When Monkeys Attack!

On August 5th my parents and I travelled to the Yamamoto's home in Gotenyama (in between Osaka and Kyoto). When we got there we ate a wonderful lunch (thank you Mrs. Yamamoto!) and then hopped in the van (which was groaning from all of the food we had packed) and started our road trip to Shikoku. Our first stop; Kobe, where we would catch our overnight ferry (eeek!)


KOBE

I had never been to Kobe before. It was ridiculously hot and steamy out but we walked up the hills to the Ijikan, or foreigners houses. Kobe was famous for it's foreign trade and residences in the late 19th century. It was kind of weird...very out of place. Kind of like pioneer village dropped in Japan.



I noticed a lot of pirate pictures around Kobe (it is a port town)...so yo, ho, yo, ho a pirate's life for me...


Kobe is also famous for it's Kobe beef (click the picture below to check out the prices). I didn't see any cows but get this; Kobe beef cows are fed the choicest of grains and beer! Beer is also massaged into their bodies with big brushes (Is everyone picturing that...big brushes...spoiled, wagamama cows). I guess it's not a bad way to live, if you're a cow. The most disturbing thing, my guidebook said is that Japanese cows can be twice the size of normal cows! But my question is...where are they hiding the cows? I travel a lot and have never seen any cows grazing in the fields....

We ate dinner at a restaurant with a great view. We watched the sunset on Kobe's port and then made our way to catch our ferry. We had to wait quite a while....


So we ended up all taking a nap in the ferry terminal...My dad loves this picture.

The ferry finally arrived, we drove on, grabbed our bags and then made our way into the 'hotel' part of the ferry. It was the strangest thing...complete with public bathing area, arcade, souvenir shop, restaurants, etc...but it had a ferry-feel...(Steph, there were no cute Irish children singing about escalators or small 'children' feeding 'imaginary' birds....but there were a lot of people rushing in to eat curry!)


Now, most people who know me, know that I HATE boats. Ever since I was young and my mom brought home a book about the Titanic, I have been afraid of dying in a boating accident. I hate being away from the shore and I hate looking down into the water. So, you can imagine that I wasn't too excited about sleeping on one...all night...in the dark, open water...

Mayumi, Mrs. Yamamoto, my mom and I stayed in one room. It was kind of hostel-like, right down to the sketchy blankets. I didn't get much sleep. The rumbling of the engine, the slight swaying and the fact that it was freezing cold made for an uncomfortable night.

SHIKOKU

The boat's wake up call was at something like 5:30am and when we emerged on the deck we could see that we were approaching Matsuyama port in Shikoku (thank god). Watching the sunrise was beautiful.



We drove for a bit and then had a breakfast sandwich in a very beautiful park in Dogo. There were cranes, turtles and a pack of wild cats (pride/herd???meh) roaming around the park watching us eat our delicious breakfast.

DOGO ONSEN

Next we stopped at the oldest onsen in Japan, Dogo Onsen. The most famous bathhouse here is the one above. We soaked in the boiling water (the bath wasn't anything special but it had a nice atmosphere) and while it was relaxing...it was so hot and humid outside that I couldn't cool off and ended up feeling a bit unwell. I'm sure it's really nice in cooler weather.



Along the highway we stopped at a scenic spot to take some pictures of the sea. We discovered that the hills were covered in yuzu and mikan trees. How someone planted those trees or harvests the fruit on the steep hillsides is beyond me.

At first we didn't know what this was (below) but my dad and I figured out that it is some kind of mikan/yuzu park amusement ride for kids. It looked old and rusted and there was even an upside down loop in the track. I wonder what the little mikan train/monorail thing looks like? Fruit rollercoaster of death anyone?

EVIL MONKEYS


Back in car, we drove along a very narrow and winding road until we reached another scenic area beside a waterfall and river. When we pulled into the parking spot we noticed a monkey. Aaawww....isn't it cute? We scrambled out of the car and then it happened.

Picture this: My mom still trapped in the back of the van waiting for someone to unlock the middle seat and let her out, when the little monkey hops into the back of the van and grabs my bag. She starts screaming, 'the monkey's in the van!!' and my dad goes to grab the bag. The monkey lets go and then cheekily grabs a plastic bag (full of garbage) and runs off. The commotion must have alerted the rest of the monkey's gang and they quickly surround the van. My dad goes up to one to take it's picture. Bad move - it turns, growls and hissses. We all move away only to find that they've surrounded the van and are chasing us with evil looks on their faces. We somehow throw ourselves back into the van and drive off....with the evil monkeys watching us drive away...

We drove a bit down the road and tried to take some pictures near the river, when we noticed that they evil monkeys had followed us!! Once again we were chased into the van and we sped off farther down the road!



Below: Monkey Beating Sticks.





After walking along the river for a while (and watching some cute kids catch a fish!) we checked the van for stowaway monkeys, got back in and drove off....

to be continued.