Monkey Mayhem

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Having got up fairly early and taken a tuk tuk to the train station, we got on a train to go to our next destination - Lopburi, a town an hour's journey North of Ayutthaya.

Once on the train we met a couple of very friendly Thai people who (as seems to happen a fair bit) were interested in what we were doing, where we were from and keen to just talk to us about anything at all (despite their English not being fantastic).

Due to a lack of the Internet in the previous hostel (and a lack of options to stay in Lopburi) we hadn't booked any accomodation. When we got off the train obviously looked fairly lost and one of the guys we'd been speaking to (a Thai Christian) noticed this and, having had a discussion with his friend, offered us a lift to a local hotel. We accepted (note to parents: this wasn't half as dodgy as it sounds) and he took us to a place just outside of the town. For £12 a night we had a big room with an en-suite. Though it wasn't as clean as we'd first thought - there were some strange black hairs on our bed sheets - it was fine for the night.

Anyway, having unpacked our stuff, we heading out for the real reason we were in Lopburi - the monkeys!

We'd heard that a couple of the temples near the centre had been taken over by a band of monkeys and wanted to have a look, before we headed further North to Chiang Mai.

What we were expecting to see was a few of them here and there and maybe a few good photo opportunities, what we got was quite different.. In an area that can't have been bigger than a square km there must have been at least 500 monkeys. These weren't contained to the temples either, they were everywhere.. Crossing the road, on top of buildings, going along electricity cables (as well as jumping and swinging on them) and following humans as they went around. We even saw one try and grab a school kids bag and they only way for her to keep it was to literally hit it from the monkey's hands! I don't have any good pictures to show quite how many there were, but having got back we read that there are around 2000 monkeys in the area! So trust me, it was a lot!

We also were subject to the monkeys attacks. When going around one of the wats, I bought some food to feed the little fellas. However within about 30 seconds, one of them jumped up and grabbed it out of my hand and ran off with it. Helen also had one jump on her back (which she says was very big) and one chase her around me..

Still, we just about survived long enough to have a look inside the temple, which contained loads of bats and a giant rat.

We then headed back, had a steak for dinner that wasn't great (Helen says it's put her off steak for life) and went to sleep ready for our 10 hour train journey to Chiang Mai.

Anyway, enough of me.. What you're really interested in is lots of monkey pictures, right? Well there are plently below..

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Comments

[Claire]

Cheeky little monkeys : )
Hello!! Glad to hear that you are both having a fab time - I'm sooo jealous though. Are you even missing home a tiny bit?! Love all of your photos, make sure you keep us updated. I have some news... I bought a house the other day : ) It's a cute little 2 bed in Longwell Green (Gilroy Close, just off of Longbeach Road) It was a absolute bargain... I almost felt sorry for the lady selling it. (Almost, but not quite) Fingers crossed, I'll be moving in January sometime. I'm nearly a grown up, yey!!!!! xxx

[Ben and Emma]

Monkeys and protests
Hi guys. We're loving your blog but wonder if you'll still be updating it quite so frequently a couple of months down the line?! Whereabouts in Thailand are you (North, East, nr Bangkok)? I only ask cus of the protests and unrest which we read is happening in Bangkok, esp in the airport. Very worrying. Anyway, sounds like you've really thrown yourself into the travelers lifestyle and are having some awesome experiences (the monkey town sounds cool!) Take care of yourselves. Everyone is well here. Love Em (and Ben who's at work) xxx