Its Just (Monkey) Business2

After a good number of uneventful weeks (note lack of blog posts) I’ve finally done something that was exciting enough to warrant an update on my adventures. August has a been a pretty lackluster month due to the lack of breaks and money- working permits and entry-visas are expensive items apparently. So traveling had, for the most part, been confined to the limits of Bangkok, primarily bars, bowling, the movies, and the sketchy water/amusement park- of which I am now a year-time member for a cool $30USD. The day pass was about $17, so why not pay the extra bit and come back at least once.

The water park isn’t the exciting part, however cool it is, but instead it is a day trip I took about 2 hours north of Bangkok to Lopburi. Lopburi is the capital of… you guessed it, the Lopburi Province situated about 150km north of Bangkok. It’s not a particularly large town and easily walkable once you arrive there. The Khmer Empire actually ruled the region for quite a long time and when doing so destroyed all of the old temples and built their own, so most of the temple architecture is quite similar to what you would find in Cambodia, rather than Thailand. The main temple we were visiting was originally Hindu with its three peeks representing Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, was later converted to a Buddhist temple. How this works exactly I don’t know, I guess plop a few Buddhas on the inside and its all good. No need to make it complicated.

What really draws the people to Lopburi however are the monkeys. The Crab-eating Macaque to be exact. These rascals inhabit the Prang Sam Yot khmer temple and Sarn Phra Karn khmer shrine. There are hundreds climbing all over the temple and running around waiting for handouts by curious and obnoxious tourist like myself. They certainly weren’t afraid of humans, but rather act like them more than anything, trying to pickpocket or grab anything you’ve got dangling off of your backpack. My friend Michelle got her water bottle lifted by one them because the white bag it was in caught the eye of one of our furry friends. He then proceeded to run away with it and drink its contents by chomping into the side of it. It is recommended you shouldn’t wear jewelry or earrings, as they could bye the instigator to a lot of unneeded pain. I purposely left mine in Bangkok.

The monkeys don’t exactly stay right at the temple either, but many cross the street and play on the window gratings and street awnings. Other have been known to jump from the fence or power lines onto the nearby passing train, as if hobo looking for adventure, but eventually returning to the only home they ever knew. There is a rather comical story in the Lonely Planet guide book that tells of the monkey troupe which at one point split in two. The “splinter troop” as LP puts it was led by a half-blind dominant male who gave up the “temple’s sanctity, for the temptations of the city.” Really all they did was cross the street to play on the buildings, they didn’t actually go very far. But I like the idea of a one-eyed renegade monkey. I bet his primate buddies had a cool name for him, like Brain Muncher or Banana Smasher.

While the monkeys are somewhat of a nuisance to the residents, they decided long ago that it far outweighs the tourism money that it brings to the town. Every November the town residents hold a feast for them by laying out tables and table of food for them. They’ll eat just about everything. However, we visited a few other old temple ruins and an old palace in the town that wasn’t overrun by monkeys. Which was quite nice after having to look over your shoulder every two seconds for a flying monkey. One actually jumped on my arm from a fence about 5 feet away. I won’t try to pretend I played it cool.

We finished the day by going to a small local restaurant to have a drink and quite possibly the best chicken cashewnut I have had in Thailand. Chicken cashewnut is my obsession here in Thailand to the point  that any restaurant I go to where I haven’t tried it I feel obligated to order it. I would consider my somewhat of a Triple C… Chicken Cashewnut Connoisseur. The guy who owned the place also showed us a bottle of Thai alcohol (no idea what kind) that had a king cobra and a scorpion in it, which looked totally bad ass. I however wasn’t about to drink it, even if it would’ve made me look like a total bad ass.

He did give us a free Thai vodka drink to share, which he claimed was super nasty and powerful. He had it mixed with a giant ice cube and about half a tall glass full of limes. Quite frankly, it was pretty nasty, because it tasted like I was drinking half a glass full of limes.

Let the monkey pictures ensue.