Monkeys & Buddhas

Monkeys were on the agenda today. Lopburi is known for its gangs of monkeys that hang around some of the temples. We hired a driver to get us there and he showed us around a bit. First stop was a temple and park where the monkeys seem to hang out. They were everywhere. Nadim had one jump on his back, I had one jump on my hip, and Yasmin had one grap her ankle. Roya had one chase her, but she escaped untouched!

One lady bought some peanuts to feed to the little critters. After watching the monkeys race toward her, climb on her, and try to grab her bags we decided watching other people feed the monkeys might be more fun than feeding them ourselves.

After watching the monkeys play for a bit we headed across the street to Pra Prang Sam Yot, a very old temple. We could go inside and the monkeys were barred from entering so it was nice to look around and the girls had fun feeding some of the monkeys sunflower seeds, through the safety of barred windows. The monkeys were very gentle in taking the seeds, and their fingers were very soft.

From the outside there were lots of monkeys climbing on the temple. I thought it funny to see the monkeys climbing on a statue of a Buddha. Very spiritual monkeys, I guess.

After lunch we headed to a temple that had Buddha’s footprint. It was another spectacularly decorated temple, but at this point we find if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. None the less, the girls enjoyed ringing the large bells outside the temple. We’ve learned that it is supposed to bring you luck to ring the bells. I think the girls are going to be very lucky, either that, or deaf!

Our driver suggested that we head off to another site. He said there was a big Buddha there. Why not... so off we went. This is the largest Buddha I have ever seen! You could see it from the highway towering over the trees and other buildings that surround it.

The temple was another beautiful temple, but the temple grounds were kind of strange. There were statues of people with different animal heads, there were people in chains being forced to kneel and show respect, there were various gory fight scenes, and there was even someone roasting a child over a fire! Very strange!

Tonight we plan to hit the night market. Last night was a lot of fun too. We had planned to go to a children’s theatre festival, but something got lost in translation and we ended up at a different festival and didn’t realize it until it was too late. We enjoyed watching a theatre production called “Glory of Ayutthaya, Great Kings Who Declared Independence”. We didn’t understand it because it was in Thai, but still interesting.

The main attraction, however, was the food. They had all kinds of stalls set up and people were dressed in traditional Thai clothes. We then had to exchange our Baht for ancient money. Apparently they used “bullet” money in the past. It was metal rolled up and then covered with clay. Queen Victoria gave them their first minting machine to replace that system! So last night we exchanged our Baht for “bullet” money and bought all sorts of good things to eat with that currency. The girls particularly enjoyed the Pad Thai, and Nadim and I really enjoyed a green curry served with small pieces of roti bread. All dishes were served in banana leaf plates, or bowls.

CM