Friday, December 17, 2010

Monkey Mountain

No, we are not just talking about that little Lo-Lo-Monkey taking a hike in the hills of Hong Kong... We went to a "monkey sanctuary" of sorts, where wild rhesus monkeys live by the hundreds. Steep fines discourage people from feeding the monkeys, but it would have been easy to do since they saunter right up next to people who venture into their territory.

And here we have three--er, two monkeys and one Brandon making a monkey face. I am not sure what the cage is in the background. Perhaps scientists use it for periodic trapping/tracking monkeys to check for disease, etc. is my guess.


I'm not sure I want to eat off a picnic table that monkeys have used for their napping place. Note the red face and genital area. This was a female monkey, so she wasn't as vibrant, but we saw a large male monkey who had a flaming red backside. I think it is mating season; he kept showing off his strength and picking fights with other monkeys.



Needless to say I felt nervous at times and kept a tight grip on that Lo, ready at any moment to whisk him away to safety in case of monkey attack. One monkey bared her teeth at us and leaped toward us when Jerry accidentally walked toward her. (he was just going to grab the stroller, but she didn't know that I suppose and assumed he was a threat).




Here I am keeping Lo a safer distance away. There were signs posted warning people to avoid making eye contact with the monkeys. Of course Lo Lo, not yet being able to read such signs, made all the threatening eye contact he could. yikes.
It was totally fascinating seeing all these monkeys so up close and in their own environment--different than seeing them through glass or bars at the zoo.


As we walked back, a whole pack of monkeys lined the road and we felt nervous walking through them to get back to the main road. I made Brandon and Jerry walk on either side of me, and I held Lo in the middle of all of us to protect him better. Maybe it seems silly to be scared of something as cute and small as a monkey, but seriously if ya'll had seen the fangs on these guys you'd be wanting body guards too.







3 comments:

Anna said...

That's so cool and scary! Like a monkey version of "The Birds."

I LOVE that first picture! So beautiful. Framing material, for sure.

Valerie said...

I love the jungle photo of Lo Lo with his mom. Good thing there weren't those lions and tigers and bears, as well!

Valerie said...

I had that same thought about the first photo, Anna!