Monkey Mountain

On my last Sunday in Sa Kaeo, my host family finally decided to take me on a trip to MonkeyMountain. I had heard stories from several volunteers about the mountain and I was excited to experience it for myself. We also passed it on our way to Chanaburi for the AIDS conference about a month earlier and the mountain's distinctive outline--a steep slope between two peaks--made quite the impression on me.

Since Tara's family was related to mine, my host parents invited her, her mom, and her little niece as well. So we set off at 8:45 AM (just a little off our original planned time of 8:00...45 minutes late is pretty impressive for Thai time) and 30 minutes later, we could see the mountain.
We were greeted by a huge monkey statue upon arrival and further on the path, we were greeted by what seemed like a thousand monkeys! I knew that we would see monkeys but I did not imagine anything quite like this: Monkeys ran up to you expecting food, monkeys chased each other under and over parked trucks, monkeys fell from trees and landed next to you...monkeys EVERYWHERE!

There were stalls set up that sold peanuts and bananas for visitors to feed the monkeys and pretty soon, Tara and I found ourselves between packs of monkeys either throwing food at them or having them come over to get it themselves. It was pretty cool holding the food in your hands and having the monkeys actually walk up to you and grab the food. Their appetites were pretty amazing. Several monkeys--among them a mother with her baby clinging to her belly-- wrestled eachother for the bananas.


The highlight of the trip however, was a climb up the side of the mountain unto a cave. My ashtma was bothering me earlier that day but I just could not resist climbing the stairs up to the cave. At that point, I didn't even know what lay inside but from the ground, it looked pretty cool. Inside the cave, was quite a pleasant surprise. At the very entrance, a couple of golden Buddha images were there for blessings upon visitors. There was a monk as well though I wasn't sure if the monk actually lived there.

Further up, for those brave enough, were some wooden stairs that didn't look all that secure. Tara and I saw a couple of people on it though so we figured it was safe. Turns out, it wasn't the stairs that we should have been worried about but the monkeys! At the bottom of the mountain, the monkeys were used to seeing people and while they were agressive in their search for food, they did a good job of not getting "too"close to the visitors. Up the mountain however, it was a different situation. I saw a monkey pull on the sleeve of a little kid and it would have bitten the kid on the arm had the child's mother not screamed and taken a swing at the aggressive little primate with her purse. Tara got attacked on her leg and I had a monkey go for my arm. Fortunately, we did not get bit but it was a little scary (The movie, "Outbreak" came to mind several times) The view from the top, however, was worth the scene with the little buggers. At the very top was a sitting Buddha overlooking what seemed like all of Sa Kaeo. It was great just sitting there enjoying a breather after the climb and the wild monkeys--very peaceful.

After a while, we started heading down and while the serenity of sitting atop the mountain with the Buddha lingered, a couple of monkeys attempted to shatter the peace once more. Thankfully, Tara found that she had a few peanuts in her purse and we used them as decoys, throwing them to the side and making our escape as the monkeys greedily went for their food.

When we got back to the bottom, we met a monk who lived inside a cave and he gave all of us a few well-wishes. We hung out for a little bit longer in the park (I got to take a picture of a monkey taking a late morning siesta) before heading home. It was a fun "Bai-tiao" (excursion) and I'm definitely glad I got to experience Monkey Mountain.

Tara hiking up to the cave My host mom close to the topThe sillouhette of the BuddhaInside the Monk's home within the cave (check out the television and the fridge)The outside of the monk's homeSiestaGood way to spend a last Sunday with the folks