Monkey Training Center

---

Undecided to what we were going to do and not wanting to go to the temples of the area we decided that the Monkey Training Center sounded like fun. We rode out to the center in a Chiang Mai taxi, which is a pickup truck with bench seats in the back with a shell over it. This is the main form of taxi here in Chiang Mai. I do not like it, because you can not see where you are going or any of the surrounding areas. The next monkey show was not for 45 minutes, but we were allowed to walk around the site. They had a couple of younger monkeys (one year old and a six month old) on a platform where you could pet and hold them. It was awesome as they were playful. The older one was a bit more aggressive, as it would try to bite occasionally and bounced around quite a bit. The younger one liked to get close and would pull at any lose clothing or item (like sunglasses) that it could get it hands or feet around. It really liked Scott and played with him for a while. It liked to pull and bite my hair. We had purchased peanuts and bananas to feed them. The older one, named Christmas, did not want the peanuts while the younger one loved them. After feeling like we were monopolizing the monkeys we decided to check out the other monkeys that were chained and or in cages. We threw bananas and peanuts to them. When I was being careless a monkey in a cage reached his hands threw the top of a cage and grabbed my arm and tried to bite it. The cage hole was too small for him to get bite, but it made me be more aware. The monkeys were all Pig-tailed Macaques. We watched the show which explained how they train the monkeys to pick coconuts for the local farmers. They first show them how to handle a coconut on the ground, then they train them to remove coconuts hanging on poles, then they teach them to climb the trees and remove coconuts. They show also contained monkey acts, kind of like a circus. Scott was used as a prop a few times. They are intelligent animals and seemed to be trained easily. Overall it was a great experience, even though the chained monkeys made me a bit sad.

---

Photos

Monkey @ Monkey Training Center
Eating a peanut I had given him.

1 y.o. monkey was trying to steal my purse
It was also trying to open it.

1 y.o. monkey named Christmas
Named for the day he was born on.

Monkey doing wai
Wai is the prayer like gesture of hands held together at chin level that has the same meaning as shaking hands and also a sign of respect.

Comments

[Buz]

Monkey training
Neat pics! So now they've got mokey slaves pickin the coconuts.

[Cynda]

I could sure use one of those monkeysaround here to hang my laundry out for me and wash the car. I bet they're cheaper than my maid!