When I visited Angkor in December the owner of my guest house told me about a trail on the ancient Angkor Thom city wall that very few tourists use. I pushed my bike up there and rode along, completely alone, until I saw a fat old monkey.
He would waddle for about 20 feet and then turn around and honk at me. I thought he was trying to scare me off, but he was actually warning the other monkeys. I rode about 100 yards further on and it was Monkey Rush Hour. Dozens of them in the trees and on the path. They didn't pay much attention to me so I just watched them for a while and then rode on after they started heading into the jungle.
When I returned I wanted to see them again. And this time I wanted to Make Contact. I rode up on the wall and there they were. I parked my bike and sat on a rock to watch.
There were a couple of mothers with tiny babies who didn't seem bothered by my presence.
The younger ones seemed braver. I could approach them easily. It seemed as if they were posing for the camera.
I stuck out my hand to see what would happen. A couple small ones tentatively approached and grabbed my finger.
The ice was broken.
It's not easy to take a picture of yourself with a monkey on your shoulder. But then I couldn't keep them off of me. It's really hard to take a picture with three on your head.
It was a little scary, because they wanted to play fight, which means play biting. Their heads are tiny, so their teeth are too, so I wasn't afraid of getting mauled, but I was afraid of them breaking the skin.
It's not easy to shake off a monkey. They live in trees. They're good at holding on. Shaking off six is pretty hard.
I had been monkeying around for over two hours and had used up my entire camera battery so I got on my bike to leave but apparently they didn't want me to go.
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