow monkeys, we were kind of bummed they didn't live up to the rest of our time there.  For anyone traveling to Tokyo I would still recommend visiting the monkeys, maybe just save Disney for after. 

 Sunday morning we checked out of our accommodations and went out to see Meiji shrine.  We figured we should try and see at least one traditional Japanese thing.  The shrine was located in the middle of a forest.    

These are sake, rice wine, barrels.  Apparently sake plays an important part in shinto festivals, just like wine is used in Christian church services.  

These are Ema or wishing plaques.  You can buy them at the shrine and then write your prayer or wish on them.  I loved that some of them had snow monkeys on them.

Apparently you were supposed to toss some yen (money) into the offering box, bow your head twice, clap twice, and bow once more.  We were very confused by the clapping.

Here are a bride and groom leaving the shrine after getting married.  

It was so cool to see everyone in their kimonos.  This little kid was so cool.  His kimono had animals all over the sleeves and back.  

With how big Tokyo is (13.35 million people, New York has 8 million) it amazed me how clean the air was and just in general how clean everything was.  Korea is dirty.  There are no public trash cans so people tend to throw trash on the ground and the sewers are constantly leaking noxious fumes.  This was not the case at all in Tokyo.  All the streets were clean and there were not any sewer fumes to be found.  

Someday when I own a house, I want these chain downspouts.  

This lady was in one of the gardens and had this one bird eating out of her hand.  She would shoo any other birds that came away.  She must go there every day just to feed this bird.  

We saw these girls and had to ask to take a photo with them.  In hindsight, we should have just asked to take a photo of them.  I am not dressed nice enough to be in a photo with these ladies.  I love the blue and orange kimono.

What is a trip to Japan without eating sushi?  The sushi was good but that green stuff in the cup was disgusting.  It tasted like what I imagine grass tastes like.

 We thought we had planned everything out so well.  The snow monkeys were about 3 hours away by bullet train from Tokyo, so we decided to book a hotel in the nearest big city to cut down our travel time on Monday morning.  The nearest big city is Nagano. However Nagano is not only the name of a city it is also the name of a region, the largest region in Japan.  The hotel we booked was not in the city of Nagano, just in the region.  The first thing the receptionist asked us when we checked in was, "why are you here?"  We were in the middle of nowhere.  It made it even better that the hotel seems like it was a really nice hotel... in the 60's when it was built.  We had a turquoise phone in the room.  It was so bad that we ended up eating cup noodles in our room and playing cards.  

Because of our mistake with the hotel, Monday morning we had another 2 hours on the bullet train to get to the monkey park.  

To get to the hot springs, you have to walk through this gorgeous forest.  

 And then we got to the monkeys.  We expected there to be a lot of different pools but it turns out there was only one.  While we were there, only three monkeys decided to actually swim in the pool.  The rest were sitting on the sides or running up and down the surrounding mountains. 

This is what they look like after getting out of the water.  They lose about half of their size when their fur isn't fluffy.  They look hilarious.  

It was hard to get good pictures of the monkeys in the pool because of the steam.

I love how funny they look when you take away the fluffy fur.  However now that I think about it I guess they look like humans when you take away the fluffy fur.  

I think the fact that my favorite was the angry looking one says a lot about me. 

This is not a good photo but on the left side you can see the younger monkey getting squished by the older monkey.  The older one came running down the hillside, while the younger one ran away screaming.  I can just imagine him running away saying, "I didn't do it, I didn't do it"  Just like human siblings.

There were about 15 monkeys by the pool and then there were probably over 100 running up and down the mountain and sunning themselves.  

 This monkey kept getting closer...













and closer...

 This is the point where I might have started screaming BETH! and running behind her.  Luckily he didn't even glance my way.  These guys did not care at all that people were around.  You cannot really tell in the photos but these guys are much larger than the monkeys in Borneo.  These guys came up to our knees while on all fours, like the size of a medium dog.

This was the view from the bus stop.

Everyone got excited when this guy popped up near the people.  He faced the excited crowd for just enough time for everyone to get their cameras ready, and then turned around so his back was facing the crowd.  

The monkeys were cool but we probably only spent an hour at the park and then hiked back to the bus stop.  

I forgot to put these in earlier, but Saturday was Beth's birthday so we treated ourselves to an Alice in Wonderland themed cafe.  

There was a carousel in the middle of the room that the booths were built into and the waitresses were dressed as Alice.

Queen of Hearts risotto, its kind of hard to see but in the middle of the tomatoes is a crown.  

 And what is an Alice in Wonderland cafe without caterpillar cake and rabbit compote?  The other things in the dishes are jello, fruit cocktail, waffles, and chocolate mousse.

Tokyo is by far one of my favorite cities I have visited and Japan is the first country I have gone to that I feel the need to go back to.  Before I return home I would like to visit Kyoto and Hiroshima.