Monkey Buffet

Lopburi is a province of central Thailand (and just north of where I live). It is known for it's monkeys, who roam the streets freely. I've heard LOTS of stories of them fighting with people trying to steal their bags and whatever else they're carrying. The Thais say that the monkeys are descendants of Hanuman who, according to legend, claimed Lopburi as his kingdom. To celebrate the monkeys, a buffet and festival is held for them every year. Of course, there was no way I was going to miss an event like this! I'd been looking forward to it for weeks and it definitely didn't disappoint. It was probably the coolest thing I've done in Thailand so far! It was held at a wat and there were SO many people there. The grounds of the wat were completely covered by monkeys running around eating the food from their buffet. There were HUNDREDS of them!! There were newborn babies all the way up to the old fogey monkeys, who looked like wise old men. They definitely aren't shy animals! They were climbing all over everyone and helping themselves to whatever they pleased.

Just to be clear, I was the one behind bars. I was inside the wat, the monkey was outside.


A little cutie patootie enjoying some watermelon.


Mother and child...


Oh you know, just checking for bugs...


Check out the little newborn curled up to it's mother!


I'll admit, some of them kind of scared me...


Erin being attacked... the monkey was eating her hair!


This one had a bit of a superiority complex, looking down on the childish antics of the festival apparently too cool to join in.


He looks like a little old man!


Apparently I wasn't the only one annoyed by this woman and her camera...


Being a sport and looking at the camera for me.


A Thai man was feeding the monkeys his peanuts (and again, WE were the ones behind the bars!).


Sticking his tongue out!


Just hanging out... literally.


The aftermath. These were all awesome images made out of food, which the monkeys clearly destroyed.


I made a friend!


Coke vs. Pepsi