Monkey People

The six of us left Tanah Rata together, a band of travelers who had formed some bond over beer and idle dorm room gossip in the days leading up to departure. Each had time to kill and enough spontaneity to head in the direction of the unknown. Someone pointed on the map, the others nodded in agreement and so the Pangkor Plan was formed.

The next few days were a blur of sun worship, sunburn, sunstroke, many rounds of vodka and inedible food. The mosquitoes feasted, jellyfish stung, and everyone suffered sea rock cuts and grazes that all seemed to require (according to the boys) immediate nursing attention. Outside was hot, the water was cold, the AC was freezing and a particular size of towel/hot pants were altogether way too small!

All that aside however, there is one simple Pangkor incident - a mere two-minute observation - that lingers. One afternoon Bart and I ventured out on a nature walk of sorts. There was nothing particularly outstanding about what we saw - some puppies, a crow, hornbill, shells, crabs and so on. But as we turned to head back again, a group of monkeys caught our attention - swinging through the trees and playing along the beach. They didn't even seem to notice we were there so we stood for several moments watching them play. They jumped from the trees, chasing and shrieking and having fun. They wrestled and ran, tackled and talked amongst themselves.

Just then a boat pulled up to the shore, laden with what appeared to be Chinese tourists. We thought they'd come for the monkeys but they didn't even seem to notice they were there. The monkeys sat for several moments watching the tourists play. They jumped from the boat, chasing and shrieking and having fun. They splashed and swam, chuckled and chattered amongst themselves.

At that point we turned to leave. I had to smile. Within seconds the monkey's behaviour had been mirrored by human action. It struck me as strange and scary and hilarious all at the same time. It turned an uneventful walk into something worth reflecting on: monkey-people or people-monkeys? Just a thought.

In closing I would like to offer a huge THANK YOU to the Pangkor crew for a really awesome time on the island. I look forward to seeing you all again in the near future and wish you the best of luck on your travels. xxx

---

---

---