Today I had a monkey on my back, literally! It was not for long obviously as my calm (not!) reaction to this surprise, terrified the monkey who moved very, very quickly.
We went to monkey island which is near Nha Trang in Vietnam. We had to wake up early because it was an hour in the car then 30 minutes by speedboat. The boat was FAST & we loved flying along in the waves. When we arrived at the island there were 1500 monkeys to be seen. We didn't see them all but we saw a lot of them.
We bought some peanuts ready to feed them. There are rather terrifying & graphic warnings everywhere about what you should not do. Our guide showed us the proper way to feed the monkeys & told us not to move suddenly, to close our hands if we had no more food & to try not to make the monkeys angry. Our guide (& all the other guides) carry sling shots which the monkeys are scared of. This made us feel slightly uncomfortable initially but greatly reassured once the cheeky monkeys came out to play.
Miss C was very brave in feeding lots of monkeys, on the ground & in the trees. It can become a little stressful when there are a lot of monkeys around you. One monkey jumped right onto my back because I had c 2 apples & a dragonfruit in our backpack. Another grabbed my leg - uncomfortable!
We saw lots of monkeys with dear little babies & many that were pregnant. The babies have to be fast as the bigger monkeys want to eat all of the food. The island population is 65% female. We saw two King monkeys on either side of the island. They are distinctly larger, are usually alone and can definitely cast a swathe through a crowd.
After our monkey encounter we were invited to the circus. We had been warned about this by the concierge & the guide as apparently a lot of Western tourists leave the circus crying. We decided to see the circus for ourselves as we really enjoy the circus as a rule so were intrigued.
We stayed with the monkeys all morning then got back into the boat & went to another island for a bbq lunch, swimming & to see some more animals. This got a bit odd as there were a range of African & other animals on a tiny Vietnamese island. We made the return journey in choppy seas & arrived at the car wet & happy, having had a great day.
Top 5
1. Monkeys really are cheeky. They keep you on your toes because they are so quick, so smart & can jump from a treetop onto your back to achieve their objective, when you least expect it
2. Monkeys obviously have close & special relationships with their offspring, carrying them on their backs or their stomachs all day
3. We love boats, bouncing along with the wind & sea rushing in
4. We saw even more of the contrastive Vietnamese environment. It is multi-faceted & keeps us interested & entertained daily
After our monkey encounter we were invited to the circus. We had been warned about this by the concierge & the guide as apparently a lot of Western tourists leave the circus crying. We decided to see the circus for ourselves as we really enjoy the circus as a rule so were intrigued.
We stayed with the monkeys all morning then got back into the boat & went to another island for a bbq lunch, swimming & to see some more animals. This got a bit odd as there were a range of African & other animals on a tiny Vietnamese island. We made the return journey in choppy seas & arrived at the car wet & happy, having had a great day.
Top 5
1. Monkeys really are cheeky. They keep you on your toes because they are so quick, so smart & can jump from a treetop onto your back to achieve their objective, when you least expect it
2. Monkeys obviously have close & special relationships with their offspring, carrying them on their backs or their stomachs all day
3. We love boats, bouncing along with the wind & sea rushing in
4. We saw even more of the contrastive Vietnamese environment. It is multi-faceted & keeps us interested & entertained daily
5. Our guide was fantastic. It is rare & wonderful to meet someone happy doing their job & doing it so well
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