By The Boab Tree
I really like this song from the movie "Australia"... :) And of course, the gorgeous scenery...
p/s: I never knew that the Australian brand "Billabong" actually refers to "a small lake" in Australian English :P
Monday, January 05, 2009
Japan Winter 08/09 - *Snow Monkey Special*
This post is gonna be ALL ABOUT MONKEYS, so be warned! :) Japanese macaques, to be technically correct... Coincidentally, I chanced upon a photo in last Sat's Straits Times with 3 bathing monkeys from the same place-- Jigokudani Monkey Park. Jigokudani apparently means "Hell's Valley", cos the boiling onsen water coupled with surrounding steep valley/cliffs apparently conjure up the image of hell. Well, ironically they were in a most "hellish" place enjoying the most heavenly steam baths in winter...
Our ryokan owner, a pleasant grandfatherish figure by the name of Mr Yumoto, dropped us at the Snow Monkey Park entrance... It was kinda thrilling alighting in the middle of nowhere, cos I had no idea what to expect... And so began the "20-min" hike to see the famed snow monkeys... Well, if you walk as fast as the Japanese. If you dun stop to take pics every 2 min or so... :P
And so the hike continues... Well I suppose technically it was more of a snowy morning walk, cos the terrain was pretty gentle...
After something like 40 min, there were finally some concrete signs of civilisation! I really liked the look of these bright red benches covered by snow...
And the half-frosted Honda motorbike.
Entrance to the monkey park!
The onsen was tucked all the way inside the park, but we began to spot many many monkeys foraging for stuff in the snow almost as soon as we entered...
(Gazes painfully at sky) Why??? Why is it so cold???
Hmmm, he should join the clever guys bobbing in the onsen... :P
The little ones were irresistably cute. They looked like they were wearing brown eskimo suits....
Ah, the debut of my little guy... :) This is my most-photographed dude of the day... And this is one of my fav pics -- where he (I'm assuming it's a he) gazes pensively into the sky...
And checks out his very human-like fingers...
While the three of us were wondering how to get baby snow monkey to look straight into our cams, an ojisan standing (armed with SLR with telezoom) beside me did a brilliantly simple trick... He gathered some snow from the surroundings, shaped them into a tiny snowball and dropped it in front of the little one... It worked...
And the little snowball became his little treasure.... *Heart melts* :P
Little ones aside, there were also king-like figures.... presumably getting onsen massages from the more junior monkeys??? Unfortunately for the poor masseur, this customer doesn't seem too satisfied leh. In fact he looks pretty grumpy and annoyed? :P
A close-up of the red-faced Japanese macaque... Hee, if my experience has piqued your interest in these snow monkeys, you can read more about them on the official website here... There's even a snow monkey webcam... :)
This post is gonna be ALL ABOUT MONKEYS, so be warned! :) Japanese macaques, to be technically correct... Coincidentally, I chanced upon a photo in last Sat's Straits Times with 3 bathing monkeys from the same place-- Jigokudani Monkey Park. Jigokudani apparently means "Hell's Valley", cos the boiling onsen water coupled with surrounding steep valley/cliffs apparently conjure up the image of hell. Well, ironically they were in a most "hellish" place enjoying the most heavenly steam baths in winter...
Our ryokan owner, a pleasant grandfatherish figure by the name of Mr Yumoto, dropped us at the Snow Monkey Park entrance... It was kinda thrilling alighting in the middle of nowhere, cos I had no idea what to expect... And so began the "20-min" hike to see the famed snow monkeys... Well, if you walk as fast as the Japanese. If you dun stop to take pics every 2 min or so... :P
And so the hike continues... Well I suppose technically it was more of a snowy morning walk, cos the terrain was pretty gentle...
After something like 40 min, there were finally some concrete signs of civilisation! I really liked the look of these bright red benches covered by snow...
And the half-frosted Honda motorbike.
Entrance to the monkey park!
The onsen was tucked all the way inside the park, but we began to spot many many monkeys foraging for stuff in the snow almost as soon as we entered...
(Gazes painfully at sky) Why??? Why is it so cold???
Hmmm, he should join the clever guys bobbing in the onsen... :P
The little ones were irresistably cute. They looked like they were wearing brown eskimo suits....
Ah, the debut of my little guy... :) This is my most-photographed dude of the day... And this is one of my fav pics -- where he (I'm assuming it's a he) gazes pensively into the sky...
And checks out his very human-like fingers...
While the three of us were wondering how to get baby snow monkey to look straight into our cams, an ojisan standing (armed with SLR with telezoom) beside me did a brilliantly simple trick... He gathered some snow from the surroundings, shaped them into a tiny snowball and dropped it in front of the little one... It worked...
And the little snowball became his little treasure.... *Heart melts* :P
Little ones aside, there were also king-like figures.... presumably getting onsen massages from the more junior monkeys??? Unfortunately for the poor masseur, this customer doesn't seem too satisfied leh. In fact he looks pretty grumpy and annoyed? :P
A close-up of the red-faced Japanese macaque... Hee, if my experience has piqued your interest in these snow monkeys, you can read more about them on the official website here... There's even a snow monkey webcam... :)
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