Last Saturday, a few exchange students and I decided to take a day trip to Lop Buri, Thailand, otherwise known as ‘Monkey City.’ The day was wild from start to finish.
I woke up initially thinking I would order a Grab (like Uber) to take me from my apartment to the train station. It was going to be expensive (in Thai standards) but it would be convenient. The first few attempts, no drivers accepted my request. Finally, on the third try, a driver accepted my ride request. A minute or two later I received a call from him, but he kept speaking Thai to me. I think he was trying to ask me to go to a café so that he could pick me up but I really had no clue. I decided it would be best to just cancel the request and take a cheaper van from the shuttle station into the city instead, then get a taxi to take me to train station. In all this time, I kept kicking myself for not calculating ‘mishap’ time into my travel plans. Now all the vans from Rangsit into Bangkok have been the most efficient, fast, and cheap ways to get into the city. However, in order for the van to leave the station, it must be full. And the van will not leave until all the tickets are bought. So, sitting at the van station I waited another 30 minutes as people slowly streamed in to buy their tickets. At this point, I’m calculating if there’s any possibility I am going to make this train at all – the chances are slim.
Luckily for me, the train left an hour later than expected, so I made it to the station with time to spare. I approached the ticket booth and asked for a ticket to “Lopburi at 9:25.” The ticket man replied, “Oooooh, Lop-ah-buri at 9:20. Ok!” Thinking that the 5 minutes probably didn’t really make a difference (it’s called Thai time, a few minutes never matter), I told him yes. Walking back to my friends, I was finally ready to go after a stressful morning. Then I looked at my ticket. Apparently, I had bought a ticket to Ratchaburi at 9:20. Thankfully, the ticket was easy to exchange for the correct one, but I did have to show a picture of where I was trying to go. The dialogue went something like this…
Me: “I’m sorry. I was trying to go to ‘Lap-buri,’ not ‘Ratchaburi.’”
Ticket man: “Same place, same place.”
Me: “But they are different trains at different times? *Showing him my phone with ‘Lopuri’ googled.*
Him: “Yes, same place.”
Me: “No, Lap-buri.”
Him: *Looks at my phone* “Oooooh, Loope–buri! Oh!”
Apparently, what I was saying sounded a lot more like Ratchaburi than Lopburi. It’s also apparent that I really need to work on my Thai language skills…
Finally, on the train, we had three hours to Lopburi. It was a beautiful train ride and it felt nice to get further and further away from the city. Upon arriving in the town, we were greeted by a giant statue of a monkey– obviously, the town really embraces their claim to fame.
We decided to wander the city a bit and spotted the first pair of monkeys on the roof of a little, local restaurant. Excited tourists as we are, we stopped in the middle of the street to take photos. The monkeys, obviously excited in return, began humping each other. It was not the last time we got to see the circle of life up close and personal during the day. Walking around the small town, there are monkeys (macaques) on every roof, railing, sidewalk, and anywhere else you turn your head. The tiny ones (the cutest but also the most mischievous) were not afraid to climb on you to get a better look. They want to open your backpack or pull your hair or try to grab your sunglasses or anything else that looks fun to them, so you have to stay on red alert monkey-watch at all times.
The monkeys truly rule this town, and it was hard to imagine how different daily life must be for people who live here permanently. Yes, it’s about the only thing that attracts tourists to the city, but these little buggers are everywhere! And they definitely have no respect for personal boundaries, especially if food is involved. All of the store owners keep wooden sticks with them so that they can shoo-away the nuisances, the owner of a crepe stand we stopped at had a slingshot one her to warn away any hungry macaques. Yet other than the necessary forms of protection, no one seems particularly bothered by them.
The town is subject to the monkeys. Instead of relocation or population-reducing efforts (that I can see), the town feeds the monkeys regularly in order to keep them contained. They even hold a whole festival/feast for the monkeys in November. Most of the monkey population hangs around the old, abandoned temple, Phra Prang Sam Yot, where they know they will have the best access to food and tourists’ personal belongings.
If you want to see the monkeys here with no risk of having one jump on your shoulder and pick you for bugs, then you must go inside the temple, which is kept monkey-free by big gates that block all of the doors and windows. Inside the temple you can watch the monkeys or see the ruins of this old building, including the eerie, beheaded Buddha statues (presumably from the Burmese army’s raid on the nearby former-capitol of Ayutthaya in 1767?) In Lopburi, the humans are in cages and the monkeys watch from outside. I wouldn’t want to be around if these monkeys ever stopped being fed, you really wouldn’t believe the number of monkeys here! And, as I mentioned before, they are constantly reproducing…
It was an experience that I’m still not sure exactly how to feel about. It was tons of fun, and I laughed harder than I have in awhile observing each of the monkeys’ different personalities, but I also left feeling like I desperately needed a shower. One of the exchange students who was with us got a small bite on his hand and as a safety precaution now has to get the rabies vaccines. The monkeys eat and drink food that is obviously not a traditional diet; I watched one chug an entire bottle of Coca-cola (yes, he/she belched after), but they all seem well-fed and not to be starving. It was a pretty constant debate of, “is this right or not?” I haven’t come to a solid conclusion, but in the end, who am I to make the final decision.
Mckenzie Lena Halling 