http://www.offtherails.com/monkey.html
Every year, the town of Lopburi in Thailand hosts a special outdoor feast. The guests of honour climb all over the food, steal treats from each other, and toss their leftovers onto the ground. After the meal, some of the guests show their gratitude by pulling hair and stealing earrings from the hosts while others make love in public.
The "invitations" at this annual extravaganza go to the town's estimated
600 monkeys. They are Lopburi's blessing and its bane. According to legend,
the hero of the Ramayana epic rewarded his friend and ally, Hanuman the
Monkey King, with the fiefdom of what is now Lopburi. Centuries later,
monkeys still rule the area around the town's two most sacred sites: The
picturesque Khmer ruin of Sam Prang Yod and the nearby shrine of San Pra
Kan.
Although the monkeys live in the midst of the
city and are not afraid of humans, they are
certainly not domesticated. From their base
in the shrines, they cross streets at will to
climb on parked cars and groom each other on
storefront awnings. They are equally at home
scampering about the ancient Khmer ruins as
they are scrambling up and down the urban
jungle of electric wires, window grates and
TV antennas. Living or working in the monkey
zone is both fun and trying. In the words of
Eumporn Jirigalwisul, regional tourism director
for the Tourism Authority of Thailand, "it's
like we have many, many friends."
While other Lopburi residents also appreciate
the monkeys, their praise is qualified. Two
Thai words often heard Lopburi are "yeng"
and "son", meaning "grab" and "naughty",
respectively. Salocha Lekpech provides a
representative view: "I like the monkeys, but
they are often very naughty. If you carry
something, hold it tight. They like to grab
things, like fruit or candy. They even like
to grab babies' bottles."
A pickup truck with paper and styrofoam padding
in the back is parked near Sam Prang Yod. The
monkeys, always on the lookout from something
new to explore, tear the load to shreds. In a
typically Thai reaction to such a situation,
the hapless driver returns to his violated
vehicle, smiles, shrugs and drives away,
leaving behind a pile of monkey confetti.
Sermluk Kribour and Piya Komsomjit watch the
vandalism from their aquarium shop opposite Sam
Prang Yod. "If you park here, you have to watch
out for the monkeys," notes Sermluk impassively.
Piya shrugs toward the monkey-styrofoam orgy
and says simply, "Yeah, it's normal."
The citizens of Lopburi have adapted to their town's celebrated citizens. Food vendors in the monkey zone keep sticks or slingshots at hand to ward them off. To prevent the monkeys from climbing on television antennas, the citizens of Lopburi have developed a unique cone-shaped attachment which hangs from the antenna pole. It seems to be the only physical barrier which the monkeys are unable to pass.
Even for all the nuisance, there is no question that the monkeys bring benefits to Lopburi. The unique urban wildlife brings joy to even longtime residents: on the balcony of one of the apartments facing San Pra Kan shrine, a mother holds her child who laughs delightedly as he offers morsels of food to the monkeys clambering up the side of the building.
Other benefits, spiritual and tangible, accrue to the town. Spiritually, the monkeys offer the citizens of Lopburi wonderful opportunities to tum boon (make merit). According to Thai beliefs, donating food to the monkeys is a perfect way to accrue good karma. Judging from the hundreds of healthy monkeys scampering about, Lopburi residents are assured places in the highest levels of Buddhist heaven.
At the recent feast, spectators entered the
Sam Prang Yod grounds in the morning to find
a huge plate - seven metres in diameter -
veiled in festive red cloth. In years past,
the food was placed on as many as 100 small
tables. The switch to this year's single plate
was for both symbolic and practical reasons.
While the total amount of food was the same as
the previous year, a single table is more
symbolic of the continuing economic difficulties
in Thailand. Another factor is monkey psychology.
Tourism director Ms Eumporn notes that with
smaller tables, larger monkeys take ownership
of an entire table, refusing to share even
though the table has more food than they can
possibly eat. "Just like humans," she says,
with a sigh.
As spectators watched from the ground and monkeys
watched from high up on the ruins, the town's high
school students marched to the temple carrying
brightly coloured banners. When the magic moment
arrived, the single giant plate was unveiled to
reveal a bounty of brightly coloured fruits
arranged in enticing patterns around a centre
of flavoured rice. The Thai dancers danced, the
photographers photographed, and the monkeys
seemed unsure of what to make of it all.
Slowly and cautiously, some of the braver monkeys
climbed down off the ruin, grabbed some fruit and
scampered away. As the monkeys came to understand
the nature of the bounty before them, more and more
came crawling down off the ruins and the feast began
in earnest. There were monkeys face down in
papaya, ripping open rambutans, chasing away
rivals from choice pieces of watermelon, mothers
holding bewildered infants, swaggering adolescents
chugging down cans of soda. The crowd watched in
delight and the photographers lined up for the best
shots as the monkeys got down to the serious
business of literally stuffing their faces (monkeys
store excess food in cheek pouches).
After the monkeys ate their fill and the feast
wound down, monkeys and humans alike strolled the
temple grounds, often interacting. "Sanook [fun]"
declared eight-year-old Bangkok residents Jutamat
Suriya and Suchrale Misaran as they allowed the
monkeys to climb onto their heads. Throughout the
compound, fascinated youngsters handed peanuts and
water bottles to the ever-acquisitive monkeys. The
sated monkeys played, fought, nursed their babies
and humped as fascinated humans continued to watch,
feed, photograph, and in rare instances, pet them.
As the heat of the afternoon descended on the scene,
the crowd began thinning out. The day trippers headed
back to Bangkok, the foreign tourists to their
hotels, the Lopburi residents home to eat their
own meals. The ancient and majestic Khmer ruin
of Sam Prang Yod ended the day as it began:
fiefdom of the monkeys.
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