Snow monkeys & Onsens

Headed out to see the famous onsen bathing snow monkeys at Jigokudani Monkey Park & this guy above was my favourite! (The haze is steam off the water)

From the car park it was just a 30 minute walk along a snow covered track to the monkey park.

Here we were greeted by lots of cute, playful, foraging for food very entertaining monkeys!

He got the apple from inside a pvc tunnel using a stick to push it out, he was quite proud of himself!

From here we walked over to the onsen area to see some of the guys soaking in the hot water. It was here we were disappointed to see that not only do they scatter food on the ground but also in the onsen to entice the monkeys in... oh well, this is Japan & they wouldn't like to disappoint the tourists afterall.... Notice the extremely red face of the guy on the right - he'd been in there a while!

Afterwards we made like monkeys & also visited an onsen. It was a really nice one in a hotel only meant for guests (we didn't realise this when we entered the building. At first the man said it was only for hotel guests so we left then he came after us & explained seeings no one is using it at the moment that it was ok for us to. So for 500 yen (about $5) we were given a nice onsen outfit! Normally you go naked but this onsen is mixed & also within view of surrounding buildings.

With the inside onsens I can only take about 10 - 15 minutes before I get too hot & have to get out.

However this open air one was great & we soaked our car trip weary bodies for quite a while.